Well what a week!! Tomorrow we make our final rounds to see friends then it's back to New Hampshire. It has been a week full of friends and family. Wednesday night Brent and I went out with some friends to a piano bar and hung out and sang Billy Joel and Elton John songs all night! FUN! Thursday night we had Christmas with my mom, dad, brother and his family. Can you say WILD!! It was fun though, always is!
Brent has been packing like crazy to see how the heck we are going to get all our new goodies back. I have done NOTHING in the line of packing because I fear he would just redo it, so that's his baby, and he's pretty darn good at it!!
Mom and I did some shopping one day and I have enough yard for 5 pairs of socks.....three pair are for mom! haha I did finish the one sock I was working on last week that I posted on Nathan's cute little leg and I'll get a shot of it when we get home.
Now for some random pictures of our holiday here at mom and dad's house since I have access to ALL their pictures!!! :):)

Stockings at my parents house are always tooooooo heavy to hang up, so they just sit under the tree looking stuffed and pretty.
Brent and I goofing with mom's camera. I kinda like this picture.
My dad laughing at the coffee mug he got! He's already checking out airfare for a visit! YEAH!

Brent and our niece, Lana. Everyone looks good in camo!
My mother and her knit hat!! She hasn't knit in years and this was her first project as a returning knitter!!
Great Job MOM!!! You'll be super warm!
My brother Scott, holding Lana.
Me and my SIL, Amber opening presents!! A KNITTING BOOK!!! YES!!!!
See you all from NH next time.

Merry Christmas from Kentucky. Brent, the boys and I made it safely to Kentucky and the boys were GREAT on the plane ride too here. It's been a whirlwind of visits with Family and friends already! This morning we are sitting at my parents house relaxing for abit and trying to figure out what we're going to do, who we're going to see, and where we want to go. It's so fun.
Santa was able to find us here in KY and the boys were so glad about that. Now for some pictures of happy moments from the past couple days.
This is Brent holding our niece Lacey. That's my dad at the table.

Santa left this fort for the boys and all their Santa presents were inside the fort!
This is Brent sitting beside my grandmother on Christmas day at her house. I try to call my grandmother every Sunday, but this time we got to talk in person on Sunday! It was great!
This is me and my niece Lana, I could not wait to get my hands on her!!! She's so tiny! She is 7 almost 8 months old!! Beautiful!
Here's Nathan, Luke (my nephew) and Jacob all in their Santa hats. My mom takes pictures of the kids every year with these hats!
Brent, the boys and I are staying at my mom and dad's house. We are camping out in my old bedroom!! It's so cozy. Mom got the boys cute sleeping bags that blow up!! They love them.

I'll post more another day with more pictures :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

My witchy sock that I casted on Wednesday is going well!! I've already turned the heel, but this is it on Nate's little leg before I got to the heel flap yesterday. I LOVE the pattern.
Jake made a cute gingerbread house a school yesterday.
And the boys let me open my christmas present from them....a comfy ROBE!! I've always wanted a soft robe and now I have one. But look...I think I'm going to have to share. :):)

My good friend Sonya sent me this cute Chritmas Knitting Story!! I Love it!!

KNITTERS CHRISTMAS EVE
'Twas the night before Christmas and all around me
Was unfinished knitting not under the tree.
The stockings weren't hung by the chimney with care'
Cause the heels and toes had not a stitch there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
but I had not finished the caps for their heads.
Dad was asleep; he was no help at all,
And the sweater for him was six inches too small,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter
I put down my needles to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tripped over my yarn and fell down with a crash.
The tangle of yarn that lay deep as the snow
Reminded me how much I still had to go.
Out on my lawn I heard such a noise,
I thought it would wake both Dad and the boys.
And though I was tired, my brain a bit thick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
But what I heard then left me perplex-ed,
For not a name I heard was what I expected,

"Move, Ashford! Move, Lopi! Move, Addi and Clover!

Move, Reynolds! Move Starmore! Move Froelich

--move overPaton, don't circle 'round; stand in the line.

Come now, you sheep will work out just fine!

I know this is hard; it's just your first year,

I'd hate to go back to eight tiny reindeer."

I peered over the sill; what I saw was amazing,

Eight wooly sheep on my lawn all a-grazing.

And then, in a twinkle, I heard at the door

Santa's feet coming across the porch floor.

I rose from my knees and got back on my feet,

And as I turned 'round St Nick I did meet.

He was dressed all in wool from his head to his toe,

And his clothes were hand knit from above to below.

A bright Fairisle sweater he wore on his back,

And his toys were all stuffed in an Aran knit sack.

His cap was a wonder of bobbles and lace

A beautiful frame for his rosy red face.

The scarf 'round his neck could have stretched for a mile,

And the socks peeking over his boots were Argyle.

The back of his mittens bore an intricate cable.

And suddenly on one I spied a small label,

"S.C." was duplicate stitched on the cuff,

And I asked, "Hey, Nick, did you knit all this stuff?"

He proudly replied, "Ho, ho, ho, yes I did.

I learned how to knit when I was a kid."

