Sunday, February 28, 2010

The little guy's 6th birthday!

Birthdays have become a week long festival in the Richmond household. First there is the party at kindergarten. This involves cupcakes and a poster all about Big N! Big N filled out all the questions and then spent a considerable amount of time going through photos to figure out which ones should be included. Teddy bear made the cut in 2 out of the 5 photos. A few days later, there was another party at the day care kindergarten. This also involved cupcakes. Big N wore a crown which has made its way to the shelf of his prized possessions. After all of that, the weekend continued the festivities a party limited to a few friends. This was held at the gymnastics club in town and it couldn't have been a better location for helping kids to expel energy. Finally, the week of festivities culminated with a party for family. This was the official cake event, which made it even more special for Nate.

Big N told me he had a very good week. Little N wants her birthday to hurry up and get here. Or, she would be happy with 4 days of chocolate cupcakes and chocolate cake.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Heading to the Post office

How would you like to find THIS in the mail?

Uncle Brian and soon-to-be Auntie Barbara sent a package in the mail and the kids made good use of the box. It was hard to get Big N out.



Is it winter?

You could not tell that it was February this past weekend. The coats weren't really necessary and the sunshine was fantastic!

The dogs played fetch, the kids played on the play structure and the sun shined. If it wasn't for the winter color to the grass, you would have no idea the photos were taken in was February!











Monday, February 15, 2010

Its all about the accesories

Little N can accessorize anything!



Decked out for T-ball

Big N expressed an interest in playing T-ball. Sign-ups were last week, but playing doesn't start for a while. Never the less, Pete wanted to make sure Big N was ready with a mitt. He also wanted to practice with him outside, especially now that it is so unseasonably warm.

During Pete's day off, he took the kids to get a mitt for Big N. Little N wouldn't leave the store without one for her, too. I peaked outside to watch them trying them out since I did work today.

Big N did pretty well with his toss, that is until he got side tracked and threw it up on the roof. He was catching about 50% of the throws to him, which is fine by me.



Fun outside


He caught it!


The face of determination


Yes, it has pink on it.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Little N had snowflakes on Valentine's Day

Just in time for Spring, we have snowflakes! Little N wore this dress to church this morning.



As I mentioned earlier, my New Year's resolution has been to use up what I have, as far as craft projects. I purchased a beautiful blue corduroy fabric with white snowflakes before Big N was born. And, yes, that was 6 years ago. The plan had been to make overalls out of it. After Little N was born, I thought this might make a cute baby dress. That was 4 years ago.

I'm really glad my plans didn't work out! Or perhaps, this is positive reinforcement that procrastination can work for you.

Little N loves her dress. It twirls well when she spins, which is her only requirement.

On the sewing front, I learned how to gather a skirt and sew a button hole. Skirt gathering is a requirement if I want to make anything that twirls for little N.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

A baby sweater for a neice or nephew

I have a recently finished project, and I will admit I was finishing this hours before I gave it as a gift. Photos were taken in the hotel shortly after weaving in the last end.





The pattern is called the Pea Pod Baby Set. I happened to come across the pattern a few years ago and decided to print it out on the off chance that I would have someone to make it for.

I loved the cables on this pattern, they look like leaves across the front, with an off center button band. I even managed to find buttons that exactly matched the yarn.

The buttons are knit in instead of sewn on. I feel this is much safer for baby clothes. The sweater would have to fall apart for the button to come off.

Hopefully I receive some pictures of cabbage sporting the sweater. *hint-hint, Auntie Jenny*

The kindness of strangers

It has been a while since I have posted and I have been meaning to talk about the recent... or at this point, not so recent, cross country flights to Auntie Jenny and Uncle Chris's wedding.

I am fairly certain I am not alone in this, but flying with your kids is scary. You pray that the kids won't kick the seat in front of them for the entire 5 hour flight. Perhaps they will fall asleep shortly before take-off and the hard part will be getting them off the plane at the end. Or, perhaps every single person around you will have giant ear-muff sized headphones and will be able to drown out any possible whines or tantrums.

We weren't quite that lucky, but we were very happy with how the flights did go.

Our flight began at a very early hour. Little N flew with me while Big N and Pete planed on flying out a few days later. We managed to book our flights on the same schedule as Auntie Sarah, Grandma and Grandpa. Even with most of the family flying together, only little N and I were seated together.

On the first leg of the flight out of Seattle, Little N decided the woman sitting next to her was someone who would enjoy the full attention of a four year old. Luckily, the woman was thrilled to have little N lay her head on her and talk to her for the entire flight. She had a book with her which I believe she only was able to read as we were boarding the plane. Her daughters, in their early 20s, were seated behind us. She really enjoyed talking to Little N. The second leg of the flight, Auntie Sarah was given a window seat to sit next to Little N. Auntie Sarah also did not read much, but I was a lot more relaxed.

The route home from Baltimore was a somewhat hairier. When we arrived at the airport, the airline had managed to place both kids rows apart from us. Luckily the gate attendant was able to find a way for Little N and Big N to sit with one of us. My parents put up with center seats in separate rows, allowing Little N to sit with me and Big N to sit with Pete.

The young man in the window seat where Little N and I were assigned immediately offered up his window seat for Little N. This made the flight a lot easier. He even seemed to enjoy the flying teddy bear that hit him in his ear shortly after take-off.

All in all, the kids were great on the trip, but a lot of that was due to the kindness of strangers.