Happy Memorial Day

We baked cookies to celebrate.  Come on over and get one if you aren't too busy.  On second thought, you probably don't live remotely near me and even if you did, these cookies are going fast.  We made two dozen and are already down ten.

I did the baking and BG did the decorating.  We have lots of Red, White and Blue sprinkles.   I'm actually kinda proud of the job I did.  No burnt cookies.  This is a  first I think.  I normally end up burning some part of the batch.

We've been having fun this Memorial Day weekend.  LG really got in the mood with her pom pom headband.

We also had some friends over for BBQ Turkey-burgers and a playing at the park.  The swings are always a favorite.

Hope all of you are having a relaxing day off from school. 

Motivated
I'm feeling motivated this holiday morning.  After LG and I got up, I did a practice walk.  Well, I'm always practicing walking and have gotten pretty good at missing walls and doors.  I'm still walking in to the coffee table.  Gotta work on that.

When school gets out for summer, I'm going to lose my daily 2.5 miles taking her to and from campus.  I don't want to lose my walking mojo.  The legs are starting to look pretty good.   This morning I walked 2 miles to the library book drop, Vons for cinnamon rolls and Starbucks and the .75 miles back home.  I took the long way, straight up a hill, getting there.  In all it took me 1.5 hours.  I guess I'm going to have to skip the Starbucks once I'm walking on weekdays.  I'm going to have to try to get my walks done before DH goes to work so BG can stay at home.

I love taking BG with me, but she walks too slow.  Plus, she'll still be joining me for the mommy group walks and the lagoon with the neighbors a couple of times a week.  She'll get enough exercise this summer between the pool, theme parks and and neighborhood kids.

Maybe I can use some of this motivation and get crafty today.  Finish the Wallis or something.

Librarian Scorned

I don't remember if I shared with you or not, but the Librarian, the one I swear hates me, doesn't know me from Adam.

LG and I were at a lapsit the other week and another mom mentioned that her and I were coming back for the school-aged reading group.  Her and "that Mom, that one right there, THAT Mom."  I finally had to wave.  Then the librarian double checked with us, "Oh, both of you are coming back?"

Really?  You don't remember me?  I was annoying and then I complimented you on you very librarian shoes.

The girls love reading their library books.

I think that I figured out why our librarian can seem so grumpy, beside being fondled by 11mth old little boys, say what?  Her library has a horrible selection.  That is my old library had a great selection and this one doesn't... at all.  There have been a few books that I have looked for that are not even in their catalog.  If you are trying to read a series, it is difficult to get all the books in order without having to wait long periods of time because they are always checked out or on reserve.  There is one mom reading Harry Potter to her kids as she finds them.  If you are looking for something on the bestseller's list, you might as well give up and go buy it.

I was talking to a mom who's brother's wife's sister (or some crazy thing like that) works at the library in the town just south of us.  She says our library gets the most money, but has the least programs and worst book/DVD selection.  But that's just the gossip around town.  I've been happy with our library programs, don't check out DVDs because there aren't any that interest me, and really wish they had more books.

I'd be a grumpy librarian, too.

The librarian now remembers me and can even match me up with my kids.  We had a nice conversation today about how both of us would rather be barefoot than wear shoes.  Even cool librarian shoes.

Hey, at least I'm not the mom of the 11mth old boy that crawled over to her, stood up, put a hand on each breast, and then tried to steal her necklace.  OMG, it was so funny.  I thought she was going to loose it, but she didn't.

The Mommy Groups
I've been active in the mommy groups.  Mostly the Red Group.  I have all but left the Blue Group.  I don't receive any of their email reminders anymore and have to search their calendar for something that I want to do that isn't Bootcamp , running up and down stairs or a "Thigh Killaz" Jam.  Funny thing is I really liked that the Blue Group was into fitness, but I don't want to be that fit. 

I think the only reason I haven't just left is because I paid $5 for my year already. 

In the Red Group I host a walk every other week, a few playdates at the park and something occasional at my house.  Today was awesome.  We did a flower swap, I got the idea from all the yarn swaps on Ravelry. 

I forgot to take a picture of all the flowers together, but here is the bouquet that I got to keep.

Love it.

Little Giraffe

Here's a little yarnie love for you.  Meet Stevie, our Little Giraffe (rav).  Stevie is a rocker.  How could he not be with all these awesome colors.

He makes me want to go like this...

 Eck - I need a haircut

Yeah, I named him after THAT Steven.  Hello-- Rocker.  I have even got a little Walk This Way playing in the background as I write this.

