Update

So, a quick update on the Twichel family. After Abigail was born they discovered she had picked up the fever I had when she was born, they thought she might have an infection and one of her lungs looked cloudy on the x-ray. so, they kept her in the special care nursery for five days on antibiotics. They also kept me in the hospital for four days while I healed and regained the blood lost during delivery of my little cutie. Originaly they thought I would need a blood transfusion but my body managed on it's own and so I was spared that experience. Coming home from the hospital has been a crazy experience to say the least. When Abby was in the hospital all she did was sleep and eat and poop. Now, she only sleeps when I don't want her to, eats constantly it seems and poops on my hand when I change her diaper.
I realized something lately. I was frustrated about why my baby was so challenging and then realized that most of the time you don't see newborns. You see the happy smiling baby at church AFTER the first few months have past and the baby has matured, gotten a little bit of a schedule and the parents have regained some of their sanity! I WILL make it to that point before I rip out my hair. And I've raealized that it's ok to cry when you are tired and overwhelmed.  It's healthy to let it out.( I bawled the other day while holding Abby during her colicy time and she just stared at me with these big eyes!)
 She makes the funniest faces! REALLY, I have to keep myself from laughing while she is falling asleep because I don't want to keep her awake! Every emotion you could possibly imagine and then some cross her face. I often wonder what she thinks about and dreams about that causes such expressions. She wears "the thinker" face quite often. She has gotten to the point where she will just stare at your face and stare and stare and stare. Right now, she is sleeping in Scott's arms while he plays a video game(what a talented guy). I'm amazed that he got her to sleep and without her soothie even. Her colicy hours tonight were much shorter than usual and Scott held her while I ran a couple of errands for my  church responsibilities. She fell asleep in his arms and we are afraid to move her because she will wake up and start screaming again. And that girl has got lungs! Despite the screaming each night for hours when I am at my most tired(Scott does a great job of watching her during that time), challenging nursing experiences, etc.. I am falling in love with a little baby girl named Abigail. She holds onto our fingers now with such a tight grip! She loves being sung too, especially the songs we sang to her while I was pregnant. I look at her and can hardly believe that not to long ago she was in heaven. She is such a precious gift! (this is of course much easier to remember when she is happy and cooing or sleeping peacefully). One of my favorite things lately has been watching Scott hold her. He is so gentle and sweet, a real softy.  He talks to her and makes me laugh when he says the things I think when she's being fussy. For example, during her colicy hours or while changing a diaper on a screaming Abby he sweetly says, "oh put a sock in it" or something along those lines! I cannot imagine going throught this wonderful and yet highly challenging experience without such a great guy by my side who watches Abigail at night so I can sleep even though he's tired and has to go to work in the morning. I love my family so much!

Abigail Elyse Twichel (aka cutest baby ever!)

New Baby!

