Addy, In Pictures

Our Colorado trip went by much, much too fast. We crammed in a lot of activities, but the best part, by far, was just hanging out with Addison and her folks.
We went to the movies to see Frozen (it's excellent) and Addy was the envy of all the little girls in her Princess Elsa dress.

Addy and I made a Christmas tree using ornaments, styrofoam and glue. We got so giggly at one point, trying to take the tops off ornaments and having them shoot all over the room, that Addy (almost) wet her pants. Good times!

We took a break between antique shops and indulged in Addy's favorite treat - a Dairy Queen mint Oreo Blizzard. In 30 degree weather. Brrrrrrrr.

We put together puzzles - princess ones, of course. And read books. Lots and lots of books.

And best of all, we turned Addy into a dedicated antique/collectible shopper. Each day that we went antiquing, Addy had a set amount to spend (usually $10). She came home with some great treasures - Winston the bear, Fluffy McFlufferson (rabbit), Turkey Lurkey, and a couple of pegasus. Plus she learned a bit about handling money. (Shhhhh, don't tell her it was educational!)

Hubby and I found a few treasures too. An original Weave-It, complete with original needle and instructions;

and a set of vintage Boye interchangeable crochet hooks, with a beautiful amber-colored handle. The outside of the box is damaged and the set is missing 2 hooks, but I love it.

We flew out Friday night, getting to the house just before 1 a.m. Saturday morning. It was a wonderful trip, and we really miss Addy, but it also feels great to be home.

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Mythbusters

We're all fans of the show, so when John spotted a Mythbusters exhibit at the Denver Natural History Museum, tickets were a must-have.

I expected a static exhibit, one where you look at someting in a glass box, read the accompanying description, and move on. Should have known better!

There were lots of hands-on, try-your-luck displays. Addy loved watching Mom successfully pull a tablecloth off without disturbing the dishes. (Hint: pull down, hard and fast.)

Addy and Dad tried the 'do you get wetter walking or running in the rain' experiment (hint: walking). Addy liked it so much that she ran it again, even though the "water" running off her hair and face looked like yellow, slimy, disgusting mucus in the black light mirrors. Yuuuuuuuck.

We found out that Pop is not faster than a speeding bullet,

that we can't throw a playing card fast enough to do damage, and that Rachel and Addy look great as floating heads. (Classic Christmas card, yes?)

We'd planned to see a show at the museum's planetarium, but it was closed for the day - like every other time we've been there, sigh - so we fell back to Plan B - Great White Sharks" in Imax 3-D.

Great show, especially for animal-lover Addy. One of these trips, I'd really like to see the planetarium though . . . .

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Grandparent Day

Today was grandparent day at Addy's school, so PopPop, Grandpa Jim, and I joined her for lunch in the cafeteria,

then headed out to the playground for a brisk recess - 28 degrees! snow!

Addy was in heaven, having three of her favorite adults hanging out with her.

We were back again an hour later, with Addy's parents and her 2 pet rabbits in tow. For her birthday, Addy got to bring something to class for show and tell. Anybody surprised she chose the rabbits??

Both Angel and Benjamin (her new French Angora) were good boys and took a classroom of adoring, petting kids in stride.

Between lunch and rabbits, I finished Addy's surprise Viking hat*, in her favorite tourquoise and pink. She's promised to wear it again tomorrow when she and I (and mom, if she's good) are going to watch How To Train Your Dragon. Cool movie for a cool hat.
*Pattern is Lael's Viking Hat; my project notes are here.

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Addy Time

Look what we found when we woke up this morning . . .

Bet you guessed we aren't in California at the moment. By mid-afternoon, we had several inches on the ground and the white stuff was still coming. So very different from what we're used to seeing.

Since the year she was born,

we've made a tradition of visiting Colorado for Addison's birthday and then staying for Thanksgiving; this year is no exception.

Hard to believe my first-born grand-girl is 7 already!

Happy birthday, sweet Addy!

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Craft Fail

Spotted this cute turkey on Pinterest (where else? Greatest time waster inspiration site ever) and thought "I can do that!" And "how cute for the little girls to give their parents!"

So I rounded up helper #1, some supplies and set forth. First mistake was tracing Leanne's hand on the wrong side of the fabric. Fixed that. Got the hand-print sewn, trimmed and turned right side out, noticing about that point how tiny Leanne's fingers are.

Opened the new jumbo, 32 oz. bag of fiberfill. Second mistake was letting Leanne grab hands-full of the stuff. Cleaned that up. Showed her how to put tiny bits at a time in the wrist opening - she caught on fast and was surprisingly patient with the process (great hand-eye coordination practice, BTW).

We were happily stuffing away, alternating between using a crochet hook, pencil and stuffer-tool thingee, when I spotted a teeeeeeny, tiny, little problem. Do you see it?

The seam on Leanne's teeny, tiny baby finger couldn't take the pressure. Oh, well. This would have been cute, but definitely one of the smallest turkeys ever made.

Leanne and I had fun working together, and it's great to know that Leanne (probably) inherited the family crafting gene. But I think we'll wait until her hands are a bit bigger before we try this again.

 

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