Three Years Ago Today...

I found out I was pregnant. Time certainly flies. 

"Should I take another one?"

Henry Lately.

Henry has been so awesome this week. We've only had a couple of "Mommy IS NOT a big hill today!" instances since I've hurt my back.

Some Henry lately...

He wears these fake glasses without lenses all the time.

He has discovered most super heroes also have "other names", and now knows who Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne and Ben Grimm are. He gets mad when he's given conflicting information from Mommy and Daddy. (How was I supposed to know Wolverines name isn't really Logan but is actually James Howlett???)

He thinks Uncle Michael lives in the elevator at work. (That's what happens when you creep elevators, Uncle Michael!)

He has scary sharp little vampire teeth.

He is starting to put super heroes into their groups! (Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor are the Avengers, Batman works with his sidekick Robin, The Thing and Human Torch are part of the Fantastic Four...) Nerd!

He can count up to 14 now, without any mistakes. He knows some of the numbers after that, but doesn't get them in order.

He thinks Will Arnett on Arrested Development is very entertaining for some reason. Henry hawk-eyes him when he's on the screen. I guess he is a pretty weird looking guy?

He has started making different scenarios when he's driving his car, like "Goin' to see Santa cause he's nice!" or "Goin' to Wal-Mart to get STICKERS!"

He likes to tell Wes that he's his best friend. So cute.

He's getting better at relaying what he did in school that day, like "Henry painted!", "Miss Linda told a story!", or sometimes "NOTHING, Mommy."

He's always trying to talk (force) my Grandma into making him pancakes, regardless of the time of day. "Pancake! Get the griddle HOT! Make it! PUT BUTTER ON IT!!!" (In his defense, she does make some slamming good pancakes.)

He's learning a ton of songs, and he's hilarious to watch sing and dance, which he does with extreme gusto.

His hair is getting so long, but (aside from his bangs) I can't make myself cut it yet.

He still loves puzzles. They were getting a little too easy but I didn't think he was quite ready for bigger puzzles yet, so we decided to make them a little more challenging by mixing a couple of puzzles together. Still fairly easy to sort, like animals with cars or people with airplanes, but it holds his attention longer. Plus, it's fun to watch him check out each piece since it might not go with the puzzle he's doing. "Nope, not this. Nope, not this. THIS ONE, MOMMY!"

This kid is so tall. He's going to outgrow his petite daddy.

He always has to inspect fruit for the sticker.

He's such a good sport about almost everything, and he loves loves loves to "help".

He knows how to turn his tiny DVD player on and start the movie, which is great when you're lying on the floor unable to move.

He's really, really into giving Jen's boyfriend a complex, calling him "Old Ritz" all the time.

He's such a joy to be around, such a bright happy kid.

I sure do love you, Henry Bean!

52 Weeks Project: Week 4

Man, what a week this has been. Immediately after writing my last post, my back went out again. So I'm still happily hobbling around. Still sucks, but it's better than the day it happened.

Sticking to the positive, over here.

Being stuck on the couch really did help with my crafting productivity. The weeks making...

First up...

Giant Flower Hot Pad!

I am a collector of a few random different vintage things like salt shakers, mugs, aprons and casserole dishes. Mom stuff. I am a little silly with my collection of weird hot pads, but I still haven't found a really big one to use with my larger Pyrex dishes. I had a bunch of turquoise rope in my stash, so I decided I could fix that problem. 

Giant rope, giant crochet hook, very simple basic flower pattern. Super fast, super easy. I'm definitely an instant gratification kind of girl. 

Next up...

Scarf it up.

I made a knit/crochet combo scarf for Henry to sharpen up my yarn skills. I apologize for the terrible pictures, I have the worst little point and shoot camera ever and at this time I was still too focused on my back to give a crap about the lighting. Maybe I'll add "sweet new camera" to my list of things to save up for. Oh, well. I'm really happy with how it looks in person, very textured and crazy. It's a total mishmash of practice Intarsia, cables, popcorn stitches and different granny squares. But it DOES have a sweet pocket with a whale on it for mitten stashing.

