Day 59 - Happy Hooking!

Two months down, 10 to go. I've not missed a day. I'm so happy to be taking photos again and very glad that I decided to set myself this Project365 task. Today, I've combined my two hobbies and produced my shot. I am teaching myself to crochet, and have made a few things for the girls so far. I'm now working on a blanket for myself, to be followed by one for Chris and more snuggly blankets for the family. I also want to learn to make hats - the girls have already requested minion ones!

These are crochet hooks that I've made handles for, in order to make crocheting for long periods more comfortable. They are made of Fimo, a polymer clay, and are moulded to my hands. Not as pretty as the hook I had custom-made, but more special as I made them myself, and they fit my hand. Happy hooking!

Day 58 - February 27 - Tough Life

This rock star lifestyle is tough to maintain. Sometimes you just gotta sleep. Wearing your shades. Let the world wait for you. Which I did - I sat in the car in the parking lot at Tesco and let her sleep :)

Day 57 - February 26 - Out for a Walk

Terrible phone photo, but I love it anyhow. Caroline is being "Muuuummmmm" and taking her "baybeee" for a walk. She needed her Peppa Pig handbag and her sunglasses to make the look complete. You can't see it in the picture, but she also has her binoculars hanging from the stroller, just in case :)

Day 56 - February 25 - Little Superstar

A star is born, ladies and gentlemen!

Day 55 - February 24 - An Old Friend

This is Madeleine, an old friend. She has been friends with me since I was about 8 years old, and she has been well-loved. She now belongs to Caroline, who spent most of today pushing her around the house in her baby stroller and talking to her. The beginning of another beautiful friendship, I think.

Day 54 - February 23 - Hard at Play

A phone photo today. Caroline hard at play (Alyssa was too, just out of shot). This was taken in the MetroCentre in their Lego area which was a special set-up for the half-term holiday. It was totally free, and the girls got 25 minutes play time with a huge amount of Lego. Happy days :)

Day 53 - February 22 - Work in Progress

I've finally started to crochet my beautiful granny stripe blanket. I love it! It's a labour of love, as it is going to be rather large, and everyone has had a say in the colour order :)

Day 52 - February 21 - Artists at Work

Took a trip back to Hobbycraft to get the Fimo that I forgot yesterday, and the girls had the chance to create some masks. It was VERY serious work and they were both completely engrossed in it. Such a joy to watch!

Day 51 - February 20 - Yarn!

My first day of vacation, and the middle of Alyssa's half-term holiday. This meant one thing - girls' day out :) We had to exchange a gift she received, and choose something from Grannie and Zaidah for her birthday, and we fit in a stop at Hobbycraft to look at yarn. This is the result :)

Day 50 - February 19 - Getting Creative

One of Alyssa's birthday presents. I loved my Spirograph when I was young, and I hope she'll get just as much enjoyment from her version. I think we're going to be doing some art tomorrow :)

Day 49 - February 18 - Work in Progress

A work in progress. Something small I can pack in my bag and spend my lunch hour working on. I had a single skein of this lovely grey yarn, and thought it would make a nice scarf.

Day 48 - February 17 - Happy Hooking!

My first custom-made hook, I am so excited! This was made for my by the wonderful Lala at Fleabubs by Lala. Her work is so highly recommended, I just had to try it for myself. I am thrilled with my hook; it's so comfortable in my hand. I'm looking forward to starting a project with it as soon as possible.

Day 47 - February 16 - A New Friend

Operation Birthday has been a complete success. Alyssa is still on Cloud 9 and is beaming even in her sleep, it would seem. This is her new friend, soon to be joined by a second (once the store has them back in stock, that is).

A huge thank you from us to everyone who made Alyssa's 5th birthday so wonderful.

Day 46 - February 15 - Happy Birthday Alyssa!

Happy 5th birthday to our big girl, Alyssa. Here she is with Caroline and what I suspect are her two favourite presents - Twilight Sparkle and Spike. For the uninitiated, Twilight Sparkle is a My Little Pony and Spike is her little dragon companion. To say Alyssa is thrilled with everything today is an understatement. Happy memories, wonderful day.

Day 45 - February 14 - Last Photo of a 4 Year Old

Our big girl will be five tomorrow. It seems like only yesterday that we found out that we were expecting her, and only minutes ago that we brought her home from the hospital. She is now a bright, bubbly, funny, sweet, sensitive, wonderful little girl who brings us endless joy. This is the last photo of our beautiful Alyssa as a four year old.

