... But my mother-in-law does. I am in awe of her and anyone who has the required patience and skill. I suppose one of these days I should try and learn. Until then, I will continue to thank my lucky stars that my kids get to wear snuggly handknits all winter long, no thanks to me. :)
I am always amazed by the things my kids will think up to do if I don't tell them what to do.
This afternoon, The Princess made some paper aircraft ("Hoopsters") and she and Superman have been teaming up to fly them from the top of the stairs.
They came up with an interesting solution for getting the paper airplanes back up to the landing.
Yep, sometimes the greatest creativity is revealed when the grown-ups just stay out of the way.
Maybe I was inspired by all that comfortable nothingness. This year, we decided instead of taking the kids out for New Year's Eve, we would have our own celebration at home. The kids had a great time, and I think we created some wonderful memories for them. Maybe this is the start of a new tradition!
Things got started early in the morning, as The Princess helped me prepare some sugar cookie dough. Our favorite recipe is the one in Betty Crocker's Ultimate Cookie Book.
We put the dough in the fridge to chill for a few hours, and it was time to make the invitations. While The Princess worked on these, I blew up 72 balloons. More on that later.
At the appointed hour, we began the party by baking sparkling cookies. We took our chilled cookie dough and rolled it into walnut-sized balls. I set out plates of sparkling sugar, and the kids had fun rolling the dough in the sugar and putting it back on the cookie sheets.
We baked them at 375 for 10 minutes, and they turned out like this:
Next, it was time for the violin performance. Radar and The Princess teamed up to plan a concert.
After that, we played some Just Dance. and then it was time for dinner. We had tacos by candlelight (because everyone in my family will eat tacos).
And then, to ring in the New Year (at 6 p.m.), we had a balloon drop! We took the 72 balloons I had blown up earlier and put them into a sheet... which is harder than you might think.
The Bossman and I stood at the top of the stairs and the kids were at the bottom. The kids counted down and we let the balloons go! I didn't get any pictures of the balloons in flight; it was too complicated to do the balloon drop and hold the camera. I did get some shots of the aftermath though.
Yes, a great time was had by all, and I think we welcomed 2011 in great style. I hope you had a Happy New Year too!
This Friday I am inspired to play along with SouleMama's "this moment" theme. Happy New Year!
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
This week, I have been spending an inordinate (and perhaps inappropriate) amount of time doing ... Nothing.
Now that it is after Christmas but before the resumption of school and all the activities, the rhythm of my days has had a nice simplicity to it. I get up, make breakfast, get the kids started on something fun, and settle into my favorite chair by the fire.
Oh yes, the chair. It's not much to look at. In fact, I am fairly certain some of my friends consider it an eyesore. It is a circa 1998 genuine swiveling, rocking La-Z-Boy recliner. It has no style whatsoever and it is worn and stained. But you know what? This chair has memories. I spent many a late night in this chair nursing my babies back to sleep, and I still spend many an afternoon snuggled in it with a child or two or three, reading stories.
So... Here I sit. I know reality will very soon interfere with all this nothingness, but I'm just going to enjoy it while it lasts.
Oh, yeah. The sewing.
As previously stated, I've been in a bit of a sewing slump. But I'm trying to break out of it and start stocking my Etsy shop again. I did get hit with a little inspiration recently with some small bits of adorable Japanese wovens in my stash. The Japanese word for "cute" is "Kawaii", and that is definitely what these bibs are! These infant bibs will find their way into my shop sometime in January, either at Etsy or Universal Mama. Details to follow. Thanks for looking!
I have started running again. It's been a few months now, and I am hooked. I hope I never let go this time. I have embraced my designated running days and have not let ANYTHING intervene. I have run while sick, in the dark at 5:00 a.m., and in the freezing cold (one day the wind chill was 11). I even ran in falling snow yesterday, on Christmas day. When I got home I had a lot of snowflakes piled up on my running vest and even a few in my eyelashes. It was great.
The Bossman is training for his first marathon, and I have no such aspirations. A few miles here and there is good enough for me. I completed a 5k on Thanksgiving and my next race will be an 8k in March. I do have a dream goal: There is a big "Ten-Miler" race here in the fall. I have wanted to do it for many years but have never managed to train successfully. I am hoping this will be my year.
Why do I run? Growing up, I was NOT an athlete. I was the tiny little kid who always got picked last for everyone's relay race teams in Phys Ed class. No matter how hard I tried, I was always the slowest one, and it was a constant source of embarrassment to me. Although I excelled in school and had plenty of friends, I always wished that just once I could be the one who came in first in a race. Now, I know I will never finish first or even place in a road race, but every time I cross the finish line and meet my own personal time goal, I feel like I have won that victory that I always wanted as a kid. That's what keeps me going.
