animal friends

these seven friends were requested by a friend of mine for Christmas gifts. I started them last week and finished this morning. L-R we have a duckling, bear, pig, ladybug, monkey (his tail is curved and cute! I was proud of myself for being able to figure out how to do that!), bee and lion.

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And for another friend and her daughter, I made a frog & a white horse. I was particularly proud of the froggie's eyes. I've never made them quite like this and I was very happy with how they turned out.

twins

I love babies. Probably everyone knows I love babies, it's no great secret. My neighbor recently had twin boys so I got my scissors out and started cutting. P.S. I also love rag blankets er, nokies.

BFFs

I've made some more toys and actually I don't even remember the last time I made something that wasn't a toy. Perhaps I'm getting in touch with that inner child again. Over the summer my sister-in-law was in town with my completely adorable nephew and nieces. You may remember I made some fish for Carol. She also asked for a pig that I only just now got around to making. And because I can't send something to Carol and not the other two cutie-pies, I made a bear (who I first thought was going to be a monkey, but obviously I'd been wrong about that) for Audrey and I have an alien (similar to this) I'll send to Porter.

Maybe I'll make something other than toys at some point but for now I'm enjoying my little friends. They are fun and don't require a lot of thought or a pattern and for someone in her mid-thirties who is going to school and taking care of four kids, well, thoughts are at a premium around here.

devil duck

I do believe he's the cutest little devil I know.

finally getting to the fun stuff!

Getting in the car after school today, Megan, who is in seventh grade, said, “Mom! We finally did something fun in science today!”

I asked what that fun thing had been and her answer came in an excited rush, “We had the periodic table of elements and we looked at the abbreviations. We had to write the atomic number, what the letter stood for, like H was for hydrogen and we wrote down the weight. Then we figured out how many protons, neutrons and electrons there there are in each one. There were one two or three (graduated) rings. We had to draw how many electrons there were...”

It’s good to know that school isn’t all academics and the kids are getting some fun and games in as well.

It's a ... turtle!

I thought this turtle would be a girl because my daughters declared our turtle a girl (the vet said it's too hard to tell, so I'll just take the kiddo's word for it). Her name is Alice. This turtle though, appears to be a boy. I made him for a friend who is currently going through the adoption process! I hope he (what's his name? I can't tell! Charlie? Jon? Thomas? Any suggestions?) gets a lovely child friend soon.

survivors guilt

Survivors Guilt. It's real. From time to time I struggle with it. I looked through my photos just now to see if I snapped a picture one day in October of last year. I didn't, so I'll just have to describe it to you. Tessa and I went to Gardner Village (in Salt Lake, I think) with my sister and her two boys to see the witches on display. Funny, funny witches. Now Tessa loves her cousins, all of them. She wanted to hold onto the stroller to "help" Aunt Sarah push Baby L. Being even more helpful, she took the hand of her preschool-aged cousin E. From behind this scene I could barely keep my composure. Sarah. A little girl. Two little boys. That little girl should have, in my mind, been her Lucy. But it wasn't. Why did I get to have three healthy girls and then one sick one who survived just fine when Sarah had only one sick daughter who did not live to see a first Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year or birthday? There really isn't any way I'll ever understand. It isn't fair.

You can read Sarah's point of view on a similar line of thinking on her blog but from another perspective. And, if you can, please donate to Lucy's tree. It's an amazing chance to give to sick children and their families.

some crafty content to come soon. I crocheted a little duck who seems to have waddled off & I'm also working on a turtle. I haven't had a lot of time for crafts because I recently started school. I figured I'd give being a grown-up a try for a change.

9/11

never forgetting

seriously loving birds

So right now I'm having a love affair with crochet birds. I can't help it! It started a short while back with the owls, Jane & Carol. This week I finished a fine pair of blue birds with a little nest for some friends who just adopted a most beautiful baby boy from Ethiopia.

They were crocheted using acrylic yarn and an H hook,

made entirely out of items I already had on hand!

I am most infatuated with their long legs.

and now I'm working on some yellow birds that may or may not become ducks. I didn't originally intend for them to be ducks, but that's how they're lookin'.