Fall Soccer 2012!

Posted on September 16, 2012 by cpeezers

We’ve started back into soccer again.

Davey really enjoys soccer. One of the British coaches who works with our soccer program worked with Davey’s team yesterday during their practice. He got the parents involved too. The parents and kids took turns pretending to be “stinging bees”. They had to avoid being “stung by the ball”!

We were practicing together with the team we were going to play, so they did a 1 on 1 activity where they put two boys against each other. Davey worked so hard here.

They actually went back and forth for quite awhile.

After all that play, Davey was ready for a water break.

Davey had fun with the regular soccer game as well. They ran and ran (I love this pose!).

At the end, it was time for the parent tunnel. The little boys all ran through, and you can see Davey getting a pat on the head from another parent.

Then it was time for snacks! We went out for pizza for lunch, and then Davey came home and played with neighborhood friends for most of the afternoon. Pretty fun day for the Wee Tot!

Is it Halloween yet?

Posted on September 15, 2012 by cpeezers

Davey and I are ready for Halloween. It’s September 15th, and we are ready to put up our Halloween decorations. We’re going to try to hold out until October 1st. I can’t remember when we put ours up last year, but I do know we were the first in the neighborhood…by a couple of weeks!

We did buy some Halloween cookie cutters yesterday, and we made our first batch of Halloween cookies. Davey helped me cut some of the dough out, but then he decided to take leftovers and play with them. Next thing I know he has gotten the toothpicks and is totally absorbed in some story he created with the dough and toothpicks. It’s not real pretty, but he had the best time:

He had fun decorating too!

A Good Week

Posted on September 9, 2012 by cpeezers

Last week was a good week.

On Friday, my cousin had her baby – a little boy.

On Thursday, my sister-in-law had her baby girl. (I’ve still got to ask if it is ok to post pictures on the blog!)

Everyone is healthy and doing well!

Davey started preschool this week. He loved it. He loves making new friends, and he couldn’t wait to show us the letters and sounds he learned on the first day.

Angry Birds Cupcakes Extravaganza

Posted on September 8, 2012 by cpeezers

A few days ago, actually last weekend – where did the week go? – David, Davey and I made “Angry Bird” cupcakes. Davey has been all about the Angry Birds lately. Sometimes I play on my phone and he plays on David’s phone, and we sit side by side with our Angry Birds.

So last week we decided to make Angry Bird cupcakes. We found some guidelines on pinterest. Davey carefully reviewed the website.

Constructing the faces required several ingredients: food coloring, sprinkles, candy orange slices (those should not be anywhere near me. I can’t resist them), mini marshmallows, marshmallows, and mini-chocolate chips. We were supposed to make the eyebrows with skinny black licorice whips, but none of us like black licorice. I kind of wish we’d gone with it anyway though, because achieving the “Angry Look” is pretty key to a successful Angry Bird cupcake! We made do with mini chocolate chips.

So I got everything all set up. I used white cake mix for the cupcakes, but I made homemade butter cream icing. we had to dip the cupcakes into sprinkles after we added icing. That’s quite a few sprinkles. Of course, Davey had no problem with mega sprinklage.

Once we got started, Davey really enjoyed supervising and taking pictures more than the actual decoration. I think he got a great shot of David at work (I knew I was going to need David’s abilities to pull this off.)

David was in charge of red angry birds. (Notice in the picture above that the little icing swiper had already made a pass at the birds.)

David took this task seriously.

I really liked the pigs:

I picked out the best of the lot for a final picture.

(The plain green one with the marshmallows is the “nest”.)

Pretty fun project! Davey loved the process. Davey loved the icing. He always loves the icing.

The Wee Tot Finds Armor

Posted on September 1, 2012 by cpeezers

We’re having a fun Saturday. Davey began his day with the monthly Home Depot craft. He and David built a miniature goalpost and painted it. We were all covered with paint when he was done. No, not all of us. David avoids it much better than I do.

