Really? That was spring break?

It flew by!  I can't believe it's over!  It started with a bike ride on the Banks/Vernonia Trail on a beautiful Saturday.  From there the week packed a punch.  One activity after another.

 Monday we celebrated our son in law's birthday with....Pizza!  And cheesecake.  What guy doesn't love pizza?  He received hand made cards and a book from 3 of his children which he lovingly opened and admired.  He is a blessed man.

 We brought some of those blessings home with us for a sleepover.  After all, there was no school so why not.  We watched Frozen yet again.  I cannot get those songs out of my head thanks to two little girls that sing them over and over and act out the movie through out the day.

 The week was spent sewing!  When I asked our grandsons what they wanted to do over spring break, one of them replied, "Sew something to enter in the fair."  Well ok then.  I searched for a pillowcase tutorial.  With help.  A little girl was peering over my shoulder while on pininterest.  A tutorial for Cinderella tutus was seen.  The next thing I knew all my tulle stash is gone and 3 little girls have Cinderella tutus.

 Onto pillowcases!  They each sewed one.  They did a great job with the sewing, pinning, ironing, and pride in their work.

 In the evening I sewed one more Elsa dress.  This one is a gift for a friend and is going to be shipped off soon.  I'll leave it at that.  I didn't have anymore snowflake fabric and it is not available anywhere so I used some fabric in my stash that I thought I might need should I run out of snowflake fabric.  It does look like snow flurries?  If you use your imagination?

 We took a morning off of sewing to got to the library story time.  They enjoyed it as did I.  There is still something about being read to.

 This was my favorite book on the shelf.  Too cute not to pick up and take home!

 Back home, the sewing adventure continues.

 With breaks for creative play.

 Ta Da!  First one done!

 Ta Da!  Look how well her cuff and trims match up at the seam!

 Ta Da!

 There were daily movies for a rest time.  He almost completely rested.  Those eyelids are getting heavy.....

 Spring break ended with the first salmon of 2014 coming home for dinner!  These fed 5 families.

Whooosh....spring break is over and it's back to school tomorrow and the regularly scheduled programming.  It went too fast.  We packed a lot in but it went too fast.  I did manage to finish one knitting project and will post it at another time.  It's a wip that's been in my bag for...a year?

What a week!

Springer season for salmon just ended but before it did my husband managed to land a 13 pounder. And it was on a weekday when I had grandmunchkins to see it all. To say they were fascinted is to put it mildly. As he has always been with inquisitive kids, Graypa let them touch and look and ask questions. Yes, it has teeth. No, it can't bite you.

Getting a really good look at the salmon.

Then came the preparation or filleting. That was fascinating too. Well, at least to the boys. But it involved a fish and tools (ie-knife).

The girls preferred to be onlookers, from a little distance.

We finished out the week with another baby shower! But this time for our newest little granddaughter to make her appearance sometime in June. It was a wonderful baby shower and the Mommy to be was so pleased with the wonderful things she received and the many guests that encouraged and supported her.

One of the games involved matching socks, baby socks, in 7 seconds. Even the littlest girls at the shower thought this was great fun and were willing to help out anyone that let them.

One of the original gifts was a baby wreath. The background is disposable diapers tied or taped to a wreath and then all manner of things a baby will need tied/taped on to the diaper background. Very clever and very useful. It was a variation on the diaper cake that has been around awhile.

Little baby girl is due to make her appearance in the next 2 months or so. I've some knitting for her but they weren't finished in time for the shower so I guess I'll take them to the hospital or give them to her as I complete them. There were no hand knit sweaters or booties but sew many clothes that I don't think I'll be sewing for this little one for quite some time. Now knit sweaters??? Those are needed since she didn't receive any.

A fishing we will go~

It's spring break here, the weather is beautiful, my husband and son had days off that coincided so...Take the kids fishing! Get 'em young. Hook them into their favorite past time. And here is the happy gang, ready to go.

Miss M, so I'm told, was the most diligent in the boat. But alas, sometimes the most diligent doesn't get the rewards. She did get a new pretty pink pole for the event so maybe that was reward enough.

As I said, Miss M was the most diligent. Apparently our son is diligent as well. In enjoying the sun, the fine day, the rocking of the boat. Perhaps not in his duties in watching the 3 year old as she "paddles" with the net.

Some of the kiddos learned the fine art of fishing better than others.

And we have one! One, only one, and caught by the least diligent fisherman, er woman, er toddler. She preferred to play, paddle with the net, drink Graypa's gatorade (see below), wind her pole, decide she needed a bathroom break just so she could sit on a bucket in the boat. And she catches the one and only fish. Go figure. That's why it's called fishing and why I don't think I can do it. At least with knitting, even if you ripit, ripit, ripit, you're still guaranteed something to show for your time even if it's a pile of yarn.
And she reminded me so much of her Dad and Uncle at that age. Everytime the fish moved she screamed. Didn't want anything to do with it.

And this guy? Learning well. I forsee another Graypa in our future. Perhaps we should put his name on the title of the boat?

So glad the kiddos and the Graypa and Uncle had such a great day with together. Next time I'm going. But I'll be armed with knitting and a book and the camera. Not a pole.

they gotta be running scared!