(Written on Dec. 2nd) Our baby's birth from Melody's perspective(which is rather fuzzy and probably a little inaccurate about times, dates, etc..): As of yesterday, December 1st at 2:10 pm Scott and I are the parents of a beautiful baby girl named Abigail. Abby was 7 pounds 14 ounces and 19 and a half inches long when she was born. When I get the chance to spend time with her and hold her and look in her beautiful dark blue eyes I am amazed at how blessed we are. The look on Scott's face when he holds her is just priceless. It looks to me like a combination of awe, shock, love, disbelief and more awe.
Abby had a rather traumatic birth so if you aren't prepared for what may be To Much Information discontinue reading! I am still finding out more details of how it went and what happened as time passes. I started having contractions fairly frequently  late Monday afternoon between 6 and 8 pm.  The pain was pretty severe and lasted through the night so on Tuesday morning we headed into the hospital in Orem(Mt. Timp Regional) to be checked. They observed for an hour and said I was effaced almost 80 percent but still only dilated to a 2 which was where I had been at my last appointment a week before. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed but I think it was almost a relief for Scott as the birth of his daughter was looming nearer and becoming more intimidating and this gave him a little break. So, they gave me a shot of morphine to keep the pain at bay a little and sent us home, but told us they expected to see us back later that evening with how my contractions were going.  I was able to sleep a little bit in between the really painful contractions which still woke me up.
 On  Tuesday we headed back in and were checked again, Much to my continued dismay, I wasn't making much progress in dilation. So, more morphine and back home to rest. At this I am beginning to wonder why this process is so difficult and painful.
Wednesday morning I had had it! I hurt so bad I wanted to just curl up and die. Scott was great at holding me up and coaching me on my breathing through the contractions. It helped so much! He was super supportive and poor guy had no idea what I was feeling. I tried to explain what they felt like but if you've never had menstrual cramps it's a little harder to understand the similarities. They put me in a room to be checked and low and behold I was dilated to a 5!!! I was so excited to finally be making progress! Not only that but the midwife I had seen the most during my appointments had just come on call so she came in to see us. We called my folks up in Brigham City to get them prepared and waited and breathed through the contractions which I have to say is much harder to do when laying in bed doing nothing that when you are moving around being distracted. An hour later I was dilated to an 8. They called the anesthesiologist to come and give me my epidural and he instantly became my best friend! Turned out he only had about 5-10 minutes before he had to be in surgery and so everyone was rushing around trying to get it all ready for him. It was quite the whirlwind! I had heard a lot about how painful it is to get an epidural but that it's worth it once you do have it. Totally not true in my case. The epidural was almost painless to get and made such a huge difference. Luckily I had the chief anesthesiologist and he was good at what he did. At this point I had been in labor about 36 hours with almost no sleep and was very tired and getting a little cranky.A few more hours went by( so they tell me) and there was no more change in my progress. I don't remember exactly how it all happened but I wasn't feeling well(felt like the flu - sweaty, headache, dry throat, fever, etc...). The midwife consulted with the doctor on call from the same clinic sometime during all this and it realized that not only did I have a fever but my body was too small for this baby to fit through the birth canal. Apparently they had waited much longer than normal to come to the conclusion that I needed a c-section.Well, that was devastating and very upsetting. Scott wiped away my tears as I cried.
So, they called in the anesthesiologist again(who by now was out of surgery) and they gave me even more drugs to be completely numb. They would spray my skin with an icy cold substance in one spot and then in the spot that was numb to see what I could feel which I think was interesting. Before I knew it Scott was kissing me goodbye as I flew by as they were wheeling me into the hallway and  we went to the O.R. What felt like less than five minutes later Scott appeared at my side all scrubbed up and they attached the blue sheet in front of me so I couldn't see what they would do. Scott was more nervous than me and I really dislike being cut into! But somehow I just felt like everything would be fine.As soon as things started  to get going(from what I could feel) Scott started  talking to me  and asking me lots of questions and trying to keep up a conversation.  While you may think this was for my benefit, really it was for him. He forewarned the staff in the OR that he might end up on the floor and they showed`him how to "fall" so his head would end up next to mine on my pillow. When I would stop talking or asking him a question he would get a little more pale and worried looking. He did a great job of conquering his fears and at the same time it kept me distracted as much as possible from the pushing and shoving being exerted on my poor tired body.  I heard someone say, "Happy Birthday" and then a very healthy cry from my little girl. She has some great lungs! She cried for the next little bit and Scott went over to see her and take some pictures while she was getting cleaned up. In the meantime they started trying to put me back together. Scott came over and showed me a picture of our little angel and then I started to want to die again. They weren't sharp pains, it was more like every part of body in the affected area was being ripped and stretched apart. This is what the anesthesiologist called "the uncomfortable part". Apparently I wasn't taking it well because that's the last thing I remember. I woke up hours later in a recovery room with my parents and Scott. So, the pictures of Scott showing me Abby in the O.R. are a complete mystery to me, I don't remember it at all. I started to freak out a little in the recovery room when they said they were still running tests on my baby and so I couldn't see her. After sending people to find her several times they brought her in to see me for a few minutes (against the rules, but I was desperate and about ready to demand seeing her). Scott and I got to have a few minutes with just the three of us and I held her and fell in love. A baby couldn't be more perfect than that. She is such a miracle.

