Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween!

Here are my little goblins...er, children in costume. Enjoy!

Jacquelyn as Princess Leia


Gwen as a Vampiress


Clarece as herself, I mean a devil


Cornell as a gangster

Monday, October 23, 2006

A weekend of cheer


First there was Saturday. A normal game and cheer day around here, except it was home coming. For me this is strange because these are only children. We didn't have home coming until highschool where I was from. Well they do it all here. They have the game, they have a memory book, or this year it is a picture cd, I am going to guess it is set to music. At half time they announce the prince and princess for that age level, or king and queen if you are at the senior level, and then the respective royalty ride in the back of a convertible and toss candy to the crowd. In some years they have even had a parade around the track. While I have to admit it was cute, it almost seems like too much. When do our kids get to be kids, and what do they have to look forward to in highschool if they were a home coming queen as a first grader?

Anyhow that aside, my sons team won their game, and that put them into the playoffs with a record of 4-4. Just when I thought we were done with football and I could focus on only cheer for the next few weeks, football continues.

After the game on Saturday we came home and set Gwen's hair for her cheer competition the next day. She has to wear it in a pony tail reminiscent of I Dream of Genie right smack dab in the middle of her head, then we have to curl with pink perm rods and tiny little sectins of hair, the pony tail. Oh but wait lest I forget, it requires tons of gel and hair spray. You have to spray each strand before and after rolling. Goodbye ozone...its been nice knowing you. The end result is cute, but harsh on hair, the environment,and of course your time in the day as it took about 2 hours to roll. Then she had to spend the rest of the day with a turban like bandana wrapped on her head. Now those of you who know my daughter know how much she liked that. She didn't want ANYONE to see her looking like that. Of course it didnt matter that over a hundred girls in our area also had their heads looking like this. I wanted to take a picture, but I forgot...next time...cause we get to do this for 3 more weeks! Yeah!!

So, Sunday was consumed with competition. We arrived at VSU(Virginia State University) around noon and left at about 4. Our girls took third in the age and size category. IMHO, they were better than the second place team who had crooked lines, and dropped a girl on a lift. But of course the judges may have seen something I didn't, and then again, maybe there is a whole degree of dificulty thing that you see in other like sports. All I know is that the mothers I was sitting with expected us to get second place, and then were shocked when we got third, and they have all done the competitin thing before.

I did take some video...remember it is on my camera, so no sound...sorry. Also it is from a ways away, no zoom. I think Gwen is first on the right in the back row. I really need to pay more attentin to where she stands. This is not the whole routine, but the portion I could film in 15 seconds. Like Cornells football video you need to click on the box for it to take you to photobucket to view. Sorry. Enjoy the video. TTFN, Miki

Friday, October 20, 2006

I LOVE Halloween

I love the colors of autumn, and jumping in piles of leaves! The best is however, Halloween. Dressing up in costumes, and becoming a character for one night. Candy is good too, but I am too old to trick or treat. So I live vicariously through my children and now my dog. I usually make all my kids costumes. I have a problem spending upwards of $30 per costume, on poorly made articles that barely last one night. Sure I may spend a little more, and there is some time involved, but my kids end up with great costumes. That is not to say I have never purchased a costume. Sometimes it is easier, and sometimes it is the only way to get the desired effect. One year my son was superman with all the muscles. I couldn't make muscles....well I probably could have, but that is another story. A few years ago, Jacquelyn was Sully from Monsters Inc., I couldn't make that blue furry thing as nicely as what I found at Target for only 20 bucks. But I digress. This year I am only making Jacquelyn's costume. She is going to be Princess Leia, complete with the cinnamon buns hair. I am just about finshed with the dress. It needs a few snaps, and hook eyes, and it needs hemmed. It turned out awesome, and I will post pictures of it and the other kids costumes on or just after Halloween. I wanted to make the other kids' costumes, but they wouldn't decide on something, so time became and issue. Gwen finally decided on a female Vampire. I know I could have made the costume better, but oh well. Cornell will be a ganster with the pin stripe suit. I will need to replace the dickie and tie with a real shirt however. Clarece is a devil. I could never find a pattern, or any component of a pattern that I liked. I picked hers up for 10 bucks, so it wasn't a bad price. We will add some little touches to make it grand. So that leaves the dog. While looking for patterns for us. The girls' found one that they loved for Duke. After making it, I agree it suits him. Now we just need to get him used to wearing it. The picture I am posting is of him and Jacquelyn. Enjoy! TTFN, Miki

