Dance Competition

We had such a fun weekend in Maple Grove at the Cathy Roe Ultimate Dance Competition.  I'm so so so proud of all of these girls.  What a GREAT team Morgan is on.  I just love them all!  (sorry for the crummy cell phone pics!)

Make it Shake is their Hip Hop dance, and Miss Jaime never disappoints with her choreography!

The Starlet line is full of ROCK STARS!

BFFs since they were born.  I've said it before, but I'm so proud of the people they are becoming.  (Also, it's very hard to put that lipstick on without getting it on the braces.)

SWAAAAAAAAAAAAG.  UGH I adore this picture.  They are so gangsta.

The tap numbers for the past two years have been my absolute favorites.  I can't even stand it.  Katie, you are SO stinkin cute, and for the record, you made it a LOT longer in your heels than I would have on Saturday.  

Gorgeous ladies.

This is how you do a fishie costume.  Hands down.  Danielle is a genius.  

These "waves" girls killed it and literally brought me to tears.  Yep, dork mom right here.  Can't help it.  

OUTSTANDING and SUPERIOR awards were earned.  (anyone at the awards will get the joke)

Alex and Cassie nailed their duet.  So gorgeous.

And these three nailed their Trio.  (thank you to Cathy Roe's Facebook page for this pic!)

WOW ladies.  

I absolutely love sitting back and watching these girls do their thing.  Even off stage.  Witnessing the family that they have become to each other is something I can't put into words.  Hugs, tears, support, words of encouragement, love, friendship, silly selfies, sharing Cheezits, late night conversations at the hotel, and new memories were all in abundance the last few days and I got to see it all.  I can't wait to do it all again this weekend in Duluth!  

Love to you all!

XOXOX

NH

Merry Christmas! Wait, What?

Oh that's right, it's April 25th.  I nearly forgot there for a minute because Mother Nature is trying to confuse the heck out of me.

So this all happened yesterday and last night.  So...  Yeah.

I guess we can be glad that it's pretty, and not a super huge amount, and should be gone fairly quickly, but I think I can still be a little mad about it. I think I'm entitled.  

I mean, who really wants Spring and Summer to come around anyway, right?  THIS GIRL!  Sheesh!

I don't want to take any more pictures of snow.  I don't want to shovel any more snow.  I don't want any more snow and dirt and mud tracked in through my front door.  I'm sure the dog doesn't want to pee in snow any more.

I don't think the trees want any more snow either.  Look how sad that branch looks, all weighted down with the new heaviness.  Poor thing.

The robins and geese are back from their annual trip south, and they are probably just as confused as we all are.

Poor, poor branches.  We were all teased with 60 degrees on Easter, and now we are being slapped in the face again with all this dang snow.  With the snow we got in the last 24 hours, we have now hit the 4th snowiest winter on record.  Well, great.  Let's not make it to the 3rd place slot.  Please.  I also heard on the news this morning that it has snowed here something like 14 out of the last 18 or 19 months.  Yippee.

It's lucky it's pretty.  Or something.

But then, as I was almost to my parking ramp this morning, I had to detour and take this picture, because dang, it really never gets old.  It's way more enjoyable to take pictures like this in 60 - 70 degree weather though, so I say, "BRING IT ON!"  Spring has to be here somewhere right???

XOXOX

NH

Never Too Old to Color Easter Eggs!

Every year we say we should do this more than once a year, and we never do.  Maybe it's better to save it for only Easter so it doesn't lose the fun.  I hope it's something we keep doing together for a long, long time.

In all, a good day's work, dontcha think?

XOXOX

NH

Distracted

I am feeling very distracted today.  I'm not sure what it is.  I'm sitting at work on my lunch break and I'm having a very hard time concentrating on my orders today.  I just want to be home.

It's probably because the kids are off school today.  Or maybe it's because it's Friday?  Maybe because I know I have a million and one other things I could be doing at home right now?  Because it's sunny out?  I don't know.

I'm not in a great place with knitting projects either.  I guess I feel like I need to have that one huge project on the needles at all times, with smaller ones to keep me from the boredom of a big huge project.  Now that my sweater is done, I feel weird not having that one big thing to fall back on.

I've started one of these:

Hey Teach

And one of these:

Camelia

And also one of these:

Chocolate Parfait Blanket

And unfortunately I'm just not loving any of them.  The sweater will probably end up getting torn out.  The other two will probably make it to the end, but I'm just kinda blah about them.  It's very frustrating to not feel that excitement about a project that makes you long to get off work and fit in any possible needle time that you can that evening.

Maybe it's for the best, because I am in the middle of helping with costumes at the studio, so I probably shouldn't be knitting all that much anyway right now.  It's such a great stress reliever for me though!  I will continue the quest for that one pattern that matches with that one yarn, and makes me feel that feeling again.  I know they are out there and will align soon!

Until that happens, I'm afraid I'm going to be stuck with the distracted feeling I'm having every day.  Like it's a dang illness.  Should it be a lacy sweater next?  Maybe I should get going on a Christmas present for someone?  Perhaps Morgan would like something next?  There are some darn cute little kids in the family who would look fantastic in something made by their auntie.  Pillow covers to go with my new couch?  Gaaaaaaah!  I don't know!