Black Friday

I have never had enough of a desire to save money or buy something on the big sales to prompt me to attempt black friday. However, this year, for some strange reason , I felt compelled, yes, compelled to brave the masses in a very limited way. There were three things I wanted at the Walmart midnight sale. The ad didn't say how the sale would work exactly but I had been told by a Walmart employee that they wouldn't be closing at all. This was encouraging because I wouldn't have to stand in the cold but also confusing. How do you stand in line for something? So,  I thought we would check it out. Scott drove and was just going to wait in the car for me. I got inside about 11:35 and the place was crazy! Turns out that they had the big palates out and you were supposed to stand by "yours" and then when midnight struck you could grab your item. They had a walmart employee stationed by each palate to monitor you and keep you from cheating. So, I found the first item I wanted and then headed for the area where they had put the video games. Unfortunately, this is when things got a trifle nasty. There were people in that area than any other, of course, and they were wielding their elbows in such a way that you couldn't even discover what games they had. I stood up on the bench conveniently located next to the mob just to see what the layout was, etc.. and was immediately flagged down by a frowning employee who then promptly ignored me. I started walking back toward the first item, deciding that I would just get that because I didn't that I would die in the process and was pretty well assured to get what I wanted. On the way I asked an employee about the location of the third item  and after a blank stare, she said she didn't know and asked two other employees, who, I am sure where on some sort of mind altering substance as they never completely responded and sort of stumbled around "their area". Giving up on that tactic, I asked a woman walking by who had the aforementioned item in her cart. She directed me to it and informed me that they were almost gone because people were sneaking them into their carts when the employees backs were turned. Turns out the palette for it was about 15 feet down the isle. Why the employees were so clueless about the location I don't know. When I reached the palette I discovered to my dismay that there was only one layer left on the palette. This was a moment of discovering your own human nature and that you aren't perfect. I had the immediate thought that since everyone else was taking them early I better do the same so I could get one. Thankfully I made myself keep walking, without succumbing and went back to my first item where I called Scott and asked for reinforcements. After he came in and discovered the location of item number 3 he decided to take a look at the situation with the video games and later reported to me that people were being very territorial with their hands on the game system box they wanted or video game or whatever. They had staked their claim to box #xyz and you better not think about taking it from them when midnight struck! At about 11:55 someone down in is normally electronics yelled, "They're grabbing stuff!!" And the grabbing frenzy began and it wasn't long until things were stripped bare. In the end, we got 2 of the 3 things I wanted, were third or fourth in the check out line and back to Scott's parents house by 12:40. Overall, a success for a first timer who is also 9 months pregnant, but I have devised a plan for any future black friday escapades :) Lest you be disappointed in my families ability to protect me from the mobs, they did try to keep me from going but short of tying me up there wasn't much they could besides send Scott with me. Scott and I both went out at later points in the day to pick a few more items but the 6 am (Scott), 11 am(me) and 1 pm(Scott) runs were extremely calm and almost disappointing after the Walmart experience. One black friday down and not to shabbily done!

Lately...

It's been a while since we've updated our blog so here we go. Life has been pretty crazy busy lately with school for both Scott and I, work for Scott and a baby on the way! The baby is due next Monday and I've had such a roller coaster of emotion over the last few months. The last month the baby has grown by leaps and bounds (at least so it seems by the lack of space) and gotten very heavy. The days that she feels light and doesn't have her feet stuck up in my ribs on the right hand side are the days that I'm the most excited and happy about being pregnant. The other days when my bones and muscles feel like they are going to split apart and my back is on fire are the days when I just want to scream and wonder why I got into this whole having a baby thing. BUT, most days have been pretty good. The other day I saw a commercial for pampers with the cutest sleeping babies and I started crying because I was SO EXCITED to meet the little girl in my tummy! Sometimes we have "conversations" about what she's thinking about, what she'll look like, what kind of personality she has, I tell her about her daddy and how funny he is. Sometimes I feel the bumps in my tummy and try to figure out what's what. I was amazed at my appointment last week when the midwife could tell right off the bat where the babies little tush was and her head and her feet. One thing I have noticed and really love is the little one's tendency to kick and move around a lot when Scott calls on the phone or sits next to me and talks to me. I don't know that it's the sound of his voice or if the baby can just tell how excited I am and so she gets excited. Either way, it makes me smile every time it happens. I have the feeling that the two of them are going to be very close when they meet for real. Scott is going to be the best dad ever! Sometimes I listen to Scott's stories about the way that his dad parented, and the things that he thinks are important and I see those same things in Scott and it makes me smile. Sometimes I feel inadequate about knowing what to do with a little baby but with her coming soon, I can hardly wait to meet her and snuggle with her and watch her daddy hold her.

