TOMORROW

 

This will be so much fun and there will be TONS of great items for gifts (or yourself, we won't tell) .  Hope to see you there!

Our lives

Just wanted to do a little update of what we've been up to lately.  Penny still has way more than her share of personality:

This is how she likes wearing her sunglasses:

Remember this picture?

Well, apparently, she decided all her glasses need to look like that.

She loves reading now even more than ever:

She would just have us read her books all day long if we let her.

She also thinks she's hilarious:

And she has discovered a new love: coloring.

She's really good about coloring on her little notebook and apparently she is a very strong righty- she never uses her left (I, the lefty of the family, was a little bummed).  

Another new love: purses.

This picture kind of freaks me out.  She thinks she's 18 already!

A couple of days ago the 3 of us were just hanging out in our room (yes, we all share a room), doing our own thing.  We looked over at Penny and she was just laying on the floor, playing with whatever was nearby.

It totally brought me back to my childhood where the floor was just as good a place as any to lay and the most unconventional things were the best toys.  Enjoy it while you can, Penny!

Scott is still working for Activision (doing quality assurance for video games), they just finished Black Ops.  And still trying to get in as much play time with this little girl as possible!

Scott and I don't do Black Friday shopping so on Black Friday this year we decided it would be our Welcoming in the Christmas Season Day.  We decorated for Christmas, listened to Christmas music in our jammies and made Christmas treats all day.  Scott named it "Fat Friday."  

Scott was getting out the nativity set and I looked over and saw him telling Penny the Christmas story with it and her listening so well.

It was so cute.  And then they both had to play with them.

(I don't remember the Disney princesses being at the stable)

Penny saw me stirring some dough and wanted to help.

She is a very good helper!

And then she had to have a sample.

Now she thinks anything I am stirring needs to go in her mouth, even if it is funky-looking to me.

Mickey Mouse Beanie Pattern

Recently I made this Mickey Mouse beanie for my nephew:

 I wasn't able to find a pattern online so I had to make up my own.  It turned out well so I decided I would post the pattern.  This beanie was made for a 2-year-old with a 19-inch head circumference.

Here it is:

Beanie:
(Black) Start with slip knot, CH-5, SL ST into first stitch to make a ring.
Rnd1: CH-2, 12 HDC into ring, DON'T join.
Rnd2: 2HDC into each HDC (24 stitches)
Rnd3: *1 HDC into first stitch, 2 HDC into next*  Repeat all the way around.
Rnd4: *1 HDC into next 2 stitches, 2 HDC into next stitch*  Repeat all the way around.
Rnd5: *1 HDC into next 3 stitches, 2 HDC into next stitch*  Repeat all the way around.
Rnd6-13: 1 HDC into each stitch all the way around.
 Rnd14-18: Switch to red, 1 HDC into each stitch all the way around.
Rnd 19: 1 SC into each stitch around, finish off.

Ear flaps:
(Red) Join yarn with slip stitch at appropriate place (Find seam of beanie and fold in half so the seam is in the middle rear.  Each end of the folded beanie will be the middle stitch of each ear flap- count over 6 stitches to find beginning.)
Row1: CH-3, DC in next 11 stitches.
Row2: CH-3, turn.  *DC DEC into next 2 stitches, DC into next stitch*  Repeat, ending with DC DEC
Row3: CH-3, turn.  *DC DEC into next 2 stitches, DC into next stitch*  Repeat, ending with DC DEC
Row4: CH-3, turn.  DC DEC into next 2 stitches, DC into next stitch, DC DEC into next 2 stitches.
Row5: CH-3, turn.  *DC DEC into next 2 stitches*  Repeat once.
 Row6: CH-1, SC into next 3 stitches.  Finish off.

Cut 2 strands each of black, red and white yarn 1 1/2- 2 feet long.  Thread through tip of ear flap and braid together.  Knot and cut at desired length.  Repeat for next ear flap.


Ears:
Start with magic ring, CH-1.
Rnd1: 12 HDC in magic ring, pull tight, join to first HDC, CH-1.
Rnd2: 2 HDC in each stitch (24 HDC), join, CH-1.
Rnd3: 2 HDC in each stitch (48 HDC), join, CH-1.
Finish off (leave a long tail to attach)

Make 4 ears- attach 2 together to make each ear stand up better.

Attach white buttons to red strip in front.  (You may have noticed my buttons are photoshopped on.  I didn't have the buttons for the beanie yet but wanted to show what it would look like.  Obviously they will look better in real life!)

Firsts

Penny has had some fun firsts lately. A very important one:

First time at In-N-Out!!

She LOVED it.

And, first art project!  We did painting with edible paint.

I made the paint out of Skittles.  You just soak the skittles in water for about a minute and it makes a thin, edible paint.

Not really the best material for a masterpiece, but the nice thing was that I didn't care about her getting it all over!

And, I KNEW she would do this:

I didn't care about her ingesting the paint, but I didn't want all the brushes to get destroyed so I took them away.  And then Penny decided she needed to destroy her picture.

And then she decided she was done.

Another fun first that she had today: first milkshake!

We were fortunate enough that Scott had a day off today (because he had to work Saturday and Sunday) so we took advantage of it by going to the beach- because it was 94 degrees at our house!  Literally!  We walked down the Seal Beach pier and had Ruby's for lunch.

Penny had fun chasing the birds around, and she was making friends with all the kids on the sand.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day to spend on the beach and our only regret is that Scott and I didn't bring our swimsuits!