I've also been working on more quick projects to sell at a future B&B fundraiser, so I made a few little things for that. I have a bunch of turquoise safety pins I found at a garage sale several years ago (for 10 cents!) and I have been trying to figure out what to do with them (since I feel like I'm now a little too old to just stick them through my ears). So I ended up cutting them, attaching simple owl beads, and adding hooks. Hello, big batch of owl earrings.

The last project for this week involves putting to use some of my vintage aprons and embroidery thread. One of the different things we are doing with the B&B involves using aprons as uniforms and we are also hoping to sell a variety of them in our gift shop. So if Great Aunt Mabel leaves you stash of cool aprons, send them my way. I'm trying to get together a few for the previously mentioned fundraiser, and added a little embroidery to one this week. 

Don't be a jerk. 

So that's that.

I hope everyone else is having a great week. 

Don't forget to see what Emily is making over at teaandlaundry.net! 

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up.

Well, I've finally done it.

I have officially joined the Velickoff "HELP!!!! I've thrown out my back!" Club.

Perks of this club:

-Spending 2 hours on the kitchen floor, flipping out because your kid is eventually going to wake up from his nap and demand a banana.

-Sniper crawling all over the house to hunt down the phone.

-Calling a bunch of people and scoring lots of sympathy because you are crying hysterically into the phone. (Unless you're calling my father, then you just get a "Happy Birthday! Ha ha ha!". So much pain, almost dropped the F bomb on my dearest dad.)

-Freaking out your kid because you are crying while getting him previously mentioned banana. Henry was incredibly sweet. He covered me up with his Hulk blanket (and his banana peels) and watched his car DVD player while we were waiting for help. Best kid ever.

-Family Saviors! My little bro Michael came and saved Hank, and my awesome mama took me to the doctor despite having a million things to do before leaving for the weekend. Love them!

After we gimped up the stairs (STAIRS?!) to the doctor, I got sat on by a rather large man (personal space?) who sort of fixed my back. Somewhere between there and home, swelling went crazy and my back went out again. Fun stuff. Went back yesterday, got sat on again, and so far it's better. Better as in I can sit up straight and walk around. Still hurts like a mother. According to the doctor, a vertebrae was stuck sideways and now that it's back in, it's going to continue to feel like a bad sprain.

In conclusion, this sh*t is whack. I am deeply sorry if you have ever had back pain, chronic or otherwise. I was not nearly sympathetic enough. I probably made you bench press my kid and lift heavy boxes and touch your toes. My bad, guys.

I did manage to bust out a few projects this week before the back drama, and I found my camera charger, so more on those later.  In the meantime, check out Emily's crazy productivity.

Have a safe weekend!

Flashback Friday: 1/25/2013

My dad...

Mike Velickoff, 1986

Stuff I love about this guy...

He's freaking hilarious. 

He's the type of person who, while driving, thinks it's really funny to smile and wave frantically at strangers passing just to see the return half-wave and look of total confusion on their faces..."Did we know that guy?"...

I can't tell you how many times I've had the crap scared out of me by him screaming around corners on some of my childhood midnight bathroom runs.

He will ALWAYS laugh at fart jokes.

He can build anything out of anything. He helped us extensively remodel my great-grandma's house a few years ago. We couldn't have done it without his help. I never would have made it through the bats and the bat crap. Thanks, Dad!!!!

He can act like a big 12 year old. When I was in high school, his response to a smart remark my best friend Autumn made- Dad tackled her, took her SHOE, threw it across the K-Mart parking lot, and tried to throw her in a mud puddle while laughing like a maniac the entire time.

He is a great Dad. Growing up with someone who has such a sense of humor was something I will always appreciate. Even if he did stuff like this...

"You can ride on it! It's just a deer!"

