Yes, we did something crazy. We’ve added another pet to our already chaotic lives. However, it had to be done. The girls get so sad when Lily makes an appearance thinking there are no kids around only to run frantic from them when they try to pet her. Lucy, on the other hand, will tolerate the girls touching her, but that’s all it is: tolerance. The girls absolutely adore Violet, and I think they secretly consider her to be a pet. In my opinion, that poses a big problem. Mike and I love to have pets (remember, we used to have a 2nd cat years ago named Harvey, but he was too aggressive for our soon-to-be-born child…poor Harvey). We’ve always known at some point that the girls would want a pet that they could love on, bond with, and make their own. Every time we visit Petsmart we take a peek at the cats/kittens they have for adoption. The girls always beg us to adopt one of the kitties, but we never give in to them and end up leaving with sad, little girls. I don’t know why we put them and ourselves through that torture, but I guess it’s that we love looking at those darn cats so much.

Mike and I decided now would be a good time because it will not only help take some of the attention away from Violet, but the girls are also at the right age to understand how to behave around a small animal. That’s not to say we won’t have the kitten separated and only allow the girls kitty time during designated and monitored times in the beginning. Ok, rather than ramble on about the why/what/whens, let’s just have a look at this darn kitty.

Meet Sadie. Sadie is a Himalayan (Tortie Point) with blue eyes. As you can see, the girls are over-the-moon. Neither one of them have given Violet a second look since her arrival. Let’s hope it stays that way at least until Violet can fight them off on her own. We chose Sadie because she has such a sweet disposition and doesn’t seem to mind the giggling, screeching, and touchiness of little girls, and Himalayans have a wonderful reputation for being great cats like that (I grew up with them as well).

Another project we’ve got in the works are a couple of bean plants growing inside. Mike wanted me to post a picture to show their status. He tied twine to the curtain rod above to let the beans vine up.

I finally put the finishing touches on Annie’s hat and snapped a couple pictures. She wasn’t pleased with the venue since I made her step outside to take the pics. But her hat is complete, and she’s been wearing it to school. Apparently, her teacher liked it so much that she took a picture, too. I will say I’m not completely satisfied with all the yarns because they are so different from each other in texture and weight. However, I didn’t have enough of the purple to make an entire hat, and that was the color that Annie truly desired.

And I can’t leave you without a glimpse of Violet’s daily doings. She is quite busy these days.

The drive to NC was 18 hours each way. As a way to busy myself I decided to start some new crochet projects. I adored the little earflap hat that I made for Violet, so I chose to make another for her. I think I like this one even better than the last one. I made it on the way down to NC. {I did have a couple of people ask me for the pattern, here it is via ravelry.com: Brrr Baby Beanie Pattern. This time I used a different flower pattern which I thought was much easier and cuter. I didn’t do the last couple of rounds because I thought it would end up overtaking little Violet’s head. Here’s the pattern for it (again from ravelry.com): Frothy Flower Pattern.}

As you can see, Violet isn’t really able to sit up on her own yet. This is what most of the pictures look like, Violet tipping over.

While in NC I decided to make Violet some baby bibs. She’s a drooler, so what better way to help catch all that drool than a crocheted bib. The pattern called for a button to fasten the bib, but I didn’t have access to any buttons down in the tiny town in which we stayed. I decided to crochet a bobble instead. Works like a charm. {Again, the pattern was from ravelry.com which was very easy: So-Simple Baby Bibs.}

The pattern was every quick to make, so I made another bib for Violet on the way home from NC. I used the frothy flower pattern on this one but just made the first couple of rounds to keep the flower small. I think this one may be my favorite.

The girls both requested their own earflap hats, so I couldn’t refuse. I just finished Annie’s hat last night. I’ll post pictures of it tomorrow.

We got a special treat for New Year’s Eve this year. The Smiths, Mike’s sister’s family, stopped by our house on their way home to Florida. They got to spend Christmas with the Minnesota relatives, but their journey home will be quite long. It was decided that they would take a 2-day break at our home. The Smith girls are getting so tall and mature. They are all taller than me now (not that that’s a big record to break) and no longer resemble the little girls I have carved into my memories from our Beaufort, SC days.

