December 31st

The "surprise" pair of fingerless gloves that I posted about a week ago were mailed yesterday. They came out so nice that I almost kept them for myself!


Noro - Silk Garden Scarf



This week has been a week of completion for me in the knitting department. A "Noro - Silk Garden" scarf, the fingerless gloves, a Irish Hiking scarf (almost done) to name a few items. I've almost cleaned out my "in process" knitting stash! I have a "Fable - Baby Alpaca" Scarf to finish, but I may put that one off to the side for mindless TV knitting. (Definition "mindless TV knitting" - There's no pattern to it and you can just knit and knit without even looking at what your doing.)






Irish Hiking Scarf

I do have a beautiful yarn "Elsebeth LaVold - Silky Wool" in a marvelous purple. I'm going to attempt to make a throw that I've been admiring on Brooklyntweed's blog for a while. I'm anxious to get started but know that this is going to be an ongoing project that is going to require a lot of singular concentration. That type of concentration in itself should be a deterrent for me with all the kiddo's, but I'm always looking for ways to make my life more complicated according to some of my friends!

"Hemlock Ring Blanket"




New Year's dinner for tomorrow is started. Black Eyed Pea's are in the pot with the Smoked Ham Hocks and the smell is mouth watering! Kristina is going to make 2 pans of cornbread for me today and then tomorrow I'll have any easy cooking day ahead of me. Our menu for tomorrow will consist of Ham, Black-Eyed Peas, fried Okra, Cornbread, Salad and fresh fruit mix.

I totally forgot to post a picture of Karen with her new mis-matched socks on.

My boys starting out the new year being clean with great hairstyles!

Max's New Shoes!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Our hope is for a wonderful new year for all our friends and family. We love each and every one of you!
Christmas Day started off, early, as usual with the thunder of little feet AND big feet coming from all parts of the house. As for the creatures that in the "Night Before Christmas" poem aren't stirring..... well if I had heard what I heard this morning, I'd have stayed put also! As it was I was up already just enjoying the peaceful morning and waiting for all the excitement.






Olivia's first Christmas playing Santa!








Everyone ready?





Boys and their new/used Gameboy!
Jolie's surprise blanket! She's already using it to curl up in. I'm so glad that I did finish it in time. She so wanted a new blanket to love.









Parker showing off his scarf that his sister, Jessica, made him.



The Croslin group....



Merry Christmas!

Last post for the 24th

I hope my grandbaby's are in bed and asleep. I'm watching the Santa Tracker and Santa is all over the place by them. First, at 11:10 (Central time) he was in Winnipeg. At 11:12 he was in Thundar Bay, Canada at 11:15 he's in Minneapolis, MN.

Santa has to have been there by now...

Sweet Dreams All...

Christmas Eve evening

We love, love, love "A Christmas Story". We have watched this movie more times than I care to admit, today. We'll probably watch it one more time before bed.



Easy dinner of soft scrambled eggs for Kaitlyn.








Time to open the Christmas Eve presents. Everyone always knows what they're getting, they just don't know what the pattern of the year is going to be!

This year found the boys wearing Polar Bear flannels and the girls wearing Pups with Antlers flannels. Very cozy!

Our formal Christmas Eve portrait

Santa is now at the South Sandwich Islands! Getting closer and closer!

My grandbaby's! who live in International Falls, MN. In their Christmas Eve p.j's that their Neinei sent them.

Gearing up!

Well I decided to go ahead and block my latest completion. This scarf is just wonderful. Knit One Crochet Too's "Linus" in Hemlock. I love the feel of this yarn. Just sooo soft and wonderfully warm. After getting it blocked of course it drew a lot of attention and soon I had volunteer's galore wanting to help it dry.
I'm cheating and using a blow dryer to help the process along a bit. Just enough to be able to get it up off the floor by this evening. Here's Parker doing his best wave with the dryer.



Hunter got into the act and quickly was followed by both girls wanting to participate.
I couldn't resist this picture of Jake. He is our very own fabric destroyer. In our house you don't for any reason leave a blanket, towel, afghan, sweater, robe, etc. lying around. Jake will chew a hole in it in seconds. As sweet and docile as he appears, there is a definite mischievousness to him. We love him, thankfully, or else he'd be buried in the back yard! ;-)


Kristina has become our elected sweets maker. Here she is with the cookies that she has made for Santa's arrival tonight.

