Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Winners and more

OK, first let me post the winners to the contest. I let Frisco dig into the bag and which ever piece of paper came out was the winner. Unfortunately, when I went to go take pictures of this the batteries died *ugh* So now I have to write myself a note and stop at the store on the way home to pick up batteries so I can take pictures of my new niece this weekend!! I'm heading to NY tonight, so this will probably be my last post till I get back.

Getting back to Frisco... It probably wasn't the best idea to let him pick, but since I don't have any kids at home to use as prize drawers I had to improvise. As he was playing around in the bag TWO pieces of paper fell out, so there are two winners. Congrats to Kati Mae and Heather! I have contacted you both and awaiting your response :)

In knitting news - I had finished the Baby Bolero for Baby M a while ago, but I haven't posted about it till now. I would have waited till I got a picture of Baby M wearing, but I still haven't received a picture of her wearing the dress or the hat. So, I'm not going to hold my breath on this one either. I'm very pleased with how this came out and I'm stash searching for more DK yarn to make an even smaller on for Maya.


Pattern: Children's Neck Down Bolero from Knitting Pure and Simple
Yarn: Wullernstudio DK Merino (1.5 skeins) specially dyed for this project
Needles: Knit Picks Options, size 6
Modifications: I went down in yarn weight and needle size to make a smaller sweater since Baby M is wearing size 18 months. Beatrix Potter button

I have also start to really buckle in on my holiday knittings. I cranked out 2 gifts this weekend. First up is the Impressionist Cowl for my younger sister. She will also be getting some baby things - obviously. The pattern was easily memorized and knit up in a day! I want to make a second on with just the top pattern and leaving off the waves at the bottom. I like the colorway of the yarn too!


Pattern: Impressionist Cowl (Ravlink)
Yarn: Reynolds Harvest Tweed (1.5 skeins)
Needles: Knit Picks, size 10
Modifications: none

Nexy up is the Birthday Cowl for Zia Franca. This was an easily memorized pattern as well and knit up in a day and a half. This yarn is super soft! I have a few more skeins in my stash in other colors, so I may be making a few more of these :)


Pattern: Birthday Cowl (Ravlink)
Yarn: Frog Tree Merino (1 skeins)
Needles: Knit Picks, size 8
Modifications: none

The new happy family :) I still can't believe my baby sister just had a baby!



Isn't she precious! I know, I'm slightly prejudice toward her. She's my niece :)



My sister just looks so serene in this picture.



I can't believe she found her thumb already! Isn't that too cute!



I can't wait to go home for Thanksgiving and hold her!

I want one *sigh*

Contest!!

In honor of my achieveing National Board Certification I think a contest is in order!!

Leave a comment about a teacher who affected you positively and if you are a teacher you can choose that or to leave a funny teaching story :)

Mention the contest and your blog - let me know that in your post as well, and you will be entered into the number pot 2X!!

Contest will close at 8pm on Sunday :)

I PASSED!!!!!

For those of you who remember my struggles with the National Board Certification process for teachers that I was trucking through the last two years - my journey has ended!!!

About 5pm last night, I got the official email that said scores were being released mid-morning on Friday, November 21, 2008. "CRAP! That's tomorrow" is what ran through my mind when I read that.

Got to work this morning and realized I had forgotten to bring my candidate ID number! *FUCK* I can't check my scored without that!! I rummaged my office to find old copies of the entries because I knew the ID number was all over those entries. Thankfully, I found it.

Went to the site and of course, tried to log in at 7:15 this morning. *Well, that could be mid-morning somewhere!*

I then contact my two girlfriends who also went through the process to see how they were holding up.

Every time I walked by my computer, I tried to log in. Till at 9 AM when I got it! I dropped down in my chair and said a little pray and hit button. First thing I saw:

"Congratulations!
You are a National Board Certified Teacher®!"

I screamed! I have no idea what the rest of the letter said, hell I still haven't even bothered to look at what score I got - I PASSED!!! And that was all that mattered to me :)

*continues to do the happy dance around my office*

It's a Girl!!

Maya Grace
Born Wednesday, November 19, 2008 and weighing in at 6 lbs. 11 oz. She entered this world in 20 minutes flat!

World - meet Baby Maya



The New Daddy



The proud Grandmas



The proud Grandpa (I was told my father cried the minute he laid eyes on her)



I cannot wait to hold her in my arms.

Christmas with Achmed

Back from Chicago!

I am back from Chicago, and missing them both so very much already. I was able to visit with Baby M several times while I was out there. She was a hoot to watch and play with! She took a few minutes to warm up to the crazy lady that was in Daddy's house, but a few short smiles later and she warmed up to me. She is such a happy, playful baby! And he is so good with her. I mean, do you know of any man that would stick a baby bottle nipple on his forehead just to get a laugh out of his child? (third picture in the top row)

This was her first Halloween so Mr. X carved a pumpkin that she had picked out the weekend before when he took her to a pumpkin patch. She was so curious about the jack-o-lantern. It was so cute watching her be curious about it. When she was getting excited she would lean on the pumpkin and wiggle back and forth on her toes.

She seems to have this thing for climbing up and down the stairs. She just finds them so entertaining, though she nearly gave me a heart attack because there were several times she tried to climb down the stairs instead of crawling down backwards! I thought she was going to go tumbling head first. She's also learned to clap so all you have to do is smile and start clapping and she returns the favor. Anyhoo, I could go on and on about how cute she is.

There was a point in the weekend where I thought things might go a little more along the lines that I am hoping. In all the time that we've been together Mr. X had never cuddled up to me in his sleep. It's usually the other way around, but Friday night he reached for me and pulled me closer to him while he was sleeping. It was so out of the ordinary that it startled me awake. I thought this was a good sign, so I just snuggled closer and went back to sleep. Saturday morning we did some talking and well that thought was blown clear out of the water. I would have thought that things would have gotten a little better after all this time. *God sure is having a good laugh at my expense*

Saturday we did a little shopping. I dragged him kicking and screaming to a yarn shop. OK, so he wasn't really kicking and screaming. Actually he was pretty good and he picked out a skein of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in a pretty fuschia color for Baby M. Now I just need to find a pretty hat pattern for it. Afterwards we went to Michaels to find a box of Precious Hands. We went looking for this on my last visit, but they were all sold out. I had made two of these for my older sister - one for each niece. I think it's a neat way to rememeber just how small the cherubs were, especially when they start driving you nuts asking for the car or sneaking out of the house *grin* That reminds me, I need to pick up another one for when my baby sister has her little one :)

After Micheals we swung by Joann's to see if I could find a button for the Neckdown Bolero jacket I was knitting for Baby M. I didn't find one. I found these four and I cannot decide which one I like best. I think I'm leaning toward the Beatrix Potter ones. What do you think?



Speaking of the bolero, I did not get to finish it on my trip. Turns out I had more fun playing with Baby M :) I did get to try it on her when I was at this point:



Just a tad bigger then she is now, but she should still be able to wear it. I managed to finish one whole sleeve before I left. I did, however, manage to finish this hat for Baby M before I left. Of course, Mr. X just had to try it on - oh I so wish I had my camera out when he did! He looked like such a Dork! *laugh*

The highlight of my whole weekend was right here:

Back

I'm back, just waiting on some pictures, hopefully, then I'll post an update :)