eye-opener

I have had quite the awakening lately. Being pregnant has definately not been a walk in the park for Scott and I, which was a surprise. There have been many ups and downs, lots of "losing my cookies", some scares and checking in to the hospital and some REALLY cranky emotional days. Some days it's been a real challenge to be optimistic. Don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to be having a baby but there are some days that I wish it wasn't so hard. Then I run into people who didn't have a single pregnancy symptom and loved the whole experience and I feel a little resentful. But, in the last month or so, which has been the easiest part of the pregnancy for me, I have discovered something that has helped change my perspective. I had no idea until recently that a handful of my friends are unable to bear children. What an eye -opener. They have talked on their blogs about how they would give anything to be having the experience that I am, including the misery, pain, soreness, crankyness, etc.. Wow! How narrow-minded have I been.. I am so blessed to be having the experience that I am. I have to remember that on days like today when it's a rollarcoaster. Scott and I have been given the opportunity to bear a child and help her become the person she is meant to be and I can't forget that. I have a wonderful loving husband who takes care of me and worries over the little things that could posssibly go wrong with the baby and is there to hold me when I cry about badly worded sales ads, sleepless nights and sappy tv shows. I wish so much for my friends to be in different situations but I am so grateful that they were able to remind me of the wonderful opportunity I am having and help me to have more perspective. So, factoring in everything in our pregnancy that has been a disillusionment and been miserable, I would still choose to be having a baby and am grateful to those who have helped open my eyes and wish I could help them as well!

My birthday was this past sunday and it was a great day. I've been wearing the great maternity clothes that my inlaws gave me earlier in the month which has been such a nice change! I've been enjoying my sunday birthday gifts of perfume and a great cake decorating kit from my wonderful husband! I'm also excited to get to use my new glue gun as I get ready to decorate the house for the upcoming holiday season!(I'm making what should turn out to be a fabulous wreath)
Today I gave in to the temptation that I've been fighting all week and used my cake kit for the first time. It was SO FUN!!! Still not perfect but for the first time with these particular techniques and tips I don't think it's too bad :)

Weekend Off!

Life has been pretty crazy lately and so Scott and I were both excited for a weekend off from life! Scott had a mandatory retreat for work over the weekend. Friday morning we drove the scenic route(aka long route) up to the Tifie Ranch because I was tired of driving on the freeway all the time and Scott humored me. The Tifie Ranch is part of a nonprofit group associated with Goal Zero (the company Scott works at). The ranch was amazing! It is all completely powered by solar, wind and hydroelectric. They have paintball, archery, shooting range, super close to the reservoir for boating, etc... You can stay in a room in the lodge(which we were lucky enough to score because of the little girl who's on her way to our family), in a small cabin, in a tepee or your own tent. Even the bathrooms out by the tepees were nicer than most that I've seen in people's homes. Definately not your normal camping experience.

For it being a required company retreat, it was super relaxed and fun. Taking a tour of the ranch and learning about it's self sufficiancy was the only part that seemed remotely required. Everyone played minute to win it games with some great Goal Zero prizes in the morning the rest of the day was full of haning out, going to the archery range, eating(of course!), roasting marshmallows for smores(gourmet s'mores with dove chocolate no less).

 

Throwing and catching LOTS of pencils! Scott did great!

Scott racing to drop different colored m&m's into different cups!

Scott trying  to jostle ping pong balls out of an empty tissue box!

                                                         The marshmallow roasting master!

 Trying to move a cookie from my forehead to my mouth without using my hands....unsucessfully!

                                       

The elusive fish....

Experiments, experiments, experiments...
I am so lucky to have a husband who is so supportive of my dreams and aspirations and who encourages me!

Banana Strawberry Freezer Jam

So, this is the jam I made the other day that y'all requested the results and recipe for. This recipe comes from the Ball Blue Book for canning and preserving.

Recipe:
3 large bananas
3 cups crushed strawberries(about 1 1/2 quarts)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 pouch freezer jam pectin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place bananas on baking sheet; do not peel. Bake for 15 minutes at 400. Cool. Peel and crush bananas. Measure 1 cup crushed bananas. Combine bananas and strawberries in a medium bowl; set aside. Stir sugar and pectin together in a large bowl until well blended. Add fruit mixture to sugar mixture and stir 3 minutes. Ladle jam into plastic freezer jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Let jam stand 30 minutes to thicken. Lable and freeze.

