Happiness Is . . .

. . . eating homemade brownies.

♥Especially when they are made by your daughter. ♥

A Knit A Week

Birthday Knits Galore!!

As you know, we here at the Castle love books, some

might even call us "book-alcoholics". {grin}

Now imagine my giddiness in finding

 a sweet book with beautiful illustrations

 complete with knitting patterns in the back!

I know, right???

This is exciting stuff, my friends!!

This is Phoebe mouse wearing her knitted dress!

 This is Phoebe's sweater to match Princess #3's sweater.

(Pardon the crazy flash that makes the color weird.

It's actually the color of the following photos.)

 Phoebe just opened!

Princess #3 and Phoebe all bundled up!

These are knit from the patterns found in the book

Phoebe's Sweater

by:  Joanna Johnson and illustrated by her husband, Eric Johnson

They have their own little publishing company that I

discovered through my favorite knitting website Ravelry.

They have a second book out called

Freddie's Blanket that I am eager to purchase and

knit from as well.

SIX

Princess #3 celebrated her 6th birthday last week!  Hard to believe it has only been six some days. {grin}  She continues to stretch us as parents and individuals.  I think she has taught me more about myself than any other person in the world, and there is something to be said about that.

Doncha just love how Rapunzel is nekkid, riding horseback
with a boy?!  Too funny!

Here are some things about Princess #3 that we love:

*She loves to play barbies.  Anytime.  Anywhere.

*She loves the colors pink and orange.

*She loves to wear dresses.

*She has a very quick wit.  

*She plans to take care of her mama and dad 

when they are old.

(However, they will have to move in with

her because she is going to live where

it is warm all.the.time.)

*She loves her big sisters and baby brother.

*She loves pandas.

*She has a best friend, whom she mentions

pretty much daily. {grin}

(This is notable, because it is something

that I have prayed for her daily for

a.long.time.  God is good.)

Happy Birthday sweet Princess!!

The Birthday Cakes

He loves trucks.

Especially fire trucks.

Engine #2!

And Princess #3 loves pandas!!
We aim to please here at the castle. {grin}

I can't believe she is 6 already!!

A Knit A Week

A Hotshot sweater for my little hotshot!

His birthday sweater this year.

Pattern:  Hotshot by Julia Stanfield (rav link)

part of the Little Rascals e-book of patterns

Yarn:  Lana Bambu by Cascade yarns

only 2 skeins!!

Verdict:  In a word:  adorable.  The perfect kind of layering

sweater for my little runs-like-a-furnace boy.  Top down, seamless 

construction, a multitude of sizes (0-10!!), and the other two patterns

that came with the e-book will be made at some point.

This yarn is deliciously soft too, the only downside is that it is

hand-wash, but I tend to hand-wash all the knitted

things, you know, just in case . . .

TWO

The Prince turned two yesterday.  Two, two wonderful two.  One of my absolutely favorite ages!!

He ended his day with a wonderfully stereotypical temper tantrum!  However, the age two doesn't scare me nearly as much as three, so I chalked his melt up to too much birthday! {grin}

Here are some things that we find TOO cute about our guy:

--he loves trucks.  

[We cannot stress this enough. 

Trucks are where it's at.]

--he loves to be outside.

--he loves to talk and sing.  

[You can even understand them for the most part now.]

--he loves to do whatever big sisters are doing.

[And that means "tool" too (school)!]

--he likes to arrange mama's hair into a pillow before 

snuggling in for a rock before bed.

--he still likes to have his head under mama's chin too-

for reading or cuddling.

[The Queen is pretty sure that this demonstrates 

he still has fond memories of trying to 

dislocate her rib cage with his head while in utero!]

--he loves to play chase.

--he loves to help and is a great grocery unloader!

How did we do life without him?  

I'm not quite sure anymore. 

Super Sniffer

A real life conversation here at the castle tonight.

Princess #2:  I think the Prince stepped in dog poop.

Queen:  Really?  Oh great.  Let me check his shoes.

Queen (after checking and removing his shoes):  Well, I don't know what you smelled, but it's not his shoes.

Princess #2:  Oh, well it must have been whatever you're making for dinner.

Queen:  So, so nice.  Way to spoil the surprise I was making.

Princess #2:  Eeew.  Maaammmaaa!

Overheard After Rest Time

. . . a Spanish spelling lesson.

Princess #3:  I know how to spell chipmunk in Spanish.

Princess #2:  You do??  How?

Princess #3:  E-l c-h-i-p-m-u-n-k!  See it's easy, you just add an "E-L" in front.

He Totally Gets Me!

A conversation I had with my beloved today.

King:  Going slummin' today?

Queen:  What?

King:  You're wearing store-bought socks, instead of your $100 hand-knit ones.

Queen:  Oh, yeah, guess I am slummin'. {grinning}
                . . . Pausing mid-grin, "Wait, you mean the cost of all the time it takes to                         make socks right?"
{worried that he might be making a veiled reference to the cost of her sock-yarn-habit, and forcing her to explain that you really can't put a cost on one's sanity.}

King:  Yep.

Queen (thinking):  He loves me.

Wordless Wednesday