Back to Stevie.  He's awesome.  Everyone that sees him, wants to take him home.  He's not allowed to leave the house.  We don't want another Sophie incident.  I made him out of Malabrigo Worsted from my stash on size 8US needles.  He stands 9.5 inches tall, a great size for cuddling. 

Stevie isn't suppose to have a mane.  At least the pattern doesn't call for a mane.  I couldn't help myself.  Stevie is a rebel, he doesn't believe in haircuts.  I've been asked a couple of times how I got his hair to do what it does.  Each little strand is perfectly twisted to little points and not a one of them looks frayed or cut.  All I can say to this is that Stevie is a guy thus meaning he has great hair and long eye lashes. 

Stevie needs a band.  I was thinking that because he's so tall he could be the bass player, watcha think?  Molly has already signed up.  You can meet her next time, if I can find her in the toy box.  She is sooo annoying with all her groupies, I swear.

The Flower Fields

Of course I couldn't go to the poppy fields in Lancaster without going to the Flower Fields in Carlsbad. 

DH and BG went on Family Day.  We were going to go as a family, but I had gotten sick.  They saw Ronald McDonald, performing collies, and all the arts and crafts tables.  BG came home with a flower pot that she painted.  Too bad Mommy has a brown thumb.

With a BOGO coupon for admission, I think that family day is worth the money.

LG and I when to the fields just before they closed for the season.   We shared a BOGO coupon with another mommy and paid extra to ride the wagon.  Fun but you really get your money's worth when there are activities going on.  Though, to be fair, I was with the mommy group and we didn't really check out everything.  We skipped the Rose Walk of Fame and the Poinsettia Greenhouse.  Mostly because of stroller inaccessibility and it was frickin' cold that morning.  We also decided to pass on the sweet pea maze. 

LG did love the wagon ride.  She likes to look over the edge and watch the ground going by.  We learned this at the zoo when we rode the tour bus.

The Flower Fields are beautiful with their rows and rows of Giant Tecolote Ranunculus in various colors.  Most of the bulbs are harvested to plant for the next year, though you can pick up a few at Armstrong Nurseries.  I think that my favorite is the American Flag planted out of red, white and blue anemone flowers.  So cool that they can do that. 

Adorable Apple Cozy

It's Teacher Appreciation Day on Friday, but our school spreads it out and students are assigned different days of the week to bring a gift.  We were assigned to bring flowers today.  BG picked out some hydrangeas in Teacher's favorite color, blue.

Teacher will also recieved this cute little apple cozy (rav), because I thought I was being smart.  I check the school calendar every month and look for crazy hair day or wear plaid day.  I saw Teacher Appreciation Day and whipped up this little baby while watching The Neverending Story a couple of weeks ago.  I was very proud of myself for being ahead of the game.

The next day I got the email saying that we were assigned Flowers Wednesday.  We could of traded days with someone so that we would have Healthy Snack Friday, but we are not going to be in town on Friday.  Hmmm.  Teacher gets two presents from us.

I don't mind though.  This cozy is a very fast knit and if you have buttons on hand, you can have it done in less time than it takes to watch a classic kids' movie.  It also uses up scrap yarn.  I used leftover yarn from all the dishcloths that I periodically crochet up.  It's Sugar'N Cream Cotton and I have a ton of it in the house.

I don't have a ton of buttons.  BG scolded me for taking one out of her button collection.  I figure that it's her contribution to the gift.   I'm thinking that I am going to steal another button when I make BG's Apple Cozy.

Around the House
I've been keeping myself busy with a few me things.  I am 85% done with the Wallis Sweater thanks to a day of knitting and watching the Firefly series.  We got Netflix.  As a result,  I'm turning off the TV for two days with the exception of watching Lost.  I gotta watch Lost. 

BG has been watching the Lord of the Ring Trilogy.  I went to the library and picked up The Hobbit to read to her.  She asks too many questions, though she can follow along with the characters pretty well.  But we were reading it way too slowly or she was falling asleep.  I'm finishing the book by myself and really enjoying it.  I have actually never read any of these books though we owned them when I was a kid.

Have any of you ever read the Warriors Cats Series?  I'm thinking about reading that to BG instead.  I read them a few years ago.  They are really fun and fast reads, being about cats and all.  Plus, they are only a couple of grade levels above BG.  So by the time we finish the first series, she may want to read the second series herself.   There are three series about the cats and a new series with bears. 

There is a 4th grader in the neighborhood that is reading the books, she thinks it's so cool that I've read them already.  That's me... Cool Mom?  Then she asked me what my clan was... ummm....

From LG

Hey everybody, LG here.

