Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We have so much to be thankful for this year! Especially for the safe arrival of this little sweetie pie! 

Baby V was born on November 20th weighing 6lbs 4oz and came home a week later after a few difficult first days of life. She is perfect & healthy and Ree is absolutely in love with her new baby sister (as we all are!) 

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Christmas knitting

And with the finished shawl & stocking my Christmas knitting is done! And with plenty of time to spare too, thankfully.

In celebration I cast on for a pair of socks for me. They are bright! But I do like them. Although I cast on for the small rather then medium. They are a little tight but I think once baby gets here & the swelling in my feet goes down, they'll be okay.

Oh. I just remembered my Christmas knitting isn't done! I have still have one mini stocking to make up. But that shouldn't take but a half hour!

I haven't been doing much reading. I did start The Language of Flowers but I think I read it before. I haven't read much of it except the first chapter so far this time.

What are you reading & knitting?

Weekending

This weekend has had ups & downs.

Saturday started out nice & relaxing. Then Ree decided to tantrum & a tired uncomfortable momma tantrumed right back. We both went to our separate corners for a little while. She's been sick almost all week and I think being in the house seeing no one but mommy & daddy started to get to her. 

Thankfully daddy got home from work to rescue both of us. He & Ree went out to do all kinds of errands. I went to the library alone where I was able to sit in quiet to finish my book. And pick up another one to start. Then I came home where we all stayed outside cleaning out the car so we can put the new baby seat in & hang up the Christmas lights (not to turn on yet, just so that's one less thing to do when baby gets here!)

After Ree went to bed (early), the husband and I watched a movie, I knit & had hot chocolate. 

Today has been much better! Church, coffee & home. Chili is in the crock pot, I've already knit a little bit. The rest of the afternoon will consist of wrapping a few Christmas presents, possibly making pumpkin bread, lots more knitting. The husband has been working on the yard clean up in between rain drops. Our weekly Sunday visit up north has ended until baby gets here. The thought of being over an hour from the hospital made my husband nervous. While I'll miss the weekly routine it will be nice to be home as a family all day long for a few weeks. 

Joining Amanda!

Gloaming

I'm joining in with the November prompt of the day. I'm not posting in order here at times, just as the mood strikes (and when I have pictures to go along with the prompt!)

I took this picture the other day as I was closing the curtains upstairs. This is on the opposite side of the house of where the sun sets. I tried to capture the moon rising (can you see it there, in between the trees?) There was a beautiful pink below it too. 

I love the twilight, especially at this time of year. I know some people don't like that it gets dark so early but I don't mind. At least in the beginning. There is something so cozy about closing up the house as the smell of dinner fills the air. I light candles both on the mantle and in the kitchen. 

It's time to start thinking about the transition into evening. Start preparing supper; getting ready for the husband to come home; heading into the relaxing part of the day when we all are home together, safe under one roof. 

With the darkness coming early the rhythm of our nights change. Warmer & earlier suppers. Earlier clean ups. More time together in the house after clean up to do some art, read books, knit, legos. Whatever Ree decides she needs to do with daddy. 

Now I need to go see about getting that supper ready, as we are nearly done with the gloaming & quickly entering into full fledged evening! 

On my Table

I've been keeping up with the November prompt of the day. I am loving the time I spend in the morning writing along with it in my journal. It's a good way for me to begin the day....with quiet, my cup of tea and putting pen to paper. I do want to share some of the prompts here, but the days just keep going by and before I know it another day is here!

Yesterday's prompt was On my Table

 

This is the scene on our table most days. Although usually a bit worse! It starts out as a blank slate, but as Ree gets going with her creativity for the day it fill up. Here she was in the middle of water color painting, using her colored pencils, and cutting out flowers. Many times admist her things are my own bits of creativity: my knitting, my notepads with lists, grocery ads, bill paying, etc.

As you can see one end of the table is usually the catch all. This drives me CRAZY. But no matter how many times I clean it off, within a day or two the pile is back. 

