Tuesday, May 31, 2011

What’s going on?

gameboysinvented

On the weekend, the boys played a game they invented while we watched 2 movies (yeah, they really don't have any attention span for watching movies. Sean was better than Mack at sitting down & watching, but he got quite distracted numerous times by Mack who wanted to play everything else, do other things, besides sitting quietly to watch the movie. We watched both Despicable Me & Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Despicable Me was really cute, had some great laughs, but Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was not as great, but I wanted to see how the story went, so I sat through the entire thing (and got to knit too!) Each movie was about 1 hour and 25 minutes long, so it wasn't that bad at all. It was actually Sean who demanded that we watch both movies in one sitting.

Speaking of movies, Jamie & I went on a double date last week with some friends to see Thor. While I am a fan of superhero movies, I totally enjoyed watching Chris Hemsworth as Thor! His Australian accent just makes me melt! I cannot wait to go see Xmen: First Class, amongst other superhero movies that are coming out this summer. There is a slew of superhero movies coming out.

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Yesterday I rode my bike for the first time this summer, to pick up Sean & Mack from daycare, and on the way home had all 3 kids in the buggy. At first it was a bit of a challenge, but I think I've got it all under control. The boys really enjoyed it. It was Quentin's first bike ride. (He's not tall enough yet, so I had to strap him into the booster seat first, then into the buggy! At least he's double protected!)

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Caught Mack in a well needed nap on the weekend (we're lucky if either Sean or Mack take a quick nap). Doesn't he look so cute when sleeping? Mack is totally our "bug" child. While Sean likes to pick up ants off the ground, he's not much for the "grosser" bugs. Mack on the other hand... will play with any bug. (Above he's totally engrossed in checking out a caterpillar).

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We've been enjoying this gorgeous weather with some friends. Finally - sunshine!
We've been going for long walks & playing in the park.

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Quentin turned SIX (!) months old yesterday. I cannot believe it.
Today, he's 26 weeks old.
At 6 months old he's loving sweet potato and banana too.

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And Mr. Sean (whom I caught in a picture taking mood this evening) is 230 weeks old.

Today’s Short Link Love:
- A last code for May 2011 of free Pampers Points: 4XGHB4HPE7PB7NK (not sure if there is an expiry date)
- This Peppers and rice salad with sesame soy vinaigrette looks super yummy!
- I love this cute tote bag for sale.
- Love the knitting bracelets from this shop.
- This image is just hysterical.

Monday, May 30, 2011

♥ Look what the postman brought!

Look at this! The post man brought some mail today. A little bit of something for everyone (except Jamie, sorry dude). My awesome knitting/penpal/ravelry friend Kim send us some mail. Thank you Kim, you are awesome & Rock! (And when I mean penpal, I mean we actually write letters by hand and mail them out).

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Quentin got the first bit of loot - some cute 9 month size onesies (a size we actually needed!) and the most adorable sweater that Kim knit for Quentin. The pattern, I'm not sure, Kim? I can't wait for Quentin to fit into it!

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The next part of the loot had some yarn ( hand dyed by Kim's friend - can you send me the yardage & fiber info please! And is there a colorway name? Or where on Ravelry I can link my stash to?) Also a book, a title I'd never heard of before, but it's about knitting, and I cannot wait to read it! There was also a super long letter which I just read & will reply to & then mail back to Kim. I still enjoy writing letters by hand and getting mail. (Letters, post cards, birthday cards, holiday cards, I love any kind of mail, it makes me feel warm inside when I open mail from friends).

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And then there was some loot for Sean & Mackenzie. Some coloring books, some crayons & some silly bandz rings & bracelet. Thank you so much Kim - the boys LOVED everything! Two of their fave things - Coloring & Silly Bandz.

Thank you again for this amazing surprise in the mail. We love everything! ♥ Muah! ♥

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Rice Cereal = 0, Sweet Potato = 1.

