Wow, I am a bad, bad blogger. This blog post is WAY overdue. Sorry! I am going to have to post this very late at night since this is the only time I ever have to get on the internet.
A lot has happened since I last posted. I'll start from the beginning.
First, unfortunately, we lost our dear sweet kitty Jack.
Jack has had problems since day one and is extremely fortunate to have found Jess. I really don't know who else would have put up with him. Don't get me wrong, he was very sweet and a cozy cuddler who would always sit in one of our laps and we loved him to pieces. It's just his bladder and allergy problems got out of control and we finally had to face the fact that he was miserable and probably uncomfortable 99.9 % of the time. We loved him and didn't want him to suffer anymore. We will always cherish the 10 years we got to spend with him. R.I.P. my sweet pain in the ass. We love you.
As promised, here are some photos from our Halloween. The theme this year was Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It blows my mind that some people have never seen this movie. It's one of my favorites!
Here we have my sweet little Legendary Black Beast of Aaaarrrggghhh!
Here is Jesse setting up the Knights of Ni!
Here's a close up of the Knights of Ni!
Even closer...
Ni!
We made sure to bring them a shrubbery.
Here is our Bridge of Death. It was very perilous.
We had to have a Black Knight, of course.
I think the highlight of our Halloween was that Jesse had a running loop of bits from the movie playing for the Knights of Ni and the Black Knight and as a jogger ran by the Black Knight, he said, "Oh, oh, I see! Running away, eh? You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you! I'll bite your legs off!" The jogger was heard laughing as he ran away. Love it :)
Here is our Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog .
Scary, right? Jesse rigged him up so we pushed a button and he jumped up at you.
Here is the bridge keeper.
Bridge of Death again at night.
Our yard wouldn't be complete without a grail...
(Bad, naughty Zoot)
Our Halloween party wouldn't be even half as good if it weren't for these wonderful people.
Not only do they always come up with great costumes every year, Sir Robin and his minstrels (a.k.a. Jesse's brother Tyler and his cousins Drew and Kate) make the best homemade donuts for us all. I love them so much.
Here I am (she's a witch!) and Jess.
We had a blast and hope Sam did too, even though he had no clue what was going on. I think we picked a great first Halloween costume. I wanted something other than a peanut or any of the other overly used infant costumes.
I think I have his (and my) costume(s) picked out for next year already.
Also, I would like to add how amazing my husband is. We were under the impression that this year wouldn't be up to our usual Halloween yard standards since we couldn't spend much money this year and didn't have a whole lot of time, but somehow Jesse pulled it off. And it turned out amazing. Drew and I were pretty skeptical when Jess told us about his Bridge of Death idea, but when he started building it I was just blown away. Not to mention envious of his ingenuity and creativity. I am thoroughly convinced he can do anything. If only he could get a job that utilized these skills...
Thanksgiving was pretty low key, although we had two or three of them and I ended up getting the stomach flu and was only able to eat a small portion of mashed potatoes :(
Christmas was pretty fun, despite the usual hurried-traveling-to-each-house-thing and Sam missing his afternoon nap. He did very well and I am proud of him. I must say, Christmas on my side of the family is definitely more fun with a little one to celebrate with.
Gus even got in the spirit.
Unfortunately we are now a one-income family since, if I were to get a job, I would only be working to pay for a babysitter or daycare and therefore I would rather stay home and raise my son myself. I make a little money here and there through my Etsy shop, but not enough. And Jesse makes just enough for us to keep our house. Usually. Sigh. Needless to say, I was having a very hard time buying Christmas presents since the only things I buy anymore are baby food and gas for my car. And since I don't bring in the money, I feel super guilty buying myself anything anymore.
So, I ended up making a majority of the presents I gave out. It took forever and I was working like a mad woman.
Here's what I made for my sister-in-law.
I used the images from this book.
My Mom asked for potholders since she burned hers. I made her this.
The other side.
And this.
The other side.
I found the pattern for these here.
I made my Aunt a dishcloth and dishtowel.
And potholders.
Whew! I feel very tired but, strangely enough, very satisfied. Handmade gifts are the best :)
I even had time to make a cherry pie for my friend's birthday and a pecan pie and pear pie with gruyere baked into the crust for Christmas (I was channeling my inner Chuck. How dare they cancel Pushing Daisies after only two seasons), with the help of my wonderful husband who kept the little one busy so I could bake, and also wrapped all the presents for me. I don't know what I would do without him.
Now I plan to get down to business and start designing patterns to sell in my shop. I am really trying hard to bring in more money for my family, and really hope to make my little home business a lucrative business. It would be my dream job!
We'll see how that goes with an eight-month old...
I am dreadfully unorganized so that means I might go awhile without blogging or leaving my house. Don't worry, if that happens it just means I am being productive! Or that Sam is keeping my extra busy.
This one is a little blurry, but still cute. He loves his ugly doll.
Times may be tough, tougher than I have ever experienced before, but my babies make it all worth it. Especially when I wake up to things like this.
Oh, and I am excited because my cousin got me this book for Christmas:
Holy crap I want to make EVERYTHING in this book!! And I plan on it, assuming I can find the time (and the yarn). Why do all these books always suggest the most expensive yarn??? And you always need like fifty skeins of it too. How do these people afford it? I'm just hoping I can find yarn in my own stash that will work.
Anyway, I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday and a wonderful (and safe) New Years Eve! I will leave you with our family Christmas card (if only we could have gotten the dog and cat in there).
