Nighttime Visitor

A couple of weeks ago we got home after dark, and while turning into our parking spot, I noticed something in a tree behind my clothesline. Bryan backed up to shine his headlights on it, and we got out of the truck to try to get a closer look. We thought it was an owl, but it held so still we weren't sure. It stayed on its perch long enough for me to go into the house and get the camera. Here's what I captured on film (or whatever digital pictures are called):

I've never seen an owl in the wild before, although we hear one (probably this one) fairly regularly in our bedroom and bathroom. We couldn't believe that it stayed so long, even with all of us talking and walking down the hill to get a better look. It finally flew away into the woods when Piper went all the way down the hill, almost to the tree it was in. I thought everyone would like to see it, especially Liz and Joey.

Sunday Visit

My parents came to visit last Saturday. The kids' all-time favorite thing to do with my mom is read. Look how engrossed they are in the story (The Giant Jam Sandwich -- a classic). Berkleigh, of course, never passes up a moment to play with her belly button.

My mom said she needed a nap (entertaining four kids is exhausting, believe me!) and all four kids laid down with her to "sleep". Merlyn is actually a very good pretend-sleeper, but the other three are another story.

While my mom enjoyed her grandkids, my dad was hard at work fixing the dishwasher. He brought the required part from Sears, but had to make a trip to Home Depot to get a different part. The good news is that after a year and three months, I now have a dishwasher again!

I know Tracy especially will be glad to hear that I have a dishwasher now -- she couldn't believe I've been handwashing dishes for so long. The very next day after it was fixed, I had six kids here at breakfast, eight at lunch, and six at dinner, so it really was a time saver. Now I'm enjoying spending less time in the kitchen (and more time knitting!).

Odds and Ends

Last weekend Faye came over to watch the kids so Bryan and I could get more firewood. There were trees that Bryan cut down a few months ago that had been covered by the snow. We went out to cut them up and bring them to the furnace since we're at the end of our supply. While we were out there it started snowing pretty badly. I was all covered with snow when I came in. There was actually more snow on me, but first Carter and then Myles tried to take pictures, and it took them a long time (and the I wasn't even in some of them!).

On Saturday evening Carter hit Myles in the eye with a railroad track. They were swordfighting with the railroad tracks and things got a little out of hand. Myles had a cut over his eye, and looked so funny with a bandaid on it that I had to take a picture. I'll have to take another one today to show you how it's black and blue.

While posting Myles' picture I remembered that I never posted the pictures of Berkleigh when she had a black eye. The week before Christmas, she and Merlyn were hiding each other under the big rubbermaid bin we keep the Little People toys in. The box came down just right (or wrong) on Berkleigh's eye and it swelled right up and then turned all sorts of colors as it healed.

Very Old Pictures

Remember how Carter and Myles spent a week at my parents' house last summer? My mom just sent me pictures of a few of their adventures. I put them into a digital scrapbook as a little experiment. The older boy is my cousin's son Andrew, who really has fun with Carter and Myles. Enjoy the scrapbook -- I hope it works.

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

I'm an Oddball Knitter!

I belong to a knitting forum, which is where I mostly learned to knit. It's a great community of friendly, helpful knitters. One of the many opportunites is charity knitting, and one of the most popular are the Oddball Charity Projects.
For a while now I've been tracking some of the Oddball Blankets, but only recently felt that my knitting was good enough to be included in one (although anyone of all skill levels is invited to participate).
The Oddball Blankets are started by a lady in North Carolina who organizes them all. She knits an inch and a half, leaves the 300 stitches on the needles, and sends it to the next person on the list. Each person has two weeks to knit three inches in any color and pattern using washable worsted weight yarn. Finally it gets sent back to the original woman, who knits a border and donates it to a charity.
The blanket that I worked on was Oddball Blanket #5, and I was the fifteenth knitter. It travelled all over the country before I got it, spending time in Washington State, Texas, Arkansas, Virginia, and Syracuse, NY, among others.
Along with the blanket is a journal that each knitter writes in to commemorate her experience and to tell what yarn and pattern she used. I used Vanna's Choice in the color Honey, and used a quatrefoil eyelet pattern (the eyelests actually form diamonds, although one hole doesn't show up in the picture). The journal is given to the person who receives the charity blanket.

There are also Oddball Lapghans, Oddball Baby Blankets, and Oddball Shawls. The shawls are made in a simlar way to the blankets, but instead of going to a charity they are given to members of the knitting forum who experience a loss or crisis in their lives and need some extra support. Most projects require washable worsted weight yarn, but some are wool or sport weight or even lace weight, so there's a wide range of options.

I had a great experince with the Oddball Blanket and am now an official Oddball Knitter. Hopefully I'll be able to participate again soon. If any knitters out there would like to get involved (Annie, Alison, Mary?) let me know and we could arrange to have one at the same time so instead of mailing it we can deliver it in person.

Christmas on the 29th

My family came to celebrate Christmas on the 29th. I can't believe it's the 19th of January and I'm posting about December 29th -- I'd better get caught up soon.

Merlyn and Berkleigh with Uncle Ezra and Grandpa.

