Last week I saw a pattern for a crochet heart garland, and I immediately wanted to make one. It would be an adorable Valentine's Day decoration and I knew Emma would like to have it up as a birthday decoration as well. Even though I have been slowly working on my granny square afghan, I apparently still don't really know how to crochet because it took me forever to get this pattern figured out. I looked through the comments several times, thinking that some people would have written about mistakes in the pattern and how they didn't really end up with a heart when they tried it. But, nope, apparently it was just me.Finally, after spending two days' worth of nap time trying to figure it out, I got it. And duh, it really was actually very simple. Also very cute, don't you think?

Emma turned six last weekend, and I think if you asked her she'd say she had a pretty fun birthday. One Saturday we spent the day at Paradise Park, along with two of her friends. Sunday we brought her cake and presents to a pizza restaurant that she likes and celebrated there, along with Steve's dad and his wife.For her cake, she wanted a simple pink heart, which was absolutely fine with me. After I iced the cake, she asked me to get out all our sprinkles and said she wanted to be completely in charge of putting the sprinkles on the cake. I remembered the inch deep layer of sprinkles on last year's cake, but of course it was her birthday and if she wanted a little cake with her sprinkles, so be it.First she started to put the sprinkles just around the edges, which I thought looked cute and seemed like a perfect amount of sprinkles. I said, "Hey, that looks great!" and started to put the cake up on the stove away from little hands. She immediately stopped me, saying, "I'm not even close to being finished!" And let me tell you, she was not kidding.

One of the crafty blogs I like, Uncommon Grace, is written by a woman who makes beautiful Waldorf dolls and occasionally sells them. Every time I saw any of these dolls, I really really really wanted to buy one, but I couldn't justify spending $145 on a doll, especially because Emma isn't into dolls whatsoever.When I learned that Grace was going to be donating one of her dolls to Craft Hope, which gives all proceeds to the people in Haiti, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to buy one because, hey, now it's for a good cause! Perfect, right? Also, Allie is starting to show an interest in dolls so I think she would be happy to have it when she is a little older. So, once I decided I was going to buy this doll, I stalked Craft Hope until it was listed and I purchased it immediately. She came in the mail today and I am so excited! The details on this doll are exquisite and she is really beautifully made. Is it a little ridiculous that I want to put her in the sling and wear her around the house?I'm going to save her and give her to Allie when she turns two this summer (or maybe wait until she turns three, I'm not sure). I hope she loves her as much as I already do!

Last weekend the kids and I went skiing with my parents, brothers, sister-in-law, and grandma. We went to Breckenridge and it was a lot of fun. It is SO nice to go somewhere and have so many extra people along who are willing - and happy - to help with the kids. I actually got to read a book on the plane!The only semi stressful part of the trip was at the beginning. I had to get three kids, two carry-ons, a humongous suitcase, and myself checked into the airport and through security all on my own. We managed to make it without hitting any major snags, although there was one particularly tense moment on the escalator. I couldn't hold Noah's hand because I was holding Allie with one hand and lugging bags with the other, so I nervously instructed him to hold onto the railing and told him exactly when to step on the moving stairs. As we were nearing the top, I told him to hop right off onto the flat part, but he apparently got nervous and dropped to his hands. I saw his little fingers on the top step as it was flattening, inching their way towards the floor that was swallowing up the steps, about to be chewed and mangled in the escalator's teeth. In a moment of panic, I didn't do anything reasonable like drop the suitcase and grab him, I just yelled, "Noah! Noah! NOAH!" and caused all the nearby airport patrons to turn and stare at us. Luckily, he stood up just in the nick of time and his fingers were saved. Whew!

(As I was writing this, I got curious about escalator accidents and did a bit of Googling. In the United States, escalators apparently send over 10,000 people to the emergency room every year, so be careful next time you're on one!)