First Hair Cut

Kyleigh had her first haircut today and she did a lot better than we expected. She sat very still and didn't say a word. We took her to a kids' salon and the stylist was very patient and experienced at working with young children. Grandma had to stay very close, though.

She definitely didn't think it was a lot of fun, but the only time she fussed at all was when they used the hairdryer--she didn't like the noise.

This is the finished product. There's a tiny elastic band with a couple of flowers in her hair. Janice also received a certificate commemorating her first haircut and a lock of the hair.

After the haircut, we went to Sprouts and since I hadn't gotten a good picture of her at the salon, I took one of her in the basket at Sprouts. The string is attached to the pink balloon she received at the salon.

This afternoon I pulled the floss for Margaret Sherry's 12 Days of Christmas which I'm planning to start on Tuesday (December 1). I'm planning to do one square a month so that it will be completed by next Christmas.

Black Friday

Today is Chad's 28th birthday. Happy Birthday, Chad!

Kyleigh decided it was time to get up about 5:00, but after some cuddling and some milk, she and I both went back to sleep. Unfortunately, the phone woke us at 6:05 when Janice called to say she was in line at Target and that she'd spent three hours at Toys R Us, but she did get the things she'd wanted. She also stopped at Kohls before going to Target. Janice is very organized and plans her shopping ahead of time. I've never done the Black Friday thing, but she seems to enjoy it.

Since it was going to be a couple of hours before she was done, Kyleigh and I decided to take a walk. Unfortunately, she didn't want to take the stroller and the route I take is probably a little less than 1/2 mile. She did very well, though it did take longer than usual since she had to investigate the leaves and anything else she found on the ground. There's a bus bench at the halfway point so we spent a few minutes there to rest up for the next part of the walk.

We met Janice and Chad at Mimi's for breakfast and then they took her home with them.

David was able to fix the little white button so I finished up Halloween this afternoon. This is the final block in the Boo Club series from Lizzie Kate. It's stitched on 28 count Natural Lite Jobelan. I had to stitch it separately from the other blocks since for some reason the 14 x 31" piece of fabric I bought only measured 14 x 27". I had some more of the same fabric, so I went ahead and stitched it anyway and I'll figure out how to combine the two later.

Here is the completed piece, minus the Halloween block. The color is more like the picture below than the one above.

Happy Thanksgiving

I met Janice and Kyleigh at church this morning. For some reason, they started the service 15 minutes late and by that time Kyleigh was very restless. Since the nursery wasn't staffed, Janice stayed there with Kyleigh who apparently continued to be very rambunctious. Unfortunately, this meant that she missed most of the service.

After church, David made mashed potatoes and carrot and raisin salad (I helped!) and then we went to Chad's grandparents house for dinner. We had a very good meal and we always enjoy each other's company. And, this time we had a very active little one to keep us entertained.

She rode a ride on toy and posed for the camera.

She helped "load" the dishwasher.

She took a break for some milk and a "phone call". The phone is the remote control for the chair. Not the most ladylike position, though.

She sat on the dog.

And, of course had to give her a hug.

And, figured out how to work the remote and raise the chair.

She also turned a couple of somersaults, which none of us had seen her do before, but Janice told me later that she'd helped her do one a couple of days before.

Kyleigh came home with David and I so that Janice could do some Black Friday shopping starting with Toys R Us at midnight.

After she went to bed, I stitched and managed to finish the border on Halloween. I wasn't able to completely finish it because one of the buttons only had one hole in it, but David should be able to fix it tomorrow.

Ornament Finish

This is another NMI kit, but this one was stitched as intended. I've backed it with gold scrapbooking paper and it will soon be on it's way to my Fellowship Crossings AA (Anonymous Angel).

The main part of the gift is something I stitched a couple of years ago, but hadn't found a destination yet. I can't reveal the details as to why I chose this without giving too many hints as to who the recipient is, but although I kept looking through my stash for something to stitch I kept coming back to this. I hope she likes it.