This is the scene at the end of the day. Supper waiting (the junk pile is still there...although I did clean it up a bit); a candle lit which I often forget. Thankfully Ree loves candles and reminds me most of the time to light one.

After supper it's cleaned off again ready for the next day's activities around it!

Yarn Along

There hasn't been much knitting going on the past week. There hasn't been much of anything going on except a little bit of cleaning, a little bit of birthday shopping & wrapping (Ree turns 4 three weeks from today!) and a whole lot of sitting reading The Signature of All Things. It's okay. The beginning was really good. Now it's kind of dragging along. But it's a book to read that is keeping my mind occupied so that's good!

I did finish Ree's Rainbow Boneyard shawl. As you can see, it's blocking right now. It's been done for about a week already but I kept putting off the blocking process. But it's all blocked and now just drying. I hope she's excited on Christmas morning that this is her's!

I also cast on for Baby V's Christmas stocking. I didn't bother with a picture for that though because that's pretty much all I did...cast on! 

Ree has been sick since this weekend so that means long nights & longer days sometimes. I'm just glad baby hasn't arrived yet so that I can be here to take care of Ree & not worry about germs getting to the little one! 

Happiness is...

Sharing my list for today's prompt!

*feeling baby V kick & stretch in my belly

*morning notes from the husband every day

*spontaneous hugs from Ree

*morning November sun through the orange leaves

*a hot cup of tea & a pile of knitting

*hand knit socks on chilly mornings

*early evening dark needing the lighting of candles

*pile of Momma made knits for my girls

*clean dishes piled high

Just a short list of what happiness is right now!

Weekending

This weekend the nesting instinct kicked in!

There was cleaning of the breezeway....taking everything out, giving it a good sweeping (there would have been mopping of the floor but the mop broke & I haven't replaced it yet), throwing old broken toys away, putting everything back. Seeing it nice & clean makes me happy. That's the entrance we use to the house. It finally looks put together & nice!

Then there was a stop at the big baby store to pick up some needed items; a stop at the library's book sale; running Ree home so I could go do a few errands for Santa; back home to fix supper; cleaning out a few bureau drawers & putting a pile of baby laundry together to get washed.

After that there was sitting & knitting. Finishing some socks, casting on for another pair, writing a list of other things to knit before (maybe) baby comes.

It was a slow Sunday morning with the time change. Dark & overcast out. A little bit of knitting; some laundry; dishes washed; church attended; a stop at the mall for a little more Christmas shopping...now done aside from some gift card purchases!

This afternoon has been more knitting; more laundry; more organizing for baby. My husband has started watching me like a hawk to make sure I don't over-do it and also marked it on the calendar...with Ree I got all this nesting energy two weeks before she was born. I'm hoping at least 3 more weeks for this little one! 

How was your weekend? I'm linking up with Amanda!

Halloween

Halloween has never been my favorite holiday. Then Ree came along and it was fun to dress her up. This year she has been talking non-stop about it for weeks. She plays dress-up pretty much every day but I guess a day set aside just for dressing up is the high-light of a little one's life! It certainly isn't the candy for her. She doesn't like any of it! At least not to eat. She loves sorting & stacking & "shopping" with it. And she knows EXACTLY how many pieces of each kind she has. I found that out earlier when I snuck a piece to eat. She got a little testy at me that I messed up her piles!

She & Daddy went to about five houses Trick or Treating and then she decided she wanted to come home to pass out the candy. That was fun until scary people in costumes came to the door. I was afraid there would be some nightmares last night but thankfully no!

So another year of Halloween is over and she's already talking of what to be next year. I told her she doesn't have to wait until Halloween to dress up & that made her happy!

Hard to believe today is the first of November already! This weekend Ree wants to make count down charts to her birthday & the new baby's arrival. I think seeing the days quickly disappear that way may send me into anxiety fits!

Today is also the first day of daily prompts that Amanda has put together for us to follow along with. I like this idea because it gets me to think & get back into the journaling habit. I'm not sure how I'll share some of the words or photographs that I'm hoping to come up with each day, but I'm sure some of them will find their way here.