SAHM Status!

Ok, ok, I'm just going to go ahead and admit it - I am NOT good at keeping up with my blog.  It's been over 5 months since my last post... so now I'm back, yet again trying to be better & follow through on my goal.

I mean, the failure to blog is certainly not due to a lack of happenings in my life!  In the time since I last wrote, in addition to the many activities of our daily life, my older son finished kindergarten and my younger son gave up naps... we went on our annual Family Vacation... we switched parishes... and, most importantly, I became a Stay-at-Home Mom!

Most of those happenings had blog-worthy crafts associated with them, but... I just never got a chance to do it!  My days at work were stressful & turbulent, and my time at home was end-of-school-year busy!  I'm hoping I'll have more time available to create & to post, now that I'm home full time!

For now, I just wanted to share about my new SAHM status.  I have wanted to be an at-home mom for as long as I can remember... it was always what I envisioned when I was younger (probably because I had an amazing mom who was home with us), and from the moment my first child was born almost 7 years ago, I've prayed daily for a way to make it happen.  Seriously, I cried EVERY DAY that I had to leave my babies at day care & go to my job (despite the fact that their day care center was AMAZING!), and my wonderful hubby & I were working our tushies off to get to the place where we could afford it.

News Flash: we cannot afford it.  But, as we all know, God doesn't work according to our plans; He answers prayers in His own time, and often in unexpected ways... in this case, an unexpected & SCARY way: on May 7, I was let go from my job.  Due to restructuring of the office in the wake of a merger, my position was eliminated, and therefore I was terminated.  It was terrifying at first, and I was hurt, angry, sad... but after taking some time to process it, I came to recognize it for the blessing it truly was - my work environment was getting more & more stressful, and my new boss was almost emotionally abusive, so my anxiety was not going to handle it much longer... but, honestly, would I ever have had the courage to quit, even once we decided it was time?  I doubt it!  God gave me the kick in the butt I needed ;)

Our plan was to have our finances healthier enough for me to quit in October, so being pushed into it 5 months earlier has been a challenge.  My amazing, supportive, hardworking hubby is picking up every minute of overtime he can find, and I found a job taking reservations for a tour company in Gettysburg, working on a cell phone from home (or aldi, or the pool, or my van...), but our budget is TIGHT!  We've cut out extras, slimmed down our grocery shopping, and I've started getting creative with my household practices (hello, clothesline!)... and I can tell you, without a single shred of doubt, that it is WORTH IT!  I have never been happier than I am as a SAHM, and I'm so looking forward to being able to volunteer in my son's classroom, chaperone field trips, and tackle all the household projects I've never had time for.

God is good, y'all, all the time!

Happy Birthday, Momma!

Today is my mother's 61st birthday - talk about a day to celebrate!  I know everyone says their mother is the best in the world, but I gotta tell ya, they're all wrong... my mom is the BEST, hands-down, no questions asked!  And I have a feeling if you asked my friends from growing up, my siblings' friends, her friends... hundreds of Girl Scouts across the county... Sunday School students, coworkers, volunteer friends... they'd all agree!  If I can be even half the mother she is, I'll be a success for my children ;)

We had a family dinner at my sister's house on Sunday, to do the traditional corned beef & cabbage feast early, since my parents will be traveling next weekend.  But we want to celebrate on the actual day, so tonight we'll be going to dinner at the Silver Diner (what's up, pancakes for dinner on Shrove Tuesday!) and back to my sister's house for cake & ice cream, and, of course, presents!

I knew I wanted to make something for her, but I also wasn't sure crochet was the way to go... so I fell back to one of my first loves: cross stitch!  I started cross stitching back in middle school, and I've always enjoyed it (something about the pristine, identical stitches, all lined up in perfect rows...).  So I designed a flower picture - using my mom's favorite flower, daffodils - with a quote about what an awesome Grammy she is:

I used plain ol' Excel to make this graph ;)

It worked up quickly, after just a few evenings of sewing while I watched tv.  Once I was done, I folded-in the edges of the Aida cloth, then cut a circle of felt to hot glue onto the frame for a nice, clean finish on the back.