We've had requests for Rosa's picture to be posted. Someone, I guess, thinks that we've buried her in the backyard!

Awake at last. We temporarily moved her into Hunter's bedroom so that she is closer to David and I. She is fairing quite well, as you can tell from the computer in her lap to the headphones on her head.

Its been quite a while since I posted a fish picture so this is my token aquatic photo. These guys are so interested in all the commotion going on in the house. Everytime we walk by their tank they rush to the front as if to say, "Whassup!"

Boys in the shower! Getting ready for the traditional opening of the Christmas Eve presents. We want everyone clean for their new Christmas Eve p.j.'s. We'll also be on the phone simultaneously with International Falls, MN to hear Elizabeth and Carolyn open their present. What fun!

Christmas Eve

I guess I'll start the day out with updates.

"Rosa" is doing great. Even talking! So our hopes of a quiet Christmas have been dashed. ;-)

Santa is already being tracked by our group. Larger than life graphics on Mom's computer screen. The old man is in Brisbaine, Australia as I type this entry.

Devonia is not going to Iowa but Tennessee this year for the holidays. She started another round of chemo yesterday so I'm anxious to talk to her and see how she is doing.

My mother had her surgery yesterday morning, also. Took a bit longer than expected, but everything went well. She is going home today. I'll give her a call this afternoon.

We managed to get Jolie into see Dr. Tim. She had a run in with a skateboard on Saturday that I didn't notice had knocked her tooth loose amid all the blood from almost biting through her lip. O.k. I'll try to curtail the graphic descriptions. Anyway... We've kept a close watch on the tooth until we got back from Texas and were able to fit in a trip to Tim's office yesterday after "Rosa's" surgery. The tooth is loose, but the root is not broken. We can't tell at this point if there is any damage to the tooth itself that could cause it to die, so we wait. I can tell you her gum swelling is down considerably, the swelling in her lip is almost gone and the tooth has not changed colors. All signs are good.

Lots to do today. We still have preparations to complete. (Mostly cleaning! I can't stand the thought of Santa seeing my disorganized house) Check back often as I'll be posting throughout the day, especially this evening after the kiddo's all open their Christmas Eve present and then you really get some cute pictures of my group.

I've even started another pair of fingerless gloves. Someone who is near and very dear to me I think would like a pair, but I didn't realize just how much. Late Christmas present!

Kaitlyn or Rosa???

Kaitlyn has had a day already. We started our day getting up at 5 to be at the hospital by 6. Her surgery was to start at 7:30. Fortunately for us everyone was on time. Prior to getting to the hospital we discussed what Kaitlyn could expect.

We informed her that anesthesia would make her susceptible to suggestion. So we told her that when she came out of surgery she would respond to the name "Rosa", she would enjoy cleaning the bathrooms after her siblings and she would have an urge to head for the border! So...... when Dr. Galloway showed up and the Anesthesiologist showed up we explained what we had told her. Our physicians, to their credit, confirmed everything we told Kaitlyn.

When Dr. Galloway came out to let us know how the surgery went he started with, "Rosa did just great!" Apparently they shared the information with the operating room staff and everyone was calling her "Rosa".


Rosa waking up!




Rosa is doing great and we expect a full recovery.

Home at last, but lots to see and tell...

Well our trip was cut short due to possible weather complications. So we headed home Sunday in the hopes of not driving at any point on snow covered roads. We were met with success and really quite beautiful driving conditions.

Kaitlyn has done quite a bit of driving this trip in hopes of getting the mandatory 50 hours that is required for her drivers license. She left Colorado with 30 hours and has accumulated about 17 hours on this trip.

Our last visit with Grammie and Papa found the temps dropping and when Papa mentioned a park nearby I decided that since we'd be in the car all the following day that perhaps a stop was in order.
See the cloudy skies? The temps were really dropping at this point and though my kiddo's tend to produce their own weather temps while playing I knew we didn't have much time, as Mom's temp dictates how long they get to play outside!
This is a huge park in Allen, Tx. There are sails placed sporadically through the area. Interesting to see and obviously even when they are at a distance they are fun to play with. Kristina and Kaitlyn attempting a optical illusion. I messed up the shot as I didn't have my glasses on. Sorry girls!