Results: So, the jam TASTES great! The only thing that bothers me is that it froze solid. Most freezer jams maintain a semi liquid state so you can spoon out jam. With this jam I had to cut out a chunk from the freezer to defrost and try. If anyone has any suggestions they would be appreciated since I've never done freezer jam before! (The regular strawberry freezer jam recipe turned out fantastic!)

Gingerbread!

I made this gingerbread cabin a few years ago and just found the pictures again and I was super excited so ya'all get to see them! I have been making gingerbread houses for many years, it's something that my mom and I enjoyed doing together when I was growing up. With this particular house, realistic looking was my goal. Everything on the tray is edible, from the chimney down the sugar water stream with floating "ice" chunks. Imagine that the door is broken and standing open because a bear scared away the people while they were roasting marchmallows outside because he wanted to hibernate inside....yup..that's what MUST have happened!
Now, the only question is...what kind of gingerbread creation should I do this year?

More baking!

Yet more baking adventures! I'm learning as I go along and enjoying it, even when things go a little haywire...we had a few cupcake misadventures today before the final product was captured on film..... I probably shouldn't have a favorite since I made all three but the butterfly is my favorite!

Why “Siftables” (They’re New Digital Blocks from MIT) Are Not, Not, Not Better Than Regular Blocks.

I found this article while doing "research" for a new cake idea I had and it resonated with me and the way I want my children to learn. Give children a large cardboard refrigerator box, pots and pans and some crayons and let them play! (Somewhat simplified view, as my children will have other toys, I assure you!)

Why “Siftables” (They’re New Digital Blocks from MIT) Are Not, Not, Not Better Than Regular Blocks.

More random pictures from our past!
Scott and his dad did 99% of the move when we moved into our new apartment!

Scott posing while we were in Las Vegas on our honeymoon, what a hottie!

This picture is from FHE in the singles ward where we met, right when I was starting to really like Scott! Scott is in the stripes and I'm in the blue shirt and khakis.

Also right after we met, I was unemployed and Scott found me a job as the manager of the Easter Bunny photo shoot in the mall(like the Christmas photos with Santa). When my bunny quit I had to be the bunny unexpectly. Needles to say the outfit was made for a taller, bigger person! I had hoped that Scott would come and see me because he knew I was going to be the bunny but I never saw him and was super disappointed. Then, at the end of the day my coworker gace me a bunny bouquet Scott had dropped off and I had been too distracted to notice. It was a large carrot and carnations wrapped up together. What a sweetie! Part of what attracted me to Scott was that he was unusual and thoughtful in his dating and that's a classic example!

As I have been uploading all the pictures from my camera onto the computer I decided to share a random mix of pictures from our past! Don't expect a lot of order!
This picture is from our honeymoon. One of our day trips from the house we stayed in was to Las Vegas!

This is right after we were married and moved into our first apartment!

Christmas eve my brother Jon and his wife Amy did a christmas eve dinner where you sit on the floor and eat traditional food from the "east" and read the Christmas story.

Right after my dance competition this past spring. Don't I have a handsome husband!

One long night!

Last night was a first in my life. I picked up Scott from work about 12:30 and we drove home. We worked on a few things that needed to be done before we turned in for the night and then Scott says, would you come over here and see if you smell something. So, I walked into the kitchen and it took me a minute to smell it but I could smell gasoline. The window was open and so we oepned the door and were hit with a big wave of gasoline smell. Scott got the flashlights and started to investigate. Our apartment is on the end on the building on the middle floor and the smell seemed to be coming from the fence area that separates our parking lot from the neighbors. The closer we got to the fence we heard a dripping sound. It sounded like liquid rapidly dripping onto metal. That was a little frightening combined with the smell. I DON"T WANT MY APARTMENT TO BURN DOWN!! Scott climbed onto the dumpster but couldn't see anything. So, he called the police department and they said they would send a fire truck over. Scott waited on the sidewalk for them and you could hear them coming even without the sirens. Some of the neighbors woke up but much to my disappointment our annoying downstairs neighbors slept through the experience. The firemen checked things out and were a little worried by the dripping noise and after throughly checking our side of the fence and using their cool little gadgets to check the fumes they headed around the block to check the other persons yard. Not sure what happened after that but I did the fire truck on the other side of the block. I do feel bad for the people who live across the street, where the fire truck was parked and let running with no explanation to them. I guess we'll have to wait and see if anything else comes of it.

Confessions of a closet baker!