This was such a fun project, which reminded me how much I enjoy cross stitching (and also reminded me that I never made a "birth announcement" for my Leo, so I better get on that asap...).  I'm sure I'll be doing more of these in the near future ;)

Ecclesia Domestica

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Mid-Atlantic Congress, a conference for people who work and/or volunteer at Catholic churches.  It was super amazing!  I browsed exhibits from many wonderful ministries, I attended some great workshop sessions, and I got to hear the keynote address from Fr. Mike Schmitz - I even got a meet & greet with him afterwards!

it's fuzzy, because I was so excited to

meet him, my hands were shaking

Because I'm a support staff person at the church, and not a designated Faith Formation or Liturgy person, I chose my workshops based on what I was personally interested in as a Catholic woman & mama.  Of course, it turned out I learned a lot of great things to share with my coworkers in those departments, but I also took home a lot of ideas to use with my boys.  One of my favorite sessions was called "The Liturgical Life of the Family," and it focused on how we, as parents, can guide our children in a Christ-centered environment, which the Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to as "Ecclesia Domestica," or "the domestic church."

I have to admit, this is an area of mamahood I struggle with!  I am a cradle Catholic, so of course my parents taught us about our faith, openly talked to/about God, and took us to Mass & Sunday School.  And I am incredibly thankful for that, because being Catholic is the core of who I am!  But now that I am the parent, I am realizing I want to do more than that.  I personally feel that I've had my "conversion moment" just in the last few years, and I am hoping to set my kiddos up to start their relationships with Jesus a lot earlier than I did.

We go to Mass every Sunday as a family, and we send our kids to Sunday School (well, just Aidan now, but Leo will go when he's old enough).  On the home front, we do Bible Time every night, which my Aidan particularly enjoys, we say grace before meals, and I try to casually mention God and all His works whenever possible... all of this is awesome, but none of it is uniquely Catholic (except for the Bible version, of course!).  What I learned from the workshop leader was how important it is that our "Domestic Church" emphasize the Liturgy, to help our children really appreciate & gain something from Mass and everything else we do at church.

So, keeping that in mind, I created three tools to help us, as a family, root each day in our relationship with God: a simple Liturgical calendar, a "Saint of the Day" sign, and a family prayer note.

The calendar tells us if the day is Ordinary Time, a memorial, or a feast day.  February's is pretty plain, but it will ramp up in March, with the start of the Lenten season.  This, of course, matches nicely with the "Saint of the Day" board, which I will update daily for the kids.  So far, this has proven to be a great opportunity to chat about the celebrated person's story at breakfast each morning!  And the last item is where we can talk about what we want to ask God for, or ask Him to help us with throughout the day.  Aidan prays for a baby sister daily, so that stays right at the top of the list, but the other things vary based on what the day has in store.  And I sneak in a little parenting moment there, too, when we pray that God will give us (i.e. Aidan, but all of us) patience & self-control throughout the day ;)

Sweater Attempt #1

I have been crocheting for about 12 years now, since I taught myself from a book (i.e. my now-husband taught me how to teach myself from the book... but that's a different story...) when I was a sophomore in college.  And in all that time, I have wanted so badly to crochet a clothing item, but never felt up to the challenge.  I have, of course, made hats, scarves, and even mittens, but nothing more challenging than that.

I have been planning to try a clothing project for a long time, though, so I have a lot of ideas pinned and bookmarked - probably a closet-full, if I ever get around to all of them.  Some gorgeous, intricate fair isle cardigans that I'll probably never be good enough to make... some baby sweaters I'll definitely be working on... and this appealingly simple shrug I chose as my first-ever attempt.

