Crochet Project

My Mom has crocheted for years and although she doesn't do it very much she is really good. When I was younger she taught me how to crochet a simple chain and how to make coasters, I practiced a little at the time but never really did much with the knowledge, until now.
Last year when I went to New Hampshire I discovered that my friend actually spins her own yarn, she has spinning wheels (yes, like in Sleeping Beauty), she buys fiber and spins it then she knits wonderful things. Well, last year I wanted to but for some reason never actually did anything about it, not this year, this year I am inspired and I am going to make things! So I took the yarn that my friend gave me to bring home and signed on to Ravelry.com, found an easy project that I felt I could handle and went for it. Mine looks a little different than the original but not much and it is definitely recognizable as a jellyfish so I call it a win. Next I am going to make a spiderweb bookmark. I'll let you know how that turns out too.

Last Week's Playdates

Last week we had three really fun playdates, the first was at the Aquarium.

Our membership ran out at the end of April but some of the other meetup members could get us in for free on their account's, yay! The weather is really getting hot so it was great to have an inside playdate. During this trip to the Aquarium Chance and his friend Sofia stuck together the whole way and at the end when we all walked to a restaurant for lunch they held hands as long as we would let them (till we had to cross a busy street). It was so cute.


Our next playdate of the week was at Miss Nancy's house where we all got wet, well not all of us but a lot of us. We set up a kiddie pool, put the little ones in their swimming suits and let them have fun while we watched safely (for the most part) from nearby blankets. Chance had a good time, it was our first time in a kiddie pool this season. We haven't set ours up yet because the backyard has been full of stuff since we are still in the middle of the siding/painting project. Hopefully we will be able to set it up soon. This next picture is Karissa, Chance and Sofia playing in the pool.




Our last playdate of the week was at the Monkey Room. Again a great place for an indoor playdate. This time Chance didn't ask me to go with him at all which is a little sad, but I had a good time sitting at the tables talking to the other moms. And Chance had a great time playing and could have played even longer but it was past nap time when we left so it was time to go.


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Awesome find

Today we started pulling the siding off of the front of the house. It was an overcast day so the temperature didn't get too hot and we were able to work into the afternoon. Scott does most of the ripping off of the siding so he worked hard all morning getting the siding off in record time.

There were a few little holes that will need to be patched but mostly the front is in really good shape like the rest of the house.
The highlight of the day was this awesome find. See in the first picture how there is a rectangular hole that has been patched with newer wood? Well, I went into the attic to see it there used to be a window in that spot and look what I found:


There were two of the three missing panes laying on the attic floor which we will be able to put back in so as of right now there is only one missing pane which we will have made if we can't find it in the attic. It's hard to explain how awesome this is but I will try. Because we live in an historic district there are a lot of things we can't do to our house, like make changes to the outside structure that are not historically accurate. Our attic has a lot of space that we are hoping to one day convert to usable space and in connection with that we have talked a lot about putting a window in the front of the house where a future sitting room would be located. Before our find today that would have been virtually impossible with all the historic rules. Now though we have proof that there used to be a window in that location and so we would actually be making more historically accurate by putting the window back in place. Also before today our house was one of the most boring houses on our block it's just flat int he front with no embellishments well no more, soon we will have a beautiful stained glass window in the front to add light, life and character to our house.

Planting

We received a package in the mail from my Mom on Monday, inside were these little planting kits. They include everything you need to plant and (hopefully) grow your own little plants. So we took them outside and will a little water we had ourselves five little pots full of dirt with seeds planted in.
We placed them on Chance's window sill so they get lots of sunlight and we can check on them every day.

Pickin' Strawberries

Today we went to Albany, LA to pick strawberries. We had a really god time picking blueberries last year (which we plan to do again in June) so I have been looking for other things for us to pick and it seems that Louisiana is good for berries. Chance was a really great helper today, he picked and picked then he carried the strawberries down the row for me.

After we finished picking a half flat (six baskets) we went over to their play area where Chance played until it was just too hot to play any more. It was fun and now we have a bunch of strawberries to try out new recipes and make strawberry butter. As a matter of fact we had blueberry pancakes this morning with blueberries we picked last June so these berries go a long way.

Anyone have a good recipe involving strawberries or blueberries?

Chance and I took these pictures in the car just before we left the strawberry farm.

Road Trip!!!

Chance and I went to Mid City Park today and rode our NEW BIKE!!! there was something going on at the park and we got re-directed to a different section than I had intended, but when we got there, we discovered there was a whole new park built!!! With grownup swings and TONS OF BICYCLE SPACE!!!!!! Here are the images.......

HOME ALONE!!!

Chance and I are home alone this weekend!! So i'm going to make posts today about what we're doing so Momma can see what we're up to. So today Chance and I are working on the house, tomorrow probably too. We've finished the first coat of our purple test wall, and also finished the kitchen door, later today we're going to do some trim work. Chance is a mighty fine bicyclist right now, zipping around the yard. I will try and post photos on Flickr.

Holston Dam

Our tour guide at Bristol Caverns (sorry these are out of order, Bristol Caverns coming soon) told us of a neat place to go only a few minutes away. Holston Dam turned out to be a very nice place to spend some time which would have never found if not for the thoughtful tip. It was such a nice day to be out and about, there were a lot of people fishing in the river, a bunch of them were actually out in the water fly fishing which made us all think of Grandpa Von. Chance asks if he can go fishing every time we see a fishing pole in a store or a person fishing and every time we tell him that he can go fishing with Grandpa Von this summer.
First we watched the fishermen from a bridge which went over to a little island.

The island had trails that lead around the edge near the water. Everything is so green and bright, the locals say this whole place was covered in snow just a few weeks ago, now that it is finally Spring everything is in full bloom. Flowers are everywhere along the sides of the path.

As we reached the opposite side of the island (from the bridge) we cam upon another dam with a lookout area where Scott and Chance went out to watch the water and give me a wave.

After some time spent throwing rocks in the water Chance decided to go native and become a wild mountain boy. He asked us to take his shirt off we told him he would have to carry it if we took it off and when he agreed we took it off and stuffed it in his back pocket.

A minute after that he grabbed a stick and had a wonderful time dragging it along the ground as we walked.
As we made our way back to the bridge that would take us off the island and back to the car there was another lookout. On Dinosaur Train which is one of Chance's favorite shows on PBS they always say "get out in nature and make your own discoveries." We all have a good time out in nature implementing this advice and today was no different. This is a great little place to explore and make our own discoveries.

Winged Deer Park

So we never found out exactly what a winged deer is (other than the obvious) or why this park on the river is called Winged Deer but it is a nice park whatever it's called. Scott will be working the night shift for the last few days of our stay so we are able to get out of the hotel and find new places to explore a little easier.
Today we went to this park, at first we walked down a big hill to the water. We tried to get Chance to lay down on the grass and roll down the hill but it was too icky for him so it was just me and Scott rolling down the hill. No pictures of that, luckily.
After that Chance played on the playground for a while then we moved on down to a different part of the water where we sat for a while throwing rocks in the water. The weather is so strange here one day it's 30 degrees and ice is falling from the sky then next it is 80 degrees and you are looking for a spot of shade to stand in. Today was one of those warm days making it a really nice day for the park. Hopefully it will be nice again tomorrow and we can get out and run around again.


pic #1: Scott trying to convince Chance he should roll down the hill and pic #2: Chance getting ready to throw a rock in the water.

A Good Little Helper

These pictures aren't too god because I took them with my phone in the hallway of the hotel with all the weird lighting but...
Chance has been testing us more lately stretching his abilities and learning what he can get away with but through all of that he is still a really good helper. Today he helped me go get ice, carrying the bucket both ways.