I got the knitting bug this week, so I finished shawl I started last year. I need to block it, so I haven’t photographed it, yet. I got it off the needles though, so I could feel good about starting a hat (: And start one I did. I have been wanting a gray and yellow slouchy hat to match my coat.

I love love love it. I have started fingerless mitts in the same yellow as the rim.

I had to cut my Charlotte’s hair today. I was a bit sad. She had been chewing on her hair. It has been super tangled as it is very thing and fine. She had cut a few pieces a month or two ago. She got very excited when I threatened to cut it, and offered to get the scissors. She said she wanted Katie hair… so I dove in.

Pretty darn cute huh? And the hair cut is pretty good too!

Well back to the school work.

This past weekend, we found a great deal for a twin bed for aides on Craigslist, and snatched it up. On our way back we decided to stop off at Toys R Us to use my $20 in rewards off any purchase. Figured we could get some organization stuff to help him keep his legos up or something. We lucked out, because as we found out when we hit the Northgate Toys R Us, everything was half or more off. We bought the girls some early birthday presents to stash away at ridiculously low prices, and found great bed for Jason for less than the craigslist price. We snatched that up, and when we went outside, it was snowing like crazy. And that was just the beginning of our wild weather week. We had to make a run to the Bellevue library, for a project due on Tuesday – of course not due till we get back now. Then back to Toys R Us to haul Jason’s bed home. Now Both boys have new rooms. I got choked up taking the crib apart for the last time, and packing away the baby things. But the boys were so happy when we were done!

and Aiden’s

On our little Kenmore hill, we got an inch or two of snow on Sunday, got a bit more monday, then sat in the snow shadow for about 24 hours, till tuesday night when it started coming down like crazy. We got about 4 or so inches, then it just kept coming. Wednesday night it turned into freezing rain for a bit, but by Thursday it was back to snow. So here we have inches of snow, with 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of ice, covered by more snow. We haven’t driven in a few days, and everyone here is enjoying the forced winter vacation. All the kids have been sledding and building a snow fort, drinking nearly a gallon of hot chocolate. Us adults are just hoping the power stays on!

Winter whirlwind is mostly over, school is back in session for all, which means I am way too busy to even be writing this post. But I haven’t caught up on anything I said I would post, so here I am.
Rewind back to my christmas crafts.
I undertook an insane task of getting a decent photograph of all the Gilchrist grandkids as a gift for each Gilchrist family for christmas. I framed one in a nice simple white frame & mat for all the siblings, and the grandparents each got a nice dark wood with white mat.

Then there was my sewing. I made myself, Laura, my grandparents, and parents each a Christmas quilted table topper. A runner for the first three, and a circular center piece for my parents round table.
I forgot to photograph Laura’s, and forgot to take a photo of mine on the table once I added it there, so floor photos of the three are all that I have to share. It was a great fun project.

My Parent’s.

My Grandparent’s.

Mine!

Then there was the lazy spots. I took 3 yards of cute sale fabric, and 3-4 1.50 pillows and made these mats that the kids are all in love with now.

Here you can see Jason sitting on his, next to Charlotte’s. Then Katie, lying on hers (cause she was sicko Christmas morning) on the couch.

Another great fun Christmas craft was an idea I had, but didn’t really follow through on, so my hubby took the reins and did a great job with it. A PVC Fort. I used extra fabric I had lying around to fashion walls and a roof, and Tim did the rest. It was funny on Christmas morning to assemble, and is even more entertaining to get into his room (every time it moves it has to be disassembled).

As I mentioned before, Katie was sick over Christmas, and really, we all were. I got sick Christmas Day, Charlotte that night, and the waves went on. We all got a nasty flu. But that didn’t stop us from having fun. We didn’t know anyone was sick Christmas eve, so unfortunately our annual Christmas eve dinner with the family turned into ground zero…sorry guys ):. My brother stayed the night (which is now a tradition) and the kids loved it. He provided entertainment to those of us not feeling up to playing much.

Now school is back, and I have applied for Graduation in June. I can hardly believe I am so close to graduation. I got a new camera for Christmas, among other cool things, and I hope to post more because I love to use this camera and the pictures can stack up a bit. As a parting gift I leave you with a lovely picture of the moon rising last night as I was coming home from my class.

So since the cousin gift exchange was yesterday, I can share the crafts my kids made last week. They are such awesome works of kid art.

Charlotte (3) made River (2) a a Rocket Pack.

(And she really did make this, it is 2 water bottles, Silver gift wrap, Silver duct tape, Orange, Red and yellow party streamers, and some left over elastic. I did the cutting, and she taped the paper on, the tubes together, and she put the streamers on the tape and helped me wrap it around the narrow end of the tube. She taped the elastic on… lots of toddler help here!)