This pattern called to me because it just seemed so manageable for a beginner.  It is made in one solid rectangle, then folded and sewn together to for the armholes.  Then it just drapes over the shoulders to serve its purpose as a cardigan.  I did not love the chunky yarn they used, though.  It is definitely beautiful fiber, and the final product looked gorgeous on the blogger; however, I tend to run hot and don't care for heavy sweaters, and I had this lovely green, lighter weight yarn that my husband had treated me to, from a real yarn store (as opposed to reasonably-priced yarn from JoAnn Fabrics or A.C. Moore), which I was saving for a "fancy" project instead of a baby blanket or something similar.

So, I used the pattern I had pinned as my inspiration, and I made up my own design.  I chained enough stitches for the required length, which turned out to be 175.  Then, for the border edge, I did 5 rows of single crochet in back loops only, to get that ribbed look.  The body of the piece was just normal double crochet.  And then I finished with 5 rows of sc blo again, to have the border match up when I folded.  Following the instructions, I folded & seamed, and I was all done! 

please ignore my awkward selfie... 

I didn't have enough yarn to make the piece as long as the pattern indicated, so mine is more of a shrug, less of a cardigan.  And it's definitely lighter weight, so it flows a little differently.  This project is definitely filed in the "thank God it's finally finished and I can be done with it" category.  But all in all, it's not as bad as it could have been, really.  And I do feel empowered to try another sweater attempt.  But I think this time I will follow a set pattern exactly, with the indicated yarn ;)

Basket Weave Baby Blanket

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!  This post isn't really about anything holiday related, but it IS about one of my favorite ways of showing /sharing my love - handmade baby blankets!  So, I still figure it's a good day to share this blog post ;)

About a year & a half ago, I shared my first-ever attempt at cables, with this blanket for a dear friend of mine.  Well, last month, she & her husband made a very special New Year's Eve announcement, and I started planning a blanket for her precious little baby due this spring =D

Just like last time, she is waiting to be surprised at the birth, and not finding out the sex of the baby ahead of time.  Which, (A) makes me super jealous, because I always wanted to do that, and (B) means I wanted to keep my yarn selection in the "gender neutral" colors (don't even get me started on how silly that nonsense is, really, but... whatever).  My sweet husband took me to JoAnn's on our way home from a date night dinner, and helped me pick this fluffy, snuggly, buttery yellow yarn that was just screaming out to me from the shelf:

Bernat Baby Blanket yarn, "buttercup" color

Baby blankets are always kinda tricky for me, when it comes to picking the stitch to use.  On the one hand, they're small enough that they're a great opportunity to try a new technique.  But, on the other hand, I don't want to use any stitch intricate enough that little fingers will get tangled!  Because this yarn is so chunky & fluffy to begin with, I kept it relatively simple and went with a Basket Weave - one of my most favorite stitches!

Basket Weave is one of those things that looks super impressive, but is actually incredibly easy to do... it's simply repeating a pattern of strategically placed front-post-double-crochet and back-post-double-crochet stitches, so that you create squares of vertical stripes or horizontal stripes:

With yarn of a lower weight, you would do 4 of each stitch (i.e. 4 fpdc, 4 bpdc, 4 fpdc, 4 bpdc...), repeating for 4 rows, then doing 4 rows of the opposite pattern (4 bpdc, 4 fpdc...), to make the checkerboard.  Because this yarn is so fat, I only had to do 2 rows to make squares, but the effect is still there.

I ended up with a perfect-sized baby blanket, soft enough for snuggly tummy time, but secure enough to be safe & to survive frequent trips to the washing machine ;)  I can't wait to hear if Baby C likes it!

Hey, Cyster!

As I've mentioned a few times in my previous posts, I have been on a journey to improved health, which has made a gigantice impact on my day-to-day life, and which I am very grateful for.  I keep referencing my "Cyster Diet," but I know not everyone knows what that means, so I thought I'd explain just a bit.

