Christmas, Christmas Time is Here...

I love Christmas. I love the lights, the songs, the smells, the festive feeling in the air. I even love the crowded parking lots and hustle and bustle of stores, and the fact that we're going to be so busy for the entire month of December that we probably really won't have time to breathe. I love the tradition we started as a family a few years ago - we go to the early church service on Christmas Eve, then we go out to a nice restaurant for dinner (the one time of the year we even attempt to do a dress-up dinner out with the kids!)

Most of all, I really love watching my kids on Christmas morning. I remember the wonderment and magic of Christmas morning when I was a kid, and Greg and I are doing our best to recreate it for Owen and Mariana. My dad was great at setting the scene for Christmas morning - he used to make us wait at the top of the stairs while he went down to 'Make sure Santa came'. Really, he was turning on the lights on the tree and playing carols on the stereo, so everything would look perfect when we came down. My brother and I were in high school and college and we'd be sitting at the top of the stairs like two little kids, anxiously awaiting permission to come down :) This is definitely something I'm passing on to my kids. I want their memories of Christmas morning to be as warm and fuzzy and magical as mine.

Just to put you in the mood, I'll share a few of the pictures we had taken of Owen and Mariana at Kiddie Kandids earlier this week. They turned out so cute, and I just don't believe how big my kids are getting. Aren't I supposed to have two little babies still?

We're leaving early tomorrow morning for a week in sunny Florida! We're going to stay with Greg's dad and his wife, and do an early Christmas with the kids, plus we get to hang out with Jess, Dylan and Morgan while we're there (yay!!) Then we have Hart and Melissa's Latkapalooza the day after we get back, Owen's birthday party, Heather and Chris's Open House and Heather's cookie exchange the following weekend, then its pretty much Christmas! Did I mention how much I love this time of year?

Baby blanket

Greg's cousin Jason and his wife Diane are expecting their first baby, a boy, to arrive this month. I just finished a feather & fan baby blanket for them, its ready to go in the mail as soon as hear that Baby Boy P**** has made his debut.

I used Laines du Nord Baby Cover in a blue/white variegated colorway, which works really well with the lace pattern, I think. The yarn is great - 100% wool, so its warm, but its also soft and squishy. I'm going to miss knitting this blanket, because I loved cuddling up with it :)

In other news, we're all sick. Runny noses, coughing, sore throats, the whole 9 yards. All four of us. And we're out of tissues and no one has the energy to go get more, so we're carrying around rolls of toilet paper. Classy.

Sinuously Curved Lace Scarf - done :)

I've been participating in the International Scarf Exchange for the past few rounds. For you non-knitting readers, the ISE is a really cool exchange involving about 200 knitters from all around the world, you make a scarf (can be handknit, crochet, or hand woven) for your secret pal, while another secret pal is making one for you. Last exchange, I sent a scarf to Switzerland and received one from Scotland, very cool. This time, the pal I am knitting for is in the US, but still pretty far away.

I finished the scarf for my pal the other night. I made a Sinuously Curved Lace Scarf from SweaterBabe.com. It was a fun knit, the lace wasn't too difficult, the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran was lovely to knit with, and I think it looks terrific :) I will definitely make this pattern again! I will change the lace repeats a bit next time, though - the first 5 rows of the repeat are just a stockinette section, which looks good on the ends, but not in the middle of the scarf. I didn't notice that until I was too far into the scarf to frog back. So its not horrible, but I notice it.

Sorry about the crappy quality of the pics. Everyone knows that photography is not my art :) Plus, it was dark and rainy yesterday, so the lighting is bad. The actual color is a really pretty dusty rose.

Book Review: The Handmaid's Tale

My book club discussed The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood for October. I was so disappointed in this book, I thought it had potential to be great, but it really fell short.

It is the story of Offred (pronounced Of Fred), a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, a fictional, futuristic United States taken over by extreme right-wing Christians. In a world of declining birthrates, handmaids are assigned to top-ranking officials for procreation purposes. Women are strictly controlled in Gileadian society – they must dress according to their class, no social contact with men, they cannot own property, control money, hold jobs, or even read.