The fish that is! My husband and son are just "bringin' home the bacon" week after week! Bet the salmon are glad the springer season ends Sunday! (springer season is the salmon fishing season in the spring and usually the salmon are called springers) This is my husband's second salmon in as many days. Guess what we're having with the ham for Easter dinner? This is our eldest son, by 29 minutes, and he's become his Dad's right hand fishin' buddy. Or "bishin'" buddy in our two year old granddaughter language.

Dad put the first one in the boat today but the grasshopper above still says his is the biggest of the season. Ahhh, gotta love fishermen!

By the way, as a matter of just fun...today is Bobmas Eve! Ravelry turns two tomorrow! My daughter and I are having fun with this. I celebrated by buying some yarn, of all places, at the Dollar Store! They had a bin of Lion Brand Yarn fun fur for a dollar a skein. I bought a bunch to use as trim on grandkiddos clothes.

the first of 2009

The first FO! My daughter, through ravelry, found someone who had worked up the whole ASL alphabet in knit blocks. The "I love you" sign was a freebie. I bought the whole alphabet but thus far have managed just the "I love you". My daughter is thrilled with her pillow. I used Cascade 220. The pattern recommends cotton and I think I would try that next time to see if the definition in the pattern is a little better. I was given the fabric by my mother in law who found it in one of her quilting magazines. She used some of it in our daughter's graduation quilt and gave me the rest. I love the fabric and my only complaint is that the alphabet is in order and there are several of the same letter right in a row, so three A's before you get B, etc. It makes it hard, without doing a whole lot of cutting and stitching the pieces together, to have a randomness to the letters. I'm too lazy! So there are several places where there are one or two of the same signs in a row. Close up of the knitting.

While I was out walking today (it was toooo beeeeeuuuutiful to stay in) there was a call left on our answering machine. It went something like this: The skunk is out of the boat! There's a fish coming home for dinner! My husband purchased his fishing license for 2009 just yesterday and had to try it out. He got "skunked" plenty last year and looks like maybe this year will be better...we hope.

Woo Hoo, we eat this weekend!

Just in time for our daughter's birthday party/BBQ in the yard my fisherman husband brought home this beauty from the Columbia River. We're celebrating Sunday and we were going to have "turf" on the BBQ but it looks like we'll add some "surf" as well. I'll let you know how it comes out. It will be our first time with salmon on a cedar plank.
My hubby went out at o:dark thirty this morning and was the first out the dock and first on the river. Guess the fish weren't expecting breakfast that early.

multi tasking? Can he?

My husband is quite a fisherman as you can see above. Two salmon by 9:30am this morning. Which is the limit..one per person. Too bad he doesn't like fish. But he knows lots of people who do and is especially willing to share with the older people in our church that can't fish.

The question is: can he multi task? Can he clean fish at the same time that he watches (?) our 19 month old granddaughter. Apparently he can if the picture is any indication. See her cute little head over the edge of the boat? That's one expensive playpen!

IF you teach....

...a man how to fish, he will feed your family! Jason caught his second sturgeon. 51 inches and really yummy. They're not much to look at but they taste wonderful. My husband knows, after catching several himself, how to cut them up to get the most meat. He cuts them in chunks, we coat them in Pride of the West batter, and fry it up. Talk about a feast! We served it on Shega's birthday a couple of years ago and even the non-fish eaters were coming back for seconds and thirds. It's also called poor man's lobster when you boil it and dunk it in butter.

...a child to read they will have a life of entertainment, fantasy, knowledge, and the list goes on. Summer is in the first grade but reading far beyond her age and more importantly-loves it! I purchased Hooked on Phonics after I started watching grandmunchkins almost two years ago, and spent 15 minutes a day with Summer and Jayce. I am getting my money back listening to her read! And she loves Dr. Seuss...like her granny! It was wonderful to hear her read and laugh out loud at the antics in the story.

...a grandmother, or mother,(or even father or grandfather or aunt or...) to scrapbook, she will relive her memories while leaving them for someone else to enjoy and it will give her a creative outlet and it will be a source of calm/escape in a storm (as are most creative outlets). I'm slowly catching up the baby scrapbooks for W, B, and R. They're only 8 months old! I went with a Disney theme for their baby books because: number 1-I love Disney and number 2-they'll be different than the baby books their mom is creating. W's book is complete for his first 6 months. Life has been full of trials these past weeks and scrapbooking provided the needed escape to happier times. I can pray while scrapbooking but I can't think beyond the papers, stickers, and pictures which is what I needed. Books also provide that for me, an escape. So not much knitting or crocheting going on. I tend to think too much when I'm doing that.

Creative juices are flowing.....

MIRACLES!

I alleuded to a stressful couple of weeks and finding solace in scrapbooking. I found solace and comfort and prayer in God's Word and the prayers of fellow Christians and in the book: Prodigals and Those That Love Them by Ruth Bell Graham. I asked that God would fight the battle (II Chronicles 20) and that He would grant us a miracle because in my human way of thinking, there was no other answer. On Friday God won the first battle (the war rages on) and He gave us a miracle. The situation is still heavily in my prayers and devotions but God is still working miracles in lives. He also had to deal with my pride on the issue and I am now asking for a miracle in the life of another.