If you're looking for me, I'll be browsing the Ravelry database...

XOXOX

NH

Another week of photos!

Here's week #2 of the photo challenge!  I'm doing ok so far, but I'm actually slipping a little this week.  I still have to take photos for yesterday and today.  Oops!

For now, enjoy last week's snapshots...

1. This is the {landscape} on my street.  I cheated on this, and asked Andy to go take this picture for me.  So that's his finger in the corner.  I guess you get what you pay for.  :)  I'd like to believe all this snow will be gone soon, but in reality, there is another 9 inches in the forecast for tonight.  Joy.

2.  My {obsession}.  No surprise here.  The doily on my coffee table was something we found at mom's house when we were cleaning it out.  My Great Grandma Kay made it, and I adore it.

3.  {Little things}  Sometimes I love the little extra crunch french fries at the end of the basket.  Sometimes they are a waste of time.  This day they were delicious.  And I ate every last one of them.

4.  {faceless}  This picture isn't very true to life.  She usually loves having her picture taken, so I had to instruct her to do this when I told her I needed her faceless photo.  hehe.  Homework is a little more enjoyable on the new couch that was just delivered though!

5.  Yes, this was a late night picture, when I remembered that I hadn't taken one for the day yet.  Jimmy Fallon is {blurry} with the help of Instagram.  I love what the filter did to the curtain colors too.

6.  Saturday we got to go to the most jazzed up princess birthday party I've ever seen.  Cinderella was even there.  Miss Ellyann turned 5 and we got to help her celebrate.  The photo prompt for today was {tulips} but unfortunately we are so far from the tulips even poking through the ground here, that this was as close to tulips as I could get.

7.  This is how I spent {my Sunday}.  It was delightful.  Knitting, laundry, time on the new couch, and Season 6 of Mad Men on Netflix to prepare for the Season 7 premier coming on at 9:00.  Fantastic!

The prompts seem to be a little more challenging this week, and that's good, I suppose.  I'm going to have to get a little creative!

I'm headed into this Easter week with mixed emotions as we are trying hard to sell Mom's house, and are quickly approaching the 1 year anniversary of the day Dad died.  It snowed hard that day, so I suppose it's only appropriate that there is snow in the forecast this year too.

Dance performances are in full swing, and I get to spend some time blinging out some more costumes, which I'm very much looking forward to.  We have a few very busy weekends coming up, which will help me get through this last hump of cold icky weather, and shoot me into the spring, which always makes me feel better.  It sure would be nice to see some tulips peeking up soon!

XOXOX

NH

A New Photo Challenge

If you follow me on instagram, you know that I've started a new photo challenge.  I stumbled upon a new group through a photography page I follow on Facebook called Clickin Moms.  They give you a list once a week of things to take photos of each day, and then you go share them on Instagram, and gush over others photos.  I'm having fun with it so far, so we'll see how long I can do it!

If you are interested, follow @clickinmoms on Instagram, mark your photos with #cmglimpse, and have fun!

Here are mine from the first week:

1.  I think she has my {hands}

2.  This was on April Fools Day.  I was a {fool} to think Spring had arrived.

3.  Super Sami! {from a low angle}

4.  Turquoise is {my favorite color} AND MY SWEATER IS DONE!  hehe.

5.  How convenient that the chosen letter to photograph today was {N}!

6.  {Sleeping} is what she does best.  Can't beat a warm puppy nose!

7.  These {Pastel} buttons make me happy.

Sorry for the weird lack of cropping to those I deleted from my phone before I put them in a blog post.  I had to screenshot them out of Instagram.  You still get the idea.

Join in!  I'd love to see your photos!

XOXOX

NH

Put a Fork in Her!

She's done!

This sweater.  Oh this sweater.

What can I say about this sweater?  I don't know the exact date that I started it, but it was a long, long time ago.  I think it was near two years ago.  That's a long time in knitting years.  Practically 20.

I took a basic sweater construction pattern, calculated a whole lot of math on it (obviously incorrectly, since I did they whole dang thing as a crewneck first, and it came out approximately elephant size, and I tore the whole thing out, but I can't talk about that any more.) found a pretty colorwork pattern that I liked, did some more math, and set on my way.  I bought way too much yarn because I was deathly afraid of running out of the dye lot.  I believe I have 2.5 skeins of the blue, and 1.5 of the white left over.

But I persevered! She traveled with me to hockey tournaments, dance competitions, visits to sissy's house, visits to the in-laws, countless chemo and hospital visits, and plenty of couch time.

And now she's done.  All the way.  Except for blocking.  But I had to wear her to work one day, which probably is the reason for the cursed snowfall we've experienced this spring.  It's all my fault.  Maybe now that she's done, the snow will also be done?  We can only hope.

Pattern: The Incredible Custom Fit Raglan
Yarn: Sweet Delight Baby in Infant Teal and Angel
Needles: size 3

Yeeeeeee-freaking-haaaaaw!

XOXOX

NH