Benjamin's Baby Blanket

This is my 1st FO in 2008!!! Yes, it is June. Yes, it took me over 6 months to complete. Yes, this has been my most favorite project to date! I was able to give this blanket to my sister this past weekend when we were in Flo-town. However, with all the hub-bub of the trip, I forgot to take a picture of Benjamin with the blanket. Oh well!

Benjamin's Finished Blanket!

The pattern that I chose is the Renee Baby Blanket from Staci Perry over at verypink.com. There is such a sweet and endearing story behind her pattern that it made my heart melt and I knew this was the perfect blanket for Benjamin! I made a few slight modifications to the original pattern. There are supposed to be 5 panels of the lace, but I cut it down to only 4. Also, she includes fringe on the end, but I felt that leaving the fringe off makes it more manly.

Since the pattern is lacy, I wanted to take it's manliness further by using some of Tess' Designer Baby and Sock yarn in a color stream of blues, yellows, and greens. While I love the texture and feel of this yarn, I don't think that I will use it again!!! It was heavily overdyed to the point where my fingers turned blue after knitting it. I spoke to my wise knitters over at the Sip n' Knit and asked what I should do to set the dye. They told me I had to give it a boiling vinegar bath.

Boiling vinegar bath??? I couldn't believe that I had spent 6 months on this wonderful blanket and now I had to put it in a pot, on a stove, and boil it in water and vinegar. I was so scared to do this. So, I took the blanket outside to get a couple pictures before I potentially destroyed it!!!

Blanket posing in the sun!

But I don't wanna boil Benjamin's blanket!

Okay...it's in the pot...the water and vinegar are added...no turning back now!

In the end, I did 2 boiling vinegar baths, at least 3 wash cycles, and about 10 rinse cycles to get all the vinegar and soap out. It was a 2 day process, but in the end, the blanket came out squeeky clean and no longer bleeding all over me.

I couldn't live with myself if I turned my nephew into a Smurf because of my yarn choices.

Hubby's New Toy

For those of you who know my husband...he NEVER likes to spend money on himself. No matter how hard he works, how much he does for me, and how much he does for everyone else...he NEVER rewards himself.

Until now....


Yes, that is our new TV. For those of you who would like to know all the specific specs...you're gonna have to talk to Jason. All I know is that it is:

37 inches
HD
clearer picture

Beyond that, I won't be of any help to you at all. Details on electronics are like baseball stats: guys have an ability to know and remember them, but I am just lost.

Jason...you deserve this TV! I'm glad you finally got it!!! I bet the next golf match will look amazing on it.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

I have always been a fan of baseball games. Maybe not the game as much as the whole experience of going to a game. The fans cheering...hotdogs...peanuts...and enjoying an afternoon or evening outside.

Growing up outside of Cincinnati, we went to several Reds games at Riverfront Stadium (I don't care who you are...it will ALWAYS be called Riverfront Stadium!) They had this wonderful program where if you got straight A's in school, you'd get a a set of 4 free tickets. My sisters and I were always good students, so we'd each have our own set of tickets. Dad would cash them in for us and we'd go to 3 separate games during the summer. I have such great memories of those games!!

Now that I'm living close to B'more, we've gone to our fair share of games at Camden Yards. That is just an amazing stadium!!! It is aesthetically pleasing...and where else can you get crab cakes and BBQ ribs at a baseball game? They have $8 nights on Tuesday, so we can pile all the friends in a car and head up for a pretty cheap evening at the ballpark.

This year was my FIRST OPENING DAY ever. It was a cold, dreary, and rainy day, but we didn't care...it was Opening Day...the O's were tied for 1st!!!! We followed the Orioles tradition and started out at Pickles before the game....


and then headed inside to our seats which were located...well you can tell!!!!

The O's ended up losing, but we didn't care. It was Opening Day!!! And I knew that my adventures at Camden Yards wouldn't end way up at the top of the stadium...

A week later, I participated in the Orioles Advocates 5K run. This run started outside of Camden Yards, ran down through the Inner Harbor, Federal Hill, and ended up on the OUTFIELD!!! It was so invigorating at the end of a race to come through the player's entrance and right into the outfield. I had never actually been on a real baseball field before...and it's a memory I won't forget! Not to mention I did get yelled at for stepping on the field by accident..oops!

















Little did I know that my adventures at Camden Yards were not over....


A little over a week later, Jason got some tickets from a contact through work that put us in the FRONT ROW beside the visitor's dugout!!


















Yes - we were that close! I just had to lean forward a bit to snap this picture!! It was an amazing evening. Not only were the seats incredible, but the O's played an amazing game. They went into an extra inning with the White Sox, and I was horse from yelling and screaming for so long. What an experience!!!




















I can now say that I have been up at the top of Camden Yards...I have been on Camden's Yard in the outfield (sorry security guard!)...and I have sat in some of the best seats in Camden Yards. I love this baseball park! I love this team!!! We'll be going back to the Yard for several more games this season (in fact, Jason just called and said he's heading back to the front row this month for the Yankee game with some people from work!). Whether we're in the front row or not...as long as the hotdogs, peanuts, and now pistachios (thanks Sean!) are there, I'll be there!!