Then we accompanied David while he went to get a haircut. David had to wait for awhile so Davey and I walked to Dollar Tree. We hadn’t been there in forever. They have smaller carts there, so Davey really enjoyed pushing our cart around. But then we hit the Dollar Tree Jackpot. Armor! Davey was so excited.

It’s still sweet Davey underneath!

When we had to wait for David for just a bit at the barber shop, Davey carefully removed his armor and put it in the chair beside him.

He says he wants this to be his Halloween costume. We need to fashion him a Roman skirt thing David says (I have no idea what this is called). We’ll see though. He may have other ideas as we approach Halloween. We are moving full tilt into Fall/Christmas Celebration Discussions! (Halloween, David’s birthday, his birthday, Thanksgiving, my birthday and Christmas). He was also very curious about this whole Labor Day thing. He wants to know how we should celebrate it, why we celebrate it, etc. He loves the idea of adding another celebration to the schedule!

A little knitting

Posted on August 25, 2012 by cpeezers

I just finished knitting a sweet little baby cardigan for a friend of mine. She’s expecting a little boy, and I am so excited for her.

It’s not quite as blue as the color above, but it’s not quite as light as the photograph below.

This is a free pattern called Easy Baby Cardigan by Diane Soucy. I didn’t have a sweet 6 month old baby to model this on so Winkie The Rock Star Bear served as my model.

I love this little hood!

It has little ties on the front instead of buttons or a zipper. At first, I wasn’t sure what I thought about the ties in this pattern, but I really like them. They are really easy to just quickly tie once you slip the cardigan on. I actually crocheted them as a simple chain. You could also do an i-cord if you wanted to.

This is actually the second time that I made this cardigan. I started knitting again when Davey was about a year old. I made a scarf or two, then some houseshoes, and then I decided I wanted to knit Davey a sweater.

It’s a great first sweater pattern. It’s really easy, although it was much easier for me this second time around. The first time I made it, I didn’t know about simple things like slipping a marker (SM) or slipping a first stitch. It seemed like I knitted and knitted and knitted forever before I got the back done. It turned out nice though, and Davey wore it quite a bit.

He was about 11 months old here and had just started walking I think.

I made both of these with Little Lehigh Kraemer yarn. It’s a 55/45 acrylic cotton blend, and it’s really nice to knit with.

Gosh, Davey sure is a little tot in these pictures!

Organizing the Yarn

Posted on August 20, 2012 by cpeezers

Yesterday, I looked down the stairs into the basement where I keep my yarn and other craft supplies. I don’t have a lot of space, but it had become a MESS. I suddenly had the urge to organize right then.

Here’s a before picture. Now while my yarn/craft area was a mess, it was not this messy. I’d already started dumping stuff on the floor. When I get the urge to organize, it usually involves dumping everything into the floor into a big pile (this became a rather big pile). Then I go from there. I also gathered various yarn projects from all over the house thus accomplishing the goal of also making the rest of the house somewhat more organized as well!

So here it is before when I’ve made a big pile on the floor:

I know. It’s awful. I am embarrassed. Even without the pile, it’s pretty bad. I can hardly stand to look at it or to post it here. David and Davey avoided the entire area once I created the big pile.

So I began organizing. I had some plastic totes to put yarn and things into, but I needed more. I bought several kinds, but I wanted to put everything in some kind of container, so I was able to find some plastic dishpans for 97 cents each. They are thin and cheap, but perfect for what I needed.

David also put some new shelves up for me. They include a lower longer wider shelf which doubles as a workspace area. Awesome.

I have a new mascot. His name is Otto.

He looks like a giant potato. He’s actually a partially completed Rebecca Danger pattern. He’s going to be a monster at some point. He still needs me to knit him some arms and legs. I have to try to remember which Rebecca Danger pattern from which he comes. It’s been awhile. Rebecca Danger writes great fun patterns. Anyway, he’s there to protect my yarn and to remind me that I need to finish him.

