Knitting Update

I got a lot of knitting done this week but not one project finished. I've become a hoarder of almost done projects. So sad. My job for this week is to finish everything that has been started before casting on anything new. This includes Garrett's stocking.

Gaia II longies for Finn - 95% done - needs a drawstring
Birthday Boy Soaker for Finn - 95% done - needs a drawstring
Something for Abbie - will be casting on later this week...haven't made it to Halcyon yet for trim yarn
Garrett's Stocking - 45% done, almost 10" long now...need to finish this up this week
Jacobs Ladder Hat for Ben - 90% done - just needs tassels
Jacobs Ladder Mittens for Ben - 50% done - one done, one to go
Jacobs Ladder longies for Finn
Christmas/Winter longies for Garrett
Snowman longies for Finn
Extra Mittens
Levi longies for Finn
Birthday Boy hat for Finn
Emerald Sheepy Sack for Finn
Yellow Purewool w/Woodland In Spring heart/drawstring for Finn
Blanket for Shaun
Dragons Lair shorties for Garrett

Ben's hat and one mitten:

Finn's Birthday Boy Soaker (back)

Thoughts of the day....

<3 Getting up at 5am sucks. It's still dark out even with daylight savings time.

<3 Draining a can of tuna packed in oil is disgusting. We always buy the packed in water kind but apparently two cans of packed in oil were grabbed by accident. Instead of a fish water spot on my shirt I now have an oily fish spot on my shirt. Lovely.

<3 If you buy your children a box of 50 munchkins from Dunkin Donuts, a gallon of chocolate milk and let them pick which cereal bars they want "You are the BEST MOM EVER!" according to a 7yo.

<3 Redbox is the best invention ever...and the fact that Wallgreens has one outside completely made my day today.

Knitting Update

Gaia II longies for Finn - 95% done
Something for Abbie - will be casting on later this week
Garrett's Stocking - 45% done, almost 10" long now
Jacobs Ladder Hat for Ben - 10% done
Jacobs Ladder longies for Finn
Christmas/Winter longies for Garrett
Snowman longies for Finn
Extra Mittens
Levi longies for Finn
Birthday Boy soaker for Finn
Birthday Boy hat for Finn
Emerald Sheepy Sack for Finn
Yellow Purewool w/Woodland In Spring heart/drawstring for Finn
Blanket for Shaun
Dragons Lair shorties for Garrett

Gaia II - need to weave in the ends, add a drawstring, wash & block


Stocking - making progress

Christmas Ornament 2009

Every year we buy an ornament from a small shop in Bar Harbor when we visit in October. This year we didn't go to Bar Harbor so I ordered one from their website ( http://www.christmasspiritshop.com/ ) and it arrived today.

Sunday with The Riley's

Mama and four of her five boys...Billy, Ben, Logan, and in the belly (33wks 4 days) Declan Finn




Daddy




The burn pile




Grandpa Longley and Winnie




Maple tree in the backyard..flagged so it doesn't get cut

Knitting - To Do List

To keep myself on track and accountable I'm going to post a weekly list of what I have ahead of me to knit. I'll post work-in-progress pics as I go and finished object pics with each weeks list.

Gaia II longies for Finn - 50% done
Something for Abbie - will be casting on later this week
Garrett's Stocking - 45% done, almost 10" long now
Jacobs Ladder Hat for Ben
Jacobs Ladder longies for Finn
Christmas/Winter longies for Garrett
Snowman longies for Finn
Extra Mittens
Levi longies for Finn
Birthday Boy soaker for Finn
Birthday Boy hat for Finn
Emerald Sheepy Sack for Finn
Yellow Purewool w/Woodland In Spring heart/drawstring for Finn
Blanket for Shaun
Dragons Lair shorties for Garrett

My finished objects from this week....

Finn's Bananafish Longies



Finn's Earth Soaker

A dream come true!

I will be posting updates as we go....we're going to be building (well ordering...we want to do a modular to speed up the process) our dream home.

Shaun, my father and grandfather have been hard at work cutting trees so we can get the road in and the real site work (septic/foundation) can begin. It's going to be a long road but one we've been praying for and dreaming about for a long time (10 years).

The soil testing was done yesterday and where we wanted to put the septic is exactly the spot that will work for it. Yay!!

No post is complete without pictures...these were taken a couple weeks ago.

Ben's Hat Update

Oh the horror!! I was 8 rows from being finished when I realized it was just way too big. *cry* So I had to rip it out and will be re-casting it on soon.

Here's a before frogging pic....




and after...

Eight years....

Eight years ago today we met and said goodbye to our little boy Gabriel. The pain of loosing him has lessened as time has gone by....but the enormity of his loss is still very real.

A Work In Progress - Ben's Hat

101_0037, originally uploaded by Laurel Love.

I started this hat last night. It's for Ben, to match his new LL Bean coat.
Yarn is Jacobs Ladder by Mosaic Moon (on Cestari).

It's time to start blogging again.

I lost the habit of blogging and didn't miss it until I recently clicked the link to it by accident in my favorites list and realized how much I missed going back and reading about what we had done.

Updates...

Well I guess the biggest thing to update is that we are going to be having another family member very soon! I'm 30wks 6 days pregnant with a little boy. The pregnancy was a shock as we had talked about having "just one more..." but had decided to wait until Ben was in Kindergarten. Apparently our timeline wasn't what someone else had in mind. So Declan Finn Riley will be joining our family on or around January 12th, 2010.

The boys are doing fantastic. Billy and Logan are thriving at Woolwich Central School and we got glowing reviews of how their year is going at their recent parent teacher conferences. Of course we know they are brilliant and well behaved but to hear it from others is extra special.

Ben and Garrett are doing well too. Both are still into everything and high energy little guys. We've had to put poison control on speed dial thanks to Ben. First it was a bottle of Tums...then a bottle of chewable Tylenol. Apparently childproof does not mean Ben proof. Both resulted in a bit of diarrhea but otherwise he is fine. (Thank God!!). Garrett is growing so big and really starting to talk a lot more now that he's almost two. We just had his sweet baby curls cut off last week and I miss them dearly but love his new big boy look. He reminds me so much of Billy at this age.

Shaun...well nothing has changed there. Still a great daddy and hubby...and still working his butt off.

Me...I'm still a stay at home mom. Laurel Love Boutique is still going but I am stocking more knitting these days as I am without a sewing machine. I hope to be back and running with bibs and all next Spring, after I have time to snuggle and love on our new little love.