The First day of First Grade.

I somehow didn't get things together early enough to get pictures of The Boy on his first day of school this year. He was so interested in changing to go out to play I didn't get any after school either.

He didn't want to talk too long, he wanted to go play, but said that he had a good day. I'll get him to talk later, after dinner and find out some more information. I'll ask about the kids in his class, and his first school lunch.

I missed him all day! Little Day Care Girl missed him too. I couldn't wait for him to get home, and he just wanted to leave me again. LOL

I'll try to get pictures tomorrow, no promises though.

Why The Boy won't be using the clippers any time soon.

The Boy gave himself a hair cut a few days ago. Don't worry, it's okay, really.

His Dad was trimming his beard with the clippers, The Boy was "helping" and at one point he held the clippers for his Dad. He decided to find out how the vibration would feel against his forehead. He liked it quite a bit and before he knew it, or his Dad could stop it, he ran the clippers across the side of his head. Cutting his hair to about an eighth of an inch. But that isn't were he stopped, he moved the clippers almost to the top of his head and clipped another strip of hair. Dad told him to come and show me what he had done.

After looking at it and discussing what needed to be done, it was decided that the only thing that could be done was to cut the rest of his hair to the same length. It's shorter than I would have liked, but it will grow out again.

Here are some pictures.

Socks.

I've been knitting again. I got some blue self striping yarn while waiting for CLGN's birthday party, The Boy picked it out himself, to make socks out of. I got a set of double pointed needles and a steel crochet hook as well. I had this pattern for kids socks from Lion Brand Yarn, it's free to download. It was easy to follow the pattern, and I liked the way the stripes turned out.

Here is the bottom/sole of the socks.

A view of his feet from the top.

I had quite a bit of yarn left over from the little Jumpers/dresses I made for SLGN and MSLG, so I started some socks for myself. The Boy decided he wanted some made out of the "Orange striped yarn" as well, so I put mine aside (they are more complicated to make than his are) and made him a pair. This yarn is just a little bit smaller/thinner than the blue was so the socks are just a little bit smaller. Enough that they slip off his heel when he wears them around the house. He loves them though so I guess they are good enough.

Just the socks.

The boy and his new socks, well the sole of one sock anyway. the grey stripe should be on the heel not below it. (sigh)

I'll take a picture of my socks when I get them done and show them to you as well. I don't have any pictures of them right now, not progress pictures or anything. Hmmm I guess I'd better get the camera out and take a few pictures. :)

What I've been up to lately.

Things have been busy for me for about a week now. On Friday, the 24th, we got up at 5 AM to get ready to take a taxi to the train station. The train was supposed to be there at 6:42 but didn't arrive until 7. Not a big delay, but The Boy really wanted to get on the train, and waiting was really boring. We took the train up to Portland, and then had to take a Grey Hound bus up to my Parents. We had a fairly long wait for the bus, but then everything was good.

My Mom picked us up and took us home, but then had to go back to work. So we got to know the kittens and relaxed until Mom and Dad came home. Howard went out to the storage trailer and threw some of the stuff out. When he came in he told me to be prepared, things were bad in there. We visited with Mom and Dad for awhile and then went out to the RV to go to bed.

Saturday was full of canning tomatoes and getting mixed news from Howard about the damage in the trailer. There were some interesting things that made it through relatively unharmed. Like a Harry Potter book in a plastic box that was sealed and hadn't leaked even a little, which was found in the middle of a box of other things that were ruined. We picked up the U-Haul Saturday afternoon, and The Boy helped his Daddy load up some things.

Sunday Mom and I canned some Bread and Butter pickles and Jalapeno peppers. More mixed news about my things. Nearly all of my books and SCA stuff gone. 3 plastic storage boxes had leaked and were full of water and rotting clothing. The smell was horrible. Pictures of the Older Boys, my treasure chest with keepsakes that were mine baby cloths, baby books, things that were my Grandmothers, and pictures of my parents when they were younger, all gone. But all my Harry Potter books were okay, the videos and DVD's, Beany Babys were all fine. Some important genealogy papers were damaged, but Howard spent hours carefully separating wet papers and laying them out to dry so most of them were saved.

Monday, we finished loading the U-Haul, and tossed the rest back into the trailer. After a shower, we left to drive home. We were too tired to unload Monday evening so we rested and went to bed early.

Tuesday, Carol and her husband Thomas came over and helped us unload the U-Haul. It was hot and exhausting but we got it all done. Well actually they unloaded while I watched the kids, SLG was here, and cleaned and sorted some of the stuff.

Wednesday, taking care of kids in the middle of the mess was interesting to say the least. But we managed and I even made some progress in the sorting and cleaning. My Microwave, Crock Pot, and TV aren't working, but maybe they just need to day out a little bit more. I hope. I got rid of some things that are still good but I don't need, and finding things that should never have made it home at all.

Today, the next to the last day SLG will be coming here, was fairly calm. I washed some of the kitchen stuff, and played with the kids. I posted new pictures on Flickr of The Boy, the Kittens, the Train trip, the ride on the bus, and the produce I brought home from Dad's garden. I need to send SLG's Mom some pictures I took last week. And I'll do some more cleaning. I'm not going to push myself to get things finished, things are safe for the kids and adults in the house, if a bit smelly, so I don't have to worry right now. I'll post the pictures later, or you can go to Flickr and see them.

Pictures and invite to discuss The new Harry Potter book.

Here are a few pictures of The Boy. This first one is the letter "A" in ASL (American Sign Language). He didn't like waiting for the camera to be ready.



Here is his version of the letter "B". He can't seem to get his fingers together. :)


The same holds true for the letter "C".



He was tired and didn't want to do it any more by the time we go to the letter "D".

We went to the park yesterday. I caught him off guard with this shot.

For those who read the Harry Potter books, I finished mine 11hours after I bought it. I'm going to read the whole series from start to finish now. If you would like to discuss the new book let me know, I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read it yet, or those who tend to read slower than I do so that they can savor a book rather than devour it.

First snow of the year.

I forgot to post these pictures earlier. It snowed here a week or so ago. It didn't last more than a day, but it was pretty and we had a good time.


This was Aidan's first snow ever. He was instantly in love with it. He loved watching it, making snowballs, even the tiny little snowmen I made.



Aidan and Howard went walking in the field behind the apartments. It was still snowing, Aidan was amazed with the falling snowflakes. They got ahead of me so I took this picture of them.