I also have a Davey original on the wall. It’s a watercolor that he completed not long ago. I, of course, love it!

So after quite a bit of hard work, my little yarn/crafting area was complete! I’m so proud. David called it “amazing”. High praise from the king of organization!

and finally Crested Butte

Posted on August 18, 2012 by cpeezers

We spent part of a couple days in Crested Butte. We’ve been to quite a few beautiful places in Colorado now, but Crested Butte remains one of our favorite places to visit.

We began with breakfast at Paradise Cafe. I guess it’s been around for almost 25 years. We enjoyed it!

Davey had pancakes and scrambled eggs.

He was happy with his breakfast! Davey is kinda particular, so I’m always happy when he digs in and enjoys a meal!

It was not an ideal day for wandering around Crested Butte. A little too rainy, but we don’t see much rain around here, so it was kinda nice.

There’s a really nice toy store in Crested Butte, so we spent some time in there, and then we decided to head back to the cabin.

We returned to Crested Butte the next afternoon though, and it was a much nicer day. (We ate at Brick Oven on this day, and Davey thoroughly enjoyed their pizza as well!)

He went back to the toy store. In this picture he is playing with some building toys called Jawbones. We got him some and he has really enjoyed building with them. He and David have built several things since we got home. There are wheels and hingy type pieces. Really neat.

I liked this shot of him walking down the street too. He’s getting so big.

There is an awesome playground in Crested Butte as well, and we spent a good while there. They had this digging toy thing.

There was a little girl on it when we arrived. Davey played on the nearby swing and waited patiently – for probably ten minutes – for her to be done. He didn’t pressure her nor did he really give any indication that he was waiting to get on it. It was sweet. As soon as she left, he was on it instantly!

He dug and spun and pivoted and dug sand for a long time!

He loved it! Then he met twin boys from Austin, TX. They were almost exactly the same age as Davey. He had a great time playing with them. Davey loves to meet new kids. Our cabin was right above the playground, and he always kept an eagle eye out to see if there were any kids! If there were, off he’d go. “Mommy! Kids!”

It was a fun trip. I’m so glad that I can blog about it. Here’s my plug for blogging. I already really enjoy just looking back at my blog from the last couple of years. I’ll go back and read some random day about something we did. Often, I’ll have already almost forgotten about whatever it was we did on that particular day. It’s a nice way to tell our stories.

Hanging out in the Mountains

Posted on August 17, 2012 by cpeezers

We had several days of just hanging out. We fished a little with David, but sometimes when he was doing this:

and this:

Davey and I would just hang out at the river. He loved to play with grass, flowers, rocks, trees, anything in his path.

Sometimes I built things with him, but other times I watched him play while I knitted.

Davey in action:

and of course in the squat position that he can hold forever.

And then running again!

Davey also always wants to have a “picnic”. It can be very simple. Just some M&Ms and a “pretty sun” can suffice.

One day we went on a short hike behind the cabins. I have to say that Davey was “Mr Cranky Pants” deluxe, and he didn’t really want to go. But then he began to have fun. We didn’t go far, but it was an uphill climb. Ok well this picture is the view looking back down!

We had a pretty view though once we got up a ways.

Davey would run down and then back.

He’d come say hi.

And then off again.

We’d been talking about not being on our phones and computers while we were on our trip. We’d talked how it was nice to get away from the technology for just a little while. So then Davey and I turned around, and we saw this!

: )

Cottonwood Pass and some Fishing

Posted on August 16, 2012 by cpeezers

We just got home from spending a few days up in the mountains. David fished a ton, and he had a great time catching a ton of fish.

On our way to Almont, we went over Cottonwood Pass. This is quite a pass.

It’s one of those kinda scary switchbacky passes where you find yourself parallel with the road you were just on (I know there are a lot of these in Colorado!). Lots of “U”s. Davey announced that he was afraid of heights. David is usually not a fan of heights, but he doesn’t mind “mountain heights”. Davey and I were hanging on for dear life, but the view was beautiful.