Aiden (5) made a crayon art piece for Sophie (7)

(this is easy, he removed all the crayon wrappers, chose the order while I hot glued the crayons down to some spare canvas I had around, and once it was set, we took turns with the hair dryer till the crayons melted. I printed the girl, and he cut her out and glued her down)



Katie (7) made a night light for Jackson (2)

(I cut the fabric shape, and she operated the gun while I pressed the fabric onto the shade. This was a great 3rd hand craft.. (: _



Bex (11) made a Super Hero Kit for Ben (4)

(I operated the sewing machine, she cut out the shapes. She also typed up and printed out some superhero tips… and not pictured here is the marshmellow shooter we made from part of a balloon and half a plastic cup. It works great, and was fun. Using felt meant I only had to sew on the elastic for the mask and velcro for the closures, and the edges of the bag.)

So I have been busy crafting, but not much of it I can show you just yet, as they are gifts. So instead I am sharing Porter the elf’s antics from this past week…

I guess Will Farrell was serious about syrup being a food group for elves in Elf!

Snacking On the Gingerbread house!

Going for midnight ride!

He got a little Homesick I guess!

Trouble Trouble … Drawing on our picture!

Even Elves like fishing I guess.

Expect your christmas cards soon!

When I found out Tim was leaving, I decided I needed a little magical back up, so I stopped at the local Hallmark and picked up a The Elf on the shelf kit. We read the story the night Tim left, and named our Elf Porter, since then he has been a little mischievous fellow. If you aren’t familiar with the Elf on the Shelf, It is an elf that reports to Santa every night, and hides when he gets back, while the kids sleep. It can’t be touched or it might loose its magic, and not be able to fly home to santa to report. It comes back on December first, and leaves when it hears Santa coming. We named ours Porter. Here are the shots from this weeks antics…

A frosty snack.

Arms around an Angel on the tree.

Borrowed Char’s tooth brush and made a bit of a mess on his face.

Having a cuddle with the baby Jesus.

Snow angel… in Rice.

Oh my poor blog. I have neglected it so! Sorry guys. I have been busy. School first quarter turned out awesome! I got straight A’s. An official 4.0 for my first quarter, and carrying 16 credits too. Here is hoping I can keep up the pace. The quarter officially ended on monday when I took my last final. We decorated the house after thanksgiving… some shots below.

That night we went down town to ride the carousel and look in the windows – whose displays sucked. Just clothes, no fantasy windows. But I digress, then I found out Tim had to go to AZ the next day for a few days on business. So I had kid duty. Then I found out once he was there, that he needed to go to Vegas for a bunch of other meetings, and wouldn’t return till sunday evening. Nearly a week! Ugh, I don’t know how military wives do it for months on end, but it is not what I signed up for. Yuck.

On the upside, the macbook air I ordered for my second quarter with my financial aid to replace my bloated, overheating, random shutdown pc (stands for piece o crap!) finally arrived – with the next sessions books. YaY!!! An early Christmas present. I am so overjoyed with my selection. Miles better than the desktop mac I bought in 06. And so fast and smooth compared to my windows laptop. That and a pair of shoes I ordered for the season arriving helped brighten my mood this week a bit.

The kids have been crafting away this weekend, I haven’t even started (except for procuring the supplies). Don’t even mention christmas shopping to me. Oh and the baking…. Thats gonna be interesting next week. Lots of crazy crazy next week. I would share the kids craft projects, but most were for the cousin gift exchange, and that would be spoiling the surprise, so here is a few pics of the girls sharpie tie dye fun (Cup, rubber band, sharpies & rubbing alcohol – easy clean fun craft)!

Well expect a lot more posts from me this month. As Crafty wonders will be appearing. I have baking pictures and recipe reviews to share, and 9 sewing projects to blog through, as well as the reveal of the kids crafts and how they were received!

Yup, it’s that time again. Some how every year halloween gets stretched into lasting nearly a week.

Charlotte started off the ruckus with her school Halloween celebration on Thursday, October 27th. She was such a cute super girl

Then came the Saturday Morning Annual Pumpkin carving with the Adams’s

( I use the term carving loosely, ever since I found the potato head pumpkin accessories… bloodless pumpkin carving!!)

The ones above are Tims, Bekah’s, and the one Katie and I did together.

Then Saturday night it was the Ward activity and trunk or treat. We baked and made chili and had a general good time. Sans camera. Sorry.

We decorated our house all fun and spooky. And lit the pumpkins.

And started our trick or treating. I was at school, so Tim had to start the kids off to Grandma’s on his own. Did good tho.

Then the real fun began when I got home. I finished The girls hair and make up and we hit our normal stomping grounds! We made it around and scored way too much candy. Frankly, I am glad it’s over. It may be fun, but it sure is exhausting!

My first born son is 5 today.

Happy birthday little guy.