Our First Thanksgiving alone as a foursome. It was just wonderful. Of course I missed our family back home, but there's something about not driving to three different places and attempting to eat at all of them when there's good food to consume! Brent took care of our special guest, Mr. Butterball Turkey, and I did the sides.

The turkey came out DELICIOUS! It was very good and juicy. Not dry a bit!
Later in the evening Brent and the boys set up the Christmas Tree and we all put on some decorations.

I got a little knitting time in here and there over the 4 day weekend. We even went and visited Santa at the mall on Friday evening. It wasn't bad at all. Jacob went to the movies Friday with a friend from school, and Brent, Nathan and I braved K-mart. It really wasn't that bad, but I swear if Santa does not bring Nathan a Whac-a-mole game, Santa beware!!! The child will NOT be happy!
We went out to eat Friday night and Jacob worked on his list for Santa since we were going to the mall to see him. Nathan walked up to Santa and said, "Hey, Little Dude, I want a Whac-a-mole." And that was that!
(my scanner is not hooked up so I took a photo of the photo of Santa)
On Sunday, Nathan and I went to Laurin's annual Gingerbread House party. I didn't take my camera but I'm sure Laurin will post some pictures on her blog from the party. Nathan had a great time, as did I. Chris, Ericka and Donna (Chris's mom) were there too when I was there, so it was nice to spend time with them and Laurin and her hubby. Gina and her oldest son were there for a smidgen when I first got there, but they finished their Gingerbread SHIP and set sail for home. Thanks Laurin for letting us crash your party! I want to do it again next year now! :)

Happy Holidays!! Now go Elf yourself!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9592115621

Knitting right along....... one Christmas present finished.

yes.... ONE.... *sigh* Anyway I'm happy that it is done and I think (hope) it will be received with excitement from my niece.

I've still got the hoodie on the needles but I have a couple more Christmas knits I'd like to try and do.
Next is Fetching mitts for my grandmother. Hopefully I can finish them for Gina's Month of Mittens.

See you after Thanksgiving!! Have a wonderful holiday!

FO Friday!
Check it out!! After seeing Jackie's hat for her boy, I had to make one too because her son looked so dang happy with his!! It's the Skull hat for Mr. Jake. It turned out a weeeee bit to big and when he wears it I somehow think of Gilligan from Gilligan's Island. Odd...I know. But he likes it. He likes it a lot! He even SLEPT with it last night. How's that for making me feel good??? He's so awesome. As long as he's happy! I think I'm going to check my stash and make a black and pink one for my niece. Hopefully I can get it done for Christmas.

I didn't have enough of the dark blue yarn to finish the top of the hat off, so I just winged it and make a little band and voila this and voila that, a finished hat! (haha that sounded funny)

I'm still working on the Olive Branch Yoga Hoodie and loving how it's coming out. I'm working on one of the sleeves right now. I do have a question though....It says to knit until it's 18" inches long. Ok... 18" inches from where? the Underarm or the Shoulder?? Good thing is I can slide it on up to my shoulder and see how long it's getting. Maybe one day next week I'll put up an in progress pictures of the hoodie.

Thank goodness Brent comes home tonight.... :)
(I love my boys...they are just TOO fun sometimes!)

not much going on here, hubby is traveling... AGAIN... *sigh* only two days away so that's not too bad.... anyway
... move along to my etsy store. See if there are any holiday gifts for anyone or yourself. :)

When knitting goes bad.....
my forehead will forever have a groooove from that hat!! No...I didn't knit it. (whew!)
{{Sarah, quit laughing at me! see her snickering in the background}}

Ok...that's it.... NO ONE ELSE CAN LEAVE!!!! I have had enough of people leaving. Now on the plus side I've had some great times and great visits. Let me explain...
You all know that Sonya was here for about 4 days and a bit and then she went back home. It was a treat to have a visit from home.
THEN, and old friend that I have known since 6th grade shows up Tuesday for a visit! Her and her hubby were taking a little New England vacation before they went back down to CT for a wedding. Here's me and Meredith (I'm in the brown, Meredith is in the pretty colorful sweater). Meredith and I met in 6th grade at Noe Middle School. We were both in the band and both played the clarinet. We've been friends ever since. We went to the same high school too and still share a lot of the same friends (Tina, Sarah, Jenny, Anita, and the list goes on).

Then Brent goes out of town for a couple days for work. At least he's coming back soon!!
THEN, yeah, not finished yet, Marion and Frank decide that New England is getting just a tad too cold and they packed up their RV and headed south!! Nathan and I gave them a farewell wave from the street. Nathan and I got a treat of riding in the RV from the driveway to the street. Nathan was THRILLED!! He said "I want to go with them!" OH honey, I do too! Nathan has become pretty fond of Marion. Today he informed me, "Mommy, Marion is a good friend." I replied, "Yes, Nathan, she is!" Nathan knows good people when he meets them. Marion and Frank, have a safe trip and be careful!! We'll miss you and can't wait to see you all back here next summer!!
Here's Nathan sitting in the co-pilots chair, enjoying every minute of it!
Nathan standing in the door of the RV.