He was chubby and plump, a quite well-dressed old man,

And I laughed to myself, for I'd thought up a plan.

I flashed him a grin and jumped up in the air,

And the next thing he knew, he was tied to a chair,

He spoke not a word, but looked in his lap

Where I'd laid my needles and yarn for a cap.

He quickly began knitting, first one cap then two,

For the first time I thought I might really get through.

He put heels in the stockings and toes in some socks.

While I sat back drinking scotch on the rocks.

So quickly like magic his needles they flew

That he was all finished by quarter to two.

He sprang for his sleigh when I let him go free,

And over his shoulder he looked back at me,

And I heard him exclaim as he sailed past the moon,

"Next year start your knitting sometime around June!"
Author Unknown

ok, Jackie and I think Nichole both tagged me and said I had to list 6 weird things about myself. I hope I don't have to double up and do 12!!! anyway, I may need some help you guys...I'm as normal as they come!! haha! OK OK ...here it goes.
1. I like spagetti in my chili and I have to have a peanut butter sandwich with it!
2. I can't stand it when the corners of the fitted sheet pop off the bed. I don't make my bed, but the blankets have to be straight when I get in at night.
3. I like to peek in open windows of houses as we drive down the street to see what people are doing. I know....sounds like I'm a stalker doesn't it.
4. I like to look at maps. I LOVE google earth where you can see actual satelite pictures!!
5. I don't like to cross bridges. When I drive over a bridge, you can bet I'm going a bit over the speed limit!! OMG the Tapenzee Bridge in NY....ACK!!!!!!!!!!!!! And dont' let me get stuck on one during a traffic jam!! I'll go crazy!
6. Grates on the ground freak me out. I'm afraid I'll fall in them, and the crazy thing is, Nathan Loves to SIT on them and that just makes me go crazy!! I mean come on!! What if he fell in?!?!?! ack!! Even at the Christmas party the other night that big Steam Engine had a section you could walk through and I got all excited...until I saw that the flooring was just grating...I RAN across it .... I'm sure Brent's co-workers if any saw me, thought WTF? Why is she running through the engine?!?!

OK..I tag...um... well seems that most of the people's blogs I read have done this...so if you happen to stumble across this and you haven't done it...then... TAG!
And just to keep the weirdness going.... I like this song.... :P

Brent and I had a wonderful time at his company holiday party! We got to roam around Dean Kamen's home, and MY MY what a home it is!! We went out on his observatory deck that overlooked Bedford and Manchester, I believe, but it was cold so we didn't stay out there long, haha! Then we found something by the pool that would remind you of the batcave and we went behind there and low and behold a spiral staircase doing down stairs. So down we went. We found a beautiful wine cellar with lots-o-wine. Dean even has his own label! Too neat. We were able to see all of the past Christmas presents that the company built for Dean, which was very neat! There are some great engineers and machinist at Deka, I'll tell you that much.
This is me in Deans Machine shop which is in his basement.
This is Brent in the Steam Engine which sits right at the front door when you walk in. Here's a better Picture.
And here's me. From what I understand, the house was built around this contraption. The story I heard was Dean learned how to use CAD so he could design his own house. It's pretty friggin' awesome!
Of course we took a photo of ourselves. This was us sitting beside the pool... No we didn't skinny dip.
Dean had a time clock in his living room. Here is Brent posing as he clocks in...or out...?? Not sure which.
The dinner was wonderful and Brent participated in working on the gift for Dean this year. They made him a chess board and there is a robotic arm that is the opponent!! TOO COOL! I forgot to get a picture of it. DOH! If you go here, you can read more about Dean's House!! Very Interesting!

What a wild weekend. Friday we went to the mall to get our family portrait taken. All went well and after much much bribing we finally got a shot we liked. This is something we TRY to do yearly and did well with it until Nathan was born. We got a picture when he was 3 months old and we haven't had a family picture since!! How horrible of us not to mark the years, but we've started again so all is well. Here is the Family Picture. Aren't my boys (all 3) so handsome! So after we FINALLY got the shot we wanted we headed down the mall to see ole St. Nick. Well wouldn't you know it, our luck, we missed him!! We didn't realize he was only there until 8pm and it was like 9pm by the time we finished with our pictures. Jacob was not happy. So we told Jake that we could go back on Saturday. SO!!! Saturday rolls around and we go to the mall and we drove and drove and drove and FINALLY scored a parking spot!! We go in to see Santa again....and guess what... THE FRIGGIN' CAMERA was BROKEN!!!!!!! So again...No Santa. So as we're walking out of the mall Jake says, "We never had this much trouble finding Santa in Kentucky!! And then we're driving home and Jake's on the phone with his Grandma and he's saying "This is the worst Christmas EVER!" So I "phoned a friend" and Santa called Jacob on my cell phone but we missed it (yes we are having a hard time hooking up here, can you catch my drift??) So Santa left a voice mail for Jacob reassuring him that if they didn't talk, he knew Jacob was a great kid and that he'd leave plenty of toys under the tree for him on Christmas morning.
So today, Sunday, we are on a mission. SEE SANTA!! Yes this WILL be the day!! So we get to the mall. Lots of available parking, good...good....we get inside and there's a line for Santa and I see a flash!! Things are looking up!! So we get in line, wait patiently, and right as it's our turn..... Nature calls out to Santa!! Yes!! I kid you not, Santa's on a potty run!! And he did RUN! LMAO!!! But he did return QUICKLY, I must say, and was a jolly ole fellow when the boys sat down to get their picture and speak with him.

