Catching Up

Well, Fall is certainly chugging along, isn't it? This year we did something out of the ordinary, and instead of me making Halloween costumes ON Halloween, we PURCHASED Halloween costumes LAST WEEK. Whoa! I am not just timely, I'm ahead of schedule! This is quite an extraordinary event.

The girls want to be princesses this year. But so far, since buying the two princess dresses we saw at TJ Maxx, they've changed their minds to be gnomes, ghosts, witches and wolves. At least I know that if the princess dresses don't get worn on Halloween, they will most definitely be worn daily for years to come. It was really one of the safest purchases I've ever made.

Here's a big Elka face for you:

I think she's cute. She loves a bath more than anything. I still bathe her beside the sink and put her in long-sleeved onesies with the mitts for their hands because I like to pretend she's still a newborn, even though, clearly, she's not.

My birthday was great! I'm twenty-nine now, and I still don't have my nose pierced, though I do have the new Mumford & Sons album, and I do listen to it all the time. We didn't do anything super huge, just had a really nice day at home. Actually, I spent the morning with my sister and her girls and Elka, at a kids consignment sale and then eating lunch at Arni's, and during that time Martin and the big girls had a lot of fun preparing for my special day. They took the trolley to the flower store, wrapped all my gifts and drew pictures on the paper, and later on in the evening they even made a cake! I am a lucky mama.

I recently finished a sweater for Anja, and here it is, when I'd only gotten one clasp sewn on:

 It fits her pretty well and it looks better with all four clasps sewn on, as they are now. I took these pictures the other night. When we were getting ready to go for this trike ride, Anja asked Martin if it was chilly outside, and was hoping it was so she could wear her sweater!! My heart! My heart! And speaking of hearts:

I knit up this little heart and sewed it to the back... very crookedly.... to make it a little bit special for her. The heart looks a lot better when you see it as the sweater is wadded up and tossed on a chair or in a corner... you know, when you can't tell how ridiculously off center it is.

I ordered some yarn last night from Juniper Moon Farms! I'm hoping to dye it a nice earthy shade and make a pebble vest (I've got pebble vests coming out my ears) for Elka. I LOVE THESE VESTS. And I don't really have them coming out my ears.... I've got one half finished that I cannot find another skein of yarn for, I've got one that fits Elka that Greta likes to wear, I'm casting on one tonight and I don't know who it will fit, and my sister is making one *for her new baby* (!!!!!) and I have promised Greta that I'll make one in a soft, bulky yarn for her. I love them though because they are the perfect extra layer for small people who scream when their sleeves get wet during hand washing.

Yeah, did you catch that fun little announcement? Pretty exciting!! They are due right on that line between April and May. Spring babies are the best. No, Summer babies are the best... but late spring would be good too.

Another announcement: Martin is going to be starting grad school in January. He's getting a masters in library science.... so, I supposed someday I'll be married to a librarian. Funnily, he was a highschool librarian when we were dating. That was the best job ever--we went out to breakfast every day! Man, I hope a real librarian job is that good! Can you imagine having a job where you didn't have to get there until 10 or 11 in the morning? And he got off at 3:05!! Of course, in those days I worked until 5:30... but still. Breakfast every morning, then we'd walk to Vienna every night... it's no wonder it took him so long to save up for that engagement ring! Those were fun days.

Speaking of saving up... while I was standing at the cash register at the yarn store today, trying not to cry, I thought it might be a good time for me to get a job. You know, to have some money of my own (or at all) to feed this terrible yarn addiction I have. When does a "hobby" become a "bad habit?" When you notice you can get away with knitting things in smaller sizes for your kids because they are wasting away, since you're spending all your grocery money on yarn? Cause I might be getting close to that point. (kidding. My kids are in no danger of starvation, I promise.) But still... I bought yarn to cast on another sweater for me and while I value handmade things and think that it's important for everyone to have a hobby, especially a productive one... I just sometimes wish my first hobby was gardening and genetic engineering so I could grow the planet's first money tree. Because you know what, even if my money tree produced only one dollar, I'd still be set for life with a patent on something like that!

Too bad I'm so darn bad at math and science. Oh well, maybe in my next life.