I'm pretty sure everyone who knows me (and I don't think any strangers read my blog, lol) knows that I have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or PCOS.  I've always been very open & vocal about it, sharing my struggles & explaining it to anyone who cares to learn more.  So, just to summarize: PCOS is a hormonal disorder, which most commonly causes infrequent/prolonged menstrual periods, which are often anovulatory, and/or excess male hormone levels.  The ovaries fail to release eggs, which can form small pockets of fluid in those follicles - those are the cysts that give PCOS its name.  Other symptoms include infertility, gestational diabetes or pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, miscarriage or premature birth, high blood pressure, high blood sugar / type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, sleep apnea, depression & anxiety, and even endometrial cancer!  The tricky part about PCOS is that the exact cause of it is unknown, and there is no cure.

Because there is no cure, a lot of doctors just use "band aid" treatments to cover up the most egregious symptoms - most of the time, this means putting the woman on hormonal birth control to "regulate" the cycles, and telling her to lose weight (which is extra challenging due to the hormonal issues at play).  There's been a huge increase in PCOS research over the past few years, though, so I have high hopes for a cure soon, and in the immediate, there's a lot of helpful info for really treating or "reversing" the symptoms!

About 6 months ago, I stumbled across the first piece of exciting research: a study showing that going dairy-free lessens the symptoms in PCOS sufferers (AND calms a different, unrelated dermatological issue I deal with, to boot!).  Basically, dairy products stimulate Insulin Growth Factor, which raises the body's insulin levels.  Normal bodies can handle this; PCOS bodies cannot, because we are "insulin resistant."  This is really new information, and a lot more research has to be done to really "prove" it.  But the correlation was enough to inspire me to try it, so despite my love affair with ice cream, I went dairy-free in August.  The dermatological condition went away within a month, which gave me hope that the change was positively affecting my PCOS as well, but I continued looking into what else I could do.

In late September, I came across a website that changed.  my.  life.  The PCOS Nurse is a woman named Amber who is a registered nurse (and a personal trainer), as well as a PCOS sufferer (she uses the term "cyster," get it?), who used a diet change to reverse her PCOS symptoms, lose weight, and get pregnant naturally.  Most doctors/nutritionists/fellow-PCOS-ladies-on-the-internet will tell you that the best diets for PCOS are low-carb, like South Beach, Atkins, or Keto.  And, following this idea, I had been doing a high-protein / low-carb plan my mom follows for her diabetes.  It was ok, but I wasn't really losing weight or feeling any better.  So, after reading Amber's website and seeing how successful so many of her clients were, I dove in head-first, all-in on this new "Cyster Diet."

The Cyster Diet is based on the idea that it's not important to be low carb, but that it's more important to choose the right carbs - whole grains, fruits, etc.  And, most importantly, it is dairy-free (which I was already doing), and meat-free.  Both dairy & meat contain hormones, which mess up my already fragile endocrine system.  Even organic, non-GMO, "hormone free" products still have the naturally-occurring hormones from the animal, and even those small levels can affect a PCOS sufferer.

I started this dairy-free, meat-free, plant-based whole foods diet October 1st, and felt the amazing benefits within just a week or so!  My skin was clearer, I wasn't as exhausted/lethargic all the time, and the pounds started melting off.  I was nervous that going essentially vegan was going to be too tough for me, but boy, the tangible results were just so motivating!

The most important thing, more than any weight loss, is how this change in lifestyle has reversed my PCOS symptoms & helped me have a regular, ovulatory menstrual cycle - for the first time in my life!  After just 2 months of the diet, I had normal periods, with appropriate hormone levels, confirmed ovulation, and sufficient luteal phases.  And they've been regular ever since, 4 months in a row now!  Just typing that made me teary-eyed, I swear... it's just so damn amazing!  I am definitely staying vegan for the long-haul, as I just feel so much better, and I am healthier than I have ever been in my life!

Happy February!

How is it February already?!?  Time just flies, I swear... January was a whirlwind for us, getting the kids settled back into routine after Christmas Break, celebrating Leo's birthday, and navigating an altered work schedule for my husband (he's a 3rd shifter, but he was working days for 3 weeks).  Last weekend, I was sitting in my living room, crocheting a little bit after dinner, and I realized I didn't have a Valentine's Day mantel decoration ready - and that I had less than a week to make one!