I know. He's a baller. I love you Dad!

Late Night Phone Calls...

Hank last night on his pretend phone, in reference to Jen's boyfriend...

Me: Who are you calling?

Hank: Calling Rich.

Me. You're calling Uncle Butch? Why?

Hank: NO, calling OLD RICH. See what he's doing.

Me. Oh, okay. What's he doing?

Hank: (in withering voice) He's seeing Aunt Jen and Blue.

Me: What's he saying?

Hank: (in even more withering voice) He's not there Mommy. It's not real.

The Twins are 28!

Happy Birthday to us. Twins doing twin stuff...

Turtle Dancing.

I hope I'm laughing like a goose.

(That's our brother, not our pimp.)

Family Reunion.
(seemed like such a good idea at the time.)

Hot or Not?

Twins doubling as photo props.

And the NOW.

Happy birthday, Jen. LYLAS!

Four Years and One Kid Later...

I'm still pumped I can fit into this dress. Get ready for a picture heavy post.

Spent the weekend photo-shooting with my besties. Autumn is trying to add to her wedding photography portfolio, and I didn't need much of an excuse to dig my dress out of the closet. She probably couldn't have asked for more awkward, unphotogenic subjects. Super fun, even if it was like 18 degrees outside. "Hey Autumn....CHEEEEEEESE!!"

Awkward and convinced I was going to leave a giant dent in the car. 

And then...I couldn't get back up.

Framed.

Fun stuff. Lots of giggles. Thanks for a fun time, Oppie. 

Some pictures from the actual big day, 11-1-08....

We got married on my grandparents anniversary in a vintage movie theater in downtown Morgantown. It was super cool. One of the best days of my life, for sure. 

Historic Warner Theatre, Morgantown WV

Mr. and Mrs.

I went a little overboard on the handmade, I will admit. It was a little too much pressure on myself at the time, and I probably would outsource a little more stuff if I had to do it again. Some crap I made...

Envelopes for the Candy Buffet. 

Autograph Table.

Bouquet.

Ring Pillow.

Best. Favors. Ever.

But it was a great time. I love my nerd husband. His vows included a Superman reference, of course. For serious. Love his Wes face. Some reception pictures...

Couldn't bend over then either. 

Happiest Flower Girl EVER.

On a side note about my flower girl Kara, she sobbed hysterically after the wedding because she thought we were going to go live at Disney World. I came home to the sweetest note from her saying I needed to come back with a little broken heart drawn on it. So. Cute. 

Another tidbit about my wedding for those of you who don't know about it: I ended up with a broken foot as a result of a bridesmaid-running man-exposed chest-heavy unknown gawker (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! Even if I don't!) incident, and we spent our first married night in the ER watching the Shining. Good stuff. 

Newspaper Clippings...

That's an article written in 1968 about my Pap. He was 22 years old at the time and had saved a 12-year-old boy from drowning. Pretty sweet. That's him and my cute Grandma.

"Be it known to all men that John Rice has been responsible for saving a human life while performing his duties on a construction job site. Through quick thinking and ingenuity, Joseph Scott Jr., who was in danger of drowning, was preserved June 14, 1968 at Crafton, Pa."

Flashback Friday: 1/18/2013

Get ready for lots of twin pictures in the future...

As the first children, and the novelty children, we have buckets of photographs of ourselves doing lots of oddball stuff. Like conquering snowmen.

James & Jen. Snowman Defeated.

Happy Friday!

52 Weeks Project: Week 3

One of my goals for the 52 weeks project is to do more crafts with Henry. He LOVES paint, so I wanted to make something with handprints. After seeing this on Pinterest, we decided to make a handprint peacock to hang in our turquoise kitchen. Here's how it turned out.

I didn't get any pictures of Henry since my camera charger is hiding somewhere, but he had a great time smearing paint around. I definitely want to try to find more cool things to make with handprints. Super cute, super quick. Maybe this or this next time. 

