Gifts from around the States and from our neighbor up north

The Resident Alien has been bombarded with packages as of late so we decided to whip out the recently acquired digital camera, with new flash attachment, to capture some pics of the goods that have been pouring in from around the States and from our neighbor up north. A recent post about great blankets over at Herzing Luv & Kisses inspired our first shot of three - count 'em, three! - homemade-with-love blankies my super crafty mom made for her soon-to-be-born fifth grandson. I can't decide which one is my favorite because I love them all for very different reasons. Starting from the left - the flannel rag quilt is a recent addition to my mom's repertoire of homemade blankets and this one has the cutest dog pattern EVER DESIGNED BY HUMANKIND. Plus, the non-traditional color combination of nearly aqua-blue with bright yellow-orange and dark gray are fantastically different and wonderful. The lil' kid better show the proper amount of respect for this blanket or his mother (Holy crap, that's me!) will confiscate it for herself. In the middle, is my mom's first attempt at a real pattern quilt. First attempt. And it's perfect. And my kid got it. Finally, the knitted blanket on the right - the quintessential baby blanket, expertly crafted from super soft baby yarn.

Next, books.
From my next-door-dorm-neighbor Jess, who now lives among the Canadians (eh?). She managed to buy three that the little guy doesn't already own - a feat since the kid's library is starting to take over an entire eight foot shelf in his bedroom. As she works for Electronic Arts (if you are a gamer, you know this company well) she thought it prudent to capture our kid as a prospective future buyer of their software by also sending this...
An EA Canada shirt. Sweet. (Slippers by grandma.)

But wait, there's more. My sister sent over a basket of Gerber and Carter goodies for the R.A. - I'll have to do some exchanges since we are well stocked on the 0-3 month age range - and one of those soft books that we'll keep in the backseat of the car for the kid to play with while we motor on down the roadway.

And then there were hats, which we unsuccessfully tried to get Ellie MacPherson to model for us. Mabel, being quite adept at escaping our clutches when she senses our reasons for trailing her are nefarious in nature, slipped beneath the rocking chair and out of reach.
The hat on the left is a pumpkin design from a knitting book I sent to my mom and dad as a way to alert them that we were expecting. I phoned after I mailed the package to let her know there was something on the way for her and stipulated that it be opened when my dad was present. Before shipping, Darr and I thumbed through the various hat patterns, selecting our favorites, which I identified using little sticky notes. And just to be sure the message was received, I wrote a little inscription on the first page. Hopefully, this is the first of many hats the R.A. receives from grandma. The hat on the right is from Darr's friend Betty (of Tomokee the Dog fame). As explained in her accompanying letter, this pattern is from the Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter knitting book. It's an elf design inspired by Hermione's knitting endeavors. Cool.