Elizabeth and Alex both tagged me for this.

1. I can blow air out my eye. I discovered this because my mom was demonstrating to me that she can do it.

2. I prefer mustard instead of ketchup on fries. But when I ate cheese, I could not eat mustard and cheese together, like on a cheeseburger or sandwich. ewww.

3. I love lemon pepper. I can eat it plain. Anything salty and sour… mmmm.

4. I hate mayo. (Joelene informs me that that’s strange.)

5. I am slightly obsessed with my eyelashes. I REALLY wish they were long and I’ve tried every product out there that’s supposed to make them appear longer. (Mark Lastensions is my current fav.)

Eden’s quote of the week:

“The water! The water! It’s turning yellow, Honor! What’s happening?”

Don’t forget to sign up for the scarf swap spectacular, there’s only a few spaces left.

Over the last week Honor journeyed into the land of sleeping without the walls of his crib, again. And again, it didn’t work out. I’m just getting used to the fact that he’s going to be sleeping in his crib until he’s 10.

I think he was most tempted to get out of bed at nap time. One day he got up, climbed up onto the dresser and got the lotion, two kinds of diaper ointment and Eden’s princess lip balm. He then preceded to smear all of it all over himself, his sheets, and his friend that was napping in the port-a-crib. He also took every single wipe out of the wipe box. And that was just what happened one day.

We thought we could stick it out this time, but there is only so many times you can wipe diaper ointment off his slimey face or refold an entire box of wipes. So he’s back in his crib again. Maybe we’ll try again in a few months… maybe.

It’s that time again!

Here’s how it works:
Each person who wants to participate will make a set number of scarf “squares.” For example purposes, we’ll say 10 people sign up. Each person will make 10 squares. You will send those squares to me, along with a postage paid return envelope. Each scarf will have a square from each participating person, I will sew these together. I will then mail one scarf to each participant.

Squares can be knit or crochet only. And this year we’re going with a color pallet to make the scarves a little less funky. Black, white and grey.

Comment to this post if you want to sign up (be sure you include your real email address.) I will limit the number of participants so I won’t have to sew together tons of scarves! so sign up quick if you want to participate.

Once everybody is signed up, I’ll email you with the details, ie: the number of squares and size that you need to make and my address and the deadline date.

email me if you have any questions.

January
I started the first ever scarf swap spectacular. We merged our company with another one and moved out of our main street office. Honor got into my purse and ate a whole bunch of ibuprofen. We spent the day crammed into a tiny room at the emergency room. Eden proclaimed to me one day when I told her to put her laundry away, “I don’t have time for this.” I had a parental freak out. Things started to get a little easier.

February
Eden turned 3. Honor got into the cereal, the toothpaste, my valentines chocolate, and the butter. (And that’s just what I blogged about.) Jim and I got away to Ouray by ourselves for a weekend. The weather warmed up enough that we were able to take the kids to the park. I ate Spam.

March
The teenager that lived with us dropped out of school. Honor slammed his head into my laptop and broke the LCD. Honor had his is first and only asthma attack. I went to Las Vegas with my friend Brooke – we both really enjoyed our relaxing break. Jim and I bought an outdoor fireplace for our back patio. My friends Kevin and Sarah had a baby boy. I fell in love with the Nikon D70 that we borrowed from the office. I got a new laptop.

April
Jim found an old, brown, slimey banana in his shoe. Honor ate a worm. Jim started wearing a tie to work. Honor scratched my cornea. The teenager living with us moved out. Honor got his third haircut. Our company put on a big concert – I worked my butt off. We celebrated Passover. I painted the front steps blue. Jim turned 30 and I threw him a surprise party.

May
Our company put on another big concert – I worked my butt off, but not quite as hard. Jim came down with Carpal Tunnel. Our toilet broke(not Honor related.) Jim likened me to soda because he always burps when I kiss him. I fished HONOR out of the toilet. I had to bring the Nikon D70 back to the office. We took a camping trip. Eden discovered that boys have a penis and girls have a vagina. Jim “stored” my glasses in the trash can. Jim sold my broken laptop on eBay for $400.

June
Eden made her first joke. Our pet rat bit Honor really deep and he bled for a long time. The pet rat is no longer with us. I knit my first pair of socks. I got a new wedding band. Eden took Ballet. I started using and winning on Blingo. I watched the movie “The Notebook” – it really did make an impact on me. We went camping again. Honor drank maple syrup straight from the bottle. Jim stayed home for a week while I worked at the office.

July
I started my online collection of salad recipes. We spent some time up on the Mesa getting chewed by mosquitos. We went swimming at the lake where I got peed on by a frog. Eden told me that she wanted to have big, big BIG boobs like me so she can wear a bra. We tried to let Honor sleep in a big boy bed. It didn’t work out. My friend Jill found out that she was pregnant. I started churning out One Skein Wonders. Jims sister had a baby that we’ve still yet to see. The pastor of our church and most of the staff announced they were leaving to go start a new church in Reno.

