Saturday, February 26, 2011

Happiness Is . . .

. . . eating homemade brownies.

♥Especially when they are made by your daughter. ♥

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

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.

Monday, February 21, 2011

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!!

Monday, February 14, 2011

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 . . .

Saturday, February 12, 2011

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. 



Tuesday, February 08, 2011

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!

Saturday, February 05, 2011

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.

Friday, February 04, 2011

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.