Taylor Tuesday

I love looking across the table at this smiling face.

Kids Books

I am a sucker for books, especially for my girls.  I spend forever looking through the Scholastic flyer that comes home with Taylor each month and end up ordering way more than I should each time.  Is there a possibility of too many book?  I keep a small stockpile of books in my closet so that every so often we can surprise the girls with a new book at bedtime.  I love to see the excitement on their face when they realize there is a new adventure to follow that night.  With a group of friends that includes so many teachers, I have discovered many awesome books from their recommendations but recently realized we had a few hidden gems in our library that they weren’t aware of.  Here are a few of our favorite stories and authors:

Little Blue Truck rocks and so does the follow up Little Blue Truck Leads the Way.  The second one is Lizzie’s favorite and we read it every night.  Both books have a great lesson and lots of opportunities for fun sounds.

 

Karen Katz does a great job with children’s book.  My girls both love Counting Kisses and it was an easy way to teach body parts.

This simple little board book is a favorite of Lizzie’s.  I love the classic Pooh characters shown in the pictures and the reminder of a honey loving bear from my own childhood.

A friend recommended this book a while back on her blog and it became an instant hit at our house.  It is the perfect bedtime story when it’s been a rough day for our preschooler.  I love the lesson and cute pictures.

These dinosaur books make me laugh so hard.  I love the concept of huge dinosaurs throwing a fit or not listening.  There are other books about going to bed, learning colors, and being sick.  We love the pictures in the front and back of dinosaurs doing sweet things for each other. 

Not sure how I found this book but it makes Taylor and I giggle so hard when we imitate the old man shaking his arm at the squirrels.  You are sure giggle at this book a bit too.

It took me half of Taylor’s first year of preschool to understand why she would exclaim “Momma you came back!” each time I picked her up.  The little llama is sad because he has to start school and misses his Momma.  At the end of the day she comes back and he exclaims the same thing.  Guess I should pay more attention to the books I read Taylor.  We have several other of the books like this and they all have cute rhymes and good lessons for kids. 

Oh how I love Splat and his crazy tail!  Plus his little mouse buddy is cute.  This one is great for the first day of school and there are other that go along great with several holiday.

I hope these might give you some great ideas for books for your house.  What are your favorite books? 

Silly Saturday

You never know what the Lambert girls might do while bored one afternoon.  Sometimes we can be a bit silly :)

Elizabethursday

I know I'm a day behind with this, but maybe my subconscious was just waiting for the perfect photo.  Lizzie provides me with plenty of photos to email you, but this mornings photo had me cracking up.  I entered my bathroom to find someone else getting ready for the day.  That will teach me to leave my makeup bag in arm's reach.

Downton Cowl and new project(KAL)

I am so excited you guys… I finished my downton cowl and love, love, love the way it turned out.  I have tried it on probably ten times and I’m not sure Chris still understands what a cowl is but he is so sweet to be excited with me.  Here it is laid out flat, or mostly flat.  Part of the design is for it to curl at the edges for slouchy top and bottom.  Mine turned out a bit different than the original design since I used a heavy weight yarn.  The original design has more open holes to it, but I like the way this turned out.  Don’t you just love those chevrons!

I put off a few loads of laundry and a sink full of dishes so that I could finish it up Monday night.  And lucky for you I got my hair done today(aka no ponytail) and actually had on makeup so I didn’t mind taking a few pictures wearing it.  Now if I could just figure out the best way to take pictures of myself things would be much better.  Instead you get my self portraits(and funny faces).  I hate being the focus of pictures so I’ve cropped them to focus mostly on my cowl. I also couldn’t get the lighting to be consistent in my bathroom so the true color is closer to the one above.  I love the way this will be the perfect accessory this fall.  My friends might get tired of seeing me in this thing!

  

On to my next KAL project…

  

This summer sweater immediately caught my attention in the Simply Knitting UK magazine.  Boatnecks are so forgiving while lugging around a small toddler and the little cap sleeve give them something to wipe their nose on adds a nice touch of feminine to this simple sweater. The simple lace at the neckline is nice too.