August
Eden fell and busted her nose and had to have it glued together. Honor got into the ink stamp, my black eyeshadow, the ink stamp again, my fingernail polish and a sharpie. I started knitting for the yarn store. Jim started feeling partial numbness in his body. The little town my Aunt and Uncle live in in Wyoming got hit by a tornado. I learned that I knit(ted) wrong. I decided that it was time to stop worrying so much about how I was perceived and instead be committed to being myself.

September
I turned 24. Honor turned 2. My heart broke for the people in Louisiana and Mississippi. Eden thought that people go to the liquor store to get licked. Honor started saying, “I love you.” We went to New Mexico for our friend Josh’s wedding. I got my hair cut. I taught my very first knitting class.

October
Jim went to Reno to play the guitar. While he was gone, our car broke when I was driving the wrong way on a one way street (on purpose.) Eden started getting scared to sleep at night. She also thought the reason I changed our bedsheets was because daddy peed on them. Jim and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Elaine came to visit me. The fourth annual Fiesta Blevinza was a huge success – we had 53 people in our house. We found out that my friend, Brooke, is having a baby. I taught five knitting classes.

November
Honor flushed a wash cloth down the toilet and we paid a plumber $110 to get it out. We un-merged our company and moved back to our downtown location that I love. I discovered that Diet Dr. Pepper really does taste like regular Dr. Pepper. I taught five knitting classes. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my dad and Jim’s dad and his wife.

December
We decided to quit going to our church. I knit my first sweater. Honor went to an orthopedic surgeon who referred him to a physical therapist for his turned in foot. We baby sat our friends four kids for a total of 6 kids under the age of 4 all in our house. We celebrated Hanukkah. Honor took every opportunity to destroy our house. I taught two knitting classes. I got new glasses.

The other night we did a little craft with the kids. We made snowflakes and then glittered them. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, we gave Honor scissors…. we’re crazy. Actually the only mishap was my fault, I was trying to open the glitter and managed to spill all of it onto the floor. My house will never be the same. Honor took one look at the mess and said… “Oh, mommy’s in big trouble!” It makes me feel bad that he thinks he gets in trouble for making messes. He gets in trouble for playing with the toothpaste in the first place! I guess he’ll figure it out as time goes by (hopefully.)

Last night we made ginger bread houses. I refuse to show you what they look like. I was so sure that mine would end up being better than Jim’s but alas… Really, I blame Martha. I know, usually I’m all praise for Martha, but when it comes to Jim’s gingerbread house being better than mine, I’ve gotta give her the blame.

One thing I know, I’m crafted out for awhile. It’s exhausting trying to keep destruct-o-con contained when there’s a bowl of frosting sitting right in front of him.

Last night, as I stepped over the hot pink stains from the princess toothpaste Honor had squeezed on the kids’ bedroom carpet to make sure he was covered up, I thought, “The reason they are so sweet when they are sleeping is to deter their parents from strangling them while they sleep.”

A couple weeks ago, Jim and I ate lunch at this posh little cafe across the street from our office. Jim appropriately described it as a “wine and cheese” place. And while the food was SOOO good, the portions were teeny. One thing we had was a smoked salmon and cream cheese dip on crostini. It was very yummy, so I came up with a recipe that was pretty dern close.

1/2 loaf baguette, sliced 1/4 inch think on the bias
oilve oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and halved
8 oz cream cheese, softened
zest of one lemon
juice of 1/2 large lemon
3 oz smoked salmon
2 oz rinsed capers
coarse black pepper

Heat up a heavy bottomed skillet or grill pan over med-high heat. Drizzle olive oil over both sides of the baguette slices and toast in pan until crispy and golden. Remove from skillet and rub with cut side of garlic clove. Let cool.

Combine cream cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice and salmon. When fully combined, season with pepper and fold in capers. enjoy!

Wow, what a weekend. It was actually nice and really relaxing. It was probably the first year for the kids that it wasn’t totally overwhelming – which I think is so much better. I think they actually got to enjoy all their gifts.

Now that I’ve given all my knitted gifts, I can show them off.

This is the shawl I made for my mom. I need to take better pictures of it, but here she is trying it on for the first time. It’s made out of two yarns – a rayon boucle, and a mohair/silk blend.

and the fingerless mitts I made for my cousins.

This matches the scarf I made for her last year.

These are made out of Rowan Yorkshire Tweed.

Click the photo below to view the photos from our weekend.

I just wanted to take this time to wish you all a wonderful time this weekend. It seems that amidst the bustle of everything, I usually don’t get to really enjoy the time with my family. I find myself taking a second to try and burn everything into my memory. That would be my wish for all of you – that your time with your family and friends would be a wonderful one and a time that you can truly enjoy.

Tomorrow we will go to my dads house to eat dinner (prime rib) with him, my aunt, uncle and cousins, and my sister. Sunday we will spend with my mom, step-dad, sister, and step-brother, his wife and their son, for dinner we will have prime rib (again!). Sunday night is the first night of Hanukkah and the kids are getting really excited. The menorah is filled with candles and ready to be lit, we’ve collected quite a collection of dreidles and I’ve even found some chocolate gelt.

My love to you all.