Luckily for me, I have a SUPER easy method for creating crochet hearts, and I had red, pink, and white yarn in my stash, so I put down my other project and whipped up a holiday garland in no time (I'm talking less than an hour, for sure).  I made 8 hearts of each color, for a total of 24 hearts, using these simple steps:

1 - make a magic ring & chain 4 inside

2 - in magic ring, crochet 2 triple, 3 double, 1 chain,1 triple,

1 chain, 3 double, and 2 triple, then end with a chain 3

3 - pull the magic circle shut, and connect the sides with a

slip stitch in the center of the heart

Once I had the hearts done, I used the white yarn to connect them together.  I didn't want a very substantial string, so I just chained 5 to start, connected the first curve of the heart with a slip stitch, chained 5 more, and connected the second curve of the heart.  I then continued this method, chaining 5 between each heart, and working in a red-pink-white pattern.

I hung the garland on the fireplace, and I pulled the middle up to give it a "double dip" - partly because I think it's cuter, and partly so that my toddler doesn't tug on it while he's playing on the floor there ;)  But, either way, it looks adorable & it matches my door wreath, so I at least look ready for the holiday!

Church Bags 2.0

I don't know about y'all, but I have found that bringing my children to church every Sunday is both immensely rewarding and incredibly challenging, all at the same time!  My parents raised me in the Catholic Church, and we attended Mass pretty regularly.  My husband was raised in a "church for Christmas and Easter" family, so he was used to going to church, and he always attended with me once we started dating.  Throughout our (almost) 10 years of marriage, we've gone through droughts when we didn't make it to Mass regularly... but since we had kids, we've really made huge strides in our individual Faith Journeys, and both prioritize parenting with our Catholic faith as the central focus.  And while I feel so confident that we are making the best choices we can, I have to admit, it can be frustrating when I'm trying to pay attention to the Liturgy, and the kids are loudly distracting me & everyone around us!

Luckily, over the past 6 years, I have discovered a couple things that work for our family (everyone is different, I know!), some common sense, some surprising.  Snack are a must, of course - I think every parent in the world knows the immeasurable value of a pack of gummies ;)  We bring a water bottle & a container of dry cereal for each boy every week, and we get a lot of mileage out of that!  We also bring Catholic-themed coloring books, a pack of crayons for each, and some books for them to read/look at.

A surprising technique (to me at least), is sitting up front.  We spent many years sitting in the back, so that we could make a quick escape if the kiddos started acting up.  But once Aidan got old enough to have an opinion, he asked us to sit in the front of the Church - and we were amazed by how much more he paid attention!  Now, it seems obvious to me that he couldn't pay attention when he literally couldn't see anything... but, ya know, hindsight is 20/20...

But no matter where we sit, we never go to Mass without our "Church Bags" - personalized tote bags that the boys carry their supplies in.  These help us keep all of the "stuff" we bring organized and ready to go, and it keeps the boys from arguing about which items belong to which kid (most of the time, anyways).  I had made their original totes back when Leo was just a baby, using iron-on letters from the craft store.  But there was an unfortunate incident involving a mug of coffee and a sharp turn on the road to work one day, and... well, I needed to make new ones.  BUT - now I have my Cricut, so this was a whole new ball game ;)

I bought new totes bags at AC Moore, and I picked a nice, bright red iron-on vinyl to put on them.  I cut the boys' names in my current favorite font, as large as I could fit it on my Cricut mat.  And, since Daniel & I bring our "Minute in the Church" books, missals, and Mass Journal with us each week, I designed a quote to put on our adults' bag, too.

The next step is SO.  MUCH.  EASIER now that I have my Cricut - I just peeled the excess vinyl off the liner, placed the design on the tote bag, and ironed it in place.  I will admit, my font choice for the Bible quote was, like, a disaster, and I will never do that again... but I love how it looks now!  Lol.