The book is billed as a ‘feminist 1984’ and it definitely had a 1984-knockoff feel to it. Instead of Big Brother, the ‘Eyes’ watch everyone, anyone defying the government is tortured and/or killed, the news is full of lies, the society is constantly at war, etc. From a literary standpoint, it was nowhere close to 1984, Atwood’s writing is pompous and self-indulgent and her character development is sorely lacking. From a feminist viewpoint (not that I really claim to be one), it’s a sad commentary on women in today’s society. First, that we would let ourselves be degraded to that point, and second that we would then be pleased with things as trite as black market fashion magazines and sparkly dresses.

One of the ladies in my book club suggested that we weren’t supposed to ‘like’ the story. I get that, I don’t think Atwood wanted to write an enjoyable story. But it should have left an impact on me, and it really didn’t. I didn’t care what happened to any of the characters, I didn’t care what happened to the society, I just didn’t care.

Using Greg’s rating system, I’ll say 2 Pultos out of 5. I really wish it had been better.

I've been tagged :)

I've been tagged by Alicia (bajanknit)

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So let’s see what I can come up with…

1. I can’t stand when the sleeve cuffs on people’s T-shirts are flipped up. I have to turn them back down. I even fight the urge to go up to complete strangers out in public and ‘fix’ their shirts. Greg flips his up just to annoy me.

2. I am a very, very messy person by nature. I try very hard to combat it, but its hard.

3. I can’t draw. At all. My dad is a pretty good artist, but apparently he didn’t feel it was necessary to pass this cool talent on to me.

4. I also can’t sing. I’m completely tone-deaf. Although, everyone else in my family is also, so I guess I can’t really blame anyone for that.

5. I am horrible at keeping in touch with people. So all of my friends that I don’t write to or don’t call – I still love you!

6. My favorite New Kid was Joey. And anyone who was a pre-teen in the late ‘80s knows exactly what that means, and you had your own favorite New Kid too.

7. If I could look like any celebrity, it would be Jennifer Garner. But I wouldn’t marry Ben Affleck, though, I think Matt Damon is much hotter.

Ok, there’s my 7. Now, who to tag next…
Greg, Heather (LadyBugMom), Hart, Shannon, Laura (WestLakeWife), Kathy (MsAnnOMalley), Katie (Kaydee)

Sometimes I think they might actually like each other...

Its rare. But every once in a while, my kids don't fight with one another!

Super Mom!

Some days I just have good days. I can't explain it (trust me, if I could, I'd replicate it every day!) but some days everything just falls into place for me. Today is such a day. Greg helped me give the kids a bath before he left for work (we were out late the past two nights, and we have our church group tonight, so they really needed baths), I got them both dressed and they both ate good breakfasts. I vacuumed the whole house, took a shower, stripped and remade all the beds, started washing sheets, ran the dishwasher and did a quick food shopping trip. Back home, played for a bit, both kids ate good lunches, then Mariana went down for a nap. Owen helped me straighten up the living room and we played CandyLand. I lost, but barely. I was *this* close to end, but drew the gumdrop card and had to go all the way back. He checked toys he wanted from Santa Claus out of the Toys R Us catalog while I cleaned the kitchen. Now Mariana is awake, my house is clean and picked up, laundry is going, kids are happy and well fed, and we even got some playing time in. I think we'll take a walk soon :)

Ok, ok, so I didn't get to the gym. I never claimed to be perfect!!

On a totally unrelated topic, I felt this was important enough to share. This is actually one of my biggest pet peeves - I am so picky about what Mariana wears, and I'm sure its only going to get worse as she gets older.

Pumpkins!

We went to the Second Annual Callahan Pumpkin Carving Party yesterday :) We had fun, and our three pumpkins turned out pretty good. Normally, I prefer the traditional jack o'lantern face on pumpkins, but Owen picked out these designs. I actually think they turned out pretty good!!

Two pictures, in the light and in the dark:

I love this woman!

Nothing like an almost 4 month break from blogging :) Hopefully I'll get back into it.

I have to share this story. This woman is my new hero! Greg said "This is so going to be you in about 30 years, I'll have to come bail you out of jail..." How great is that?

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

This past Friday, June 22, was our 5 year anniversary. In some ways its hard to believe that we've been married for 5 years, and in other ways it seems like its been so much longer. :) Not in a bad way, I just find it hard to remember my life before Greg. But, its been a great 5 years. We've done a lot - bought our first house, had 2 kids, totally life-changing experiences.