A bit of fun racing down the slide!


We're off! Sunday morning came and I packed everyone up and we were on I-75 by 5:15 Colorado time. A long day ahead of us. We watched movies that Renee and Denise gave the girls and the little ones played with the new toys they received from them. It really helped to pass the long hours in the car. Thank you to Renee and Denise!

I did have Kaitlyn stop along the highway so that I could jump out and "pick cotton" that had blown off the cotton trucks or off the plants themselves. The kiddo's have never touched cotton before and I wanted them to feel the plant and experience it. They were so excited and amazed
to see that it didn't feel like a plant or look like a plant. Then we talked about all the things that they have that ARE cotton.


Home at last and fading fast I took this end of trip picture. I was exhausted and jumped in bed at 8 p.m. I slept until almost 7 a.m. I haven't slept like that in months now.

As I checked through my list of blogs for interesting posts this morning I found Karen's blog to have been filled with a delightful surprise. She posted on a couple of babies who are dear to me. I have never met the family though I almost feel like I know them through Karen. These little ones were born on my Dad's birthday and are having a bit of a rough start as they were born very prematurely. Check out the blog for pictures and a update. Thanks Karen! for the great surprise.

Also Bonnie (my daughter) posted on a delightful way to pass the time if your stuck in the house! Check it out!

Jessica, (my first baby girl), is posting on the terrible weather for Oregon and people's inability to navigate it. Sounds all to familiar.

p.s. Skies look like snow today!

A Day...

Devonia has many interesting items in her house and all of which are apparently kid approved................................ now! From Massaging chairs to a adjustable bed and a new recliner they have all been kid tested by the best! Below you'll find Parker and Jolie's first "ride" in the massage chair.





Once the chair rides were over it was time to get everyone out of the house for some fun in the sun! The last couple of days were not great weather and with another front headed this way it became imperative that these children of mine "Get Out"-side!
















Give a kid or a group of kids a box and the world becomes they're chocolate box. What fun is to be had with a large box, front yard and great weather....



After running a couple of errands we headed over to one of the local parks where Parker immediately banged his ear on something and then having baptised the playground with Croslin pain everyone had a great time playing for a while. Kaitlyn decided that since everyone was leaving and the house would be quiet she would stay at Devonia's and have some quiet time (ie: without brothers and sisters time and cell phone easily accessible)
Time to crash. Believe it or not it is possible to fit 8 people into 2 bedrooms and 1500 sq. ft.
Kristina on the couch in the family room.

Kaitlyn on the couch in the kitchen.

Jolie, Hunter and Parker slept with me.

Olivia slept with Devonia in the master bedroom.

Texas???

Well this week started off cold in Colorado with a wonderfully warm temp of -3*! I dropped the kids off at school on Monday with the temp being -1*. The picture is of my cold cup of coffee that actually produced steam when I took it out to let the dogs out. I was trying to get a pic of the steam rising out of it, but it didn't show up. Oh well...
Wow! I actually finished the socks in time and David mailed them for me. Yes, they are totally different patterns. I really like the idea and will probably make myself some. This picture really is a good picture of the color.
Trip begun we left the house at about 5:30 Wednesday morning. Here we've reach Raton Pass and we're headed down into Raton, NM.
Kristina snapped this picture coming out of the pass. I love the shadow and light of the early morning.
After getting breakfast it was time to let Kaitlyn drive. She did great and no one feared for their life..... until we reached Dalhart, Texas.
Blurry picture, I know. We were on the look out for the camel herd and I wasn't quite ready when we came up on it. If you click on the picture it will pull it up on the entire screen and then you can see the camels... albeit a bit blurry.
We reached Grammie and Papa's at about 8 p.m. through some of the worst fog I've seen in awhile. Thursday morning found 4 reindeer sitting at the breakfast bar eating oatmeal and cereal!
OH! Those aren't reindeer! Its Parker, Olivia, Hunter and Jolie!



Grammie