I have always had an obsessions with baking that I tried to hide. BUT, no more! I WILL NOT HIDE MY PASSION!! I have done a lot of thinking and decided to open my own cake and cupcake business next year out of our house! I want to specialize in cut-up cakes like the ones I remember my mom making when I was growing up and cupcakes.


This snake cake was made last summer on the spur of the moment for my nephews birthday party and the boys all thought it was pretty cool. Not too bad for a beginner...

Over this past weekend my brother Jon and his wife Amy hosted a homemade root beer tasting party and so I took the opportunity to work on my cake skills.

I have to say that these cakes aren't the prettiest or the most perfect but I am pretty proud of them when I consider that I made them without any professional supplies(used sandwhich bags for piping words, table knife for frosting the cake) and no room in the freezer to freeze the cake before shaping it. There are, of course, things I would do differently next time, but overall I am pretty happy with it! I am super excited to start taking the Wilton cake classes and getting more experience and tools to improve my baking!
I have the most supportive husband who has given me the go ahead and wants to help me in any way he can, who could ask for more than that? Thanks Scott!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

22 Weeks!

We have some exciting news we wanted to share! On Thursday we went in for our first ultrasound(which was surreal, by the way). It was strange to see the little person inside, Melody could hardly believe it. Scott was glued to the monitor( it was like the discovery channel for him). The baby had the hiccups the entire time we were being ultrasounded. At first the baby didn't want to cooperate with the technician trying to determine gender. So, they moved on to measuring bones, etc...They couldn't see all four chambers of the heart and tried to get the baby to roll over so they could see better. After prodding my belly a little the baby did move and then promptly rolled back to the previous position and continued kicking those beautiful legs! And then.....they discovered IT IS A GIRL!! So, until we hear different we are working on that theory.(the picture was pretty clear though). We are pretty excited! So, one more girl will be added to the family November 29th!

A Growing Belly, 11 and 16 1/2 weeks!!

Recipes have become a new hobby of sorts for me. I enjoy trying out new recipes and Scott is always so supportive and eats everything I make! So, I thought I would occasionally post some of our favorites, especially the easy to make ones. This sunday we tried out a recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup from a book called "Missionary Meals for 2".

Chicken Tortilla Soup:
1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
1/2 15 oz can of whole kernel corn
1 14.5 oz can of chicken broth
1/2 15 oz can black beans
1/2 14 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 4 oz can diced green chilies
1/2 tsp cumin
salt to taste

Garnish:
tortilla chips
shredded cheddar cheese


We didn't add any salt and instead of torilla chips and cheese we had tortillas and guacamole on the side and it was so wonderful! I tripled it, approximately and would recommend the same for anyone else making it.


A few weeks ago we also started having Hawaiian Sandwiches, the recipe is from another missionary cookbook of mine.

Hawaiian Sandwiches:
Toast 2 slices of bread
Layer sliced ham, sliced pineapple and cheese on top of toasted bread for an open faced sandwich and broil until cheese melts.

We like to use white bread and white cheese. I personally like to heat my pineapple in the microwave before I put it on the bread so it gets really hot and toasty but Scott doesn't mind either way!

New Growth

At the beginning of the semester (around september) I bought some little houseplants and replanted them all together. I was very excited to have plants because it makes me feel very wifely and nurturing. Sadly, they didn't last long. As the temperature droped they began to wither one at a time until all three had shriveled up into little black sticks. I had almost given up on encouraging life in the apartment when I had some inspiration while looking at an avacado. We toothpicked the avacado pit and put it on a cup full of water to help it sprout into a tree. For a long time the pit didn't do anything and I was about to give up when it began to crack open so the roots could come out. A few weeks ago it began to grow in leaps and bounds and sprout out the side(it's supposed to come out of the top but it was in a place where the light was coming from the side). I was so excited that it was finally showing progress!!

So, after ignoring the messy bed you will see the finished blanket folded in half!

Christmas was a very busy time for us, with school, work and making Christmas presents. In my family we are assigned one sibling and their family to give gifts to because there are too many of us. This year we had Ben and Athena and their two darling little girls. About three months before Christmas we decided to make a blanket for them and after much thought and several brainstorming sessions with other siblings and my mother we decided on a cream color for the yarn and got to work. After three months of work a rather large and impressive(at least to me) blanket was produced from my crochet hook. I have to say I am rather pleased with it and thoroughly enjoyed the learning process that I experienced!