I'm back!

I don't know if there is anyone left out there who still comes here to my little corner of the interwebs, but here I am.  It's been over a year since I consistently blogged.  It's silly, but I've missed it.  This has been my little place to record and share. Perhaps if I kept a consistent journal, or an up to date scrapbook I wouldn't miss it so much, but I do.

So much has happened in the last year.  So very much.  Most of it I still can't talk about, but we are praying that soon we will be able to.  The rest of it is just normal life stuff.  Let's see if I can do an overview of the Wiebe life since last summer...

Eli was 5 and therefore could have started attending kindergarten, but we have decided to keep him at home and school here instead. I love it.  Last year we didn't do very much directed learning, but we kept very busy and had a whole lot of fun.  Eli continues to amaze me.  This is a picture of him the last week of August at his first ever day camp. He went to a drama/dance class and enjoyed it so much. He was the "lead" in the play they preformed at the end of the week, playing the convincing roll of the "Great White Shark."

The Calgary LDS Temple was finished and dedicated in October.  We felt very blessed to be able to go through the open house with our family, and many of our friends.  Having a temple in our city is a huge blessing that I am grateful for every day.

Also in October, Jared was admitted to "The Bar" and made a full-fledged lawyer.  It was pretty awesome.

And, at the party after his Bar Call, Jared didn't miss out on any of the festivities.

On November 15th, at just over 7 months old, Atticus got to experience what the rest of us enjoy every day: solid food.  His brothers enjoyed right along with him!

I'm kind of a bad mom when it comes to feeding my kids, since all of them prefer breastmilk to solid food any day, so bits and pieces of mushed up food is about all they get.  Atticus never seemed to mind.

Jared's folks left for Halifax, Canada, to serve a 2 year mission for our church in October.  We miss them dearly and pray for them daily, but are grateful for the good example that they set for us.  Before they left we did manage to get the entire Wiebe clan together for a nice family picture.

Okay, okay, we did take a nice one.

We spent Christmas at my parent's cabin in Idaho, where we bought really ugly turtlenecks...

Got new PJs on Christmas Eve...

Had tons of fun on Christmas morning...

 And the boys got their first pair of skis!!!

2013 brought tons of excitement, change, and lessons in patience (not sure if that lesson is learned quite yet...)


When we lived in Michigan I made two of the best friends a girl could have, Sarah and Irina. For Christmas their sweet husbands gifted them a flight to Sandpoint. So, in February, Atticus and I loaded up in the van and drove to Sandpoint to meet them. We didn't have nearly enough time to enjoy each other's company, but it was glorious and much needed. I love these girls and can't wait until our next holiday together.

Back home in Canada we enjoyed an extremely long winter. The boys had passes to Canada Olympic Park. and so got some good use out of their new skis.

In the spring we decided it was time to move from our little two bedroom condo to something fit for our growing family.  We thought about moving back to our old house in Ranchlands, but I couldn't bring myself to live next to the woman next door, so we sold it, sold our condo, and moved to a wonderful, detached little house just 17 houses down from my big sister, Alice.  We love it. Of course, less than a week after we moved in the floods hit Calgary and for almost a month all of our spare time was spent helping the people in Calgary and High River who were devastated.  So, it took a while to really put together our home, especially once summer hit, but we are getting there and love it so.

This fall we have continued on our homeschooling journey.  We are registered with a traditional homeschool board, which is just perfect for us.  Eli is taking drama, art and piano lessons, and Silas is doing art, a sport variety class, and a weekly playschool co-op with some friends from Church. Atticus will be 18 months in a week, and has just started talking, kind of. Until 2 weeks ago he flatly refused to communicate beyond grunts and screams. On Silas's 4th birthday he surprised us with about 10 signs and a whole ton of words. I couldn't tell you what his first word was, because he said them all on one day. He's an awesome kid and we are lucky to have him.  We are busy and tired and having tons of fun.

So, there you have it.  Our year in a nut shell. I will do my best to stay better caught up in the future, and even go back and fill in the gaps from the last year.

Until next time,

Jenny

Big Thom - A Knitting Pattern

After knitting Thom with a "TH" for Tommy, I knew I needed to knit one for one of mine. So, I sized it up and made one for my Si.

He calls it his "Rock Sweater" because of the buttons. I call it Big Thom. This one is sized for age 4 - 12, knit completely seamlessly from top-down, and would be so easy to embellish in any way you want. 

The best part is, if you like Big Thom and Thom with a "TH" , you can buy one and get the other for just a dollar!  In Ravelry, just add both patterns to your cart, and use the coupon code "onedollarthom." If you are just interested in this one, go ahead and click here >>> 

As always, check out the other sweaters knit from the Big Thom pattern.

Thom with a "TH" - A Knitting Pattern

Despite the craziness of my life, I have managed to do a little knitting. I know, you all are calling my bluff - a "little" is a bit of an understatement.

Anyway, I've put a few patterns out there, so I will be rolling them out on the blog over the next few days.

The first one is a sweater I designed for my nephew, Thomas Russell. 

