First Day of School

 

Today was the first day of school! Not sure if the kids were truly excited to go to school or just excited to see their friends. Sean had a full first day with bus service and everything and Mackenzie has a slow integration over today & tomorrow. His first full day of Kindergarten is Tuesday (since Monday is a holiday). In tradition of my 1st day of school photos, I took the same this year as last year. Sean still wants to be an NHL goalie when he grows up, and Mack wants to be a player so that he can score on Sean.

 

I can’t wait for Sean to get off the school bus so I can learn all about his 1st day. Who his teacher is, who is in his class, and all that jazz! Looking at Sean’s picture from last year, I can’t believe how big he’s gotten in a year.

For Mack’s 1st day parents stayed, so I got to spend some time with him in the class. It was a 45 minute session today and we sang some songs, colored and he met his teacher (same teacher Sean had last year, whom I love!)

Funny, I wore the exact same outfit a year ago on Sean’s first day!

Here’s to a great 2013-2014 school year!

A Color Affliction

7 of us in my weekly knitting group (of about 15 of us), decided to do a knit-a-long this summer. We had all fallen in love with the gorgeous Color Affection Shawl, and after planning out what yarn we would all use (I settled on 3 nearly solid Colinette Jitterbug colors and most of our knit-a-long gals going with Knit Picks Palette), we started the knit-a-long in mid July. I had another project I had to finish first, the blanket which I showed you yesterday, so I kind of casted on with the group, but then put it aside until I was done with my deadline. Then when I finally picked up this pattern, I think I started & frogged it about 8 times until I finally got it right, and got it going. Here’s my Ravelry project page.

I am breezing through this pattern now that I’m on a roll.

I am loving the way the colors are coming together. I started with Lobster Pinch, then I added in Elephant’s Dream and then next color that will go in will be Ginger Cinnebar. (I just love the names of the yarn).

Twilight Shells Throw

  

For the past month I’ve been working like mad on this Twilight Shells Throw. I used 12.5 skeins of yarn, in different shades of blue in Cascade 220. This was a wedding present that I made for my sister & her husband to keep them warm in winter. I absolutely love the shell pattern. I got a request (upon completing this one) to make one for our house. This one’s finished size is: 43” x 70” (unblocked). I used a 6.0 mm (J) crochet hook. I started the blanket on July 3rd, 2013 and finished it on August 9th, 2013, working on it obsessively. I was able to give the blanket in a cute basket (see the last picture in this post) to my sister the day before the wedding. I finished it just in the knick of time. It was a close call, but I got it done! After seeing how long it took me to make two rows, which was color set, (about an episode and a half of Criminal Minds – I watched it in marathon mode this summer), I think I had put about 65-70 hours into this blanket. Going back through all my projects on Ravelry, I think this is the largest project I’ve done so far, with the most amount of yarn. I know that crochet uses up more yarn to make a stitch than knitting does, but I think this takes the cake for the largest project/most amount of yarn.

I went with a grey single crochet border (2 rows of single crochet) around the blanket, so that it would show the blues in the blanket, rather than using a blue around and the border getting drowned out.

A special thanks to my knitting friend Eugenie who sat & helped me weave in all the ends in this blanket. There were a LOT of them!

I started a new project, come back tomorrow to see what I am working on now!

Wedding Bells

My sister got married on Sunday, which happened to be her 11th “dating” anniversary with her now husband. They got engaged about a year or has it been 2 years now, and I can’t believe how fast time flew. The entire day flew by in a blur. A few pictures I wanted to get, I totally forgot to take (like one alone (full length) with just hubby & I….)

The kids were adorable, Mackenzie wouldn't walk down the aisle once he saw how many people were sitting watching, Quentin and Sean ended up walking with me down the aisle. Mack hid and after we were all down in positions, my step-mother-in-law who was sitting front row, went back (it was an outside ceremony), to get him.

The music was loud, so Sean & Mack wanted to be outside the entire time during the reception, and it’s too late now, but we should have hired a babysitter, as Jamie spent the entire time outside with them (watching them on their iPods). I was inside with Quentin, who was either eating at the table, using his iPod at the table or dancing with me on the dance floor. I didn't get to eat the main meal, but had the salad and entrees before that. By the time I got back to the table, the meal (salmon) was ice cold and hard as a rock).

We got home late and the kids went to bed around midnight and slept past 1030 am the next morning so I kept them home the next day from camp & daycare.

Now I know why I don’t bring my kids to weddings. We got invited to one in May where the kids were actually invited, but we opted to get a babysitter and go without them. I’ll do this one more time when my brother gets married one day, but depending on the ages of the kids, I might hire a babysitter to come along to the wedding so that I can actually enjoy the wedding and not have to chase around or keep an eye on my kids. I guess it’s also different when you’re in the wedding party and you have to be around for pictures, etc. I was the Matron of Honor (my sister had her best friend as her Maid of Honor as well, and 2 friends as bridesmaids) and Jamie was one of the groomsmen.

Alright, so you want to see pictures! I know that’s why you came to this post… Here they are!

The boys were excellent during the picture taking before the ceremony.

My dress fit me nicely, and was very elegant looking. I love this portrait of my family.

I managed to get a photo with each of my boys.

My handsome 4 boys!

A silly shot the photography took. I have no idea what I was doing.

And the 1st dance.

That Time of Year Again

It’s that time of the year again, when new school supplies are acquired and labeled and the kids moan that summer flew by too fast and they don’t want school to start yet. I love back to school. I love shopping for school supplies, finding the best deal on any given item. I have managed to get every last item on their supply lists, school bags approved by the boys, lunch boxes too, and now begins the tedious job of putting their names on everything.Tedious yet fun at the same time! (Shhh! I enjoy doing it). Too bad these pencils don’t come pre-sharpened, I have to go sharpen these above 40 for Sean & another 12 for Mackenzie. (I’m super happy the coloured pencils came sharpened!) Sean will be starting the 1st grade & Mackenzie will be starting Kindergarten. I must also get their uniform in order – making sure I have everything they need for the school year. Do you like back to school? Do your kids too? Or do they dread going back to school as there is homework/tests, etc?