a little this, a little that.

i see that i haven't posted anything here for a while.  not much to say, i guess.  i've been busy knitting, crocheting, and doing a little designing too for my soon-to-open Etsy shop.  it's taking me longer than i had hoped to get it all organized, but i'm just a few small steps away from actually posting items in my shop!  if you've been following my knitting blog here, you already know that. 

it's an amazingly warm day today.  35 degrees.  that's nearly unheard of up here in the northern minnesota tundra for early february.  i'm sure it'll cool back down soon though.  it usually does.  but for now, the snow is melting off the rooftops and is, i believe, the perfect wetness for packing.  which means my boys are going to go outside and play this afternoon.  and maybe even try to make a snowman!  this could be their only chance to make one this winter since our snow is usually like a powder of fine ice crystals that won't stick together.

i will probably stay indoors myself (unless the kiddos convince me that they NEED me to help them make a snowman) and work on a little housework and then maybe i'll have a little time to work on one of my knitting projects this afternoon too.

speaking of knitting projects, i'm very close to finishing a lightweight sweater that i'm making for myself--my first-ever adult-sized sweater.  {yes, i still make time to knit stuff for myself too!} i've been working on this one, off and on, since june.  it's a beautiful wrap sweater with some lace details that look like bubbles--hence the name of the pattern:  soap bubble wrap!  i can't wait to see how this looks/fits when it's done!  i think i'm to the point of seaming it, so unless sewing the seams in mattress stitch gives me fits {which wouldn't be a first} i should be able to finish it sunday. 

hopefully, i'll be able to get it done before the super bowl.  'cuz i'll probably be too busy watching the game--and commercials--to focus on seaming properly.  i'll have to work on something easy that doesn't take a lot of concentration during the game.  as a loyal Packers fan, i must say i'm hoping for a really good game against the Steelers {and that the Pack wins, of course}! 

have a great weekend everyone! 
enjoy the game on sunday! 
and, of course:
Go PACK Go!

a few photos

random photos from the past couple of weeks.

wind turbine in ND

Minnkota Power Plant Tour

black bear eating plants in a ditch
(we saw it Sunday on our way over to visit my parents) 

Labor Day at a local Corn Maze!  FUN!

frog catching fun

hole in one of my hand-knit socks. (i fixed it last night)

autumn fun

it was another lovely day today...55 degrees and sunny, albeit a tad on the windy side, but basically nice. grandma was feeling left out since she had to work yesterday, so both grandparents came over and took us for lunch at DQ and then came back home with us so grandma could spend some quality time playing with the boys too. i got some more great shots of the boys playing in leaf piles. and grandma took a few of me playing with the boys too.

it's game day!

today has been our first official "game day" for our home school.
{the idea for doing this was in an email newsletter i received early this week, so hats off to the mom who first did this and shared her experience!}

game day rules:
1. any games played must be educational
2. the child(ren) must be able to tell me what they will be learning before i agree to let them play the game they've chosen
3. play with a good attitude {i.e. no crying because you didn't win!}

first we played Candyland {3 quick games}. cj was {hopefully} learning his colors!
after he got bored, bubba got out our Monopoly Deluxe Edition. lots of money math skills to play that one! and finally bubba and i played a game of Boggle. that's a good one for practicing one's spelling and writing!

i've always loved how games can be a great way to have a good time together, but really when you stop and think about it, there's so much you can learn with games too!

anyways, grandpa came to visit for a little bit today too. cj wanted to play outside and so grandpa took him out while bubba and i were playing Monopoly. after a little while i peeked out to see grandpa had found our leaf rake and was raking a pile of leaves at the bottom of the slide for cj to land in. he was having a glorious time! i just had to get a few photos of the fun, so i grabbed my camera and headed outside. it wasn't long before bubba was out and playing in the leafy piles of fun too!

one last thing we did today was watch some of the webcast of the first ever National Bible Bee. it's amazing to watch the finalists who made it thru to today's final competition. and the Bible memory verses these kids know is impressive! they're doing a tie-breaker round as i write this, but hopefully a clear winner for each of the 3 age groups will be determined by the time this round is done. congratulations to those who made it to the national competition! what an incredible opportunity to share what you've learned from God's Word!

snow much fun!

today's weather: warm (a whopping 40F--that's ABOVE zero for a change), but windy.

this afternoon, bubba and i spent an hour and a half playing outside in the snow while cj was napping. i find it difficult to do much with our snow though. when i was a kid (in central wisconsin), we had the most wonderful sticky snows all winter long...snowmen, snow forts, snow balls were all easy to make. not so up here in the northern parts of minnesota. the top layer where the snow had begun to melt a little packs okay, but under that it's just powdery. like dry sand--only colder. it doesn't make very good snowmen, unless you're determined and don't mind them being a tad on the small side. i was determined this afternoon.

here's my snow art. i call it snow waltz. doesn't it look like this lovely couple could be dancing?

it's hard to get a good picture of snowmen. especially since these guys have a snow backdrop too. here's another photo. you can see how they're "dancing" in a little hollow i had dug out of the snow.


and here's bubba with his own snowman.