The grand finale!

This post is a little tardy...it took me a while to recover.  The last day of birthday celebrations was on Sunday.  We spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa's...probably the most relaxing of all the birthday festivities.  The boys opened up the last of their birthday gifts, from the family.  It seems the overwhelming favorite this year was anything Star Wars...and anything Star Wars with a light saber...and anything Playmobil came in as a close second.  Here they are anxiously waiting to open gifts.

Yesterday they were playing outside wearing one of the gifts they received on Sunday, knight cape and helmet.

According to the boys, they were showing their mean faces.

And now that the birthday festivities are over and done with, I can get back to knitting.  With all the season finales on t.v. right now, I have almost finished my log cabin blanket!  I'm hoping to have pics up over the weekend.

Day 3: Build-a-Bear

Day 3 of birthday festivities consisted of cupcakes in the mall food court followed by a Build-a-Bear party.  This year's birthday party was on a much smaller scale versus previous years.  We decided to invite just a few of the boys' schoolmates.  This was probably the most fun the boys have ever had at a birthday party.  It was really neat to see the kids interacting with each other, to see the excitement in their faces and eyes, the anticipation of each of them as they viewed each others' bear.  They were delighted!  Yes...it can get pricey.  But the joy that a child gets from making every decision to bring his/her bear to life is well worth it!  The store did a really great job with the kids and party, too.  I didn't get a picture of them with their final versions but here they are after the stuffing was added.  (BaB calls all of the animals bears.)

Why yes, that blossom covered bunny does look familiar.  Here...

Day 2: Downtown Aquarium - Denver

Downtown Aquarium - Denver: We were treated to a day at the aquarium.  The boys had a great time.  I just love this place.  It's definitely worth the money if you've got the time.  We ran into some friends while we were there which made the experience even more fun for the boys.  Then...drama ensued!  At the end of the tour, there's a pool for viewing, petting, and feeding the sting rays.  My father-in-law was bit by one of the sting rays and bleeding pretty good!  He was escorted down to first-aid and his wound attended to by a medic.  Talk about excitement!  Word to the wise (aka - tip)...keep your hand against the wall when feeding the sting rays.  This prevents the sting ray from being able to wrap their body/mouth around your hand to get a better grip. A ton of pics and video on flickr!

Let the festivities begin!

Day 1...typically marked by their actual birthday or school birthday party...depending on which comes first.  And depending on which day of the week their birthday falls, it could go on for almost a week.  I feel like it will this year, though it's only day one.  So the next few blogs will probably be full of birthday festivities.  Today, their actual birthday, started with a birthday party at school.  Then presents at home tonight, then almost two hours of assembling Playmobil, then dinner, then bed.  I'm tired...and it's only day one.  Along with a lot of birthday blogging, you're also going to get a lot of pictures of the boys.  (Can you blame me?)  :-)

Eve

Today is the eve of Ronan and Seamus's five year birthday.

Going to bed as four year olds for the last time.

Brothers?

Unequivocally.

Seamus and Ronan - their new haircuts make them look so much alike!

Today...

You've seen this picture, or I should say, a picture of this spot many times this "Spring".  The forecast for Tuesday night, into Wednesday, is up to two feet of snow.  Seriously?  It's almost the middle of May!

Look...the trees are starting to bloom...the grass is green.  This is really going to wreak havoc on all of our plants! If this snow does happen, that will be my next post! 

Catch up...

Time for a little catch up.  It seems that I've been lax in blogging since Malabrigo March, but really, it was just that I had a lot more to share during that month.  So, you may see a few posts from me today.

First and foremost, I have finally finished my Gansey Girl socks by Debbie O'Neill!  I've had these on the needles since December.  This was a test knit for the designer.  Lucky for me both socks were the same so I only needed to test the pattern for the first sock.  These were knit ShibuiKnits Sock, Wasabi colorway.  I don't know why these took me so long to finish...it's not like I didn't enjoy knitting them...second sock syndrome.  In fact, I finished the leg and foot of the second sock in less than 2 days.  I love this pattern but am really disappointed with how the yarn striped and pooled.  I totally expected this colorway to be semisolid but looking at Ravelry reviews, it seems to be the norm. Oh - and though the dye lots were the same, you can see that one sock is lighter than the other.

Now my next FO was my first attempt at an all crochet project.  For the past two years I have knit my mother-in-law slippers for her birthday.  I didn't this year.  Not because she doesn't appreciate them...but quite the opposite.  She wears the out so quickly!  And it really disappointed me that the slippers that I've knit her have not held up well.  And with recent blow outs on my hand knit socks, I've become a bit disenchanted with hand knit foot wear.  (Note: I started the socks above before the aforementioned blow outs.)  What to do?  When I was browsing slipper patterns, I saw several crochet patterns that I really liked...but alas, I did not know how to crochet.  But the idea of crocheted slippers really excited me!  My rationale was that crocheted slippers would be thicker than knitted slippers and therefore last longer (?).  We'll see.  I found a pattern that consisted of single and double crochet stitches, only, and decided to give it go.  SO!  My first (real) crochet attempt, Mary Jane Slippers by Lisa Gutierrez knit in Shelridge Farm - Soft Touch W4, Wedgewood and Pink Lemonade colorways.  Granted they aren't exactly symmetrical but I think they turned out pretty cute, nonetheless.  These were gifted for Mother's Day and she loved them!

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's day among the Healy clan.

Top: kelly (sil), shannon (sil), me, cathy (sil)

Bottom:  kelly, shannon, Grandma (mil), cathy, me

Spring!!!

It's finally spring!  And it's finally feeling like it...lot's of rain and sunshine.   I love it!  I've had my eye on this shrug for a while but was waiting for my local yarn store to get the right color of Malabrigo Chunky in stock.  Finally!  It came in last week.  But once I got it home, I realized it was Worsted instead of Chunky.  Ugh!  I was dying to start this shrug...what was I going to do?    :-)   I broke down and decided to knit it in Malabrigo Twist.  I know I've said this (twice) before, but I LOVE this yarn!   It's so soft and I love the drape of everything I've knit with it.  Here it is, Quick Shawl-Collared Shrug by SweaterBabe. 

For the next one I knit, I will do a provisional cast on to get rid of the seam in the back.  It doesn't really bother me but I'd rather pick out the provisional cast on than pick up stitches and make sure the pattern lines up correctly.  That's the only thing I would change about this pattern.  I really enjoyed knitting it and I absolutely LOVE the results.  The tank top I'm wearing under this shrug I purchased three years ago and have never worn because I just wasn't comfortable with all that skin showing.  But now, this shrug has changed all that.  Don't the two just look so cute together?  :-)  The ribbed stitch pattern makes the resulting fabric very stretchy so it's very comfortable to wear.  I don't understand why this pattern hasn't been knit by more people on Ravelry.  This is my first shrug and I am now in love with them!