The Smiths are a fun group, so we decided it would be amusing to ring in the new year with another white elephant party. They were definitely on board and searched for interesting gifts at Grandma Minnesota’s favorite store called Bethesda Thrift Shop in Hopkins. The Smith girls also got presents to participate which meant more fabulous gifts to exchange. Mike and I shopped for our gifts separately in order to maintain the surprise element. The Johnsons also attended and brought along Seth’s sister’s family. They followed our instructions properly and each provided one gift per adult. There were 11 wonderful presents to open, and everyone could hardly contain their excitement.

I picked #1, and the gift I chose was a Vanilla Ice c.d. and a “Happy Purim” noise maker from Morgan.

Next up was Seth’s brother-in-law, and he received an inflatable, Vikings pennant from Maddie.

Then Seth’s sister received something so useful, an adding machine. Rozzie was the giver of this gift and apparently was coveting it greatly as she stole it back on her turn.

Seth was so thrilled for his gift, a cobra incense burner. Jenni later stole this in hopes of intriguing her students. Mike provided this gem.

Morgan couldn’t have been happier about her “Lunker Lake” board game all about fresh-water fishing. After some other stealing Mike ended up with this and tried to convince us later to play it with him. I believe Seth’s brother-in-law gave the ever popular board game.

Maddie’s gift required a lot of work to discover the final contents. Seth thought he was so clever to use up all the boxes around his home to wrap this up.
Box #1.

Box #2.

Box #3.

Box #4 finally revealed what the gift was to be, the Clapper. The Clapper caused quite a stir and was stolen into to retirement with the final recipient being me.

So Maddie got to open another gift. Oh, the pure joy she expressed after realizing it was a Dale Earnhardt lunch box. What a collector’s item!

But wait, there’s more. It’s look awfully like the winner’s cup after a Nascar race. How appropriate! (This was my contribution.) This combo gift was popular among the fellows and was stolen into retirement with Seth being the final recipient.

As you can see, Seth was quite proud of his “tropy”.

Travis was up next, and he got exactly what he had been wanting for so long, Stitchopoly and a wall hanging reminiscent of something you’d find in the Cracker Barrel General Store. This wonderful combo gift was from Seth’s sister.

Julie received the perfect gift, a 1999 Internet for Dummies desk calendar. And she was just telling me the other day how she really needed help on how to use the internet. Turns out that 1999 and 2009 have the same days. I believe this was Travis’ gift.

Jenni’s turn was next, and she actually got a gift that I think most people wouldn’t have minded, 10 pounds of candy corn in Valentine’s colors. At least I wouldn’t have been disappointed if I had received this delicious gift. Of course, it probably would a little nauseating after eating a few handfuls of that stuff.

And the final gift to be opened was a garlic house given by Jenni. I told Jenni she should have provided some garlic to the recipient to make the gift so aromatic.

Violet was sad that she couldn’t participate and kicked herself in the eye.

I’m pretty sure fun was had by all, and I hope we can continue the tradition next year with another party. Most everyone stuck around for the final minutes of ringing in the new year. Mike has had the urge to rent a keg of root beer for ages, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get one. It provided 90-12 ounce glasses of Pointe Root Beer made right here in Wisconsin. Yum! There was enough root beer to enjoy the next day, too.

It may seem like I’ve given up on blogging, and there were days when I thought the same thing. Life is finally feeling a little normal again, so I think it’s time to get back on the horse. To be honest, all my Christmas pics from our trip in NC were on my laptop, and I was too lazy to unpack the laptop to transfer the pictures to flickr. The deed is done now, and I now I can blog about Christmas.