And it's an added bonus to see this guy play...

Markakis!!!!

Whirlwind Week in Indy

As promised, I have pictures to share from my wonderful week in Indianapolis! My main purpose for going out there was for this:

Benjamin Andrew Hannan - Nephew #5

Benjamin was born right before Thanksgiving and this was my first opportunity to meet him. He's gone through a lot during his first two months, and it was so hard for me to not just hop on a flight right away to be with him and my sister!! Now that he's home, he is making such progress and I wanted to smoosh him all week long. How can you resist a baby who meets you at the airport sporting his Terrapin pride? I won't bore you with all the details of the week, but it chockabock full of smiles, giggles, snuggles, and naps with this one.

"What is this crazy lady doing to my foot?"

Sound asleep....

I love the expression on his face...and the outfit is just too cute!

"Okay lady, you look a lot like my mom, but you're not, and I'm HUNGRY! I'll just suck on my hand for now, but I want my Mom!!!"

He gave BIG smiles the whole time I was there. However, he reserves
the biggest ones for his big brother.

Speaking of his brother, my 4-year old nephew, Noah, is just wonderful with his baby brother. He's always ready to come running with a burp cloth and to find the pacifier that's been missing for 2 days. He dotes on his brother with lots of hugs and kisses all the time. He also likes to...

give piggy-back rides!!!

On one of the days, I was giving Noah a bath while my sister was finishing feeding Benjamin. During that time, Benjamin proceeded to "erp" up a lot of what he had eaten all over himself. So, my sister being the quick thinking mom stripped him down to his diaper and gave him an impromptu bath with his brother. Noah loved it!

I did manage to get a little knitting time in while I was there. I've been working on Benjamin's blanket for about a month now, but it's no where near finished. Some might say it takes away the surprise of the gift to show it to the recipient before it's done, but I couldn't resist. I'm having so much fun with the Renee Baby Blanket that VeryPink designed that I had to bring it with me to show my sister. If you haven't seen this pattern, check it out. There is a great story behind it which makes it even more special!! I'm using Tess' Super Socks and Baby hand-dyed yarn. This is my first experience with hand-dyed yarn, so I was a bit surprised and concerned when the dye starting to come off on my fingers, but after some quick emails to Tess and my fellow knitters, I relaxed. I'm going to have to do some washing to set the color before I block the whole thing. But I think he'll like it...what do you think?

"Aunt Bri - it may only be 1/3 done, but I love it!"

The other highlights of the week included eating lots of yummy food while watching the Giants roll over the Packers. Here you can see Noah all set for the game...

I have always been amazed by my older sister, but this week in Indy just made me admire her even more. She has 2 children that she gives all of her time to, and what little is left over she gives to her husband, and she still manages to maintain her sanity. I was so exhausted at the end of each day and I would just look over at Ann and she looked like she could continue to go for hours more! She is an amazing mom!!! Not to mention, one hell of a sister! How many moms do you know that can do this:

Playing Guitar Hero while feeding your child

That week just makes me want to work that much harder to get done with school and move closer. I miss playing CandyLand and Tractor Tipping (see the Cars movie) with Noah. I miss waking up and having a nice breakfast of Cheerios and milk, just me and Noah. I really miss the snuggles, giggles, and smiles from Benjamin. But most of all...I miss my sister!

It's Here!

After a wonderful week with my sister in Indy, I came home to THIS:

Hello...welcome home from your trip!

I will make all of your stress melt away...jump on!

This is what my husband and I gave to each other for Christmas 2007, Anniversary 2008, and Birthdays 2008. I am going to finish unpacking and hop on!

I promise that I will have pictures of my fun in Indy very soon...two cute nephews that I gushed on for 6 days!

Mildred's Cousins

For my cold feet...and the soft spot in my heart!

Edit: Thanks to my mom for coming up with the perfect names...Louise & Roberta

From Our Family to Yours...

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a Happy 2008!

Our annual "self" portrait courtesy of Jason's photography skills

We lost our space in the living room for a tree, so we put up these Charlie Brown Christmas trees to highlight our favorite ornaments.

Lucy really wants to help get the wood for the fire...

but in the meantime she'll settle for a leaf that she brought in from the deck. Further proof she is a dog at heart

Don't mess with my presents!

Don't mess with my wrapping paper either!

We had a lovely holiday that started on Christmas Eve with the 2nd annual Charlie Brown Dinner. We invited several of Jason's co-workers and our neighbors who didn't have other plans on the evening. We enjoyed an amazing plethora of food and goodies and wine. It's so nice to have friends to share the holidays with when we can't be near our friends...we're so lucky! On Christmas Day, Jason and I just took it easy with a long walk in the sunny afternoon and watched the newest Santa Clause movie and our annual viewing of "Love Actually".

Contrary to what this blog may show, I have been knitting. The problem is that I can't show pictures of it because they're all gifts to give to family and friends who view this blog. The second problem is that since the sun has been so rare in its appearance around here that I haven't gotten any good pictures lately either. For the meantime, I"ll appease you with this...

a lovely cake of delicious yarn that I'm using for something extra special!