FINISHED!!

I have finished one of my Christmas scarf projects.
The first finished one belongs to Samantha. Note: fatter yarn, bigger needles, and an easier pattern lead to a faster job. Also finished is blue hair dye. Samantha has wanted blue hair for years and now she has it. It is very subtle, but perfect for her. Being the nice sister she is Melia also has blue hair. Her hair is not so subtle. Also perfect for her! Kellina also got the new blue style. She LOVES it! She thinks she looks handsome. I told her I thought she looked beautiful. You all can decide for yourself.

Family Fun

This year Christmas Eve was spent with my side of the family and Christmas was spent with Jeff's side of the family. It was two days of family fun and pregnant lady discomfort. I am so glad to have the understanding family I have!! Samantha and Melia were so happy on Christmas Eve to get American Girl Doll look a likes. They are meant to look like their owner and get played with online. Kellina got a baby doll that she has decided is an American Girl Doll(its not really, but she doesn't care). The boys got boy gifts. The surprise gift that all my kids enjoyed was a stocking stuffer. They are called Zhu-Zhu pets. They played with them all night. Christmas morning we woke up and did presents here. We also took our annual Christmas morning family photo. When we were through we headed over to be with Jeff's family. I spent most of the time in a chair having contractions and feeling yucky. The kids had a blast though with all their cousins. It is always cute to see the two sets of twins interact with each other. As I was editing photos I realized we have three sets of twins in our family. My step-brothers(grown men), the cute 3 year olds in Santa suits, and our boys(almost 2). To bad they were never all together to get a picture! All in all we had a family fun filled time!

Home made hollidays!

This year I don't know what took over in my mind, but I decided while pregnant with number six, chasing two toddler boys, and juggling life I would become crafty. Okay, I didn't do it all alone. Samantha did ALL the baking, and visits with good friends yielded the soap. This year the boys got blankets made by mom. Yes, I sewed!! Thank you Samantha for all the help! It was really a very easy pattern(thanks Ruth E.). Samantha is finishing hers for the girls. It was hard to find enough time to do theirs in secret, so now they know they are getting them and they will be finished soon. For the girls, I knit them each a scarf. Turns out I should have started them long ago because they also didn't get complete. When they are done I will share photos. Oh well, the girls like what they have seen so far. Soap was made a while ago and got passed out to adults. The home made gift I received was a wonderful birthday tracker that Jeff's sister made. Each person's name is on a tiny clothes pin with the day of their birth. Then it is put on the correct month. Each family got one in different colors. Samantha this year was in charge of the kitchen. She made a fudge wreath,
pumpkin whoopie pies, and homemade marshmallows dipped in chocolate. I don't pictures of the mellows because they didn't last long. Oh, yummy!!! She even had the help of two cute little elves. Well, they helped lick things clean. Joshua learned he can push our flour tub around and stand on it to get what ever he thinks would be good to eat. Silly fellow. I guess a bowl full of powdered sugar is tempting. Expect another post about our Christmas with family.

The final time....

we go to The Lights of Christmas at Warm Beach. Not because its not a blast, but because we are growing. There are certain age kids who have a blast and a certain age who just freeze. My guess is that there my be a gender thing involved also. So next year it will only be a partial Doyle family that makes the trip. The girls have certain things that must be done. Ride the ponies. This year it was Eggnog and Nutmeg. Forgive the blur. My camera wasn't set right. Then its Bruce the Talking Spruce. This year after waiting in line forever Kellina informed me she was not talking to the tree. There was no convincing her. Good thing Melia likes to chat. I was lucky to get a couple photos. Next a stop at the Tin Horn Town to warm up, drink coco, and play. The last stop for us on this bitterly cold night was a train ride with just the girls.(photos via phone) That was for sure the highlight for me. Samantha's big surprise was Jeff picked up her good friend and Samantha had a friend for the night capped off with a slumber party! He is a good daddy. And to end this post my new favorite photo of Kellina(waiting for her pony).

Tea Time

Last week for girl scouts there was a wonderful tea party. The girls did all the work. They made the table top decor, baked the treats, and were in charge of photos. Samantha took all the photos in this post. Kellina was very excited to be a girl scout for the day. She helped any way she could. Even posing for the camera! One of the things I love best about our troop is the mixing of ages. The big girls help the little girls and the little girls look up to the big girls. It was a very fun, well done tea party. Samantha's next project is organizing a food drive.

Caught red handed

This little guy knows he is not suppose to take the balls off the tree. Although if the cats have knocked them down that makes them far game. Still he knows he better be careful of who sees them. And so, I give you Joshua trying his best to hide what he has. Just so you know this is not just a Joshua thing to do. The morning after Thanksgiving I found a measuring spoon and part of a play tea set in Caleb's PJ's.

Practice makes perfect!

And there has been a lot of it going on around here lately. Practice that is. When nap time hits the big girls in this family start working on Christmas gifts. The picture above is my work. I have just learned to knit and am working on scarfs for gifts this year. The one pictured will be Kellina's. Samantha has also learned to knit and is hard at work doing wash clothes that will go with our home made soap.

As for Melia she has been working on a bookmark for her great grandma. Great grandpa passed away shortly after Thanksgiving and we are sending great grandma a box of love.(She lives in Arizona)

Here is the bookmark, which has turned out to be a great project for my girl who is always on the go. She has to sit and concentrate for longer periods of time. The other practice that has been happening has been baby prep. You may not have noticed. but in Samantha's pictures she has on a sling. In that sling is her baby. While knitting she would stop to care for her baby. She also took the time to have Melia help with the diapers so she would be ready for the newest boy soon to come. First, dirty diaper removed. Second, clean diaper put on (love those snap-ez). Then a lot of time was spent learning how to snap the cloth diaper. It finally took both girls and the knowledge you couldn't just push on the babies tummy. You need something firmer like a finger. In the end there was one happy baby and one proud Melia. I think I will have some good helpers when this new baby comes into the world. All because of some good practice.