Construction Update

Our first week of Construction went well, we accomplished a lot!

We dug up the driveway

and put in a french drain so the water will no longer pour straight towards the house. The water situation was what started the whole construction bender. Our front porch was rotting away as the water washed out the under side.

We dug  two more trenches to place sonotubes in for the new deck and porch.

Once those were filled back in we were able to get the concrete poured and set.

We had a very good fore*woman* keeping an eye on things for us.

Thankfully we got most of the digging done before T came home because once she got in that digger she didn’t want to get out.

She spent hours in there with daddy playing around in the dirt.

Next step: Hang the joices so we could frame some walls for the porch and small addition.

It’s coming along nicely but we still have a long way to go,

for my little house on The Ridge.

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny today for Yarn Along.

Knitting – I started a test for Elena of Anadiomena Designs. This one is similar to her Wild Vanilla pattern that I knit in the summer but this time with a fun kangaroo pocket that I think T will really love. T is finding most wool itchy at the moment, especially  Berroco Ultra Alpaca, hopefully she will grow out of this, but for now I’m going with Berroco Comfort and hope that it keeps the itchiness at bay. T chose the colour, it was the closest thing she could find to Robin’s Egg Blue, everything is about birds right now. I’ll tell you more about the birds another time.

Reading – T and I have been reading lots of Fancy Nancy. I love these books so much such a delight to read. Nancy has a big vocabulary which is great for my little book worm, she has a wonderful imagination and is filled with creativity. I highly recommend Nancy for your little book worms.

Reading or knitting anything fun today?

Kids Book Reviews

Recently T and I had the chance to review some kids books.

Sometimes its turkey, Sometimes its feathers by Lorna & Lecia Balian

This is a mixed media book, the backgrounds are actual photographs of things while Mrs. Gumm etc are all drawings. At first I wasn’t sure I liked this idea but upon reading it a second time I decided that it was pretty neat.

The story is of an old woman *and her cat* who finds an egg and decides to try and hatch it. A turkey hatches out of the egg and she plans to fatten him up to eat for Thanksgiving Dinner. Month after month the turkey eats and eats getting fatter and fatter. Mrs. Gumm is excited at the prospect of eating that turkey but in the end she decides that it would be better to share Thanksgiving with two friends instead.

This story is what I would imagine myself to be like if I hatched an egg and then tried to eat it after it was all grown up. Definitely wouldn’t be eaten.

A cute story about forming friendships and I guess it would be a good book for vegetarians too.

Thank you to Star Bright Books for providing me with a copy to review.

Luca Lashes Visits the Doctor by Nicole and Damir Fonovich

Out of the four books I’m reviewing today this was T’s favourite.

Luca Lashes is a series of rhyming books geared toward children to help them through fearful situations. You can visit Luca Lashes for more information on the series.

Luca is off for a visit to the doctor’s to get his shots, he’s a  bit fearful but Luca has something special to help him. Luca has long lashes that when he blinks twice makes him brave and strong. Learn how Luca’s Lashes help him through a visit to the doctor’s leaving him much braver than when he first arrived.

T really enjoyed the rhyming in this book and I think as a parent it makes for a pleasant read as well, especially when you read it over and over again.

There is also a “Suggestions to parents” page at the end of the book on how to make these types of situations easier for your child.

T gives Luca Lashes Visits the dentist two thumbs up. I’d definitely be interested to read some of the other books in the series that help children copy with these types of situations.

Thanks to Kids Can Press who provided me a copy to review.

Lester’s Dreadful Sweaters by K.G. Campbell

Ok how could I not review this book, a book about hand knit sweaters… I’m there.

Cousin Clara’s house is consumed by a crocodile so she has to move in with Lester’s family. All was going well, and Cousin Clara seems to occupy her time with knitting, and only knitting until Cousin Clara announces that she made Lester a sweater and it is hideous! Poor Lester suffers through sweater after sweater that Cousin Clara knits for him, each one suffer mysterious accidents.

This was a fun and quirky book for children and adults.The illustrations were fabulous,T loved turning the pages to see what the next sweater would look like.

 This book has language geared more towards school age children but that won’t stop us from reading it.

Thanks to Kids Can Press for providing a copy to review.

Food For A Fish by Kelly Pulley

I think this book was my favourite of the lot.

Much like Luca Lashes, this book rhymes and I am definitely a fan of rhyming books, they just seem to roll off the tongue.

This book retells the story of Jonah and the Whale in a humorous entertaining fashion that everyone will enjoy. I find Bible stories to be a bit dry but the fabulous illustrations paired with the fun rhyming scheme made this my favourite. I could definitely pick this book up at any time during the day and enjoy reading it again.

Thanks to David C. Cook publishing for sending me a copy to review.

THREE!

Someone had a birthday yesterday!!

My goofy girl is offically 3!

We had fun celebrating over the weekend with family.

We thought the party was over until T received a special package in the mail today.

I recently won a giveaway on Victoria’s blog which was perfect timing for T’s birthday.Victoria kindly wrapped it up in pretty paper and addressed it to the birthday girl herself.

She even drew some fun flowers on the package!