Monday, October 09, 2006

Latest Knitting Projects

So, even though I have been busy, I have still been knitting a little. I always like to have small projects with me to work on. Scarves, socks and the like work best. I found a pattern in Creative Knitting magazine, July 2006 that I liked. It was for a glass cozy. I made two of them in different shades of denim in DMC Senseo yarn. I really liked how they turned out. They are stretchy and fit nicely on both glasses and bottles. They also keep your hand from getting cold or wet. I am working on one now in red, that is a different kind of yarn. Red matches my kitchen so that makes the most sense. Unfortunately I couldn't find the Senseo in red, so made due with what they had. My only complaint with the Senseo is that it split really easy. This is my first time doing cables by hand, and I think they went really well. I think once I finish the red one, I will go back to socks for awhile. I still haven't made a pair to fit me, and my husband wants some too.


I finally finished the blanket for my cousins new baby Landon. I did a round, amish star again. This time it was in greens with grey. I used Caron Simply Soft in Sage, Dark Sage and Grey. For some reason this pattern was a pain this time around. It fell off the machine at least twice, and I can't tell you how many times I dropped stitches and had to pull out rows. I am glad it is done, and off to its new owner sometime today. My mom showed me the nursery set they decided on. It is a kid friendly jungle scene, so the greens will work nicely with what they chose. Who knew, I just wanted to try something different than the blues. I also think my theory about using a light and dark shade of the same color for the star was proven. I like this blanket as much as the one I did in blues, and much more than the purple and green one I did for my niece. My sister likes the purple and green one, but I think the star works better in a high and low shade.


Also Gwen knit another bag. This one is for her best friend Mackenzie back in Oregon. She used Cascade 220 again. Unfortunately her dad threw away the wrappers before I could write down the color number. They are pink...almost fuchia, and a light blend with the darker color in it. She is getting pretty good with the machine and she enjoys it. The girls at school who have seen the other bag she made all want one now, and she wants to know if she can sell them. I told her she could, but that it takes 3 skeins of yarn at about $8 each, so she would have to have a pretty high price tag to make any money. She said she didn't care, but I bet the girls at school would.


Well that is all I have for now. TTFN, Miki

Monday, October 02, 2006

Monday night lights update

Okay so I am new at this video thing. For some reason, it isn't working like I would like. If you click on the box where my video should be, it should take you to the photobucket website where I stored it and you can view it. Again it is hard to see, and there is glare from the light, but Cornell is the QB, he drops back and throws a pass. Of course the receiver doesn't get far, but so, it was still a nice pass. -M

Monday Night Lights


So, my sister has told me that I am not blogging enough. So much for my resolution to blog at least once a week. Well, ...sorry but I have been REALLY busy. My son is playing football and the nights we aren't practicing, we have a game, and my oldest daughter is cheering. Fortunately she is cheering for her brothers team. But soon her competions will start and that only adds more for me to do. My youngest has started Karate again, and that ties up Wed. Fortunately, my middle daughter is not doing anything right now, except Girl Scouts, which I am a leader for. I am also the co-leader in my youngests troop. But, at least I know where they are and who they are with, and what they are doing. I am also glad they are staying active.

My sister also asked that I include video of Cornell's game. Sorry for the quality, and the distance. Cornell is the quaterback and he threw a nice pass in this clip. I hope you enjoy it. I will try to get video of Gwen cheering on Sat., and post it too.
I also wanted to add that growing up in Eugene, Oregon, where I think only college football is important...GO DUCKS! It has been an experience here in Virginia, where Saturday game days are an experience unto themselves. All the teams in your league playing back to back. Music, play by play, and color over the sound system. Concessions, with a grill that includes a breakfast menu if you are there for the flag game. This is a serious business, and one that I am not accustom to, but am enjoying.
TTFN, Miki