Want some needles?

Pine needles, that is... We moved into our house this past August, not even a week after Kaiden was born. (Talk about trying not to overdo it! Thankfully, my family and Trish were very generous and helped us move!) Needless to say, I wasn't about to kill myself trying to get the yard nice. Then cold weather came, and now we're *finally* getting the chance to get yard work done!

We had some trees removed a couple weeks ago, and now have a yard full of brush. We're slowly but surely getting it cut, and will be giving it out for free firewood/campwood. I'll be happy when it's gone! The rest of hte brush is getting burned, I think we'll have enough for a lifetime of bonfires! We're also getting the yard raked up, and it's AMAZING how many pine needles there are (well, were!) all over the yard! It's about half done now, and we've already got a huge pile of needles!


After half the yard has been raked... This pile is about 4' high, and 6' wide!

Some of the brush in the yard... Can't wait to see it gone!

It's time to MOVE...!

Kaiden is getting SO mobile! He's been rolling both ways for some time now, but he's now scooting all over the place, pulling himself up, and is VERY close to crawling! He's gets into position, but can't quite figure out how to move his legs. It won't be long, and I'm sure it will be quite interesting trying to keep up with him! It's quite amusing trying to get a clean prefold on him too!

We've had a week of great weather so far, it's been wonderful! It was 81 on Monday, and in the 60s all week. Friday we're supposed to get showers, but then it's nice again. It feels so great to be able to get yard work done. About half the yard is raked up, and we're hopefully doing another burn tonight to get rid of some more brush. Next on the agenda, deciding what we're going to do about planting grass! I'd love to get some plugs, but we may wind up having to do just a section at a time due to the cost. I just want an area where I can feel safe letting Kaiden play on the ground!

Here are a few more recent pics of K. He's already 22 pounds, and he's not even 9 months old yet! Makes me SO glad I have my Mei Tei, I can wear him effortlessly, it feels like nothing!

Almost there!


Mohawk boy!





He *loves* digging in the dirt!



Moo!

Recent FO's!

Finally uploading pics of some of the items I've finished making lately! Here you go...

First up is a project gone wrong... First mistake, what I *thought* was normal merino wound up being superwash wool. For those that don't know, it means it's machine washable, but not waterproof, and therefore no good for a diaper cover! Mistake two, I messed up on the crotch. When I kitchenered the crotch seam, I did it inside out. Functional, but ugly. Mistake three... They're way too long! These were supposed to be a pair of shorties, but fit like highwaters on Kaiden. So, they may work as pants, but it doesn't look like we'll be getting much use out of them!



Nest up is a wool soaker. This came out pretty nice, and works great! I made it from the LTK Hybrid Rib pattern, but didn't bother adding the gussets. It's made from Paton's Merino I had leftover from Kaiden's longies. I finished this a while ago, but I'm just now showing it off.



And, not a finished object, BUT... Some incredibly yummy yarn! I purchased 5 skeins of Zen String through a recent co-op, and received them Friday. I can't wait to knit with it! It is a wonderfully smooth yarn, and smells wonderful. Angelina has so many gorgeous colorways, it was very hard to choose! In the end, I wound up getting Pumpkin Pie and Emperor, as well as a skein of Chick for a matching trim, all painted on her Nirvana worsted wool. There were many other colors I would love to own though! They're all gorgeous! Pumpkin Pie (now retired) will become a pair of longies, as well as the trim on a pair of shorts. Emperor will become a pair of longies with Chick for the trim, as well as a matching hat. It's my first luxury yarn, very exciting!! The pictures do NOT do it justice either, there are some beautiful color variations in the yarn, you just can't see how pretty it is through a computer screen.

Good weather, good friends!

Today was the first truly beautiful day we've had this year. It was sunny out, with just a little breeze, and nice and warm - about 70F! This definitely makes up for the 15+ inches of snow we've had just this month! It's supposed to be just as nice tomorrow, and near 80F on Monday! What a great weekend to clean up after the big storm we had this week! We were without power for two days, but thankfully the basement didn't even get damp, impressive considering we had over 5" of rain!

Considering the nice weather, and the large amount of brush we need to burn from having 5 large pines removed recently, we thought it would be a great chance to have a BBQ and bonfire. We invited a bunch of friends and family, and had a great day of it! Nate manned the grill, we had dogs and burgers of course, and some really good bbq chicken and ribs with homemade bbq sauce. Yum!

We managed to clear some of the brush, and got about half of the yard raked up. All in all, a very productive day, and so much fun! Spending the day with a bunch of friends, with good food and good weather. Can't get better than that!

It IS April, right?

I think someone forgot to give Mother Nature the memo announcing April! We've been blessed with near 60 degree weather recently, but it's been below normal lately - in the 30s! We had a nasty snow storm Thursday, and were without power for 12 hours. We're one of the lucky ones though, there are still a lot that are without power even now! There's a chance we may be getting another storm in the near future, hopefully it will pass by!

We're all battling colds right now. Nate has the sniffles, and had a sore throat yesterday. I've got a sore throat, congested nose, and my sinuses feel like they're going to explode! Kaiden has his first "real" cold, thankfully it's not horrible, but he does feel yucky. Hopefully we're feeling better for Easter!

Easter day, I'm going to Mom's with K, and Nate will be cooking dinner here. Once it's ready, he's bringing it to Mom's, and we're doing Easter dinner there. Trish will be coming, and possibly Grampy and my Gram. I guess we'll see when Sunday comes! We're also doing an egg hunt for the twins, and Nate will be doing a scavenger hunt for his birthday present, since his birthday is Monday.

Kaiden's Easter basket is all ready to go, though I'm not sure if we'll do it here or at Mom's. He's getting Goodnight Moon, a bunny plush toy, and a bunch of wooden toys from Oompa. I can't wait to give them to him! The "filling" is green shredded paper, and the basket itself is a wicker basket - all recyclable!

Hope everyone is doing well, and I'll do my best to update more often!