 

The boys used their new, coffee-stain-free bags at Church yesterday, and they were super excited that Daniel & I had one just like theirs.  And now all 4 of us are ready to "grab and go" on those early Sunday mornings :)

Homemade Bread (Cyster Approved!)

Both my husband & I have been on paths to healthier life styles over the past year.  Sometimes our paths have intersected - both of us gave up all soda, for example - and sometimes they felt miles apart - over the summer, I was following a High Protein Low Carb plan, and he was exclusively juicing.  I've since switched to the essentially vegan Cyster Diet, and the hubs is in a "generally making better choices & watching portions" stage; but one of the things that we are always in sync on is the desire to pass our healthy choices on to our kiddos, to set them up for long term success.

We try to be role models for the boys, without being obsessive about food, either.  So, we emphasize stopping when your tummy is full & not eating just because you're bored... we talk about how yummy healthy foods are, and how good we feel when we eat fruits & veggies... but we also encourage them to enjoy ice cream & choose Happy Meals every chance we let them ;)  And, perhaps most importantly, we try to make sure they understand where their food comes from, so they can grow up to appreciate homegrown / homemade foods regularly, over processed choices.

Tonight, I attempted homemade bread for the first time, and in keeping with our vision for our family, I had the boys help me.  Luckily, this healthy, Cyster Diet-friendly recipe has just 4 ingredients, so it was an easily managed adventure.  And I am just so pleasantly surprised at how well the bread turned out!

The recipe we used was from this blog I love, and it only has 4 ingredients: warm water, sugar, yeast, and Einkorn flour.  I'm gonna be honest, if you're wondering what Einkorn flour is (and I'm sure you are), you should Google it.  My husband discovered it in his research of various health foods, and encouraged me to look into it for my nutrition plan.

In fact, this whole home baking endeavor of ours was his idea, too!  We've been trying to streamline our finances / improve our budget, as well as improve our eating habits, so our efforts there include a new vegetable garden (still in planning stage)... making our own butter... grocery shopping changes... and baking our own bread, to avoid the chemicals in store-bought options.  He has attempted a few recipes, both in the oven and in his bread machine, but this was my first go at it.

So, anyways, I gathered my few ingredients, putting the flour in 3 cups so each of my boys could "help."  We stirred the sugar into the warm water & sprinkled in the yeast, and the kids watched it bloom like it was something fun, lol.  When it was ready, they crowded around the mixer to dump the flour in, I drizzled the yeast mixture in, and they cheered it on as it combined.

This no-knead bread has to rise twice, so I covered the bowl with plastic wrap & let it sit while we ate dinner.  We came back to it 45 minutes later & Aidan's eyes were like saucers when he saw the puffed up bubble of plastic wrap - what a great opportunity for a science chat, too ;)

The rest was super easy - pour it into the buttered loaf pan, cover with buttered plastic wrap, let rise again.  Then bake it for half an hour & let it cool completely before slicing.  Unfortunately, I chose a too-small pan, which I didn't realize until the second rise, so the top mushroomed over a bit...

But it was still delicious - especially with some all natural apple butter on top ;)

Taco Bout A Party!

I can hardly believe it, but my baby boy turned three this month!  To me, he's still my baby, but if you ask him, "I not a baby, I a big kid."  And really, he's right!  He talks (endlessly), he does everything possible for himself, he climbs in & out of his crib (Lord, help me!), and he keeps up with his six year old brother like a champ!  He also knows how to plow his way through a few tacos and an order of chips & queso, so it only seemed fitting that we had a Birthday Fiesta for him this year ;)

As always, I kicked the theme into gear with the invitation we sent out:

I just design these in publisher, which is my favorite program in the word, y'all!  Print them 4 to a sheet of cardstock, cut apart, and they can be mailed in envelopes or even as a postcard, to save a little money.  I'm gonna be honest, I gave them out to family in person, and I texted a screenshot of it to anyone not in the area.  Lol, I didn't want them to get lost in the shuffle of Christmas Cards.

