Monsters Munchkin Monday

This past Friday I took the littles to go see Monsters vs. Aliens



It was really cute! I highly recommend it to anyone with kids, or who can use someone elses kids as an excuse to see little kid movies...I love little kid movies, and its a good thing I'm a nanny because there are a lot of great kids movies lately. This movie had a lot of good humor for the kids, and the adults too, I may have laughed more than any of the kids in the theater... oh well...at least I was enjoying myself :)

So basically... it was a good movie, it had great animation, the expressions and details were amazing (as they are in all dreamworks/pixar movies), the plot was cute and easy to follow, nothing really scary happened so it was good for the little guys too... all in all I think its a winner.

Next on the list of Kid Movies to see is Up :)

Other than that.. I woke up Saturday morning, and I was sick...booo. I'm still getting over the last little bit of it, and of course I'm still working..so today we are taking it easy--here's hoping for easy kids today, and hoping to get better by the end of the day too :)

Happy Munchkin Monday..Have a great day!

Taste Test....

So, Little Ann really likes steak when her parents make it... but not when I've tried to make it... hmm.
Anyway, I thought I'd make meatloaf and instead of having it in a loaf, putting it into cup cakes... and calling it Steak Cupcakes (in an effort to get them to try it).

I served them with french fries and peas, and told them that if they wanted dessert later they had to try two bites...

that is the general rule for them... at least while I'm in charge. So they both tried two teeny tiny little bitty nibbles, and decided they didn't like them.... Little Ann ate French Fries, Peas, and Rice Crispies for dinner, and Little Dan had Peas, Yogurt, Apple, and Peanut Butter.

At least they tried! On the menu this week is all stuff that I know they like: Pork chops, mashed potatoes, and peas; Roasted Chicken with Apples; Homemade Chicken Fingers, with Green Beans and Rice Pilaf; Friday is a free night where they can choose something frozen for me to make....and last night we had Pasta, Apple, and Garlic Bread...pretty good week of dinners.

Now I'm off to the grocery store so we will have all the right ingredients!

Patriotic Manicure

So this past weekend I had the house to myself because The Littles went with G & S to Washington DC. This was a birthday trip for Little Ann, she has been learning about the capitol this year in school, and for her birthday in Feb. she wanted to go.... they opted to wait until the weather was a little warmer before making the trip.

Also for miss A's Birthday, I gave her a gift certificate to get a manicure and pedicure... so last weekend, we had a girls afternoon, of lunch, mani's, and Pedi's... oh my!

It was really fun to hang out just the two of us! Paying homage to our country, and wanting to look festive for their trip, she did her nails in red, white and blue... and I did mine in a dark purple to match the outline of my foot tattoo. All in all it was a great girls day... and having the house to myself all weekend long, was extremely wonderful and relaxing boring and lonely.



Happy Munchkin Monday :)

Drumroll Please......

I finished my Cardigan!! My big gray cardigan... the one for me..... all the ends are sewn in, and the buttons sewn on.......and and and and.....yay!





Now that I have finished my first ever sweater, I feel like I can knit anything! lol, and I have a list of projects to finish but on that list is another sweater to be knit for someone else, because they think I did such a good job on mine that they want one too! Wow! What a great sense of accomplishment I have now :)

lol...Happy knitting :)

A New Project to Work on

A little baby top down cardi!

So sweet:



I started working on this one when I was home, just so that I could have something small to carry around in my purse. I have about 15 rows of body left to go, and then sleeves!
I am making it for a woman I babysit for on the side, and I was actually working on it at their house last night.. When Mrs. A came home she was gushing about how darling it is.. so I have a good feeling that she will love it and she may even actually use it! She is Due June 18 so I have plenty of time to get it finished, though I have a feeling that it won't take that long!

My Laundry Hamper Sprouted Legs!

And started wandering aimlessly around the living room:



(sorry its sideways..I don't know how to change that..)

I love this little guy, and his adorable giggle!

Happy Munchkin Monday :)

Sisterhood Award

I got an award a while back from my madre and never posted about it:
Here it goes...



Now, the rules of this award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
I don't know that I have 10... but here are a few that I read and love, that have most likely already seen the award:
Bora Bora...So glad that you have a blog now too!
Ani....a funky fun gal that I met through my knitting group.
Not so Cynical Knitter...Now Knitting in an urban zoo... a blog friend that I found through a swap over a year ago.
Channon...I love all of your wonderful comments, and our great little email chats throughout the day... I even look forward to them now!
Nichole & her lapdog creations... she is such a creative gal, and a wonderful blog-friend, full of good tips, reviews, and other fun stuff
Ok well I can only get up to 5... but they are 5 worthy recipients!

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award.

Go Check it Out!

I finally made enough cards to get posted in an Etsy shop. (They don't have a minimum, I just didn't want to only have one or two items up at a time.)

Anyhow, here is the link to my shop, Krystle's Creations, I am selling all kinds of different cards that I have made. Some for St. Patty's day, and I will make some for Easter (the next holiday on the calendar) and get those up soon too, along with a variety of other cards. I hope you enjoy browsing around my shop, and a purchase wouldn't hurt either! ;)

Here are some of the cards:

Fabulous and Finished!

Krykit's new home! This is the sleeve of a hot pink sweater, that was felted, cut off and then turned into this. Does that count as a FO? I guess the only thing I technically did was buy the sweater, felt it, and pick out the really fun button... The Queen did all the sewing...thanks mama.

Happy Friday :)

Happy Birthday Pops!

Today is my dad's birthday! I would tell you how old, but for some reason I think i might get into trouble if I do. I think my parents are young but whatever...

Anyhow.. I did get to see my daddio this past weekend while I was home. And now he is older and wiser...or something like that.



Happy Birthday Dad!

Dogs on Thursday

So..Happy Dogs on, and here are some adorable puppy pictures:






These are all just random cute dogs that I found about the town, and couldn't resist the photo ops. Go love on your neighbors dogs! (and your own of course!!)

Plane Progress

One sleeve down....


One to go!

Happy knitting :)

I spend too much time with munchkins

This Monday instead of focusing on the kids, I will show you the playful, silly side that has added to who I am because I spend too much time with them!



I try on hats everywhere I go! I love them, they can look silly, or overdone, or whatever. Here I am trying on ears... obviously to look silly. And not only do I do ridiculously childish things in public because of those kids, but I strongly encourage those around me to do them too:



Then when I am around food... I make whatever I'm eating into smiles... like orange smiles, or you can do the same with apples... if you have other fruit you could make a whole smiley face. Here I've made a mustache, and a smile...toast crust can be very versatile!




Happy Munchkin Monday!

Any time here is good time here!

Here being Seattle visiting with my family and a few good friends.

This is the gorgeous sunset in NYC that I drove far enough away from to get a great picture of on my way to the airport.
I arrived Late Wednesday night, got dropped off at my parents house, and saw them when I woke up Thursday morning.
Thursday morning I woke up, went with Mr. Jay to pick up a car for the weekend, to sort of test drive it to see if it could be my new baby... turns out, I don't love it, and unfortunately I look for love in vehicles.
Later I brought my mom lunch at the office and we hung out for a good portion of the afternoon.
Thursday night A group of us went out to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (if you have one in your neck of the woods, you should try it because it is quite delicious).

Friday I woke up, and hung out with my mom until it was time to leave to go buy her a new sewing machine... she was very excited! Then we ran around shopping at the craft store, and buying some new jeans, and making our way to the yarn store.
We sat at the yarn store for quite a while knitting away, and having tea! I had my mom help me pick out the buttons for my cardigan, and buttons for the cardigan that will be made for the sweet baby that I will eventually babysit (not G & S's bundle of joy but another baby to be), and a button for a case that I am making for Krykit (the kindle). That was a blast to hang out and knit with my mama, I love doing fun things like this together with her, and being across the country limits these activities. We have to call each other and pretend :)

Later I went and got pedicures with my two besties, and followed that up with some shopping, dinner, and a drink before I was entirely too exhausted to keep my eyes open and went home. (after all my body is set 3 hours later right now!)