Thank you Alyssa for choosing us. Thank you for being our big girl. Thank you for being YOU. We love you and like you.

Day 44 - February 13 - For My Valentines

Ready for tomorrow morning, cards for the most important people in my life. My three Valentines.

Day 43 - February 12 - Tickling the Ivories

How the girls love this keyboard. They create their music, they dance, they sing, they twirl. Magical.

Day 42 - February 11 - Happy Colours

Bright colours make me happy, they somehow seem to sing. The girls love them too, so when I spotted these in the local pound store this lunchtime, I couldn't resist. They will become another lovely blanket for us to snuggle up in.

Day 41 - February 10 - My Mini-Mes

Today has been an eventful day, to put it mildly. Alyssa had a tumble on the way down the hill to school, and the upshot was that the school nurse wanted her seen at Accident & Emergency in order to rule out a possible concussion. Thankfully, she is fine, apart from being bruised and sore. Thank goodness she's all right. Our poor baby.

This is a crochet bag that the girls have assembled for themselves, using some leftover yarn I gave them, some crochet squares I had made, and some spare hooks. I have two mini-me people. I am so lucky ♥

Day 40 - February 9 - Work in Progress

I'm really enjoying learning to crochet. I've just about finished a blanket for the girls. All that is left to do is to crochet some flowers, hearts and stars with some sparkly purple yarn (Alyssa's request) to embellish it. Alyssa is sleeping with the blanket tonight. It makes me feel so nice to know that my girl is snuggled up in something I've made.

This box holds my hooks, scissors, odd bits of yarn, and whatever I'm working on at the time. Right now, it is full of squares of all sorts of colours. I'm using up scraps with the aim of eventually having enough of these squares to stitch into a blanket. A beautiful, patchowork-like, multicoloured bit of loveliness for us.

Day 39 - February 8 - Yarn!

Continuing yesterday's craft theme, these beautiful balls of yarn were waiting for me when I arrived home from work today. Having finished the girls' blanket, it is now time to create one for me. Here is my colour palette. I'm really looking forward to getting started!

Day 38 - February 7 - For the Girls

I am teaching myself to crochet, and it's a hobby that I enjoy a great deal. I'm very much a beginner, and have made a few scarves and now this blanket for Alyssa and Caroline. I have started crocheting little sparkly purple flowers (at Alyssa's request) to stitch onto the blanket to jazz it up a little. They love it, and I love the fact that they love it. I'm really proud of it!

Day 37 - Welcome Home

Welcome home to the palace after a hard day.

Day 36 - February 5 - Cheese!

One word is enough to sum up this photo. Cheeeeeeeese!

Day 35 - February 4 - Homework

Our big girl can read! At the age of 4, Alyssa knows how to sound out words and put the sounds together to make words. I'm not sure who is prouder - us or her :) Every week, on a Friday, Alyssa brings home her school bag with one or two books in. Listening to her read them to us is absolutely amazing. Reading is opening up a whole universe to her, right before our eyes. Our fervent hope is that her love of learning continues, and she becomes a bookworm like the two of us. As my Grannie used to say to me, "There's nothing like a good book." How right she was.

Day 34 - February 3 - Minion!

These little yellow fellows are characters in two of the girls' favourite films. The Despicable Me minions make them chuckle when they get up to mischief. I must admit, I'm rather partial to them as well.

Day 33 - February 2 - Say Cheese!

"Cheeeeeese!" Caroline often shouts this during the course of a day, as she busily points her toy camera at someone or something. I think we have another budding photographer!

Day 32 - February 1 - Interlocking

Month two, here I come! I am so happy and relieved to find that I am thinking photographically again, and that it has come back to me in a relatively short time. I find myself immersed in photography again, and enjoying it. The first month of the project has flown by, and I am not finding it a chore, nor am I stuck for ideas. I am, in short, BACK.

I got these coloured pencils a few weeks ago for £1. Alyssa and Caroline are very indignant that I won't allow them to be used for colouring....they just don't understand how I need them to retain their lovely, sharp points. I hope that one day, they will. Alyssa got her very first camera bag today, to house "her" Fuji bridge camera. To say she's excited is an understatement; it was difficult to get her to remove the bag from over her shoulder today. I hope the weather warms up soon so that the two of us can head out on a walk with our cameras. She finds it just too cold at the moment.

Looking forward to February!