Our time in NC was relaxing and fun. The weather cooperated all week with sunshine and warmth in the high 50’s most of the week. It was a nice break from the snow/wind/cold. My dad wanted me to search for retirement homes for him one day, so Mike decided that day would be a great opportunity to take the girls on the ferry over to Bald Head Island. They rented a golf cart and toured a couple of lighthouses. The girls had lots of stories to tell and shells to show.

On the ferry.

At the lighthouse.

Can you imagine the excitement these little girls had when they got to ride in the golf cart?

A chilly day on the beach.

The house my dad rented was right on the water. It was gorgeous.

The town was all along the water with a quaint downtown within walking distance of the house. We decided one morning to go for some hot cocoa and muffins down at the local coffee shop. Lucy accompanied us. She was made to wait outside, and looked so pathetic as she stood by.

Mimi and Lucy are great buddies.

My dream is to one day have wrap-around porches like this. I have always loved the southern style homes with their large porches.

My dad came well-equipped with Christmas gear including a tree/lights, decorations, stockings, hats, and other stuff. So we felt at home when it was time to open presents.

The girls awoke at about 4 am to open presents, but we made them wait until at least the sun had risen. Finally, at around 7:00 a.m. everyone was up and ready to open presents.

The girls were not thrilled to pose for this picture when all those gifts were just waiting to get torn open.

We had taken the girls a couple of days before Christmas to pick out presents for each other. Mimi gifted Annie with a jewelry box that has a dancing ballerina inside. And Mimi received a pug puppy in a cute purse. She named her Joey in honor of our friend, Matt’s, pet pug with the same name.

All other presents were overshadowed by long-awaited American Girl dolls, Kit Kittredge and Ruthie Smithens. The girls received a few other AG doll accessories like clothes, pet, vet set, etc. and the Kit Kittredge Movie, but the dolls were the big deal for this Christmas.

Of course, we couldn’t forget about Violet. She got some great clothes from Grandpa and lots of fun rattly toys from her stocking.

The adults got some fun gifts, too. Santa got Grandpa a Starbucks thermos and giftcard and a golf pullover from the local golf course. Mike received more hunting gear and new socks. I got a stick vac and a seasons flag pole. My dad wasn’t thrilled about getting me a vacuum cleaner for Christmas, but I told him that’s this is my life and vacuuming is what occupies my mind these days.

Mike and my dad spent a day golfing and another day fishing. Mike set it up to have a fishing guide take the guys out one day for in-shore fishing. It turned out to be a fairly windy/chilly day for it, but the boys survived and came home with lots o’ fish which now sit filleted in our freezer.

We had a really fun Christmas, and I’m glad we decided to make the trip down south. It actually reminded me a lot of my Christmas’ from my youth where we’d usually spend the holidays down in Florida.

Just a quick drop-in to say we’re having a fun time down here in NC. We did encounter some major delays on our travels here as the weather was horrific on our original path, and a rock slide in Asheville forced us to take yet another route. We made it safely though, and we’re enjoying the warmish and sunny weather.

I haven’t even gotten around to wrapping presents yet, so this video makes feel really behind.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afreOsPe83M&feature=fvw

I hope everyone is enjoying time with family and friends and having the most lovely Christmas.

It occurred to me the other day that Violet didn’t have a winter hat to keep her bald head warm during the frigid days. I decided I could help her out and crocheted her an earflap hat one evening. I was surprised at how quickly it was to make, so now I want to make a dozen more. Have I? Of course, not. If you haven’t noticed, but I’ve been a teensy bit swamped around here lately. Time on the computer has been minimal these days. Enough complaining. Instead take a look at Violet in her new hat. Love it!

Despite the hectic times around here we did manage to make up several different batches of cookies to take to some church members. The girls had fun, but Mimi got fired from her frosting job after getting caught licking on the job.