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We've been keeping busy around here. I finally got my car back on Thursday afternoon (they had it for a total of 23 days (May 3-26) and I had driven it around broken for about 3 weeks before they even took it in. So Friday Quentin and I had to get the summer tires put back on my car, and get an oil change. Even stuck in a garage, he was a happy baby. He kept busy with gnawing on Captain Calamari. While he's teething like mad, he still has no teeth. I'm sure any day now.

I took Quentin on Thursday morning to get weighed. He's now 14 and a half pounds (6.58 kg or 6580 g). In the last 5 weeks (since the last time I had him weighed, he's put on approximately 25 g per day, which is great. (Average is between 20 & 25g per day). He's right on track. The nutritionist was actually there this morning and we were chatting and she was telling me that for Quentin, who was 4 weeks early, we have to calculate his growth at his "corrected" age. He might be turning 6 months old tomorrow, but his "corrected" age is 5 months old. For height, you calculate the corrected age until 36 months old, and for weight, until 24 months old. (So that they have time to catch up). According to Quentin's real age (6 months old tomorrow) he's still in the 3rd percentile for his growth for his weight. And for his "corrected" age, he's almost in the 15th percentile, which is a huge improvement from his "corrected" age at 2 months old (she plugged in all his weights into her chart). So he's doing well. I'm so happy. At 14 and a half lbs, I can see now if some of his 3-6 month outfits will fit him. He does still fit into 0-3 month clothing and some 3 month clothing (depending on the company). Though, he has no waste and is tall in length. I'm curious what his length is on the chart. But the clinic (CLSC) where I get him weighed, only does weight, and not height. And our new pediatricians don't do the whole "chart" thing for percentile. I might have to do some plugging into the chart myself. I'm sure I can get it online.

Rice Cereal = 0, Sweet Potato = 1. Quentin absolutely REFUSES to eat rice cereal. I've tried it a few times with him over the last week or so since he's tried it first. I gave up. I don't blame him, it is rather nasty. Sweet potato on the other hand, a huge success. Apparently I can't shovel it fast enough into his mouth. Tomorrow we embark on Banana, which is usually another hit.

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We've been visiting some friends in the city this week too.
It's nice to catch up and see how our friends are doing.
Joy is 7 days younger than Quentin. She's a cutie.
She's moving closer to us at the end of the summer, we're very excited.

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I finally caught Sean in a smile on camera over the weekend. He's been hiding from the camera a lot lately, but I managed to get him after he got home with some new toys from Toys R Us. (Daddy took them to get the boys out of the house for a bit on the weekend, while our new cleaning lady did some work around the house). On Saturday, Sean turned 53 months old.

Mack said to me yesterday, "You're not a girl, you're my mommy". He's too funny.

Today's Link Love & Laugh!
- These crochet shorts made me spit up my diet pepsi. They shouldn't be allowed!
- I love this summer checklist.
- I love this quote.
- I wish I had seen this tshirt when pregnant with Quentin.
- This invisible bathtub is quite neat.
- Some free Pampers Gifts to Grow points: 20000PampLatino. (Not sure it's expiry date).
- Had a chuckle at the crochet toilet paper roll... why?
- Snap snap!
- Love this list!
- 2 more days until my current contest ends - be sure to enter!
- I love our lilacs this time of the year.
- On Thursday, May 26th, Mack turned 153 weeks old. This picture makes me laugh, because I thought it was Sean who was hiding from the camera these days.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Playing with Yarn

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I have made some progress on Sean's Wyatt. It's coming along nicely now that I've picked it back up. I'm hoping to make each of the boys one so that come the fall, I can photograph all 3 of them in it, together. However, I think by that time Quentin might outgrow his Wyatt, so I'll have to re-knit his, in the next larger size. Unless there is a cool summer day, where my boys can be in a wool sweater (doubtful, but possible the rate this summer is going). It's such a great knit though, I'll probably knit the next size up for Quentin anyhow for the fall.

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I received my Tanis Fiber Arts yarn club installment for May 2011. This is her Blue label fingering in Pink Grapefruit. I love the way the pink goes into peach. Not sure what I'll do with this, but probably not the pattern it came with.

