Gabby Gilchrist

This weekend was my Father in Law’s Birthday, so we met him at the park and the kids had a blast. Charlotte was adorable as usual.

Bekah had her second Orchestra Concert last night, and she had the audience of my Parents, Grandparents and brother. We did the traditional Baskin and Robbins after the Concert and I know she enjoyed the special attention.

Katie has started back at gymnastics, and is loving it. Of course Bekah is still Horseback riding. We are marking our calendars for Swimming lessons this summer, Soccer in the fall for Aiden, and finding something special for Daddy and Charlotte to do!

I am buzzing away at putting the finishing touches on the nursery. The quilt is on order, Curtains in progress, and Thanks to my sister in law art work is on the horizon. It is starting to come together.

We braved the masses to go to Vancouver. We drove into downtown, parked easily and went down to the Olympic Cauldron. Everyone had pictures in front of it.

Katie loved all the painted eagle statues around town, and had us take pictures of her at most of them.

We found some Canadian Hockey players in front of Sears, so we took advantage.

We picked up some Olympic Gear at The Bay, and Some Chocolate versions of the Medals from the local Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store.

We took the kids to Richmond to check out the Ozone, and let them run a bit before traveling home. Cute little things eh?

On our way home we made a stop in Langley, to catch a glimpse of the newly finished Vancouver Temple. The kids loved it.

More on the Ravelympics tomorrow…

For those who don’t know, I am a very sports friendly girl. I am not so much into playing them as cheering them on. I love love baseball, I love Summer and Winter Olympic games. I enjoy a good football game, even if my home team isn’t involved. I am a fair weather basketball person, but can appreciate just about any sport. So it should be no surprise that I am heavily tuning in to the olympics, that are sooooo close to me this year. I have really been enjoying the speed skating, skiing, figure skating, curling, and many other sports. You won’t find me posting much during the games, as I am focusing on knitting in the knit a long on Ravelry for the Olympics, previously mentioned as the Ravelympics. I am doing well, and while I had to reorder some yarn for the blanket I started first, I have plenty of other olympic projects to work on, so I started on the sweater while I await the arrival of the yarn. I am trying to keep up with the posting of knitting pics on the ravelry side bar during the games.

Now I also have been busy with the newest rearranging of my house. Each kid is in a seperate room, with one in reserves for the baby. I know that bex and Charlotte are real happy about the change. Katie has moments where she wants to be in every room, but being physically impossible she is fairly pleased with the situation. I like it cause everyone has somewhere to go, and everyone is separate during the sleep time where it is most crucial. I had a lot of help from Tim, and was in good part his idea.

This week has been winter break and the kids have been pretty good. Charlotte and Aiden have well child checks and shots. I am so grateful for the good weather so the kids have been able to play outside. We have a playdate for Katie today, and we have a late lunch date with daddy tomorrow. All good fun! Well duties are calling, so I will end with go TEAM USA!!! 12 medals so far.

Charlotte is now officially sleeping in a toddler bed. I was going to wait to transfer her over until after the baby was born, but she prompted the move along by getting her foot stuck and twisted in the bars of the crib. It turned purple and seemed pretty painful. The second time she did it I realized she could break her foot or something similar so we made the bold move. 2 nights down, and 2 days of naps and sleeping and all is going well. We have to sit nearby still as the training to stay in bed is still in process, but it is working beautifully.

I really enjoyed the Super bowl game tonight. I was cheering for the Saints. I love an underdog, and since it was their first time at the big show, I really felt a kinship. I thought it was a phenomenal game, with a lot of bold moves. Some things I had never seen in a super bowl game before. I was not too impressed by the commercials, but some were pretty good, and a lot were just OK. We had friends and family join us at different points of the game and that made it more fun too I think.

I have made my first yarn purchase of the year. I had to order a skein of Malabrigo to finish my Girasole. I am on the lace knitted on edging and ran out. Such a bummer. Oh well scraps for my next blanket. I made a separate purchase for all the baby knits I have scheduled to start on Friday with the Olympics opening ceremony. You can see the prolific adding to my ravelry projects on the side bar for the projects involved in that yarn order, this is mostly due to organization and tagging to qualify and document for the ravelympics and recognition by my team (I joined the Hopelessly over committed group, appropriate?). In the mean time, since I couldn’t work on anything due to ravelympic rules or waiting for yarn, I started my delivery socks. I just finished the heel and am onto the foot of my first sock. It feels very Valentiney since its all red and pinkish in color. It is turning out as predicted by the pattern. Serendipity from last year’s socks that rock club.

