There have been a lot of snows, some really lovely days, and rain, all since January 15. And there has been a lot of life taking place. School done, piano practiced, inches grown (at least it seems like inches), new recipes tried, more miles logged in exercise, trees and flowers have bloomed, stitches knitted, singing and concerts…. next will include the youngest’ turn to learn to tie her own shoes, classes and days of school finished, clothes swapped out for the warmer days of spring…

It looks peaceful doesn’t it?  In one of our  home schooling days these moments last about 4-5 minutes, and then someone needs help with a new section of math, finding a missing crayon, pencil sharpener… a plea for less work is made…

However short they may last, these moments – they do help carry me through the not so peaceful ones.

*Still thinking of Haiti today. Indie Fixx is hosting a Haiti Relief Fundraiser right now to help raise funds.

I’m praying for more miracles to happen for Haitians today after the 7.0 earthquake hit January 12.

Through Suzanne’s blog is a link to a family in Haiti with information. Ways to help.

The Autumn/Winter of 2008, Toast catalog had some beautiful, simple hand warmers. Just lovely, anyway… when scrolling some blogs I found a free pattern for them. So, I must confess, basically all I have done is tweak the pattern to use smaller needles and change the size a bit to fit a younger age group (specifically my girls). I also added a larger size in parenthesize for an adult-still using the size 4 needle.) I am one who doesn’t feel too confident to stray from patterns, so if you are like me, here is one more knitting pattern for your collection.

If you want a pair for yourself with a worsted weight yarn and size 7 needles, please find the original pattern at a-friend-to-knit-with. (It is on her side bar.) I have made both “toast” and “toastys” many times.

Hand warmers

yarn: dk  or sport weight. (I used Blue Skys Alpaca, Sport weight)

needles: size 4 double pointed. (4 of them)

Cast on 34 (46) sitches. Divided onto 3 needles.

Join for working in the round. Knit for 5 1/2 (7 1/2) in.

Make thumb: Knit 6, slip 4 (6) stitches to a piece of waste yarn. Cast on 4 (6) stitches using the backward loop method, knit to the end. Continue knitting in the round until entire mitt measures (from cast on edge). 8 3/4 (11) inches.

Loosely bind off all stitches.

Thumb: Place 4 (6) sts from waste yarn on one of your needles. Pick up and knit 4(6) sts around thumb opening using another double point. Using a third needle, pick up and knit 4 (6) more sts around the thumb. 12 (18) sts.

Join in the round. Knit for 1 (1 1/2) in.. Loosely bind off. Weave in ends. Repeat for other hand warmer.

If you need help with any of the directions feel free to email me. If you want to watch a tutorial on backward loop cast on or any of the steps – I love to use knittinghelp.com.

making plans for the week. school starting back up, a visit to the library and the grocery store. searching for our “groove.”

Some of our weekend.

Time spent at home, sledding at Jason and Rochelle’s. Rochelle figured out a cool system for using the bottom of their pet carrier to drag the kids around behind their 4 wheeler. (That way Jeremiah could also go sledding.) While we were out there some friends, Shelby and Melanie and kids,  came to visit. (I wish I would have grabbed my camera.) And then Sunday was filled with some great time with friends at church, along with a little more down time at home.

And tonight, I’m trying out General Tso’s chicken for supper.

*I finished Matheau’s winter hat. Pattern is Cairn from Ysolda.

I would rather just take photos of my pretty bowls…. and knitting projects that take me way too long to complete. {grin}…

This last year held a lot of transition for me. I went from working several hours a week outside of the home to more then doubling that, I’ve also taken on more responsibilities regarding the financial side of redlogic (responsibilities = time). Throw in adding a third child to our home school schedule and I have struggled. The thought of becoming any more consistent in anything really pushes me the other way. And then there is this place, the blog. As hard as I try to want to give it up, because, it does take time, I just haven’t been able to force it totally out of my routine. I still enjoy looking back and seeing that I really do accomplish a few things over time. And a real bonus, when a recipe is lost and I know it is here, the print button is just way too convenient.

So… some thoughts of resolutions…

*The wok. I purchased one with Christmas money. Last year I worked at improving my soup making skills, this year it is going to be the stir fry.

*Another year of “My Utmost for His Highest”. It makes me more humble and thankful for salvation through my Lord Jesus Christ each day. Also to get “Crazy Love” read. I’ve started, that is about it.

*school-staying on top of Hannah’s and adding Sonlight back in at home. This is huge for me. We are starting with language arts for Luke and soon to be Alli as well. If Luke is going to go to public school next year, I really want him to have this as part of his foundation. I used Sonlight when Hannah was younger. I loved it, but it is very time intensive. Since time is something I already run short of, this was a choice that was really about what will be best for Luke. With dyslexia, we have had lots of struggles and I feel like we are finally at a place where we can take this on and still love each other at the end of each school day.

*to keep up my newly and more functional book keeping system for personal, and all business related papers…and bill paying “stuff”. I now have clipboards above the computer table so that it is easy to grab the appropriate one needed. I’ll try to talk about that at a later date.

*cardio-I used to run with out fail. When I started teaching more I made plenty of excuses why I couldn’t fit cardio in anymore. Well, my body is paying for it. 20 minutes a day-that all I am going for.

* blogging – to post about some more specifics (this one is really a low on the list of priorities goal). I have ideas I started recording for craft/knitting projects that if I can carve out the time, I would love to share here. Along with just recording “what we have learned” kind of things. I am forgetting some of the kids younger struggles and how we dealt with them… I would like to journal some of them before my mind totally forgets.. and of course photos, because that is why I still love blogs way more then facebook. It is so much about the photos.

*Family time – Matheau purchased Rock Band with some of his Christmas money. With this crazy cold weather we have been jammin’ in the basement. I would love to learn to play those drums… now I know the drums seem a bit self serving, but if you fail bad enough, then no one gets to finish the song. So it is all about the family band.

And that is all I’ve got. What are some of yours?

Pattern was from Blair (wisecraft), posted over at Design*Sponge.

And I posted this over at Fresh Eggs, but I tried this amazing caramel corn (with pecans instead of peanuts) – it was way too good. Warning – if you made any dietary new year’s resolutions, you may want to wait for a while to try this one. (Scroll down a bit and you will find it.)

We are having another snow day today. The high is around 4 degrees. My only trip out is to go to the post office. Stay warm!

One plan I had to let go was to give my kids classes treat bags with extra cookies. Well that did not happen, but I do have a printable I designed, so if you would like to use it, please do. They are four inches wide, and when folded in half, two inches tall. They fit the standard treat bags I had purchased at wal-mart or target. (I printed mine out with a sturdy card stock that will run through my printer, normal printer paper would work fine as well.)

Treat bag printables.

Also, I found some fun little projects at Felt and Thistle.

And something I really thought was cool at The Small Object.

And a couple of photos…

Whoopie pies were made a few weeks ago. Liz had a really good time helping me. Again, the recipe is from “Baked“.

Jason’s femur surgery is today. There will be bone grafting to besides just “fixing” the femur.

So with their family on my mind, we are going to tackle a bit of school, along with coming up with a new plan for some of my previous Christmas gift plans. It is hard to switch gears…