Graduation Celebration

Last night my husband, Mom and I drove to Kitchener to attend a banquet at Conestoga Place to celebrate the Pre-Service Firefighting graduating class of 2018. Our son was graduating with this class.

He surprised us a couple years ago when he announced he wanted to train to be a Firefighter. We knew little about Firefighting except that it seemed like a lofty goal and potentially dangerous. 

Luckily our son loves the physical challenges and training required to become a Firefighter. He is motivated to keep working step-by-step towards his ultimate goal of a career in firefighting. We are proud of our son's courage to Dream Big and Work Hard to reach his goals. 

Our son posed beside the student helmets displayed at the front of the hall. We counted eighteen helmets ... one for each graduating student.

  He pointed out his helmet ... bottom row near the end.

My husband took a photo of us all at our table with bright sunshine in the background. He took another from across the table.  

And one more photo showing a close-up of the note on our table favours ... cookies shaped like fire hydrants we think.

A note for our son: We had a good time at your Graduation Celebration ... an accomplishment worth celebrating. Congratulations and best of wishes with all your next steps. We love that you are enjoying the journey. 

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Special Yarn

I bought yarn to make a baby blanket for our niece who is expecting her first baby this summer. Our niece mentioned the nursery is decorated in grey and white chevron and one of her favourite colours is teal.

I splurged and bought Special Yarn for this blanket - four hanks of Berroco Ultra Alpacca in grey and one of Gems 100% Merino Wool in teal. I love the look and feel of this fine super soft Special Yarn.

I am making a grey baby blanket with a teal heart in the centre all worked in puff stitch. To imagine how this might look I took a photo showing teal in between two skeins of grey. I love this combination.

Using Special Yarn which comes in skeins requires extra preparation. First I rolled all the skeins into balls by untwisting the skeins, draping them over the back of a chair then rolling each ball by hand taking care not to tangle. Next I wound the balls into 'cakes' using my handy-dandy yarn ball winder. I wrote about that gadget here if you missed it.

I have finished winding all but one of the balls and started working on the blanket. I practiced the puff stitch making an Infinity Scarf in March. You can read about that here if you missed it. 

Unfortunately, two months passed after finishing the scarf before starting the blanket. My first attempt was abandoned after four rows as it was too loose and sloppy. My second attempt was neater with tighter, smaller stitches, but too short. I started over yet again adding four extra puff stitches to the length. Thank goodness my third attempt was just right. 

I have since worked through one skein completing 34 rows so far. Since this baby is due June 29th, I need to get moving. The clock is ticking with only six weeks to go. Fingers crossed I get it done in time. 

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Our Mother's Day

While Mom was away visiting a friend last week, my husband and I bought a few bags of mulch and carried them down to her backyard. Some might consider mulch an odd gift, but I know my Mom and she was predictably pleased with such a practical present.

For the past few years I have taken Mom to Starbucks for our Mother's Day treat. This year after our lattes (coffee for Mom and matcha for me) we enjoyed a relaxing stroll to the Sifton Bog pond where we found four fluffy babies had hatched ... so sweet.

Our Mother's Day celebrations this year also included a trip to the beach. My husband's brother invited us to join them for dinner at their cottage aptly named Lasting Memories Cottage. 

We bundled up for our walk on the beach as the breeze was cool.

Looking for beach glass, fossils and stones ... such fun.

Yellow forsythia covering the banks ... so pretty.

Writing in sand "Happy Mother's Day 2018" ... so right.

After our walk, we sat soaking up more of the afternoon sunshine, sipping our drinks and enjoying the view.

The breeze was still chilly, so my Mum-In-Law layered on blankets making us all laugh with her 'ready-for-the-nursing-home' reference.

After a 'busy' afternoon at the beach, we enjoyed a delicious dinner prepared by the Dads. Carrot cake professionally made and decorated by my talented sister-in-law was served for dessert ... so scrumptious.

I am so grateful for this special day spent with family and love that our Mother's Day was full of sunshine and smiles. 💕😊🦋

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