Molly

Unsure if she's a Hooper or a Weasley, but this is the name my new Kiwi 2 told me. 

the story (so far)

Ravellenics socks...

The Boy's choral MVP award...

Early spring in our favorite park...

Ladies' knit out rainbow sock KAL...

Election Day in the park...

Memorial Day parade...

The graduates...

Baby praying mantises...

Air hockey at the campground...

Day out with Thomas...

the winter of my discontent

$7.99 is a small price to pay to cure my winter blues. 

No more snow!

I am about to od on snow. We've gotten dumped on at least once a week since December. Just as it melts we have another storm. Throw in sub zero days and you've got one miserable winter. Whoever asked for all this snow got their wish. 

Petunia helping hubby shovel shortly after new year's...

First big snow of 2014. 

After the big storm two weeks ago. Our neighbor plows our parking space with his gator but this pile had no where to go. Ugh!

This Saturday's snow. Four inches my foot. More like ten!  The kids are standing on my tomato barrel in the back yard. We haven't had this much snow in years. 

This huge pile is courtesy of our driveway. The last time I saw a snow pile this tall was during my senior year in college in 1996. 

I played outside with the kids. We made snow angels and tried to make snowballs. 

Found this little guy nestled at the base of our apple tree. Poor thing was shivering. Even he agrees that this weather is for the birds!

I don't have pictures of our alley which is one big pile of snow and ice. I realize the borough's concern is the main streets but I wish they'd do a few extra passes in our alley and spread salt or cinders. I fell on some hidden ice walking to church on Sunday and I'm still feeling sore today. 

The kids missed a few days of school and had several delays. We lost one day for presidents' weekend and I don't know when we'll make up last week's missed day. I think we'll lose a day at Easter but I wouldn't be surprised if we go well into June. We're barely past the middle of February and there's still risk of more snow!  I remember getting snow in April!  

The snow days haven't been a complete waste. The kids enjoy playing outside end enjoy the cups of hot chocolate that wait for them when they come inside. Knitting feels cozy with snow fall. Probably my favorite thing about snowfall is the sound - or lack of it. I love to hear the whisper of flakes falling, a quiet stirring in the trees. 

I can make a rainbow too

I ordered this pretty before Christmas...

Then I decided to visit the frog pond...

Then I remembered this cardigan that had been buried in my attic for years, until I dug it up to unravel the yarn (except the fabric had been machine knit and therefore unravelable). But then I got an idea...

I bought this sweater 15 years ago at Martha's Vineyard. It was snug and short then, and still was. 

(What a horrible selfie!)

I wondered...what if I removed the zipper and knit a button band instead?  What if I picked up stitches along the hem and added a ribbed bottom?  It would solve the length problem, and maybe make the cardi a bit bigger.  The question was, what color to make the ribbing and button front?  Look what I have to work with...

If you've noticed a pattern with the yarn and cardi, you're right. I'm prepping for the ravellenic winter games on ravelry!  One of the themes of the games this year is knitting with rainbow dyed yarn, or knitting a rainbow project, as a reaction to the anti-homosexual laws passed in Russia. I dug through the stash and found yarn frogged from a long knitted hat. Then I remembered another hat that never fit right, so I frogged again. 

I'm playing on this team, who is also sponsoring the rainbowlenic games. 

This is a hat for an ongoing rainbow K/CAL in a parenting group (which has an awesome game name, team Putin Out).

My goals for these games will be to finish the hat from the KAL, make another hat with the other unravelled yarn, make a pair of socks with the lollipop yarn, and hopefully rejigger the cardi. Wish me luck!

Welcome to the jungle!

We took a bus trip to NYC during thanksgiving break. It was the boy's first trip to the big city, so we chose to do touristy things. 

The bus let us off at Times Square, and had over an hour to kill before lunch.  We checked out the Disney store and tRu and rode the Ferris wheel there.  Outside we saw these characters, and I exclaimed "look, it's Mario!" and the poor kid got accosted by not only Mario but also woody and hello kitty!  We didn't know we had to tip them and woody kept making "more!" gestures. I was annoyed since we only wanted Mario's picture but didn't know better. 

(Look at the joy on his face.)

Then it was lunchtime and we ate at Hard Rock Cafe. I would have preferred a hole in the wall or a good Jewish deli but the kid is super picky, and I thought he'd enjoy the atmosphere. He got chicken fingers and this huge ice cream brownie sundae that we helped him devour.  He loved eating there.

The boy wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, so we took the subway down to battery park. He was disappointed that we couldn't actually visit it ( no time, plus it was freezing that day) 

Selfie at battery park. 

A peek of the freedom tower. I want to visit the 9/11 memorial someday.  Apparently one needs a ticket to visit, and since we didn't know when we'd arrive in the city, we scrapped that plan. 

We took the subway back to midtown to visit the Empire State Building. It took over an hour to get through the lines for the observation deck. It was an overcast day but we still had a pretty good view of the city. This is looking south...

The boy was a bit nervous being so high up. He was also frustrated that he couldn't see the Statue of Liberty (it was tiny but visible. He just didn't know where to look).  

By this time my feet were hurting me, and we had several blocks to walk to st Patrick's cathedral. I hailed a cab (I actually hailed a cab!!!) to take us there instead.  When we got there, this is what greeted us...

The was a remodeling going on, and the interior was covered in scaffolding. I did get a couple shots of the alter, and lit some candles in memory of loved ones. No wedding this time, unfortunately

We then walked up fifth avenue to fao Schwartz.  There was a line to get in the store.  I couldn't believe it. And the store was so crowded, and didn't have what we wanted anyway. Boo. The boy wasn't as impressed as he was by tRu. We didn't even get to see the piano from Big.

So we walked back to our bus drop off, passing the Plaza, back to Times Square. We wanted to go back to the Disney store to get presents, but The boy and I were tired from walking. Supper was a pretzel and water from a street vendor, with a view of radio city music hall...

Walking back to the bus, I stepped on uneven sidewalk and fell down.  Twisted both ankles, stoved both wrists and bashed up a knee. Interestingly enough, my leather pants didn't even get a scratch from the fall. I felt like a fool, but people did come to my rescue when I fell. Who says New Yorkers aren't nice?!

Driving away, a view of the Empire State Building at night, its lights blue and white for Hanukkah. 

We actually brought little home in the way of souvenirs.  I got a couple of books for the kids at fao Schwartz, and the boy got a really cool interactive map at the Empire State Building. 

It was a long and tiring day, but we had a good time. The bus trip is sponsored by my folks' church, and we plan to go again.  Next time we'll take in a show since it won't be necessary to visit the touristy spots. Hubby and I talk about planning a small vacation there, staying in New Jersey and taking the train back and forth, and taking in a show, visiting the museums and Central Park. I so wanted to see strawberry fields, but time was limited. Ah well. It was a fun day, and I'm sure the boy will never forget it. 

First snow day

Catching snowflakes