Halloween 2015

Since I talked yesterday about my Christmas window, I totally forgot to show you my Hallowen window from this past Halloween! We had fun with this fall/Halloween window this past year. You’ve already seen the Katia cushion that we turned into the witch, but there was some more fun parts to this window that I’d like to show you.

We had a skeleton knitting….

 

And a pumpkin that I knit using 4 strands of Cascade Lana Grande on 15mm needles. I followed the Jack Be Little Pumpkin pattern by Elizabeth Murphy except for the fact that I super sized it! The stem was Diamond Luxury Collection Embrace held double stranded.  

 

I crochet some overalls for the two scarecrows in the window.

That was just a freeform crochet project, with no pattern. I used a 5mm crochet hook and Schachenmayr Wool 125 in orange.They were both a one evening project.

Not part of my window, but a project I wanted to finish in time for Halloween was my Hallowig, which I had started the year earlier but then got sidetracked from it. This did not come out big enough and I knitted it as per pattern. I am very disappointed in this project. I am going to see if I can undo the cast off, rip it back, add length to it, and fix it… Though, I am not sure I would ever wear it at this point, so I am not sure if it’s actually worth it.

And to end my Halloween post, here is a pic of my boys on Halloween night. I’ve got a hockey player, a Batman and a G.I. Joe trooper of some kind. They had a great time trick or treating this past fall.

Mack’s Soccer Ball Hat

Just like his brother’s, Mack wanted a soccer ball hat too. These kits were a huge hit at the shop in the fall. They made perfect Christmas gifts. They knit up quite quickly too. I had started this hat back in October, then Mackenzie decided he didn’t want this hat anymore, so I knit him something else and put this hat aside.Then he decided in December that he wanted me to finish the hat, so I did. I added 5 extra rows from the adult small size in the pattern, so it would cover his ears. Even with adding the 5 extra rows, I still had a bit of leftover yarn.

Winter Carnival

My kids school asked us to send in a colored ice block today. We had to take a 2L milk container and fill it with water and food coloring and freeze it. What they did with these frozen blocks was pretty darn cool!

It probably won’t last until tomorrow, it’s been raining all evening & it’s supposed to be +5CX tomorrow. It’s too bad it will be short lived. It was a pretty cool idea though!

Double Time Tooth Fairy Business

Mackenzie had 2 loose top teeth, one which was completely crooked and out of place because of the adult tooth that’s already coming out. He spent the entire winter vacation wiggling that tooth to try to get it out. No luck all break. He went back to school on Monday and his daycare teacher helped him take that crooked tooth out. He was relieved! That tooth has been bothering him (to eat, to play hockey (as his mouth guard was uncomfortable with that crooked tooth), to brush his teeth, etc…) He went back to that daycare teacher about an hour later and asked her to take out the other top tooth. When he came home, I couldn’t believe that both his top teeth came out! The tooth fairy had double time duty on Monday night. It’s funny how Sean would never let anyone touch his teeth, but Mackenzie asks for help to have teeth yanked. Mackenzie’s looks very toothless now!

Habs Hats

Recently Mackenzie asked me to knit him up a Habs hat. The first one I knit up, didn’t fit Mackenzie, so I gave it to Quentin so then I had to knit another one for Mackenize as the hat was his request. I actually managed to get 2 hats out of the 3 balls of yarn that I used. I used a generic hat pattern from my memory to cast on the first hat, and adjusted for Mackenzie’s head for the second hat, adding stitches and rows. I used both US 10½ - 6.5 mm and US 11 - 8.0 mm needles for both hats. That hats were both very quick knits and I used colors 331, 301 and 351 in Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 40. You can view the details of Mack’s hat here, and the details of Quentin’s hat here.

Mack’s 1st Lost Tooth

Mackenzie finally lost his first tooth on Friday! 2 months into grade 2. He was so excited! He’s showing everyone that he lost his first tooth, it’s so cute.

First Day of School 2015

First day of Grade 3, and Sean wants to be a goalie in the NHL or play in the MLB.

First day of Grade 2, and Mackenzie would like to play in the NHL when he grows up.

Reach for the stars boys, anything is possible.

Halloween 2014

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween! My Thor, Mario & Batman sure did. They were pleased with the candies they got and it was actually a very mild Montreal Halloween this year. Did you go Trick or Treating? What did your kids dress up as this year?

Quentin wanted to be Spiderman for school and Mario for trick-or-treating. Lucky kid has a wardrobe of costumes to pick from, as he has 2 older brothers with lots of hand-me-down costumes! I just want to eat him up, he’s soooo cute!

First Day of School 2014

First day of Grade 2! "When I grow up I want to be a goalie for the NHL".

First day of Grade 1! "When I grow up I want to play for the NHL”.

My gosh, they’re growing up too fast.

Mr. Mackenzie

Mr. Mackenzie is too funny. “Look Mom, look how much hair I have, time for a haircut?” The next day I called to make an appointment.

Mackenzie had a project in his class called “Enfant Vedette”. I went in to his class to talk about my job or hobby. Coincidentally, mine is combined. So I did an activity with Mackenzie’s class as well, and we made pom pom monsters. Making pom pom monsters with 19 kids at the same time in a short time frame was a little challenging, but I made do. Luckily, Mackenzie’s teacher and an aide in the classroom where there to help with the kids. The kids had fun and Mack was super happy to have me come to his class, since I haven’t been able to volunteer at all this past year now that I’m working full time out of the house.