Speaking of Valentiney things, Monday starts a busy week for us. Between making Valentine cookies for enrichment, Valentines with the girls for their classes, a few valentines for some special people, My Parents and grand parents anniversaries, a doctors appointment on Tuesday (with a yucky glucose test), and reservations for our favorite restaurant Friday night, plus the anxious wait on whether or not we got in to pace, well it’s busy week. I wonder what my blood pressure will read at this appointment? Anyway, if I don’t make it to blog through the craziness of next week, Happy Valentines day to all of you out there!

So this past week I have been declared to be nesting by more than one person. I have swept, vacuumed, dusted, and reorganized every closet in the house. Not to mention scrubbing the cupboards and counters and sinks with bleach. The fridge got the same treatment inside and out. I have sorted through the back log of clothes and organized according to age. Everything looks all nice and tidy, considering every closet is shared by at least 2 people. I have also rotated the rooms around, The girls all in one room, and the nursery ready for Bambam. Now Charlotte still occupies the crib at night as she just isn’t ready for the toddler bed, but the dresser and closet and walls are reflecting the change. Her toddler bed and her decor is all set up in the girls room. The girls love it and are dying for her to be ready to spend the night. I warned them that it might be a while.

I finished the mobile for Bambam. It was a fun project. I also sorted through all the clothing for the boy, and loaded the dresser in the nursery with the 0-3 set. I want to tell you, I adore Tide Stain Release!! I used it in a batch of baby clothes that I really really wanted to come to their original glory, and it worked wonders. Really marvelous stuff and easy to use, instead of pre treating everything you just throw the boost in the drum.

I am about two or three days away from finishing my Girasole Blanket. I just adore knitting this pattern. Next on the needles  are the baby knits the tweed blanket, and take home out fit and hats. Those get started as part of the Ravelympics (a knit a long casting on the moment the olympics start and ending when the olympics close). So in the down time, If I do anything, I will finished the cabled shrug I have had in the works since 2007. If I don’t do it now I might as well frog it, I only like shrugs like that when I am pregnant.

This week I am hosting dinner twice, An old friend whose family recently moved into my ward is joining us for dinner tonight. Tomorrow my parents are joining us, back from a recent trip to Arizona.

On the name front, Tim and I did an exercise in the names, and it seems we are both really liking Nathan, Preston, and Finnegan, Colin is still in the running as well. I like the idea of Brennan as a first name as well, but Tim doesn’t seem as keen on it, but is fine with it as the middle. Neither one of us are ready to carve it in cement yet. We have also decided he might not match his name we pick before we meet him, and we reserve the right to veto the name once we see him. So even if we come to an agreement it isn’t final till his arrival.

I finished making the owls for my little mobile…They look a little awkward here, but when they are hanging they look so cute. I have to now attach them to the mobile, and will post another pic then. I am loving this little theme.

Aiden’s potty training has come to a complete halt. He decided he didn’t want to anymore, and stopped going. I decided that my sanity is more important than potty training him right this minute. I know he can do it now, and so does he, so now I just have to wait till he decides it is what he wants. It works best when he does the leading.

Pregnancy wise, everything is moving along at a nice pace. I have a dr. appt in 12 days. I am starting to plan out the details, and really nesting. Tim and I tackled the garage last week. This week we are working on reworking the bedrooms. Charlotte is fighting against moving to a toddler bed, so we are letting her stay in the crib up until she is 20 months or so. It is putting a hamper on redecorating the nursery tho. I don’t want to let go of her being the baby anyway, so I don’t mind too much. Now I need to tackle arranging for someone to stay with the kids while I am in the hospital, and helping hands the first 2 weeks after. And getting ready for that inevitability. Lots of stuff to do. But one step at a time it doesn’t seem so overwhelming. If you look below, we have crossed off Darren and Evan from the list, and are down to 9! Slowly but surely making headway.