starting on my christmas knitting for family

I am getting ready to start my knitting for the family for Christmas



I think I am going to do some cute dishcloths to match kitchens for some.
a few pairs of longies for Harrison.
a doll or animal for the kids



But the most exciting project of all is for my dear brothers - inlaw

the pattern is originally to make a blanket, but I am going to do hats instead.

I think it is great that they will have Obama's sign of hope to share with everyone around them..........
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gotcha peter and james!

a catch up post

I can't believe how busy I have been!

First off-new recipe to review.

Spicy Thai Jasmine Rice from Vegan Planet
This was a GREAT meal! Shawn took his first bite and said HECK YEAH! It was flavorful enough to satisfy him, but not so spicy that me and the kids could not eat it. Even Harrison chowed down on it!
We give this one a 10 and will definitely eat it again!

The boys are gone right now. They are in California with my dad. It has been very weird without them home. They will be gone a total of 2 weeks.

I am just busy getting all my stuff ready for school. I am starting again in August, but doing it from home so I can still be with the kids. I am pretty excited to finish my degree.

I have been busy sewing for our local stash game. I won't post it all here, but you can check it out at my crafty blog..I don't keep it as updated, but I try! LOL

Off for a week!

for the anual family vacation.

when we get back, then it will be time for birthday season to start. Isabella will be 4 this month and Kaitlyn will be 11!

Then July is Noah who will be 10

August-Alexis will be 6!

September , I will have a teenager...Conner will be 13

October, Hannah will be 8 and ready for baptism.

November, Harrison will be 1 *sniff*

sigh, it goes by so fast.

See ya next week!

Busy Busy

ok, first off, review of the dinner last night.

Vegan Succotash was a HUGE success! I was really surprised at how good it turned out. It was full of great veggies, the house smelled sooo good and the seasoning was just light enough to not burn your tongue, but still flavorful enough to really enjoy it.

I would recommend it any day.

Things are rocking busy here. I whipped up a bunch of skirts for the girls today and started making my new knitting bag. I already completed my new knitting needle roll for my knitpicks options needles and am really liking it. Will post pictures later

Here is the new quilt I made for Harrison. I am so in love with it. 10 appliques, a gazillion squares and rectangles and a lovely tribute to nature



]a new purse-the lotus bag


and some lovely bamboo velour that I dyed that will be going into Harrison's goldfish quilt for his bedroom

Men are so stubborn

You know, I think they sometimes just don't have a clue! LOL
Shawn is like a little boy in the store sometimes. He just wants to get everything, and of course-I have to be the voice of reason aka..the mean one. This is how our last few weeks have gone:
"lets get XYZ"
"no, we have to save our money for vacation"
hours later....
"lets go get this"
"uh, no...we still have to save our money for vacation"
LOL-geez...and then, he is sick (as we all are) and probably has an ear infection. I think he should be seen as he is in so much pain. But he refuses to spend the money to do that.

I don't get it! He will spend money on frivilous stuff but not a necessary item like doctors visit and medication.

hmmm-men are really weird! LOL
and maybe he will read my blog today and see how serious I am about him getting checked *wink*

So the kids are out of school. They all did so good. Straight-A's for Conner, Kaitlyn and Noah. Hannah met all her benchmarks (which is the equivalent of an A) and Alexis passed everything. She had her kindergarten graduation last week and we were very surprised to run into some old friends from our old ward in Boise..the Farnsworth's. That was nice as we had not seen them in about 4-5 years!

With the summer here and the busy nature of what we will be doing-I of course have decided to take on even more here at home and with the business! LOL will I never learn?

Due to the economy and the rise in gas and grocery prices, we will not be going anywhere that is not necessary. To fill the van with gas gives me a panic attack! And I cannot believe how our grocery bill has increased just since January. At least 30%! So in order to fight this we are changing again our meal plans, taking out more meat and doing even more healthy eating with whole grains etc.
My goal is to try 2 new recipes a week. I went through all my vegetarian and vegan cookbooks and make a notebook cataloging which recipes we would like to try so that when it comes time to make a meal plan for the week, I can just pull out the book and choose a few instead of having to sit down and go through ALL my cookbooks. I think this will save us a lot of time, and I plan on reviewing the recipes out here on my blog.

So tonight is Vegan Succotash from The Voluptous Vegan. I will let you know how it is later :)

I also am going to learn to make yogurt! I don't like the kids eating the store brands because they are SOO full of sugar that they are really not all that healthy. So I am on a mission - along with my friend Jessica - to make our own yogurt!

ok-I haven't been as busy knitting as my local parenting group is doing a fabric stash game...basic idea is sew as much as you can from your fabric stash--and don't buy any more fabric! I have made a few great things already including a gorgeous nature quilt for Harrison. I will share pictures later.

But before I go...here is Harrison's latest picture.

the kid is starting to crawl forward and can get himself into a sitting position on his own. Where did my baby go?

on his knees, ready to go


just saying HI!