Doesn't Nathan look excited......He wasn't into it after all the hoop-la. But as you can tell Jacob was happy that he finally got to speak to Santa. Santa even kept Jake's list of toys he wanted. How great is that?! ARGH!! LOL
I finished the other pink and black sock today. I have them on my feet right now and they feel great! I also found my witchy yarn that I had misplaced!! Sarah you were right, stop looking and I'll find it. And I did. yeah me.
So now tonight I have to finished my Christmas cards by putting a return address on them...I should go grab some labels from a store tomorrow and save myself all that writing. I may just do that! I also need to dream of my next knitting project because I have nothing on the needles for Wednesday night "knitting practice." Oh and gals, I made some Tequila balls today. I'll bring them Wednesday night if I don't eat them all before. :)
Next Saturday we head to Kentucky for the holidays! I am very excited.

Wow it's been a week since I've posted. Well let's see what has happened? OK ONE SOCK,

yep

that's it
One Sock Wanna see??

This was done in Cascade Fixation, hot pink and black! It's cool baby, coooool. The black really makes the hot pink POP!! I was going to start on the second sock today. I every intention of doing it, honestly!! But... I left my knitting needle for this sock at Gina's house last night. She had her 3rd annual Holiday party (1st one for me, so it's the only one that counts, tee hee) I really had a wonderful time. I ended up getting the gift that Sarah brought, I got a yarn cutter pendant, some hot pink yarn (gee I'm starting to sound like Gina with all this pink), and 2 skeins of Araucania Yarn. Yummy, let me get a picture :)

Jealous? OH but yeah, I was going to start the sock today and like I said I left my knitting needles there and so I called Gina. She said Ericka would bring them to me at "knitting practice" so I can only assume they will be held ransom for a certian boozy recipe that Ericka's been asking for.....
Anyway, the party was fun and the food was great and the company of other knitters and crocheters, the best NH could possibly offer I'm sure!! It was grand! I'm so happy I've found this group of people. I'd be lost and loney here in NH if I didn't find them! Thanks to Gina for hosting, it was wonderful meeting Ian and Timmy and seeing Ben again! :)
After Christmas I plan on starting some mittens.... THESE mittens Jackie and I, I believe, are going to knit these together as a knit-a-long for fun, so anyone else who wants to knit mittens with us we'll be doing this sometime in January! Nothing official, just for fun and the prize is YOU finishing your mittens for yourself :) haha

So anyway.... Ericka, if your reading.... GIVE UP THE NEEDLES! Here's the recipe.

Tequila Balls
1 box vanilla wafers
8 oz. almonds
4 oz. white chocolate
1/4 cup marmalade
1/4 cup tequila
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
Process wafers and almonds until crushed very fine. Melt chocolate.
Mix marmalade, tequila, lime juice, and corn syrup. Blend until smooth. Add dry mixture and chocolate. Mix well, into stiff dough.
Roll into balls and roll balls in sugar. Store in refrigerator.

Happy Monday, Sit back and great ready for some knitting FINISHED OBJECTS!!

I made a cute little sock blocker keychain! I did this last Wednesday night at "knitting practice" and finished it at Famous Dave's later that night after "knitting practice" while having some refreshments with some fellow knitters.

Secondly, I made a pair of Fingerless Mittens. This was done with some left over yarn and I love how they turned out!!

Next in line is a cute Wee Bird from KnitSimple's holiday magazine. I plan on making some more of these little gems! I made this one yesterday while knitting with the Concord group of knitters.

Next we have little thumbless mittens for my niece, Lana. She's 7 months old and just a precious little thing, and I miss her dearly! Can't wait to see her Christmas!

And finally, this is a hat for my niece, Lacey, Lana's older sister. Lacey had started a hat with this yarn when I lived in Kentucky on one of my knifty knitters. I took it off the knifty knitter and just did a 2x2 rib and then some stockinette on the top for a simple but cute hat!! I love it!

Now...off to knit some more birds :)

Dear New Hampshire Gift Angel,
I have NO CLUE who you are but we received a wonderful card and gift from you today in the mail!! Thank you for caring about us. It's just .... honestly I just don't know what else to day except, Thank you.
Lora

I went and got the mail today and there was a card addressed to me. I opened the card and a gift certificate for Toys R Us was in there and it was signed from the NH Gift Angel. I am just in shock here. Brent kept asking me who is it who is it? I don't have a clue. Not one clue. But who ever the Angel is, she has a warm spot for my children, I can feel it, and that just means she has to be awesome.

I have my five people to send art to now, so thanks to everyone who responded!! It feels fun to create things for you all and I'm excited to get going on some crafty stuff!