MaySock

I've got another design coming out next week - so stay tuned for those details! It's the last installment that I designed for the Nestucca Bay Yarns & Fibers Company for their fiber/yarn club. I've been inspired after designing Avrit and this new pattern with a few other designs up my sleeve... can't wait to get cracking on the designing again.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

A little Link Love

Today's Link Love:
- A beaded cake!?
- Love this button dying tutorial.
- I love this knitted Baby T-shirt Vest.
- This video of a set of twins makes me laugh!
- Camera lens pouch tutorial.
- This homemade mac 'n cheese recipe.
- This poster.
- I'd love to go check this place out.
- This cracks me up.
- A crochet flower tutorial. I have some ideas of what I could do with these.
- Love this baby in pearls.
- Enjoy today with a smile.
- I really want one of these lens mugs. They're my fave online photo gadgets store. Adding it to my birthday wish list.
- Chocolate Mint Cookie Mounds. Yum!
- What a fun fun video - the kids looked like they had a good time!
- I was at this show years back (first or 2nd row!) and found this on the web. Still makes me laugh. Who doesn't love some Fred Savage.
- I love these alphabet rocks.
- I love love love this shirt.
- Love these Mickey cupcakes.
- Love this bath mat tutorial using recycled towels.
- Love this monogram cork tutorial.
- Love this umbrella!
- Love this lego wall!
- Would love to find where this rainbow cheesecake is from so I could try some, it looks delicious!
- Want to do my hair like this.
- This has got to be one of the coolest cakes ever.
- Chuckled out loud to this one.
- This bed looks so peaceful.
- Too freakin' adorable.
- Love this tea cup lamp.
- Love this image.
- These cupcakes look delicious. These ones are just a little creepy!
- I hate balloons (fear them actually), but this dress is awesome.
- Love the sequins on this dress (and the color combination)
- I swear, this has come across my mind when doing laundry too.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

My Three Sons

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Ahhh... my 3 sons. Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking about having just boys, and you know, I'm not disappointed at all that I didn't have a girl, and that I will never have a girl. I'm 150% okay with it. I love my boys. And I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Ever. Boys rock. They love their mommy.

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Mr. Mackie loves Macaroni. So much so that I call him Mack-a-roni. And he still will say back "I'm not Mackaroni, I'm Mackenzie". Giggle. Makes me smile. It's been a little challenging lately, as we're trying to potty train Mack. He hasn't been doing too well, treating the pull-up like a diaper. Maybe he's just not ready. I know that boys take longer than girls (in most cases) to train. We'll wait a bit and see if he's ready again soon.

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Quentin at almost 6 months old (he'll be 6 months old on Monday - where does time go?) looks almost IDENTICAL to Sean at 6 months old. I swear, they're twins. A clone? We'll see as Quentin grows.

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We went for a walk one evening, didn't take long at all for Quentin to fall asleep in my sling. Mack & Sean rode their bikes on our walk. Sean... has not been wanting to be in front of the camera really this week. Hope it's just a phase. And let's hope we have decent weather to take many more family walks this summer.

Even though Sean doesn't really want to be in pictures right now, I did catch him in 2 different videos last week swimming on his own in his class. It's awesome! So proud of his progress in swim class.

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Quentin's also been working on his sitting. He's getting good, but not quite perfect yet.

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This week Quentin tried cereal for the first time. (On video!) I was going to wait until his 6 month check-up but he was starring at my food from my plate to my mouth. So we tried some cereal on Saturday. I wanted to see what he'd do with it. While he's still unsure, it'll take some time.

What have we missed since I had a chance to really blog last? Mack turned 152 weeks old last Thursday, May 19th, Sean turned 229 weeks old on Tuesday, May 24th, and Quentin turned 25 weeks old on Tuesday, May 24th. I'm hoping to blog a bit more than I have, but we've been super duper busy lately. I'm not even sure I foresee them calming down anytime soon either. Summer is meant to be enjoyed, and filled with keeping busy. Busy is good though! (Though, sometimes I wish I had time to sit down and knit more, or read more).

