Sweet birthday boy!

Aaron James was born 3 years ago today at Tucson Medical Center.

Biggest brown eyes ever.

At age 22 months.

This past Christmas. We love you very much, birthday boy. You bring us all so much joy!

Beau

Me and my 7 pound dog. Probably closer to 8 pounds by now.

with a "tain"

My last project for January. A hat for my youngest grandson. He likes trains so I found these little engine buttons for the trim. I love making this pattern. It can look lots of different ways depending on trims and colors.

The products

What I have been working on- a baby blanket for a new great nephew.

And a hat for his big sister so she doesn't feel left out.

Look alikes

A few shots taken at lunch at Gordon Biersch. I'm always rather fascinated by Jack's resemblance to his dad and they often have the same expression and posture at the same time.

Things I liked

Artwork at some of the stops.

The old Westward Ho downtown.

The Mill Avenue Bridge.

the light rail

The weekend before last, the Houges came up so Becky could attend an all day conference on Saturday. David, Jack and I did the light rail experience. We got on at the northern most stop and went to the end of the line, stopping for lunch on Mill Ave. in Tempe.

Jack most enjoyed a standing ride.

This is one of my favorite Jack expressions.

Watching the city go by.

Comfort food

In this year with my "choose happiness" theme, I may need to show a few entries on cooking as that is one of the things I truly enjoy. The ultimate comfort food for my immediate family is homemade egg noodles. My mom always made them for me when I went back home and I often make them for my daughters. I have found that noodle making seems to be more usual with people from Illinois and Indiana. My grandma was and my mother still is a great noodle maker. The ingredients are eggs, salt and flour and a touch of baking powder if you like just a tad of "fluffiness." You learn to just judge how moist the mixture needs to be. Roll the dough out very thinly, roll jelly roll style and slice.

You drop the noodles in to boiling liquid which in our case is almost always chicken broth.

And give yourself a little comfort. Becky, Dave and Jack are here for a couple of nights. We had bowls of chicken and noodles and a loaf of homemade bread. Yum-yum.

Happy Birthday, Keira!

My great niece Keira had her 3rd birthday today. She had a party at Chuckie Cheese and a little family get together later.

She enjoys a sweet little "Melissa and Doug" cookie making set.

Part of our gift to her was a knitted hat and a necklace, in keeping with my wish to make more gifts this year. She had a good time.

The conversation

Me: "Smile"
Her: "Or what?"
Me: "I'll have to slap you."
Well, she did grin slightly but she wouldn't look up. Most of us would rather do anything than have our picture taken.

shopping fun

On Tuesday of this past week I drove way west of my usual comfort zone to go to Tuesday Mornings. Alas it was closed for inventory but what to my wandering eyes should appear but a great big Oriental market whose existence was unknown to me. I had a lovely little shopping experience. Need kitchen utensils, anyone?

Perhaps a few tasty condiments.

And a pocky selection the likes of which I have never seen. Asiana Market, you will be seeing me again.

A very pleasant day

Last year my theme for the year was creativity and productivity. I managed to be a little of each. This year, I decided my motto will be"choose happiness." Much of what we do in life is necessity but for this year when I can decide what I want to do, I will do the things that make me happy. I think one of the best things I have decided is to have my house cleaned. It has freed me up from a great deal of guilt and made me enjoy doing the things I really like to much more. I'm going to try to do some really nice knitting, make a few more of the gifts and cards I give and make an effort to use up some of my vast supply of food, grooming aids and actually many other stashes and collections. These will be my goals. Not really bothering with resolutions because historically, I know they won't be kept. So to make myself happy today, I made a trip over to Joann's to use my 20% off everything coupon. I know, not really helping the use things up bit. I stood in line behind these delightful little sisters. I asked their mom if I could take their picture because they were just so doggone cute. Kind of reminded me of the Totoro movie somehow.

Our friends Michaele and Rob came for dinner tonight. I made this chocolate crusted raspberry tart. The long rectangular pan always makes a nice presentation.

They brought me these gorgeous tulips which I put in my old standby and very favorite vase.

Then late tonight I did the altar flowers for church tomorrow. All in all, a satisfying day.

Neona celebrates a big one

Neona receives my first project of the new year. She was Logan County, Illinois' New Year's baby for 1940. I knitted her a neck warmer finishing it up this morning for this year's first completed project. Have decided to try taking a giant leap back into knitting this year.

The birthday girl enjoys some creme brulee at Elephant Bar following our delicious lunch.

Keira usually has a good time and will be the birthday honoree a week from Saturday. I so enjoy this little girl. She is usually little miss sunshine.