Mackenzie loves all sports (we play frisbee at Sean’s baseball practices), however he still has no interest in participating in organized sports.

And he loves climbing to the top of the structure at the local park and scream out “I’m the kind of the castle, you’re the dirty rascal!” The joys of being a child. I think I’d get dirty looks if I tried that.

Mr. Mackenzie is surprising us greatly with his maturity this year. While he hasn’t lost any teeth yet, maybe soon, who knows, he is eager for the tooth fairy to pay him a visit.

And with the blink of an eye, Mackenzie’s just about done Kindergarten. Just a few short weeks left – I can’t believe it! Where on earth does time go? My birthday buddy turns 6 in less then a month.

Pompom Monster Tutorial

This is my pompom monster for a project I am doing for a presentation in my son's kindergarten class in April. His teacher does an "enfant vedette" project where one child is highlighted for the week and one of the child's parents comes in for an hour and talks about their job or hobby so I will talk about knitting and my yarn shop and make these pompom monsters with the kids as the activity I will do with them. It's a cute and fun project to do with the kids. This was my trial monster to see how much yarn I need I prepare for each kid in Mackenzie's class. He has 18 classmates.

To make the pompom I used this free printable PDF from Mias Craft Ideas. I chose the size I wanted and I cut out the shape and traced it on cardboard from an empty cereal box (you need to make 2 of them to hold together when wrapping the yarn). Then I used a worsted weight yarn and wrapped the pompom tool. I cut around the edge of the yarn to release the strands & then I took a string and tied the pompom together. To see how that is done, you can watch this youtube video. I did trim a bit of the pieces afterwards (like a haircut) to make the monster even. Then I used my handy glue gun and glued on 2 google eyes & voila! A cute/adorable pompom monster!

 

(Side view of my monster)

Waiting for the School Bus

Sean discovered a new fun activity this morning and Mackenzie had to join in. This is how we waited for the school bus this morning…

I am glad neither of them were injured!

Vintage Habs

 

The boys asked me to knit them a scarf. They wanted them done for yesterday. (Why isn’t it done yet mom?) I saw these 3 nice colors at work that reminded me of the vintage Habs colors. Out of 3 skeins of Berroco Vintage chunky in a red, white & blue I got 2 scarves & 1 hat. Have a look…..

 

The scarf was knit up on 6.5mm needles. Cast on 130 stitches, knit long-ways to leave ends for fringe. Sean’s scarf on Ravelry here & Mack’s scarf on Ravelry here.

 

Since Sean’s been wearing a cheap hat from a store (tsk, tsk on me), I decided to knit him up a hat in the leftovers from the scarves and hat just enough to make him a matching hat. All three projects were a quick knit. The hat is knit up on 5.0mm (band) and 6.0mm needles (rest of the hat). Details are on Ravelry here. I really liked this hat pattern, and can see myself using it again in the future.

 

Happy Halloween!

 

It’s raining outside so we’ve decided not to go trick or treating tonight. The kids are a bit disappointed but it’s pouring outside and as I type this the lights are flickering. I promised them tomorrow we’ll go out and pick up candies/chocolates to fill their pumpkin bucket that all year round, providing they finish their entire dinner, they can choose something for dessert from their bucket. (During the year when it runs low, I replenish it with treats anyhow). I managed to get a picture of Quentin in his costume before school today, and Mackenzie’s class party was photographed by my sister today (I cannot wait to get the DVD of pictures from her to see what I missed while at work). I did not get a picture of Sean in his costume, as he only got into his costume after lunch for his class party and he refused this evening to put it on for me to take a picture. I feel like there was no Halloween spirit today.

Mackenzie is in love. He’s known this cutie since  he was 18 months old, as he’s been in daycare with her for 4 years before starting Kindergarten, and now they’re in the same class again this year. It’s sooooo cute the way he is with her.

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!

Quebec City Aquarium

This past weekend we visited my Sister-in-Law, her fiancé and my nephew. They live about 45 minutes south-east of Quebec City. On Saturday we were looking for something to do and ended up at the Quebec City Aquarium. My nephew apparently has been there about 15 times and absolutely loves it there. We bought a family pass (as Quentin got in free) and it cost about 58$ with taxes. That’s not bad at all.

My fave thing at the aquarium was this cutie. I’m not even sure what it was but he was pressed up against the glass window of the tank and had the cutest little face!

Quentin was super excited to see “finding nemo” as he called them (above left) and I love the jellyfish – don’t they look like buttons?!

The shade of this green is one of my fave shades of green (above left). Whatever that was too, it was stunning to look at. The kids called this (above right) a sea mushroom. I thought it was cool to look at as well.

The polar bear we saw was doing laps in his pool and the seals were lounging by their pool.

There was awesome sand castles.

And awesome se creatures as well. How neat are these?

I tried to get a picture of all 3 boys. Mackenzie had no interest in smiling. It’s so difficult these days to get a picture of all 3 of them. I hope it’s just a phase and hopefully we’ll get to a point where I can take a nice picture of all 3 of them smiling at the same time. Maybe one day soon….