Let's have a little talk, shall we....
Sometimes people do Stupid things and it affects only them. Sometimes people do Stupid thing and it affects a few people. Sometimes people do INSANELY STUPID THINGS and it affects A LOT OF PEOPLE!! (click on link, read and watch video, then resume reading my blog!)


.
Are ya back? OK.. now ......

So, Sonya came to visit right... and last night I had to get her to the airport. Traffic was super heavy and we (finally) got to the ramp to get on the expressway towards the airport and it was closed! So we make a BIG circle and head back towards where we came from and I try and find an alternate way to the airport. Now, I'm not THAT familiar with back roads in the city yet to find the quickest and easiest route to places when I'm in a HURRY! So, long story short, a less than 10 minute drive to the airport took 45 minutes!! We got to the airport, Sonya's plane was to leave in 25 minutes, and they wouldn't let her go. Said she had to be there 30 minutes before hand. Now...I did not KNOW I had to plan for someone making a weird decision to pull a gun on a Secret Service man. I just didn't think that far in advance. Actually, it NEVER CROSSED MY MIND!

SO.....we swing back around to the airport (I was smart and pulled in a gas station and waited for Sonya to call me to tell me whether or not she got on the plane, NOW I'M THINKING! ha!) We get Sonya back in the car and the first thing out of Nathan's mouth is, "Sonya, I told you to go home!" My children, so polite!
So Sonya and I plan for the ride in the morning, what time to get up and such for her to make a 6:10am flight. We mention Dunkin Donuts. Again, Nathan pipes in, "I told you to go home. I want Dunkin' Donuts!" Talk about selective hearing. :o)
I enjoyed having Sonya here over the weekend. We had a great time together. It was a treat to have a visitor from home here for a couple days and share her with my knitting friends here. I doubt her husband and children will EVER let her fly here again to see me unless we promise that Brent drives her to the airport instead of me. haha!!
OK and now some pictures of the weekend at Grandview. I'll hit the highlights and spare you the drama of Bob. If you wanna read more about Bob, you can read about him on Laurin's blog. :)
Here is Sonya and Lisa, Laurin's very cool friend. I just love this lady! She just that cool!
Here's me (can you see up my nose?) and Sarah
I started my first ever (full size) sweater! This is the Olive Yoga Hoodie from Yarn.com. A little funny about this. I was telling Melissa about this Sunday night when she came over to visit and I called it the Olive Yoga Garden Hoodie. OOPS! LOL Sound Familiar to anyone?? Gina?? tee hee

A picture of some of the group knitting before we left Sunday.
A BIG HUGE ***THANK YOU*** to the Blogless Sarah for driving and letting me and Sonya hitch a ride with her and the other gals! I enjoyed spending time with you gals!
Everyone send out good vibes to three of my fellow Manchvegans who had some illness and bad news fall upon them while they were there. These three gals are good friends and I want things to get better for them. You don't need to know their names, just know they're good people and need your thoughts and prayers.

"I told you to go home. I want to go to Dunkin' Dounuts."

Guess what happened.................................

Happy Halloween!!


Diego and Master Yoda. FUN FUN

Jake strikes a fighting Yoda pose for the camera.
I told Nathan to do something that Diego does, so he looks at his watch then yells "GO RESCUE PACK!!!!!" It was cute!
The city does Trick or Treating on the Sunday afternoon before Halloween. I LOVE IT!! But I think I'm the only person that does. I love seeing the kids in their costumes and know that drivers should be able to see these little ones running around during the light hours. I'm not sure if we'll take them out tonight. I will probably go knitting since I missed it last week, if I can find what ever project I'm knitting at the moment.
Moving went fine and we are in our new place. I am super happy and already feel at home. It's still been nice enough in the afternoons to eat our lunch on the screened in back porch. The neighbors are really nice too. This feels like a Family oriented street, BIG TIME!! All the neighbors seem to know each other and such.
I am also floating on a cloud because this weekend I'm getting away with some friends for the weekend. No kids. Just a bit north of here. Girls weekend away. One of my best friends, Sonya, is coming to NH and going away with me!!! She needs the time away too!!! I can't wait to see someone from home!! HURRY SONYA!