In honor of our anniversary (and part Mother's Day), Greg took me to New York City to see Wicked on Broadway. We left the kiddos with my parents, drove up the NJ Turnpike and took a ferry into the city, and spent the day in NY. The show was good - the music wasn't anything to write home about, but the show was funny and very well cast. We ate dinner - a very good dinner, and I didn't have to cut anyone else's food but my own - but I don't remember the restaurant. We got home (well, back to my parents' house) pretty late, and went to sleep pretty much right away.

On Sunday, we went on a Duck tour of Philadelphia with my parents. It sounds cheesy, but it was actually a lot of fun. The driver was goofy enough to be funny, but not so goofy that it was annoying. Owen really liked the going-in-the-water part, and Mariana liked dancing to the songs they played. All in all, a fun thing to do with out of town guest, or kids.

On the down side, I left my book for my book club this month at my parents house. We're reading Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky, and I was just about halfway through it. I'm pretty upset that I won't get to finish it before our meeting Tuesday night, but I'll write a small recap when I do finish it.

That's all for now, talk to you all later!! Have a great day :)

Friday Night

Friday started out innocently enough. Normal day - went walking with Melissa and Sarah, had some lunch, Mariana took a nap, ran to the post office, etc. Greg went out in DC after work with Cal, Matt and Brad, so I called Martha to see if she had dinner plans. She didn't, so we picked up some sandwiches from Produce Galore and had a picnic at Lake Elkhorn with the kiddos and the dog, and walked around the lake after we ate.

When we got home, I put the kids to bed, which took forever because Mariana is trying out a new skill - falling asleep in her crib instead of in my arms. She still needs me to stand there, though, so it takes a while. Once they were both asleep, I cleaned up downstairs, decided I was too tired to knit, so I crawled into bed to read for a while. I turned out the light around 11pm.

I woke up at 1am, because my cell phone was ringing. My heart dropped - I realized right away that Greg wasn't home yet, so a ringing phone at 1am could only mean bad news. I was right. It was Greg on the phone, he said he was driving Matt home from the Metro station, and he had gotten hit on the DC Beltway at full speed. He said they were both OK, but his car wasn't drivable and I had to come pick him up.

I loaded 2 sleeping kids into the truck and drove about 20 minutes south to where they were, shaking and crying the entire way. I found them without a problem - a Maryland State Trooper was there, setting up flares around the two cars. Greg and Matt were both fine, a bit shaken and sore, but otherwise unhurt. There was traffic on the Beltway due to construction, so Greg slowed down to about 25 mph. The girl behind him didn't slow down, and hit them going about 70 mph. Greg's car turned to the side after impact, and she hit them again in the rear quarter panel on the passenger side. I'll let him give more details in his blog, but that's basically what happened.

Now we just have to wait until Monday to do all the insurance stuff - we need to go take pictures of the damage to his car, see if the insurance company will total it or fix it, get a rental car, and take Greg to the doctor. He's fine, but he's complaining that his neck is sore, so its probably not a bad idea to get things checked out.

So that was our Friday night. I just thank God that Greg and Matt are unhurt, after seeing what his car looked like, that's really nothing short of a miracle. This could have been so much worse.

I should have posted this yesterday, but I really didn't feel like typing it all out yesterday. All I wanted to do yesterday was hug my husband. I'll do a Father's Day inspired post tonight, after we get home from dinner at my parents' house. Have a good day, everyone!

Here I am!!

This post is really unnecessary, since I'm assuming that most people reading this blog at this point know me already, but an introductory post seems like a good place to start.

So, me: My name is Robyn, I'm married to Greg, and Momma to Owen and Mariana. Owen is 3.5 and Mariana just turned 1. We also have a Jack Russell Terrier named Maynard, who is really in denial about the fact that he's a dog. I'm a stay at home mom (SAHM) and Greg is an engineer.

Other than playing with my kids, my hobbies are reading and knitting. I'm in a book club, so I'll write a bit about that, and I'll post pictures of knitting projects too. Of course, I'll talk about the kids quite a bit, since they're the biggest part of my life. And Greg will probably get a mention every once in a while too :)

In closing, I'll leave you with a picture of my family, from a camping trip this past weekend. No picture of me yet, I'll show you one when I see one I like :)