And lastly, forget Nascar!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8uLcsri9Qw

This will be my last blog post for about a week (maybe since there may or may not be internet access where we’re going) since we’ll be heading south to NC. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

My friend, Julie, posted her top 10 favorite Christmas songs on her blog yesterday. I don’t plan to do the same, but I was struck by her #1 pick which is “O Holy Night”. This song also tops my favorites list of Christmas songs. As a matter of fact, one of the songs currently getting replayed on my iPod is “O Holy Night” as performed by Sufjan Stevens. Have a listen for yourself. Wait, I added a couple of other songs to the list (couldn’t resist). Another favorite this Christmas season is “Winter Wonderland” by Goldfrapp. And an all-time, fun favorite is “I Want A Hippopatumus For Christmas” by Gayla Peavey. Enjoy! E.T.A.: I’ve added “Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!)” by Sufjan Stevens because Julie requested it after I mentioned it to her.

The sick bug has struck Annie again (and probably the rest of us soon) with coughing and wheezing. I noticed her incessant coughing and wheezing the night before last and started her on the breathing treatments the doctor prescribed to her. I thought she was fine to go to school yesterday, but her school decided otherwise and sent her home. We did round the clock breathing treatments all day yesterday, and by bedtime I noticed her coughing had subsided and her wheezing is much less pronounced now. She’s back at school today, and I’ve got my fingers crossed that she won’t get kicked out again.

This picture was actually taken from the last time she was sick, but you get the idea of what she did all day yesterday.

In other news, our church ward had it’s annual Christmas party. This year it was decided that we’d have a brunch. My mom came along with us, and I think everyone had a great time.

I couldn’t help but get the girls dressed up in their Christmas dresses.

You know that I couldn’t resist putting Violet in this little Santa dress.

My mom was the designated babysitter for the day since I had to assist with all the activities for the brunch. Thanks, Mom!

I called on Julie and Seth to volunteer as Mary and Joseph. Well, Julie has the Mary “look” and Seth has been bearding it, so they really were the perfect fit. They thought otherwise but were willing to do it anyway. We had a hilarious time getting them dressed up for the their moment on stage. {Does anyone (ahem, Sara) noticed anything in particular on Seth’s head? I couldn’t resist.} The original plan was for Violet to play baby Jesus but because I had a bad feeling about it instead I brought along a dolly to use. That bad feeling turned out to be a good thing because about halfway through the program Violet had a violent blowout. Seth and Julie said they about laughed out loud on the stage when they saw Violet being escorted naked by my mom back into the cultural hall (I didn’t think to give her the extra change of clothes).

The girls got to visit with Santa. They were very excited to finally tell him in person all the American Girl stuff they hope to get.

Violet also get her chance with Santa. She had lots to say. Notice the new pants Violet is wearing thanks to her blowout earlier.

Of course, I had to get a picture of all the girls with Santa. So cute!

It was a really fun day, and I’m glad my mom also got the chance to come.

In an attempt to transfer my domain (that’s website address for all you laymen) to a new company to save a whopping $6 per year, I made the mistake of waiting a bit too long to make the transfer and lost my website for a couple of days. Sorry about that. The website should now be available for viewing from now on and forever and ever. I cross my heart.

I know I’ve been remiss in updating the website for the past couple of weeks. To say that I’ve been a bit overwhelmed is an understatement. The week PRIOR to Thanksgiving Mike was out of town for his annual hunting extravaganza in SD, and I also had to travel with the girls alone to Minnesota for the week of Thanksgiving. Preparing and packing for the trip ate up much of the week while Mike was gone along with all the other daily grind. During the week OF Thanksgiving I had VERY limited internet access, as in my mother-in-law has dial-up access with which I didn’t want to bother. Of course, the week AFTER Thanksgiving was full of unpacking and getting back into the groove of things.

Much has happened these past few weeks, and I do plan to report on everything I can think of. I’ll have to spread it out over a few days though because I don’t want to overwhelm anyone so that you don’t feel the way I have.