I loved the coral color they used, but coral isn’t my go-to color to wear.  I love a great aqua and knew it was meant to be when I found this Reef Green, Lago yarn.  It has a slight texture to it and is going to be perfect for this sweater.  Luckily in Texas we celebrate warm months a little earlier and a little longer so I plan on being able to wear this sweater until November.(then I’ll switch to my cowl) 

 

Say a prayer that my attempt at a sweater goes much better than last time.  Maybe if you are lucky I will pull my first creation out and take pictures.  I will need to get much better at taking self portraits bc that sweater is just a crazy mess and I won’t want you to think it’s my photography skills :)

Now I’m off to get this lovely yarn wound into balls and cast on my needles. 

Taylor Tuesday

Taylor cracks me up.  When asked to pose, this is what I got.  What’s even funnier is the water gun in her right hand that quickly attacked me as soon as the picture was taken. 

elizabethursday

This kid is serious about her food, especially when it comes to french fries. Sorry for the fuzzy picture, but I was laughing at this view the other night while cooking dinner.  Notice she has her snack bowl next to her in case she gets hungry while waiting for dinner to be ready. 

Downtown Cowl: KAL progress

I’ve made much more headway on this knitting because once I got the hang of the pattern it started to fly by.  Sure, there are a few mistakes here and there, but they blend in just fine and I was able to fix the error on the next row.  Plus I was exhausted after our first day of VBS Monday and did nothing but knit during naptime.  I’ve got some sewing to work on this week so I should have a finished project to show you next week.  It is really starting to look like a cowl and I love the chevron pattern.  I used a slightly heavier weight yarn so you don’t see the spaces in the pattern as much, but I think I like this version.

Since there is still plenty of time left in the KAL, I’ve decided to make another project and hope to get that project cast-on after I buy the yarn this weekend.  I’m sure some of my fellow knitters will die, but all my yarn comes from Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or Joann’s.  I love the yarns I can find at these stores, but drool over all the fancier yarns I see online.  Since my next project is for me, I have decided to splurge and use a nicer yarn, just wish I had an idea of what color I want to use.  Lucky for me a brunch I am attending this weekend is next door to yarn shop that has some great reviews.  I’ve already warned Chris that between brunch with the girls and browsing a yarn shop, he might not see me for hours. 

What are your favorite type of yarns?  Is there a store or type of shop that you could get lost in for hours?  Bookstores are easy to get lost in too and then I end up with more books on my never-ending list of to-read. 

Taylor Tuesday

Beware the wrath of the flower fairy princess!  You have now been warned and may be subjected to watching dance performances, receiving pictures, or required to dress up if you encounter her presence.

Elizabethursday

All the cool kids wear their goggles like this.

Summer Sweater Knit Along(KAL)

 

I have been busy knitting new projects for my Etsy store, but also thinking about knitting something for myself.  The problem with something for myself is that I’ve knitted a few clothing items and they were hot messes.  I mean, never-wear-in-public disasters.  This has been heart breaking for me because I would love to wear my own creations.  So I decided to start small and try this downtown cowl to practice patterns and sizing correctly. 

So I am joining luvinthemommyhood’s knit along a few weeks late.  I am in love with the blue satin yarn I picked and look forward to wearing this cowl in the fall.  It makes me ready for cool mornings and football games already!  I was able to get a good start on it this weekend during our road trip for a wedding.  If this rain keeps up all I’m going to want to do is sit and knit.  Here is my progress so far:

What projects are you working on?  Are you thinking of fall or Christmas projects yet?

Parent of the year

There may have been a few times that I contemplated this type of entertainment for the kids but have to laugh(and then take a picture) when they decided this was a funny hiding spot.  I wonder if I could teach them to lock the gate next time???

Taylor Tuesday

Taylor was so fascinated by the glow stick on 4th of July that I couldn’t wait to see her face during the fireworks.  I love being able to watch the world through her eyes!

elizabethursday

This cutie loves to wear her ‘eyes’, aka sunglasses, everywhere we go.  Good thing she looks pretty cute in them!

ps.  Dear Target, can you bring these back to the $1 section bc little hands are great at breaking sunglasses and I need to restock?

Taylor Tuesday

Watching kids grow up is scaring and exciting at the same time.  I often see them learn new things and wonder how this will shape and mold what they will be in the future.  I wonder if this means went might have a future firefighter on our hands.  In Taylor's world it was exciting to be able to fill the water table all by herself.  Not sure what our water bill is going to look like this month and if this falls under the city's water rationing plan, but she loved it.