T enjoyed unwrapping layer after layer to before finally getting to the surprise.

The bubble wrap will be an endless source of entertainment for the next few months I am sure!

Inside was a gorgeous Felt Celebration Crown and matching Felt Heart Wand.

The crown is double sided making it very durable and sturdy.

A wide elastic wraps around the back of the head and  is covered in a co-ordinating fabric that really ties it all together.

Of course once she had the crown on she immediately wanted to put on her skirt from dance class to go with it.

A perfect match for her new dress up accessories!

Thank you so much Victoria for your gorgeous creation!

If you would like to make your own Felt Crown and Wand you should head on over to Victoria’s Craftsy page where you can purchase the pattern to make your own.

Happy Halloween

This year when I asked T what she would like to be for Halloween she immediately said

A Pumpkin!

Ok I thought a pumpkin will be easy…. until she said “I want you to knit me a pumpkin!”

ummmmm really???

At first I really was going to knit her a pumpkin costume but when we walked into music class and saw THE perfect pumpkin in her size for sale she forgot all about the knit one.

I did however make her a little pumkin top to go with it.

A simple little fascinator attached to a headband that worked perfectly.

I used Cabin Fever Northern Wool in the Pumpkin Colourway and a bit of extra cascade 220 held doubled I had left over from Woodstove Season. I whipped this up in about 20 minutes!

Of course there is no show without Punch…. eerrr Molly!

She has been in every Halloween photo so far so why should this one be any different.

Poor Molly wasn’t too interested in pictures this time…. it was around the time that daddy comes home from work and she was listening very carefully for truck. I see I will have to time my photo shoots around home time from now on!

 Now if you’ll excuse us we’re off to take this little pumpkin trick or treating!

Camping- Fall Brook Falls

Hey everyone its me Boss!

Last month mum and dad picked up this wicked trailer to go camping in and I think its totally awesome!

In fact I think its sooo great that I try my best to keep Moolee out of it….. *she’s the boss though so it doesn’t always work out in my favour.*

So this is our camper, a 1970 Prowler!!

We took it out for our second trip *mum will tell you about the 1st trip some other time* last weekend and it was so much fun.

We headed out on a short hike to Fall Brook Falls, home to the province’s largest waterfall.

It was a slippery trek getting to the Falls with all those beautiful leaves on the path,

but I led the way and of course had no problems.

The pictures don’t seem like much but….

when Uncle Neill got up close you could really see how huge it was!

I of course had to go inspect it myself!

I let T tag along too.

I was glad Dad’s Aunt and Uncle could come with us.

They are pretty cool and I like hanging out with them.

I went for a nice dip after all that hiking…

Molly the garden gnome of course stayed with Dad!

Such a beautiful part of the province that I can’t wait to sniff  I mean discover more.

More camping adventure’s coming up…

Preschool

Today my not quite 3 year old started Preschool.

Although sometimes shy T takes after Moose by having a very laid back attitude and had no problem marching right up to those doors like she’d done it every day for the last year.

A stop for a quick picture and then it was down to business…..

She made a bee line for the cars of course!

I’m excited to see her grow and make new friends with all the adventures she will be having at Preschool this year!

Calendula

A while ago I did a test for Alicia Plummer.

It was this adorable little dress called Calendula and I knew immediately that I wanted to knit it.

Last year I knit T a super sweet cardigan called Korrigan in a beautiful purple. It was Ultra Alpaca Light  colour 4283, a lovely heathered purple that I knew I must use again.

T grew out of Korrigan much too quickly for my liking so I decided to use that same yarn to knit her a Calendula.

Calendula is an A line dress, knit bottom up with the sweetest texture up the side.

Three simple flowers climb the side of the dress and make this a stunning number for any little girl.

As usual I am more likely to knit something if it will last through more than one season.

Calendula is no exception.

My Calendula project page

T will definitely be sporting this with tights or even a long sleeved tee underneath when she starts *gulp* preschool in the Fall.

Ice Cream

We took T to the park recently for some play time.

She enjoyed the swings,

the slides,

but most of all…

we enjoyed some much needed time with Daddy!

 On the way home we stopped at our favourite Ice Cream Shop!

Moose and I have been frequent visitors to Sully’s for years.

In fact way back when we first met and were dating we always went to Sully’s.

It’s set up in the old train station in town, run by students and have a wonderful charm to it.

There are some benches outside where you can sit, enjoy your ice cream and watch the world go by.

The street in front is a pretty busy spot so there’s always something interesting to see.

Of course our ice cream was pretty interesting too!

I ended up trying a new flavour that day, Pecan Brittle Delight…. delicious!

There’s nothing like a cold  ice cream on a hot day!

But it tastes better when its enjoyed with family.

Weekend

What a great weekend!

I finished THREE knits!

 It feels so great to have some needles cleared off, but I still have a few projects left to go before I will be satisfied with the current state of my WIP’s!

I had my first REAL smore!

Enjoyed toasted marshmallow’s and hanging with visiting cousins.

Of course there was fun on the 4 wheeler,

and playing around with sparklers too!

But most importantly….

 We got to spent some quality time with Daddy!

That’s the kind of weekend we like best….

Right Moolee?