I just want to make sure that all of you know that I'm not trying to steal Sissy's chair.  I read the comments, both here and on Facebook.  I was just trying to be like my big sissy and read my books in her chair.  Like today, we sat in the chair together and she read lots of books to me.  It was fun.

Last week I turned 9 months.  Mom celebrated by putting me in a tutu.  It's Sissy's, but she said I could have it because I looked like a dinosaur in it.  I'm not trying to steal it, she can have the tutu back if she wants it.  She just thought I was a cute porcupine dinosaur in it.

I don't really like it.  The skirt gets in the way of playing blocks, eating cherrios and, well...  It makes my butt look huge.  Like a huge dinosaur butt.

In conclusion, I am not trying to steal Sissy's stuff.  Not that I wouldn't want to steal her stuff.  She has cool stuff.  That's because she's a pretty cool Sissy.

I think that she is the prettiest sister that a girl could ask for.  She reads me books in her chair, sings me songs and plays with me even when we are suppose to be settling down.  I want to be just like her some day.

Oh, and our favorite game... Peek-a-Boo.

Ugg Hat

Here's a little something that I made to go with LG's Baby Uggs.

I'm so glad that I had frogged the bootees and reknit them a little smaller.  We have gotten a ton of use out of them.  It's so chilly here in the mornings while walking to school.  Then we try to walk the lagoon a couple of times a week.  Of course, by the time we get back home from our walk, it's warmed up.  Layers people, it's all about the layers around here.

I tried to copy the look of the bootees with the faux fur and a brown "leather" top, all made of cotton.  People do say the bootees look like uggs, the hat doesn't get so many comments.  Of course, LG has usually pulled it off by the time we see anybody.  I love the little flower that I added as an accent. It's a little bulky, but I didn't want to redo it.

I know a shocker with how much I frog things.

We get a ton of compliments on the set.  People always ask right away if I made them.  That's something that I don't get with too many projects, but I love it.

The Determination of a Child

This morning LG was a very determined little girl.  She had her mind set on reading a book in the most comfortable seat in the house.  I just treasured every moment watching her.

She picked out her googley eyed dinosaur book and did the crab walk, taking her book to her big sister's everywhere chair.  She put her book on the chair.  Then she climb up.  Picking up her book and getting ready to read, her butt slowly slid off the edge of the chair and LG found herself on the floor.  She yelled.  She climbed again.

Pulling herself back onto the chair.  LG took a look around, to make sure she was all the way on the chair.  Sat down and once again her butt slid of the chair and she found herself and the book on the floor.  Another yell.

LG was still determined that she was going to read her book in that chair.  Book on chair.. check.  Baby on chair... check.  Butt on chair...  nope.  This time she slid to the floor and rolled over.  BIG yell.

Mommy to the rescue.

I put LG on the chair, facing the proper way so she wouldn't slid off, and gave her the googley eyed dinosaur book.  She happily read... until she wanted the nose book.

LG climbed off the chair and started the entire process over again.  She only had to slid off once before I helped her out again.

Tell you what.  She knew what she wanted to do.  I can't tell you how many times she slid off that chair, but once she was there she read her books for a good fifteen minutes and was happy the whole time.  It was so neat to watch her little mind work.  Trying to problem solve how not to fall off the chair.  Not giving in and reading her books on the blanket. 

Knitting
I've been working on the Wallis Cardigan and getting a lot done.  I've also spent a little time on Ravelry and am trying not to add items to my queue.  There are so many pretty things.  It's tough trying to decide what to knit once I'm done with the sweater.

Da Zoo

Student of the Month
I totally missed my blog post yesterday.  It was crazy busy.  Between school assemblies, two playdates and taking BG out to dinner for getting student of the month, I barely went near a computer.   But yeah BG!

It's nice to know that you can still get student of the month when you play hooky to go to the zoo. 

The Zoo
We did make our way to the zoo on a school day.  My cousins, the ones that were crammed around my coffee table, were in town enjoying a SoCal spring and Disneyland.   They came down to San Diego for a day and we had a fabulous time.  It is so easy to have a great time with this group of monkeys.  The kids were great.  They love to climb on everything.  It's a good thing that there are plenty of animal statues to crawl all over.

Our favorite animal is the brand new panda bear, Yun Zi. It was really tough trying to decide between the baby giraffe and the baby panda.  They are both so darn cute.  And giraffes are a favorite animal around the house.  Then we learned that Yun Zi was born the same day as LG.  Sorry giraffe, panda wins.

Though, I think LG's favorite part was the bus tour.  She loves to look over the side and see everything passing by. 

Nothing beats a day at the zoo.