Banana Republic Knock Off Hat

MAN I love this pattern!! I am going to make a couple more of these hats and stash them for Christmas presents. Already started a second one.
Details:
Banana Republic Knock off Hat (Pattern Here)
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease gifted from Celti
Cast On: Tuesday morning 10/23
Cast Off: Tuesday night 10/23
Button from an old duPont Manual High School Uniform (my Alma mater)

In other news, Dad had a birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday dad!! I called him and the boys picked out a hoops and yoyo card on the Internet to email him. I sent his gift and my brother has it. So when I find out he's gotten the gift I'll post it here. Maybe I already did I can't remember, but don't want to post it now and ruin the surprise! If you're on Ravelry you can see it there. :)

Also on the home front, we have the keys to the new joint. Last night a very nice coworker of Brent's came over with his two teen age sons and they moved some boxes over to the new place. I think they made about 3 trips in that big Suburban truck of theirs!! The rooms here in the old apartment are looking big again now that all the boxes are gone. I'll get some pictures soon of the new place. It's beautiful.

I'm not sure when I'll have the Internet back up over at the new place so this may be my last blog entry for a bit.

The Inter"knit"

A Peek At Yoda.

I can't wait to get him all Yoda'ed up!!! I will try and get out this week to get some face makeup so we can make his face green! :) We are moving this week to another house/apt. I've VERY excited. I did get the ears "glued" so they are stiffer and stick out without flopping around. I'll make sure and get another picture when he's done up.
Yesterday we went to the Keene Pumpkin Festival. I'd post pictures but Brent is gone with my car and the camera AND MY KNITTING (shoot) is in there. *sigh*

Mama's Boy??? Most days, but this night he had to get some snuggle time with Dad. I thought it was too cute!
I have the Yoda had done for Jacob's Halloween costume. I hope this weekend I can hem the bottom of the robe I made him since it's VERY LONG!! I didn't have a pattern so much. Just kinda folded the fabric and had him lay on it and traced around him.
Wednesday afternoon the whole family went with Jacob's cub scout group to a Corn Maze in Lee, NH. MAN was that a riot!! Yeah I think we got lost a couple times....but hey, we were following around 7 seven year olds.....haha
In this picture the group of boys were in the Eye of the wolf. We got around the wolf's nose and ear pretty good too.

Hey all, Happy Tuesday!! Don't forget I have some cute and sassy bags in my etsy!! Great for yourself or for gifts!! Pass along my store. I offer free shipping in the US.
Stay tuned later this week for updates on the Halloween costume progress.

We went out shopping today for Halloween stuff to make a Yoda costume (wish me luck!) Nathan got sidetracked by the pretty beads. OOO Mommy look at this! I was almost as glazey eyed as he was! :)

"Life is so short. Why waste a single day of it doing something that doesn't matter?" ~ Dean Kamen.

This is a cool video. It shows the wheel chair that my husband works on daily. Pretty cool.
http://www.sundancechannel.com/videos/230058445
Just incase you ever wanted to know why we moved to New England. This is the reason. Isn't it amazing!
Watch Ugly Betty tonight. The wheel chair is supposed to be on there tonight if the network doesn't cut it or change it. Cool eh?

Really, It makes me smile!



This commercial for Mastercard just gives me a giggle EVERY time, yes, EVERY TIME I see it. There are several different reasons:
1. I can just picture my oldest, Jake, dancing down the hall way with some of his buddies like this.
2. It so dang sweet.
3. And yes, having that someone that just understands you, yes, it's priceless.
4. I think of Tina when I see this video.

Through the years I've had some great friends. I've probably even danced with a couple of them in the hall ways of good ole Manual High. As I was packing the other day I was going through some old photos. I came across one from my wedding of me and my best friend, Tina. Gosh I miss her! Tina and I met in 9th grade. We've been best friends since then. We have Brent's wedding band on our fingers. In high school I don't recall that we EVER had a class together other than band. We were both band geeks, and played the clarinet. About the only thing Tina and I had in common was we both played the clarinet and we had awesome parents. Other than that, we're pretty different, never had the same taste in boys, never excelled in the same subjects.... But we get it...we get each other. We got "da funk"! Love ya Tina!

The picture below was taken about.......oh 4-5 years ago... We went out to eat with a bunch of other gals from high school that night. I was pregnant with Nathan. Really early at the time. But we had a blast! Apparently seating was limited at the bar and the smoking ban was NOT in effect (note smoker in the back all sassy and stuff). I think my hair was dyed back then...what do you think? LOL Kinda dark eh!!?

Happy 4th Birthday Nathan!! Hard to believe this was him 4 years ago!!
I love this picture of Nathan and Jacob!! This was taken a couple days after we came home from the hospital. Race car beds are so cool!
Last night Jacob, Brent and Nathan went through that big box there. It was a package from Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop and Scott, Amber, Lacey, Luke and Lana! Birthday presents and gifts galore. The kids had a blast with the new stuff. He also got some puzzles the other day from his Grandpa Chris and Grandma Cheryl. We have one more Grandparents package on the way too from the third set if grandparents. These boys are LOVED!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. BEAN!