Monkey see, monkey do: Isaac saw Elizabeth in the box, so he had to have a turn, too.

Berkleigh really concentrates while opening presents.

The three girls piled on me for a picture.

As the kids get older, it still doesn't get any easier to take a group picture. We always forget to do it until the end of the night, so maybe that's why it's so hard to get them to cooperate. This time Leigh and I had to sit with them in order to get every kid to sit still.

Group photos are easier when it's just my sister and my mom and me:

Now that all my pictures are posted from Christmas week, I can start catching up on everything since then. Not much has actually happened, but the pictures all add up, so we'll see what's coming up next.

Christmas in Japan

This year was the 4th annual Christmas Around the World. Kelley and her cousin Alison pick a country and have a Christmas party featuring the foods and customs of that country. It's a great way to experience other cultures and get together with friends and family who can't make it to the Christmas Day celebration. The country this year was Japan, and a lot of people got into the spirit by wearing costumes (although Uncle Dave did not wear a sumo wrestler outfit as promised!).

The evening began with a chopstick lesson. Everyone watched intently as Alison and Kelley demonstrated the use of chopsitcks and explained chopstick etiquette and customs.

Some people needed a little extra help...

Myles really worked hard to use his chopsticks with Faye's encouragement. Carter loves seafood and couldn't be bothered with slow eating methods when there were forks handy.

We had lots of delicious sushi (better than at the Chinese restaurant in Massena) that Kelley and Alison made themselves. There was also soup and chicken and some sort of ravioli-like pasta and Ramen Noodle salad. We drank saki and a unique green tea that Nathaniel got shipped directly from Japan.

After Spain, French-Canada, Italy, and now Japan, the question is where in the world will Christmas Around the World be next year? I'm going to suggest a certain country for two resons: I once spent an actual Christmas there, and I've just read about it in a book that Kelley gave Bryan for Christmas. I comandeered the book from him after he'd started it -- sorry, Bryan (I'm almost done so you'll have it back soon).

Christmas the Day After Christmas

The day after Christmas, we go over to Faye and Jerry's as soon as we wake up. This year we didn't get there until 10:30 because everyone slept in. We go in our jammies and spend the whole day there.

We go past the tree and stockings but we can't see them because the kids are blindfolded and Bryan and I don't look.

Here's Grandpapa guiding a blindfolded Myles into the house.

Everyone heads right to Faye and Jerry's room, where Aunt Kelley and Grandma Faye are waiting for us all to get into bed.

Then it's off to the living room to open presents.

After all the gifts are opened, we spend the day playing games, watching movies, and enjoying our new things.

Merlyn and Berkleigh in their new chairs watching the Shrek trilogy.

Carter engrossed in his gameboy.

Here I am indulging in my knitting addiction.

Kelley's figuring out her new camera.

The tabletop foosball table was a big hit,

with everyone playing in several

tournaments throughout the day.

Grandpapa tried out Carter's gameboy,

but didn't spend nearly as much time

on it as Carter did.

Kelley's boyrfriend Jason arrived around dinnertime. I had knitted Kelley and Jason each a hat. I had actually finished Jason's while we were all playing a game, and he didn't even know. They kindly modelled them for pictures for me -- I think they like them.

Christmas Day

After our little family's Christmas morning we have the big family's Christmas day. Merlyn got into her beautiful dress (we love cousin Elizabeth's hand-me-downs!) and then decked herself out in her new slippers, sunglasses, frog mittens, and her frog backpack. What a nut!

I forgot to count all the people, although the crowd was smaller this year than ever before -- maybe 35 people. Jerry and I at one point were the only ones sitting at the table in the playroom, each on opposite ends. We felt like royalty without the royal subjects. For anyone interest in a little old house history, the far end of the room used to be a formal parlor and the closer end was the family's sitting room. They were separated by accordian doors. The woman who now has those actual doors in her kitchen told us that when there was a death in the family, the accordian doors were opened and the casket was placed in between the two rooms so people could view the body. Now we set up tables for family gatherings in that same spot.

Boys will be boys... Carter, Myles, and Nolan are rough-housing with Brian and Gary.

Look at the cool dude! Braden

found Merlyn's sunglasses

Aunt Kelley and Berkleigh

smile for the camera.

Merlyn gets comfortable with Aunt Claire.

A favorite party game is LCR. Aunt Claire the gambler has gotten Carter and Myles hooked on playing for money. We played with dollars Christmas Day, but Aunt Claire supplied the dollars.

LCR gets quite rowdy and loud. Merlyn started getting upset by all the commotion, so Bryan got the ear muffs for her. She was still whiny, but it was amusing to everyone else.

Myles was the big winner of the $18 pot. After paying back Aunt Claire, he was $15 richer. Our policy with any money the kids get is to put half away and they can spend the other half. Later that night, Myles gave me, Bryan, Carter, Merlyn, and Berkleigh each a dollar from his winnings, then divided the rest between his savings and spending money. That Myles is such a sweet kid sometimes.

Well, after telling about two of our Christmas celebrations, I am only halfway done -- there are two more to go. Like I said, the holidays were busy!