A day with Grandma

Okay, it really was a long weekend, but I realized I only took pictures on Saturday so here's a recap of a very busy day with Grandma.
Saturday morning Penelope was ecstatic with the videos and games on Grandma's Iphone. A few more days and we may have needed to do some sort of iphone rehab.
Shopping was on Grandma's to-do list so we went to the Mall of America. Penelope got to pick out her own Bitty Baby at the American Girl Store. We asked her if she wanted a baby with hair or without hair. Penelope said "no hair!" Love a girl who is decisive when shopping.

She got the signature red bag! There was a little bit of me that became complete. When I was in the 5th grade my friend Kristen introduced me to American Girl dolls. Then it was just the 5 or 6 historical dolls. I don't think they had the Bitty Babies yet. I knew there was no way my mom would buy me such an expensive doll, but I'd page through the magazine and dream of owning Samantha or Felicity. I can't blame my mom. We didn't really take care of our toys. Our Barbies hair was cut, dyed, clothes "refashioned," & at one point we used our Barbies as targets with my brother's archery set. Anyways, it was fun to watch Penelope in the American Girl store and she has been in love with her baby since we brought her home.

We did one ride at MOA. Chris stood in line for over a half hour to get on it. That place was a madhouse!
Then in the evening I dragged the crew to volunteer in the Children's Neurology Foundation Gala. Jackie Lee was on the event team. The theme was Mardi Gras. I know, kind of an odd theme for a bunch of kids to be in a parade when you think of the New Orleans parades, but it was cute. We were told to dress the kids in fun outfits. Every single little girl showed up in a tutu.
The four of us before the parade.
Daddy and Penny
Me and Jackie Lee. I found out if you organize the event you don't have to go on stage. I didn't get any other photos of it so I hope someone else did.

Sunday we got 20 inches of snow so it was more of a "practice potty" day than anything else. Than Monday Penelope got a day just with Grandma. They played in the snow (I'll post a video she took on youtube) , did arts and crafts, and lots of puzzles and books.

On Tuesday when I picked Penelope up from day care, she said "Grandma at home?" Isn't that sweet?

Tonight sleeping with Baby. What a great weekend!

Chance Encounters

Can I just say I love my commute? An 11 minute walk (or a 2 minute drive with Chris and Penny as they head off to daycare...hey, don't judge, the sidewalks are blankets of ice right now!), a 10 minute bus ride and I'm at work. In the evening if it is over 15 degrees, I'll take the bus to the light rail and then walk to Penelope's day care. Then we walk a couple of blocks to catch the bus. It is like toddler heaven. She LOVES riding the bus, and then it drops us off right in front of her favorite playground. Today we took the bus from daycare to the library and walked home. It was a beautiful night with a full moon. What an improvement over a 30-45 minute drive in traffic!

One of my favorite parts about riding the bus is seeing people run into others they know or seeing the same people on the bus every day and giving a nod and a smile. There are 3 other people who usually wait with me at my bus stop. They all have limited English, but we can complain about the cold and the bus being late. The other day I got on the bus and lo and behold there was my coworker who sits in the cube next to me. Not that I should be surprised. We both ride the bus and live in the same direction it was bound to happen. But it did remind me of my best public transportation story...(screen gets wavy as flashback starts)

We were living in Rye NY for about 3 years. I didn't go into the city too often, maybe ever 2-3 months, so it was a treat when I decided to go with a coworker to see Wicked. It was some odd night like a Tuesday. Since it was cold we decided to take the shuttle from grand central to times square. As we were waiting, she said "there's a guy yelling your name and waving" It took me a second to see who she was pointing to. Then I saw my friend Sean and started yelling and ran to give him a huge hug. I think we embarrassed the people we were with just a tad. Here's the amazing thing. Sean and I had been really good friends in high school when I lived in AZ, but I hadn't seen him for probably 8 years. I had heard through the grapevine he was moving to NY, but these were the olden days (2005) before facebook and myspace, or at least before I had joined and reconnected with everyone I've known since preschool. Turns out he had moved to NY the week before and was on his way to see Jersey Boys. What are the chances to both be in the Grand Central Square subway station at that exact moment. I think back to high school and how we would talk for hours about teenage issues that seemed so dire. Yet I guess we turned out okay. I mean there we were running into each other in the big apple both off to see Broadway shows. It still makes me smile, especially when I see people who obviously haven't seen each other in a long time have a chance encounter. I guess I'm cheesy...and yes, It's a Small World is my favorite Disney ride.

A hobby or an obsession?

Remember how after knitting my first two hats a few months ago I wasn't sure if I'd stay with knitting? Well, I stuck with it...maybe a little too much! I haven't been posting pics since most of the projects were christmas presents and then tons of baby presents. Now that I've sent all of them, I'll share them here. Thank goodness for lots of pregnant friends. I love making the baby things!

