Celebrations

Every year, May is a time of endings and celebrations: the end of the tennis season, the end of another school year...This month we have already celebrated several special occasions, including these three:

Our good friend Mr. Fred's birthday was at the beginning of May; since a bout of pneumonia, he has been living at a nursing facility in Grants, one hour away.  We wanted to organize a birthday party for him at the facility and invited many of Fred's friends to attend.  The party was a lot of fun and I think it helped Fred remember how special he is to us all!

The second celebration was both happy and sad; our good friends the Datemas were moving away, so we had them over for dinner to celebrate our friendship and their exciting future in Michigan.  Although we miss them a lot already, this was an evening of good memories--and a beautiful rainbow in the sky to match!

Just this week we had the tennis team over for an end-of-season party.  I had fun preparing some tennis ball cupcakes!  It was good to celebrate a successful season with these great student athletes.

The next celebration will be a big one, indeed: Benji's first birthday is in a week!  I'm sure I will have some fun pictures to post from that party!  If today's lunch is any indication, he will end up with icing all over his face...  :-)

Braided Rug--and a Bear Hood

Benji has been a great napper lately, giving me some extra time to work on craft projects I've been wanting to do for a while.  My first project was to "upcycle" some of Jonathan's old t-shirts (we needed some more closet space for Benji's ever-expanding wardrobe!)

I decided to make a rug that is braided while weaving the strands through the previous braid, so that there is no sewing necessary at the end.  I also decided to add a crocheted border.  Here are the instructions for the woven/braided rug that I used.  The biggest surprise in the project for me was how many t-shirts were needed.  I used about 12 large t-shirts to get this rug that is just 30'' in diameter!  Now it is brightening up our bedroom.

My second project was to try this hooded bear cowl pattern from the Velvet Acorn.  I made a toddler size so it should fit Benji best next fall and winter.  The pattern is really simple and quick because it uses extra bulky yarn and size 13 needles.  It did expand my limited crochet skills to make the ears, which was a fun challenge.

Now I have a cute little Ewok!  :)  I can't believe he will turn 1 year old in less than two weeks!