52 Weeks Project: Week 2

This has been the most ridiculous week. Hank has been sick for the better part of it. He is becoming super skilled at blowing his nose (yay!) but also thinks my shirt and tissues are one in the same (boo!). So while dealing with my grouchy sick kid and his 103 temp, I decided to bust out my felt and embroidery thread.

52 weeks project 2: Creepy Plushies!

Scary Bear and Foxy Lady

I have been a huge fan of Stanley Donwood, Thom Yorke and Radiohead cover art since I was 15. Really, how can you not love scary bears? I haven't made one since Wesley and I were dating, but it seemed to fit Hanks mood, so one more has joined the world.

Stanley Donwood, Despot Bears

We are currently working on putting together a fundraiser show for the B&B to help with some of our renovation costs. Yay for musically talented friends and friends of friends, because this is a total learning experience for me. I'm trying to make a whole bunch of random weirdness to sell. Look forward to that. I'll let you know when we have some bands and dates.

Sorry for the short and sweet update, neglected housekeeping calls. Have a great week! Also, check out Emily's crazy awesome project. I'm pretty impressed. 

Flashback Fridays...

I have always loved reading "Flashback Friday" posts. It's awesome to see a family history and random tidbits of their lives. My mom recently scanned and saved hundreds of photographs for us because she is incredibly awesome, so I really have no excuse not to do this. So here's my first flashback photo...

Ohiopyle State Park, 1980-something.

That is my mom climbing the tree and my dad catching her. We grew up (and still reside) near Ohiopyle State Park, which is where this photo was taken. My parents used to hang out there quite a bit.  They were teenagers, dating at this time, not yet married. My mom was (and still is) pretty fearless. One of her stated reasons for dating my dad was that she couldn't beat him up. Love it. Love them.

Some Henry Lately

Awesome. 

Henry's vocabulary is increasing every day, and it's way exciting but he sounds so grown up sometimes, I just can't stand it. 

Everything is "Henry do it!".

He still loves to read, and hearing him read to himself is hilarious. "LOOK OUT! Evil Dr. Octopus is on the LOOOOSE!" 

His current favorite books are "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", anything with "superdudes" and "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus". Super fun. 

He thinks his stinkers are hilarious and loves to announce them. "Henry FARTED!"

He can spell his name now and he can count to 12. If you ask him to do either one to make him show off, he refuses. But if you give him some paper and tell him to write his name, he'll spell it out while he "writes" it. And if you ask him to count cheerios for you, he usually will...although he does still get stuck on three sometimes. "One...Two...Three....Three...uh, three...". 

He can now identify more superheros than I can. No idea what people do when they don't have a Wesley around to be all like "Oh, that's Kilowog." Right....I totally knew that?

He loves to talk on the phone, and he's getting a lot easier to understand by everyone but my dad...but in his defense, Henry always has to tell Pappy really random stuff like he's wearing octopus pajamas or Rango & Beans went to Dirt to get water...so it's not entirely his fault. 

He loves pizza. 

He's been really into learning peoples "other names". Mommy is Jamie, Daddy is Wes, Henry is Bean or Henry Eisner or Batman Henry or whoever else he is that day, Pippy is Johnetta, Gammie is Sharon, so on and so on and so on. Your secret identity is not safe with him.

He is not very interested in the potty, though he will sit there forever if I let him look at the "Where's Waldo?" book. 

Sesame Street has finally been replaced by the new Avengers cartoon series. Yay!

He's the best thing ever. 

Edit:

Jen caught Hank reading "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus". For your viewing enjoyment:

52 Weeks Project 1

I've been an avid knitter forever, and the accumulated yarn stash from the last ten years should probably be insured. Seriously, you should see it. I think you could swim in it.