Back when my Aidan turned one, I started a tradition of making a shirt for the Birthday Boy, matching the theme & personalized with his name.  To connect to our Fiesta, I created a design of Mexican party flags spelling his name, and added "is three!" underneath.  I have to admit, it's easily my most-favorite shirt I've done so far - no doubt because of my new Cricut machine, which made it so easy to do!

I also used my Cricut to make the various signs & banners to decorate our house.  As our friends & family arrived, the "no time to siesta" sign greeted them.  Over our buffet line, I strung a banner saying "taco bout a party."  On the fireplace & on our window frame, I used Mexican fiesta flags to spell out "Happy Birthday Leo" and "Leo Is Three."  The bright colors, the fun puns, and the flag cut outs all added to the festive theme I was aiming for.

The buffet I mentioned before featured tacos & nachos, with both beef & chicken options, and plenty of fixings - queso, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, tomatoes, lettuce... I had hard shells, soft tortillas, and chips for anyone who prefers nachos.  Our kitchen is set up in a sort-of U-shape, with doorways on each end, so it really lent itself to a smooth-flowing buffet line, complete with drinks in the sink!  Everyone had something to eat, and seemed to really enjoy it, from toddlers to grandparents.  

 

The best part of the party food, though, was the "pinata cake" I made.  Let me choose to word this nicely, and just say it was quite a labor of love... the actual cake was easy: I layered 4 round cakes, cutting out a circle in the bottom three, to create an empty core.  I filled it with mini M&Ms and sprinkles, then topped it with the fourth layer, and iced the whole thing in white frosting.  My fatal error was deciding to coat the entire cake in rainbow nonpareils.  I was going for a festive, Fiesta-like feel... but what I got was a MESS!  Sprinkles all over my kitchen, stained countertops, an emotional late Friday night... Ay yay yay, I will never do that again!  But, I will say, it was worth it, because Leo's face lit up when he saw it, and all our guests enjoyed it!

 

As if the candy-stuffed cake wasn't enough sugar, we sent each person home with a rock candy stick, with a personalized tag to match our theme.

I have to say, throwing a themed party for my boys is one of my favorite things to do.  I attribute it to my mother, who planned the most epic themed Day Camps you've ever heard of, and who throws the best bridal/baby showers ever!  So as long as my kiddos let me, I'm gonna keep it up ;)

Unicorn Graphgan

Remember when I made this unicorn pillow for my niece?  She just loved it so much, I thought I'd make her a blanket to match it, for her Christmas gift.  It turned out to be a much larger endeavor than I anticipated, but it was definitely worth it, because she was delighted, and I was quite pleased with what I made ;)

I've posted about using the Corner To Corner (C2C) crochet method before, like when I made my cross-body tote and for L's baby blanket.  For anyone who doesn't know how to do this yet, I use this great picture tutorial from The Lazy Hobby Hopper.  I love the fabric it creates, but I also love it for another reason - the grid-like structure lends itself perfectly to graphgans!  A graphgan uses a graphed pattern, similar to counted cross stitch or perler beads, to create a picture out of the crochet stitches.  So, in this case, I turned the picture of the unicorn pillow into a graph of a unicorn:

I think there are websites that will do this for you, but you can just do what I do & put graph paper over the picture & do your best.  LOL.  Once the graph is designed, you just start at a bottom corner & work your way row-by-row through the pattern.  It builds diagonally, of course, moving... well, corner to corner ;)

I just love the first color change - it's so exciting! 

Just looking at the graph, it didn't look too scary; however, as I worked my way through it, I realized it was making a much larger blanket than I anticipated.  Thank God I started it waaay early, back at the start of the school year, because with my limited crocheting time available, I was still weaving in ends on Christmas Eve morning!  It was totally worth it, though, because it turned out to be my most-favorite project I've done to date: