Camo Buddies

 I got Tim a new hat for Valentine's Day (old school Drake camo something or other that he has been salivating over on Amazon for a damn month and I went ahead and bought the damn hat because damn!  It was only $20 and it was already "mysteriously" placed in my cart) and damn, that was a helluva run on sentence.  Oh yeah, got him an I phone 5 too, cuz my boo needs to be treated like the prince he is ;)
Long story short, Jason has now adopted Tim's old camo hat (Beretta) and they looked so darn cute on the couch yesterday, sharing a camo moment.

Put it on your head Dad!

Going for the soft tissue damage....

Peek a boo, I see you!

Willow the Giant

 Willow started out life with us in a fairly decent-sized crate.  As she has grown, I find her in interesting positions in the crate, trying to get comfortable.  She's usually on her back with her back legs jammed into the spaces in the top of the crate and her front paws resting on the front door of the crate.  I started to feel sorry for her around 70 pounds, so I ventured to Craigslist to see what was out there.  I found a crate that seemed to have the dimensions to fit Willow all the way through adulthood if she grows as big as her momma (85+ pounds).  And I always figured I could sell her old crate and make back a little moola to go towards the new crate (which ended up being under $100, a far cry from the unbelievable prices they were charging at Pet Smart).
When Caroline and I headed out to get this crate, I really had no spacial relations about how it would fit in the van.  We ended up taking out or folding up every seat in the van to make it fit!  The thing could fit Little Sebastian! (If you are not a Parks and Rec fan, that was just lost on you).  And then once we got it home, the dilemma of where to put the darn thing started.  We ended up retrofitting our utility closet (moved some shelves) and put it right next to the second fridge.  Now if we don't want to see it, we just close the folding closet doors and block out the giant crate from view.

I am so excited about a new crate, can't you tell?!

The panic in her eye is evident as she waits to see which kid will attack her next....

Jason is the only kid in this house who actually likes the dog.  Everyone else tolerates her.

Always looking for the sun patch....

Crochet Crazy

 So life with a "second job" has gotten a little busy.  Business on Etsy has been increasing steadily and I've started to average about 1-2 orders a day.  On top of my "day job" and the 24 hour job of mothering all these damn kids in my house and a puppy and a husband.....I think I am certifiably insane to be taking on all this work!  But crocheting is still a creative outlet for me and I really do enjoy making the items in my shop.  I just recently got slammed--15 orders in 4 days.  I'm working my way through those orders while still keeping my house running :)  I'm trying to plan ahead at this point so that I can devote large chunks of my evening to working on my orders (do 2 rows of hat, change laundry over, do 2 rows of hat, fold a load, do 2 rows of hat, read bedtime stories to Emmy, do 2 rows of hat, clean off dinner table, etc).  
Carrie recently asked me about making an owl hat with matching booties for a coworker's baby shower.  I have tried booties in the past with minimal success--they usually end up looking like crocheted sandwich bags.  These ones turned out so well that I went on to make 2 more pairs for my shop!  The boy pair above have the cutest owl buttons and the bottom ones are simply pink and gray for a little girl.
An old friend of mine from college emailed me about getting some items for her son's newborn photo shoot while I was on winter break.  She loved the baseball set (her husband is a big fan) and she and her husband met at VT.  She ordered the VT hat and I threw in a matching diaper as a "congratulations" present.  And then she did something awesome and sent me pics from her photo shoot, telling me to use them for my shop if I wanted!  Check out baby David below:

Hokie baby!

baseball's littlest fan

baby girl booties with flower button