I’ll start with our trip to Minnesota. I was awful about taking pictures the whole time. When I saw Sara, Mike’s sister, taking so many pictures, I think I thought in the back of my mind that I could just steal her pictures:) Speaking of Sara, we had our annual day of crafting. Jessie, one of Mike’s other sisters, joined in on the fun, too. We did something different this year. It was requested by Jessie that we do Halloween crafts, and we decided that each of us would find a craft to make and bring enough supplies for each person to make it. So we each ended up with 3 Halloween decorations to take home. It was an awesome day, and I hope we get to do it each year from here on out. Here’s what Sara had to say about it (yes, I’m copying/pasting everything from her post because I’m lazy):

I got to play with some friends today (one friend related by marriage and the other by blood). Both of these friends brought other friends along with them for playdates with friends of mine that I keep in the house. Mike’s Jen came with Mimi and Violet and Jessie came with Bon. Mimi played with Fake Child and Bon played with my kids.

Mimi hugs her foot
Jenny is SO EXCITED to be here
So Jen was sitting on my couch and fingering an afghan sent to me by a different Jen. Something poked her. She found this many pins in the afghan. And this is in addition to the four I found previously. Jenni in Florida: that old lady must be wondering what happened to all her pins.
Here Violet demonstrates the proper rolling-over technique
Jessie and Jen get started. Each of us picked a Halloween (yes, Halloween) craft for which we bought the supplies for three sets. Jen did countdown blocks, Jessie did a Halloween advent calendar on a cookie sheet and I did a framed piece spelling out “boo.” You’ll see the finished results in a little bit.
Jessie is happy to be here.
I stole the baby
Hayley and her cousins. I LOVE Mimi’s expression!
Mimi and Fake Child play in a box
The boys play Wii with Bon. Side note: I forgot to tell the kids that I was having a craft day so when the kids came home from school I had to make introductions. I forgot to introduce Paul to Bon, so a few minutes later, Paul came upstairs and said, “Who’s that guy downstairs?” I had to laugh because the poor kid probably thought I was going crazy and letting strangers hang out in the basement.
OK, here’s what we did. This is my craft.
This was Jen’s craft, the countdown blocks
And Jessie’s craft. Notice the “october” at the top. The letters are glittery black, which doesn’t show up well in the picture. And the orange thing at the bottom is the day marker. It’s a magnet you move from one day to the next in the countdown to Halloween. We ate Chinese for lunch and pizza for dinner. Good times! And good company! And fun crafts!

While in Minnesota we did lots of fun stuff in addition to the day of crafting and the Thanksgiving feast. We met up with some friends, the Mortons, that moved from Kenosha to the Twin Cities. I felt they needed to see the Wild Rumpus, so we ate lunch and then headed over to there. They loved it, and I’m so glad! Sara and I went and saw New Moon one night, and we had ourselves a lot of MST3K moments. Mike and I saw The Road the next night, and I have been depressed since.

On our last day in Minnesota Jake and Steph invited us to see Hansel and Gretel at the Old Log Theater. The girls were in utter awe from start to finish. They were so excited to get a picture with Hansel and Gretel afterward, but only Annie was brave enough to pose with the mean, old witch.

An another important event that occurred, Annie lost her first tooth! Up until this point she was so jealous of all her toothless friends at school/church and would ask daily if she had any loose teeth. At her dentist appointment a couple of weeks ago, the hygienist noticed a loose tooth, and we had been counting down the days ever since until the big moment. Annie was beyond ecstatic when it finally fell out (I was deaf for a few days after her hearing her squeals of joy). Mike was the one who yanked it out without Annie even realizing it. It’s a good thing it finally happened because Annie’s already got 2 teeth coming in behind those bottom teeth.

One more exciting milestone transpired. This time it was Violet. She rolled over from her tummy to her back. It happened the first night we arrived in Minnesota. I had her on a blanket, and she was bound and determined to do it. The fun part was that we were eating dinner during the event and got to watch the whole show. So cute! Violet rolled over dozens more times while we were there, but she hasn’t been too interested in doing it since we’ve been home.

Ok, I think I’ll stop there for now. Tomorrow I’ll post about our Christmas brunch that we had at church on Saturday and a couple of other things. There I can finally breathe now that I know that I’ve posted again.