My Little Big Girl

My little Hazel has finally found her moment to potty train. We've made several attempts at this phase of growing up, but it looks like it's gonna stick this time. Our key to success? Gum. She really loves gum.

This is Hazel whirling, twirling to show off her new blingity-bling she earned for not having an accident. We've had it sitting on the bathroom counter for the past YEAR, waiting for this magic day.

She and Tomy felt it was imperative to pair her birthday tiara with her new sparkly pink accoutrements. It seems appropriate since her summertime answer to whether she was ready to go potty in the toilet was that she would be when she turned "this many" (three fingers) and voila!

So three cheers for a three year old who has upgraded to panties. Hip hip HOORAY! Hip hip HOORAY! HIP HIP HOORAY!

Finished

Lasterday, I put the finishing touches on Rowan's afghan. I'm pretty much in love with it, so I had to show it off.

I'm not a great crocheter, nor am I patient enough to read patterns. What I can do is keep a decently steady stitch, that's why I LOVE this pattern. I picked it up back in the student teaching days from a lady crocheting washcloths at a faculty meeting. One just chains how wide she'd like her afghan, reinforces that chain with a row of single stitches, and then proceeds to single 1, chain 1, single 1, chain 1 etc. back the width of the blanket. The rest of the blanket is made with the same single 1, chain 1 pattern inserting the single crochet in the space left by the chain crochet. Crocheting in the space makes the blanket fly by since you're not trying to catch the front loop or the back loop. It also makes the blanket nice and stretchy.

Seriously, I love how this kind of blanket feels. It's soft and dense, but loose and drape-y. It's been perfect for my babies (and me too ;)

Of course, Tomy, as my first boy, got a blue blanket. I barely finished crocheting it a block from LDS Hospital as we finally went to pick him up from the NICU. Sure, I could've finished it BEFORE he was born. I had plenty of time to waste while on bed rest, but oi! I was just too depressed, uncomfortable, crazy to manage it. Besides, who wants to snuggle up a baby in a blanket made with craziness? Ugh, no!

Hazel's blanket was made from two delightfully shimmery pinks. I felt my little girl required some sparkle! I loved wrapping her up in her very feminine blanky. So, as I was finishing Rowan's blanket, I took the opportunity to pull Hazel's blanket out of the mending pile - it had a little hole that needed some attention before it decided to unravel - and I realized that I had never gotten around to sewing the ends in. Ha! I've used it how many times without completely finishing it? Silly. Needless to say, it's finished now.

The kids helped me pick out colors for Rowan's blanket. Aren't they so bright and beautiful?! They make me happy. Levi likes how it turned out because it reminds him of candy corns. I like that it made a pattern: my first has 1 color, my second has 2 colors, and my third has 3 colors. Oh the joy of patterns!





Speaking of patterns and finishing, I can't help but mention the Cardinals who were so kind to finish the post season in a gloriously victorious manner. That means they were World Series champs both the year Tomy was born and the year Rowan will be born.  Levi thinks we should have more boys. :)




A final note on finishing is a very tardy one on my husbands amazing feat of endurance. He finished the St. George marathon in 4 hours 28 minutes! Such an accomplishment boggles my mind. It was hard enough for me to wait in the sunshine for a few hours. Needless to say, I'm very proud of and astounded by him. Unfortunately, this is all I got in the way of pictures from the big event though Hazel makes one cute masseuse. I'm just glad my SIL Rayn took a lot more and that she's a much better photographer than I. You can see more pics on her blog.

It Was... Halloween!

Halloween is ever and always a much anticipated holiday around the Gubler residence. Besides being the handsome husband's birthday, it is a night (make that season) where goodies abound and one can be whatever one imagines.

This year, Tomy wins first prize for imagination. He was a cococrow - a pokemon that he made up all by himself. His costume was based on a very simple pattern, but that did not keep him from making things complicated. He threatened to cancel the holiday twice: first when shopping for brown fleece that somehow wasn't chocolatey brown enough (yeah, I still don't know what that was about - at least the inexpensive felt magically fit his preconceived notions of cococrowiness) and second when he tried his hat on for the first time and it looked like a penguin (he was pretty devastated though I promised that I wasn't finished yet) . Luckily, when all was said and done, you couldn't have found a happier boy. He wanted to wear the costume everyday and would flap about the house whenever occasion and his mother would permit. That alone made the holiday a super success.

Since Tomy was a pokemon, Hazel opted to be Pikachu. It makes me laugh that the two of them keep wanting to have coordinating costumes; it's so sweet. Her hat turned out exceptionally cute, if I do say so myself, and the results made me smile. Hazel's convincing "thunderbolt attack" also put a grin on my face - that girl holds nothin' back.

Tomy was putting the pressure on Levi and I to be pokemon trainers, but we just weren't gonna go there. Instead we went with an Avatar: The Last Airbender theme. Earlier in the year Tomy wanted to be Prince Zuko and Hazel wanted to be Toph - they both have some sweet bending moves - but then they met pokemon and well... that was that. Anywho, Levi went as Sokka and I went as the Painted Lady.

Levi's costume - pretty nice. It was handy that his hair was already shaved from the marathon. (He was a bit sad that he didn't have a crazy sharp boomerang thingy. It does rather complete the ensemble doesn't it?) My costume - uh well... what can you expect when I make my own costume the last minute and then ditch most of it because I'm already too hot packing around Gubler Baby #3? I've decided that I'm just gonna be satisfied with the fabulous costume in my head. I mean really! The Painted Lady! How perfectly Halloween-y is her costume? Spooky!

Baby Rowan managed to foil a couple other costume ops as well. The ladies on my mom's side of the family had a "witches lunch out" at the Pasta Factory (yum!) and I went to tell a story at my Auntie Marvene's bedtime story assembly. Both were very fun and excellent chances to bust out a new look, but due to both the clothing claustrophobia and largeness of girth, my many attempted costumes were left in a huge pile on the bed. Oh well, there's always next year :) Mostly, I look forward to seeing what costumes my little ones will decide on with Rowan in the mix. Intriguing! 


BTW The title of today's post is brought to you by a little known and horribly scripted Halloween story that was found at the end of a Halloween CD I had many a year ago. It was long, tedious, and required much mental effort to sit through, but it was all worth it (um... no) to hear that final, suspense-filled line "it was... HALLOWEEN!" (Insert some maniacal laughter and dramatic organ music.)