Merry Christmas

I hope you all enjoyed some strong family time together over the Christmas Holiday. We had a great time with lots of relatives at the house between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Lots of food and some good laughs. Jordan loved his Iron Man Rocket Launcher and immediately tested it upon opening. I was ready with my camera but hadn't anticipated the tremendous amount of pressure and speed at which it was about to hit my living room ceiling. With about 30 people in the living room (all of the Shraders) we're lucky no one had an eye poked out, or a head torn off. I'm sure it would have shattered our front window. Once we all checked if our body parts were still attached we had quite a laugh! Not intended for indoor use - well gee, look at all the fun the instruction following families missed!

Justus chopped down the tree today with the hatchet he bought with his money last month during our North Pole trip. Then he vacuumed all the pine needles. I'll post a couple of photo's below.

I think this is one of the 'rights of passage into manhood' - he passed :-)

Jordan and the candy bar

Big thud, muffled cries (the I really hurt myself kind of cries) mommy runs to the kitchen to find Jordan on the floor covering his mouth, crying, hurt, a little scared. He couldn't talk between the crying, gasping for air and his hand covering his mouth like he bit his tongue or something. Took me a minute to figure out he fell off the kitchen counter backwards straight onto his back. He was up there to reach his cute little pudgy hand into the candy basket Daddy 'hid' on the very top shelf. His hand has been over his mouth this entire time not because he bit his tongue, because he's scared mommy will find out he's shoved a butterfinger bar in there. There's so much in there he can't chew or swallow. When I finally realize there's no blood we all laugh a little and each of us gets a candy... honestly, what my kids will do for sugar!

She can sew - who knew!

Yep, I can sew too. Thanks to my mother and Ms. Pratt in the 8th grade I was able to sew this 'Inn keepers' costume for the Christmas Play at Justus' school. I'm pretty proud of it. Only took 2 nights, and I still have all 10 fingers. I couldn't figure out how to show it in the picture but I also made a head cover, a belt and a tie thing to hold on the head cover... ok the belt and tie thingy are just two of the scraps left over but they count for creativity points - right?

I've been knitting!

Rather than giving you an update to span across the past 9 months of time let's just say I've been busy. Torn ligaments in my ankle while at Disneyland, a few business trips and boom, it's the holidays! I did manage to squeeze in some knitting. Here are my first two pairs of socks. They aren't perfect, but they are all mine and I love them. I'm currently working on a small bag/purse for a friend. Hoping to finish it this week.

Leo the Lion

Introducing Leo the Lion, our 7 week old kitten! The boys love him; Steve tolerates him and he keeps me entertained during the work day. There are times he's so entertaining I have to close him out of my office. He really enjoys walking across my keyboard... hmmm.

He also enjoys sitting on my shoulders and taking naps in my jacket. He's already mastered crawling from the bottom of my pant leg to my shoulders. He's a great cat. Fully potty trained. My kind of man!

Dinner Party

This week we enjoyed a small dinner party at the house with a few of our friends. Being at home during the work day allowed me to prepare a nice meal for everyone. I really enjoy entertaining friends and family and am trying to do it more often. It's a New Years' Resolution that I'm still succeeding at and it's almost 3 months into the year - a little pat on the back for me! We had seasoned chicken, baked potatoes, snow peas, Wendy brought a caesar salad (and beautiful flowers) and I had time to bake a pumpkin spice cake - yum!

The cake turned out so well one of the guests had two slices and took a piece home with him - I'll keep their identity hidden. He even told me he's never liked pumpkin prior to tasting the cake. This was such an easy one to put together I thought I'd share the receipt. It whipped up very quickly. I hope you have an opportunity to enjoy it.

Finished Projects!

This winter a friend and I took a 4 week knitting class at the community college. I thought I'd share the outcome of my recently acquired knitting skills. The purple hat is for my great-niece. I can't believe I'm old enough to have a 'great'-niece. She is the sweetest baby there ever was. Her cheeks are adorably squishable, she's very calm and happy, smart. I love her to pieces. She just turned 4 months old. The hat matches a blanket I crocheted for her earlier this year.

The blue hat was finished tonight during swim team practice. It's for Justus. Half way through the project he said he wanted a hat that would cover his ears. Thank goodness this one just makes it! I think I'll look for a pattern that's actually intended to cover the ears for a little variety in my next project. Ear coverage would be good... and not just because he asked for it.

This is for my friend Delena (Happy Birthday BTW). She missed this little adventure because she successfully rangled her kids out of the pool much earlier than I did. Justus eventually emerged from the locker room. When you're a boy there must be some really fasinating stuff in there because it takes FOREVER to get out when your mom's waiting for you. He was followed by his friend who came over to the parent's bleachers and announced to everyone that he heard someone say, 'Frickin' idiot.' He then divulged the name of the offender... I left quietly. Frickin' is my favorite word right now, it's useful in a variety of situations (driving, laundry time) but usually reserved for use in front of the immediate family members. Guess I need a new word. Or ear flaps!