I call it Thom with a "TH"

One of my favourite things to do as a knitwear designer is run test knits. For this sweater I had test knitters from across the world, as far as England, New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, Norway, Germany and Lithuania, and also had neighbors to the south, in Nebraska, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Utah, and two fellow Canadians, from Montreal and Sudbury. Check out their projects and more here: 

Thom with a "TH" is easy, and cute, and can be embellished in so many ways.

So, for $4.00 you can !!!

The Women in my Life

Lately I've been stressed. Really stressed.  I feel like I need to find reasons to be grateful, because I know I have a wonderful life, but through the piles of paperwork to go through, and the houses we need to sell, and all the other stuff that we are going through right now that we can't do anything about, sometimes it's hard to remember to enjoy the moments.

So, today I am going to remember the women in my life; the women who have shaped me to be the person I am; the women who I know have gone through moments just like I'm going through now where they felt that things couldn't get much worse; women whom I look up to more than they will ever know.  In no particular order, and for a myriad of reasons each, these are the women that I am grateful for today;

My mom and sisters, Cheryl Evans, Alice, Megan, Shannon, Joan, Holly, Chloe and Phoebe. Love them more than life. 

My grandmas, Edythe Jackson, whom we lost in 2010, and Betty Evans, who has blessed my life in so many ways.

The list isn't long, but my BFFs, the girls who are truly my kindred spirits: Adrienne, Cheryl, Sarah and Nicole.  I know that no matter how many miles and years may be put between us, these girls will always be my besties!

My sister-in-law Renee, who supports me in ways no one will ever understand.

My mother-in-law Barbara Wiebe, and the example of kindness, obedience and love that she is to me. And her mother, Granny Hudson. I don't know if other people love their grandma-in-laws as much as I do, but I do!

The women who for whatever reason have influenced and helped me along the way: Carmen Pearson, Marilyn Bennion, Diane Ryman,  Lizzie Ryman, Mindy Gallup, Irina Jamieson, Jewel Govern, Erin Wallace, Janine Zuk.

The list can go on and on.  I am so grateful to be surrounded by women of character and strength.  I am so grateful to know that I'm not alone in my struggles.  I love all these women and feel lifted by them today.

Rhymes with Shawl - A Knitting Pattern

Well, while I haven't been blogging much, I have been knitting.  This month I released a new pattern, Rhymes with Shawl. I think this is one of my favourites!

It is knit in worsted weight yarn and sized from 6 months to 10 years.  My favourite part of it is the endless possibilities of color combinations. Talk about major stash buster!

I am incredibly indebted to the 13 wonderful women from across the globe who test knit this pattern for me.  Check out their projects, and others that are being created, here:

You can buy this pattern directly by clicking here: , or heading over to Ravelry and purchasing it there.

Love Day

 I know Valentines Day is over, but I did want to share my cute wreath before I take it down and put it away for another year. I had my Christmas wreath still up at the beginning of February, so I decided I had better replace it before Valentine's Day. I went on Pinterest to find a brilliant idea and headed to Michael's with a vision of the greatest Valentine's wreath EVER.  The problem with having your heart set on something you see on Pinterest is that somehow other people have access to materials that no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to find.  I had three wreaths in mind and I couldn't find anything to make them with.  So, mustering all my creativity (not really), I bought a pre-made heart wreath and a wooden dowel and headed for home. At least I'd get something up before Valentine's Day was gone.  I painted the dowel white and while it dried I made the heart arrow and feather out of felt.  I cut out the heart, hand stitched with embroidery floss all around it, except for where the dowel would go in, stuffed in a little bit of polyfill, and squeezed in some white glue to stick it to the dowel.  Then I popped it on the end of the dowel and  jabbed the dowel through the wreath.  To finish it off I glued the "feather" onto the other end of it.  Perhaps not the masterpeice I had envisioned, but I promise that it was better than leaving the Christmas wreath on for another month!

Okay, this picture is only wonderful because of my sweet Silas hiding in the window.  Love that boy!

I'm not good at this growing up stuff

Eli lost his first baby tooth on Sunday, and I somehow felt like I lost a bit of something, too.  There goes a bit more of my baby, you know?  It was exciting though. It happened just as we were trying to rush out the door like mad men, because Jared was speaking in church; but, you can't rush a moment like that.  So, we stopped for a minute to celebrate, we carefully put the tooth in a safe place, took a quick picture of his new gaping smile, and then rushed like raging lunatics to get to church.  Jared walked up to the pulpit just as the meeting began.

Seeing as this is my first child's first tooth, we don't have a lot of knowledge of the comings and goings of tooth fairies.  We didn't want the tooth to get lost under his pillow, or for the tooth fairy to wake Silas up, whom Eli shares a bed with, so we put the tooth in a jar on the bedside table.  Then Eli decided he had better write her a letter to leave with the tooth, just so she knew who's it was and how appreciative he was that she would give him money.

He's getting so good at writing, and is always excited for an excuse to write anything.

On the inside he wrote: "I wish I could see you."  So sweet.

 And, when he woke up in the morning, not only did the Tooth Fairy leave him money ($5!!!) but she also left behind something magical blue and sparkly in the tooth jar, and a tiny note, just for Eli.  We knew she came in through the window, because there were sparkles all over the window sill with tiny foot prints in them. 

On the back of the note it said that loosing your first tooth is a special thing, and that's why this time he got five dollars.  What a lucky, toothless boy!