Another Week

Whew! It's been so busy around here. I think last time I checked in my husband had left for Peru. He was gone for two weeks. Two weeks is a long time for a husband to be gone. Everything went surprisingly well. Nothing broke. Nothing bad happened. And the alarm company from the church only called in the middle of the night once. I told them to call the associate pastor and went back to sleep :) No way am I going on a walk through of the building in the middle of the night.

The Peru trip went well other than most of the team ended up getting the flu. They were all pretty sick by the time they got back. But they said they would do it again so I guess that's a good sign that it went well. My husband said he thought he had been back to boot camp - they worked them pretty hard. And at 11,000 feet altitude it was hard to breath. They were all happy to be back in America again.

In the mean time, I was busy with this project:

I offered to make Ava Claire's Easter dress this year. I should say I offered to knit Ava Claire's Easter dress this year. I have decided that I don't like knitting on a deadline very much. This is my first adventure into knitting any kind of a garment. And it's also my first try at knitting lace. I re-did the lace section three times and I have done the skirt section twice. Whew! That's a lot of knitting. But I'm on the homestretch now and I think it's going to be just adorable. I am using Blue Sky Alpaca Skinny Organic Yarn which is a yarn comprised of many strands of cotton twisted together. The result is that it is really "splitty" and fussy to knit with. I love the feel and the look of the finished project but I don't think I will make any more big projects with this yarn. I have spent a lot of time correcting stitches that have split. As soon as I get this project off the needles I am going to start a smaller, simpler toy project. I love knitting toys. And I like instant gratification!

I am also still doing a lot of couponing. I just don't know why anybody wouldn't do it. I got all this for about $27 this weekend. I just love finding a good deal. And besides with all the money I save on groceries, just think of the yarn I can buy!


And just look at these two:
I can't believe how much they are growing. They are the joy of my life and every moment spent with them is just so wonderful. They provide tons of laughter and fun and even lots of work. But I wouldn't have it any other way. They are such blessings. They are both beginning to talk so much and they absolutely love each other. Tyler is about as "boy" as you can get and Ava Claire is all girl. They love to play together and they especially love to get into trouble together. Michelle calls them Thing One and Thing Two. They are quite a pair. It will be interesting to see how the equation changes when Thing Three arrives on the scene late this summer. The blessings just keep raining down.

I just love how the days are longer now and the leaves are starting to appear on the trees. I spent some time yesterday raking up what is left of last year's leaves. I'm starting to think about what flowers I will plant this year and whether to do another salsa garden or not this year. I want to keep it simple, whatever I do.

Time to get ready for another week. I sure do wish the weekends were longer.