Thanks to Youtube I haven't found it too difficult to learn to knit. I come across an abbreviation in a pattern and watch a video of how to do it. I get my patterns primarily from raverly.com and library books. I also some how found a new trait unknown to me...patience. I can't tell you how many of these projects I knitted for hours and then ripped out to start over. It frustrated the heck out of Chris to see me frogging (undo all the way to the beginning), but very rarely did I get upset. My coworker said I am the fastest and most independent student she's ever had...very proud to get that status from her since I've NEVER been crafty and before now never enjoyed anything close to crafty.

So here are my projects:

Slippers for my mom. This was my second project. Although they were easy, I made plenty of mistakes. On ravelry.com I named them "slippers only a mother could love"
A hat for Dylan. I think I probably decreased too early. Penelope's hat falls over her eyes and this one probably barely touches Dylan's ears.
Hats for Chris's cousins Grant (7) and Evan (4)
I made something for me! This is my kindle cover. See that pattern in the middle? that's a cable. I love cables, the look of them, knitting them, everything about them.
Hats for my brother and Jenn. Jenn's hat is from the popular book Stich n' bitch. The original pattern calls for kitty ears or devil horns knitted on top. I opted out of those.
Sorry for the blurry picture. This is supposedly a newborn hat, but I think it will be big. It is for my friend Nikki's little girl, due to be born by the end of the year.

The matching sweater. You can see the sleeves look different. Not sure what I did, but I think one sleeve is backwards. That's what makes it homemade out of love, right? I hope the sleeves look like little cap sleeves over a long sleeve onesie and not like a cut-off t-shirt. She's an Arizona baby. I couldn't do long sleeves. Even with short sleeves it will be quite warm. I told myself "I'm sure they go into places with really cold air conditioning"
This is the sweater I'm the most proud of and was a ton of fun to do. It is for my book club friend, also due soon!
If you like cables this is the hat for you! I ran out of yarn so that's why there's the little brown top, but I got a cute little blue and brown outfit to go with it for my soon-to-be-born nephew. (I told you I know lots of pregnant people right now!)
Here's the sweater and hat combo together.
Basic newborn hat. I was afraid it was going to be a titch small, but little Adam was born 6 weeks early. It probably is too big right now!
This was the first sweater I made. Also for Adam. I bet it will be another 6 weeks before it fits. That's okay. It will still be freezing here (grrr!)
And finally a little hat to go with the sweater. See, I really do love cables! Now I'm making cable creatures!

And Along Came A Smile

Brittania, a friend from high school, recently opened up an etsy shop. She just has a few items right now, mainly for little girls. I love them. I've always loved Brittania's style. She and her husband wore black and white converse (you know, the original kind) on their wedding day. Beautiful wedding dress, fantastic hair and the surprise converse shoes. Although, it didn't surprise me at all when I saw the pictures. That's totally Brittania. Well, anyways, I bought Penelope a flower barrette for Valentines Day and went ahead and bought myself a headband.

This is very similar to one I almost bought a few weeks ago at I Like You (local Mpls store) so I was giddy to see this in Brittania's store:

Don't mind the odd angle and weird look. Chris said he was cleaning the kitchen and couldn't be bothered to take my picture right at that moment. geez...

Me and Penelope...I'll take a better picture of the flower on Valentines day.

If you want to check out Brittania's store go to http://www.etsy.com/shop/andalongcameasmile

Going shopping

Not too much to this post except cute pictures from last saturday.

Chris let me sleep in...ahh...8:00 it's such a normal time to get up. I wish Penelope would agree. By the time I got up Chris had her dressed and ready for our grocery shopping trip.. I told Chris she fit in our neighborhood in this outfit. I'd define the style as trendy in the granola way.

I love her smile. Not sure why her hair looks blond. It is pretty brown.

Yes, I did it. I let her push one of those mini shopping carts. I don't think she hit anyone's shins.
Always good manners to put the cart back correctly.

The magic word

Penelope is a master at saying "neese" when she wants something. Now it has become clear to me why this is a "magic" word. She tries to apply logic like at 4 am waking up mommy and saying "elmo on weevee?" After I say no, she says "elmo on weevee, neese?" That should work, right? Under the rules of please, she learned she can say please and get what she wants. Yet I still say no! I can see those little cogs spinning as she tries to fit this in her little life guidebook. Please isn't logical. She can't figure out why it works sometimes and not others, especially those times she really really wants it to work! This is the true reason why "neese" is called the magic word!

Under a snow drift?

No, I have not been buried, although with 58 inches of snow this winter it is totally possible that could have happened! I changed jobs 2 weeks ago. I'm now the annual giving manager for a group of local hospitals. It is challenging and a big step, but has all sorts of opportunities that I'm very excited. Oh, and did I mention it is 1.9 miles from our house? I've been taking the bus, even took Penelope to day care via bus and metro one day. Once it warms up I'll be hitting the greenway with my bike and Penelope in the burley! I do have to travel to each of the hospital foundations. I think 2 hours is the longest travel time, but I can schedule it on my own time so no rush hour! Woo hoo!

I'll try to be more consistent with blogging. I keep writing blogs in my head, and then fall asleep. You know that "first two weeks on a new job" brain dead feeling, right? I feel like I can't cram anything else in my mind, but in a good way.