St. Pat's Parade

While a snowy start to the morning, it ended up being a very nice and slightly chilly day for a parade.  You can imagine how bundled we were, looking at Norah and the snowpants in the background.  Norah woke up at 6:00 a.m., and excitedly asked me "What time is the parade?".  The answer was "noon".  She was ready and truly loved everything about the parade.  This girl knows how to gather goodies.  

Simon does not eat candy, and so he hopes for the non-edible give-aways a parade has to offer.  He became quite sad when he bobbled and lost a ball that was tossed to him and for him.  Tearful, in fact and so broken hearted.  Dad and him headed down the parade route, caught up with that entry, and secured the desired miniature volleyball giveaway.  He slept with it, and it has not been out of his hands yet today.

Due to the "cold", which it wasn't, the parade was a record 1 hour and 20 minutes in length.  Much shorter than the typical 2-3 hour parade.  No gaps between entries, everyone was ready to go.

We had a lovely day, Norah had "her" parade, and our candy loot is set yet again for summer treats at baseball games and pool days.

Parade season has begun!

Next two pics found on the Elmhurst St. Patrick's Parade Website:
Eric is wearing the navy coat in the background with the gray, cream, and orange striped hat.

Norah is picking up candy from the ground and I am bent over helping her.

Irish in the snow

Not exactly how I envisioned March to be . . . 

Definitely in like a lion . . . 

 hopefully out like a lamb!

For the Curly Girly

Heads grow.
Lots.
And fast.
Most especially in the first few years of life.  I make hats, and  I am always amazed at how large little people's heads really are.  Sometimes the lil' one's noggin is almost adult sized.

Norah has had an ivory hat with a shamrock ribbon for a few years now, and I just assumed it would always fit.  I tried it on her the other day, as it is now March.  Way too small, does not even cover her ears.  (As is the coat pictured as well.)

She "needs" a hat for St. Patrick's Day; "her"parade is this Saturday after all.  Being all decked out in green is totally fun when your birthday lands on the day when everyone is Irish.

So, I crocheted her a hat.  This was a lovely pattern, just a few hours needed to make this easy-peasy hat.  I am quite pleased with the elegant look.  I found a pretty ivory, acrylic and alpaca blend, worsted weight yarn. THEN, I saw a lovely ivory lace weight yarn made of acrylic, mohair, and wool.  The two weights together make the hat a bit heftier and hold the shape well, but not overly bulky. I love that the look is similar to those ivory Irish knit sweaters.

And since it will be wintry (still and again) on March 8th, this hat will keep my Shamrock's noggin nice and toasty warm at parade time!