Saturday, I woke up, had coffee with my grandpa, a little tradition of ours, that before I moved was something that followed swinging our golf clubs, but sense I've been gone we just do the coffee when I come home. After that, I was home for a minute, then out again with bora bora. We had lunch, and then continued the previous days shopping.
Later I asked my mom and mr. J if we could hold game night. So we ordered some pizzas, got some snacks, and played games with the same few good friends and family that I came here to see.

Today, I have planned to go out to breakfast with my dad and sister, as well as some good family friends, then to go check out some new glasses with my sister, and later I have a surprise activity planned for mr. J and I.

Sorry this post is soo wordy, I haven't put all of the pictures on my computer yet, but will soon, and then you can see.
Hope your enjoying your weekend too!!

6 dedicated knitting hours!

Tonight I am boarding a plane to visit my home town of Seattle and to hug my family & friends :)



With me I will be carrying my Cardigan, and knitting up those sleeves! These are some shots of the Front and back of it as a vest.... don't worry I am adding the sleeves, it will just be a while. I'm sure the long flight will make a nice dent in the progress :)




Happy Knitting everyone... and if I haven't posted in a few days, I blame it on being busy visiting with everyone back home :)

Tasty!

Another new addition to the "The Littles will Eat it" list:



Chicken Parmesan, served with Green Beans. Both thought it was simply delicious! G & S even wanted to try some... though the baby was in the mood for something else so they had something different :)


I must admit, I'm loving cooking almost every night, and experimenting with things to see what the kids will eat. Its fun! And makes it easier for me to plan a menu when I have more choices for dinners.

Volcano

Well as it turns out we have been getting snow in March! Ugh... that's all I have to say.
And Little Ann had no school as a result, so here is one activity we decided to do. Build a volcano!! So fun! Little Dan was practically exploding just like the volcano, simply out of excitement!

Here it is:

I loved how they decorated it! Funny kids!

After the big eruption, we decided to make hot chocolate and sit by the windows and talk about the snow. We decided that its mostly a good thing with a few negatives. This was the bulk of our day, and what a fun indoor activity :)

Happy Munchkin Monday!

OK OK!!!

Here are the contents of my bags.

At shop # 1: I purchased yarn and a pattern to make a baby cardigan and hat for G and another woman I babysit for whom is also prego. This is a top down Cardi that has instructions for a boy and girl version. It is adorable and the yarn is a yellow Malabrigo.


The next stop was webs! First I will show you all what you are dying to see......the free goodies that we were so kindly granted with. A skein of Charcoal colored Wool made by Valley Yarns; 2 patterns that said yarn can be used for, one for a shrug, and one for leg warmers; 2 travel bottles of wool wash, one eucalyptus scented and one lavender scented; and a Webs tape measure.

Here is what I ended up purchasing from Webs. 1 pattern book: Nature, by Martin Storey, using Bamboo Soft and Luxury cotton DK. I immediately fell in love with several patterns in the book and decided why not buy the yarn to make something. So I purchased 15 balls of a lovely lavender Bamboo Soft which will turn into the beautiful "Herbage" button up sweater. Little Ann even commented "ooh! I'd like something out of that nice yarn!", to which I replied, "Too bad I'm making something for myself with it!" I know I'm such a wonderfully kind nanny. Though, for the record I did offer to let her pick something out of my stash that she liked so I could whip her up a scarf or something.


After Webs I bought some beads and a special needle at the bead store across the way. I believe it was called America's beads or something along those lines. Anyhow I purchased some pale and shimmery red-violet beads to add onto a shawl or scarf...for the yarn I figured I would be able to find something in my stash that it would work for. And I unfortunately don't have a picture to share, but I will post one in 7 years when I actually start working on this project!

So it looks like I've got 4 projects in line after I'm finished with my current cardigan...I better get to knitting...well maybe sleep first, knitting later.