I've got some free Huggies Enjoy the Ride Reward Points for you: BKTXHRBZFXLLPGB (5 pts) and BKWWNFSGBMJWPGB (1 pt). There's also a new poll up and a new video (for an added 3 pts total). Enjoy!

There’s been some Crafting

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First up, I've been knitting. Though, now I'm stuck. Waiting for the designer to get back to me, whenever she can message me back (I'm in no rush honestly - this project has beyond frustrated me). I’m at 132 stitches right now, and it’s even k2, p2, k2, p2 all around. If I add in the last increase row, (8 more stitches) it’ll give me some p2, p2’s at every marker. The ribbing is supposed to work out evenly, k2, p2, all across. It’s just not. I've tried writing it all out, it just doesn't work out. I have the correct amount of stitches, and it all flows, until this point.

I've also been knitting up a new design, details will come shortly. Sorry, no sneak peaks yet. Maybe soon.

And I've still been working on more squares for all 3 versions of Babette I'm doing. Squares for version 1, version 2 & version 3. Their updated tally of how many squares are on the project pages.

pencilvase

Next up, I made my own version of a pencil vase.
It's in my kitchen and has all our pens, pencils, scissors, etc, in it now.
I think it's cute. I used an empty (large) baby formula can (from powder formula) & picked up pencils from the dollar store. This took 48 pencils. (12 in a pack).

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Sunday, May 22, 2011

The Key to Taking Pictures {Contest!}

I know that so many of you are interested in learning how to use their cameras to take better pictures. Cameras are not just for professional photographers anymore, but finding a good easy to read guide is sometimes hard to come by. So what do you do? Who do you turn to? Lucky for us some of the pros have started to share their knowledge through e-books (a new fave tool of mine!) and Katie Evans wrote one I love so much I had to share it with you. She wrote, The Key to Taking Pictures Like a Professional Photographer.


Not only is Katie's book filled with beautiful images, it's easy to read for those of you whom are visual learners. I've always been a visual learner, and to be able to put image examples with the text is a good thing. When it's all text and no imagery, sometimes it's hard to follow. Katie's book is very well done & laid out.
This e-book is 73 pages long. It seems like a lot, but it's actually quite easy to get through. It's a great guide to get DSLR users using the functions on their camera past the automatic feature and increase their knowledge of their camera. This will help you improve the photos you take with it. You will learn everything from ISO, Aperture, F-stop and Shutter speed and as well how to use them. You will learn also how to choose the right camera and accessories for your needs, and how to find the right lighting source (be it indoors/outdoors, natural light/flash this is the perfect book to learn from.


Look at these stunning photos! This entire book is inspiring.For the next 2 weeks (starting today) you can purchase the book for $14.95 instead of the original price of $16.95. You can use the discount code KNIT (Which is not case sensitive).The discount will be available for 2 weeks as of now (until Sunday, June 5th, 2011).

I do have the opportunity for one of my lucky readers to win a copy of the ebook. You will have to click over to Katie's Facebook Page and become a follower. You can also follow her blog in your Google Reader (or however you follow blogs). Once you've done so, please come back here (on this post only) & let me know that you're following her. If you follow both on Facebook & her blog in your feed reader, you will get 2 chances to win her book. (Leave separate entries for following her blog and FB fan page please so it counts twice).

You will have until Tuesday, May 31st, 2011 to enter the contest & follow Katie Evans. I will pick a winner on Wednesday, June 1st, 2011. Good luck!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Baby A :: Newborn Photography

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Baby A was 4 days old when I photographed her. 4 days old is a great age because babies are at their sleepiest in the first few days after birth - sometimes up to 14 days old even. If you have a newborn or are expecting and would like to have me photograph your little bundle of joy, within the first 2 weeks is ideal if at all possible. Please contact me for more information.