Butterfly

This is an NMI Stitch 'N Hang kit. I substituted 14-count Aida for the provided 18-count which made it the perfect size. This is the third design I've stitched for the 2nd Q4OC Stitcher's Challenge and the theme for this one is Butterflies/Insects.


I have three more left to stitch with the themes of Teacups/Teapots, Animals, and Transportation. I can stitch two in one theme instead of stitching one in each theme and I have a second butterfly that I might stitch if I can't quickly find one of the other themes. All of these are due 12/31/09.

Soccer Dog

This is Margaret Sherry's Footballin' Dog from the Sports and Hobbies series in the UK Cross Stitcher magazine. This was from issue #218.

It was stitched for an eleven year old boy who will be receiving a quilt from the Benevolent Piecemakers.

Three More

I finished three more cards for soldiers today. I didn't have very much left to do on the snowman, just a few rows at the bottom and some backstitching. All three of these were Quick-stitch Motifs from Enjoy Cross Stitch at Christmas #2. The only change I made (other than changing the color of the snowman's scarf) was to use 1/4 stitches instead of full stitches at the corners.

I will mail all four pieces off to Florida in the morning to be made into cards.

Piglet

I had so little left to do on Piglet that I went ahead and finished him up this morning. This is the first square I've stitched for Binky South Dakota and I had so much fun stitching it that I signed up to do Pooh and Eeyore too.

Not the Cutest?

Back in August we accidentally ended up at a baby expo and entered Kyleigh in the cutest baby contest. She didn't win, but for entering, she received this mock magazine cover.

I had my week planned out as far as stitching goes, but it got off track fairly quickly. One of the members of FC had initiated a project to stitch cards for soldiers fighting in Afghanistan in another group and several persons had backed out at the last minute. She asked for help from FC members and I decided to stitch a couple. Since they need to be done quickly, I'm stitching them instead of the other projects I had planned. I finished the first one this afternoon.

This is a Quick-stitch motif from Enjoy Cross Stitch at Christmas #2. I left off the back stitching on the tree and used 1/4 stitches on the balls. I also used a dark red floss for backstitching them instead of the dark gray called for.

More Pictures

Janice and I went to look at preschools this morning. We saw two and both had their pluses and minuses. The first was along their commute, was a developmental program and the price wasn't much more than they're paying now. The downside was that it was in an older building and the playground needed updating.

The second location was in a newer building and seemed brighter and cleaner, but it was almost twice the price, was an academic program and I didn't like the way the teacher was yelling at the students and didn't really have control over them.

She also has a third option which we looked at early last month. This one was close to home and we really liked the looks of the classroom, but they can't take Kyleigh until September (or possibly in their summer program in June) and won't release their prices until January. Unfortunately, it will probably be more than they want to pay.

I suspect she'll end up at the first one we looked at yesterday, but they have several months to decide.

Janice sent me some more Halloween pictures this evening and I had a hard time choosing just one, so here are most of them.

I just love the smile on this one.

The full costume.

Ready to hand out candy:

Look what I got:

Trick or treating with the neighbors. That pumpkin was full of candy when they got home.

Janice is very artistic and creative and her pumpkins are always amazing. This year she took the easy way out and used a template.

TtGiD

Janice drove to church this weekend since it's just a couple of blocks from the condo, but she said she knew why the doctor didn't want her driving. When David picked me up, Kyleigh climbed into the car like she usually does, but this time she sat in the front passenger seat and immediately tried to put the seat belt on.

Fellowship Crossings has started a SAL to help people get stitching done on one or more of their UFOs (Unfinished Objects). The last weekend of each month is a "Git 'er Done" weekend and this was the first one. For my project I chose a UFO from the mid 1990's called "I Love Cats".

Before:

After:

I finished the cat and heart on the far right, the gray cat with the pink bow, the rust colored cat in the C and did some more of the C, and started a second rust colored cat and a gold cat. I really hated to put it down, but I've got a lot of other things that need to be done also. I have decided to work on this next weekend instead of waiting until the end of November.