Happy Birthday, Will!

Although this post is almost a month behind schedule, the following pictures were just too cute to not post. We had a little family dinner at Will's parent's house for his birthday.  His sister, Samantha was in town and just so happens to be an amazing photographer with a really cool, super fancy camera.  Here are some of the great pictures she was kind enough to share with me:

I just love the retro look of this photo.  It should be in a magazine or something.

 Just before Will's  homemade cupcakes (a la Lauren) came out, Molly came running into the dining room with Daddy's birthday hat.  Everyone "Awwwwwed" and "Oh, that's perfect!" making Molly feel so proud that she had found just the right hat for the occasion.  After dessert we stuck around for a while longer and Molly was inspired to open a hat shop in the other room.  She laid out all the play hats on the coffee table, got her little pad of paper and officially opened the doors.  Her hats ranged in price from "two dollars" to "twenty bucks".

New Bikes!

For Christmas we got the kids pedal-less bikes.  These bikes are supposed to teach the kids how to balance on a bike without having to worry about the coordination of pedaling.  Then, in theory, when they get the hang of the balance, they should be able to simply hop on a pedal bike and only have to learn how to pedal.

After flying down a hill in our backyard bouncing over dirt-clods and pot-holes with squeals of joy, Will and I decided it was time for them to learn how to pedal.  So, to the store we went in search of their first big kid bikes!

Will and Molly insisted that picking out a bike was such an important task that we check out all the stores that have bikes before we actually make a purchase.  We went to Wal-Mart first where Molly found the most glamorous Barbie bike I've ever seen.  She was in love but didn't push for us to buy it for her before checking out the other stores first.

We then went to Sport Chalet.  Their bikes are all name brand but two and a half times the price.  Seriously.  Will said that they would last longer and if a part broke you could actually replace it, but we both ended up agreeing that we will wait to spend the big bucks on a bike that they will not grow out of in a few years.

From there we jogged over to Target.  Unfortunately Target doesn't have kids bikes assembled.  It makes sense though as we remembered that the messiest part of Wal-Mart was the bike section where kids bikes and accessories were strewn all over the place.  By this point in our evening we were all pretty worn out.  Molly didn't see anything that compared to the Barbie bike extraordinaire so she and I split off to look at girly things while Will and Willy further inspected the boy bikes.  We left Target with the "Gravel Grinder!" for Willy.  The fact that it was in a box didn't stop Willy from hopping on it and "riding" it with "Weeeeee"s and all while we were in the checkout line.  Being with Willy in a store is kind of like being with a celebrity.  Everyone that sees him looks a little longer and smiles a little bigger.  He will start a conversation with anyone who is in his vicinity for more than 30 seconds and I have yet to witness someone disregard him or do anything but encourage him to keep talking.  He's just...darling.

Ahhh, where was I?  Oh, yes-leaving Target.  Obviously we had to go back to Wal-Mart to get Molly's bike.  We traveled all the way across Visalia for the second time using images of pink tassels and Barbie doll love to get us there.  By the time we arrived Willy and I were just about passed out from exhaustion.  Will, being the wonderful daddy that he is, took Molly in to buy the bike.  About 15 minutes later I watched Molly ride out of Wal-Mart with Daddy right behind her.  It seemed as though everyone was watching with complete adoration and you would almost have expected them to break out in applause.

After our shopping spree we went home to dream about the great bike adventures to come.

Sharing Ravelry

I just figured out how to share pages on my Ravelry account with non-Ravelry members!  Below is the link to my Colorplay Challenge Scarf.

A Tangle Of Color on Ravelry.com

A Tangle of Color

Behold: my colorful scarf.

  I decided to participate in a crochet contest (mentioned in previous post).  The challenge was to use at least four colors of Tahki Stacey Charles Cotton Classic yarn in the most creative way.  After much thought and many sketches, I settled on this mirrored wave idea with strands of color woven through.  I ordered my yarn online since we don't have a local yarn shop that carries this particular brand (unless you consider Fresno local...I don't).  So I anxiously awaited the arrival of my yarn not knowing if the colors would look at all like what I viewed on the computer screen.  To my delight, they were even better than I had hoped!    

The yarn is woven really tight and each ply is made of two ply of yarn so it gives the strand a woven effect.  It looks like tiny cord.  This made each wrap of each stitch stand out amazingly.  Most of my stitches are double treble crochet which means I wrap the yarn around my hook three times and pull through four times.  Basically, there are a lot of loops and twists to look at and it makes each stitch look really intricate.  Anyway, enough technical talk...let's view and VOTE for my scarf!  Go here!  You might have to sign in to vote, in which case, I totally understand if you do not want to sign up for knitting daily.  :)

One Fun Day

Yesterday was such a fun day.  We didn't do anything particularly special but had so much fun together.  The kids took a long nap when we got home from work giving me some blissful quiet to work on my color contest scarf.  When they woke up they wanted to play quietly in the playroom doing a project.  So we pulled out the pipe cleaners and construction paper and went to work.  Soon, as their energy increased, they took the project fun outside.  We still have our old mattress on the balcony.  It looks ugly but is so much fun we are having trouble getting rid of it!

The next step was getting dressed and going on a bike adventure.  Molly lead the way through the really tall grass.  Willy didn't want me to take any pictures of them pushing through with the grass as high as their shoulders but it was darn cute.  Our adventures led us to the fence on the north side of our property.  The neighbors' horses decided to come by and say hello.  It was so fun cause the kids had never pet a horse before.  Molly was a little apprehensive but Willy loved it and was sad when we moved on.

The evening led to an excited evening in the house.  We were playing super-hero after watching Despicable Me.  Molly was the pillow super-hero but every time I tried to take a picture of her she did the model pose.

Willy was just a good 'ol super-hero.

All-in-all it was just about the perfect day!

Mommy, I'm Sick

After a very fun day with Mi Mi, Willy and Molly came home tired but still wanting to play.  They spent some time outside on their bikes and then decided that they would rather come in and take it easy while I made some dinner.  I turned around after a couple minutes of quiet and found Willy sitting on the steps like this saying "Mommy, I'm sick."  He was playing of course but during my laughter I couldn't help but be amazed at just how much the kids learn from anywhere and everywhere.  I don't think I have ever used that hot water bottle since Willy has been around and the thermometer I use on the kids is an ear one.  My little sponge!