After Henry arrived I had to trade in my knitting needles for crochet hooks (so I wouldn't poke out his eyes or have to pick up a million stitches) and I've come to love to crochet as much as I love to knit. During all the time I spent breastfeeding (when we weren't reading nerd novels) I made Hank a ton of weird little hats. I attempted to get an Etsy shop going to sell them under the name Innocent Aesop, but two years later have yet to list anything. Lazy me!

Worlds Smallest Radiohead Fan

One of my goals for 2013 is to get some of my patterns written up. Maybe even list some finished hats on Etsy in my spare time. (Ha! Spare time?) Word of mouth has kept me pretty busy, to the point that I still owe a few people some holiday hats. (My bad guys! I haven't forgotten about you!)

"52 Weeks Project" number one: Crochet pattern for the Sleeping Owl Newborn Hat is written! I'm going to make one more hat just be 100% sure the pattern is correct, then I'll post it here so you can make your own. Yay, productivity!

Sleeping Owl Hat

I recently made a few of these hats for Christine Baggett of CMH Photography, LLC in Saint Cloud, FL. I'm toying with the idea of selling them at the B&B souvenir shop. It was super exciting to see the finished photos of them. They are such a cute family, and she's a great photographer. If you are in the area you should check her out.

The Baggett Family

I've also been doing a bunch of custom hats, and they have become my go-to gift for the awesome kids in my life. Henry "helped"  make the kitty hat gifted to my friend Emily's sweet daughter Hazel. At her birthday party when she opened it he started yelling "It's a hat! Hazel, it's a HAT!"...he's not so informed about the element of surprise, I guess. Hooray for busy children, because happily she either didn't hear him or she's very good at faking surprise.

I just wish I was better at writing down what I'm doing, my style of crochet is to just go at it until I like it. Awesome and uncomplicated, but it's hard to make an exact duplicate.

Kitty Hat for Hazel

And there you have it. We are currently buried under 12+ inches of snow, so maybe I'll keep being productive? (Or maybe we'll watch cartoons and drink hot chocolate?)

Check back in the future for some free patterns!

Just a Reminder...

We would love to share our business plans with you! The Spotted Owl will be hosting a "meet and greet" on Saturday, Jan. 5 at 3 p.m. The meeting will be held at the future B&B site: 2035 Dinnerbell Five Forks Rd, Farmington PA 15437. For directions to the site, click here. This event is open to anyone who may be interested in attending. We will be going over our business plan, answering any questions you may have, and giving a tour of the site. Come check it out and pass the word to anyone you think might like to become an investor! 

Free Methodist Church
2035 Dinnerbell Five Forks Rd
Farmington, PA 15437

New Years Resolve.

Every year I make resolutions.

It's always the same type of nonsense, like lose those 5 pounds from Christmas (or the __ pounds from childbearing, I'm not even telling you what that number was), or to stop biting my fingernails (pssssh...never going to happen) or to quit some other bad habit, get the attic organized, plant a bigger garden...or whatever.

Generally nothing epic and usually completely disregarded by January 15.

This year I'm trying something new by picking a word and trying to apply it to my daily life. After about five minutes thought, my word for 2013 is going to be "create".

I want to create:

Strength in my relationships.

Joy in my family.

So, so, so many little things out of yarn and glass and found objects and paint and photos...

A better environment, better habits. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

An awesome business that is an asset to the local community.

A larger family...maybe? Not so sure I'm ready for that one yet. As my best buddy would say...

 "Shut up ovaries, you're drunk."

Baby Hank, Baby Fever

Create. I think it's a good word for me. I already feel inspired, hopefully I can hang onto it.

During my morning Facebook stalking, I came across a post in my newsfeed from my friend Emily about doing a "52 weeks project", making something every week and blogging about it. I'm going to give it a good shot. Even if it's just making something new for dinner. Considering my last attempt at faithful blogging led to a couple posts followed by over a year of nothing, I'm not holding my breath. But I'm going to make an effort. Good intentions, right?

2013. Make it or break it.

Happy New Year!