Seven Quick Takes

Be sure to visit Jen for more Quick Takes.

~1~

I'm not in a very knitty mood now that the weather is warmer, and in my search for the perfect baseball game project I came across photos of some hexagon quilts. I especially love this one! All those little hexagons, basted and pieced by hand! Would I just end up with a pile of 500 basted hexagons and no quilt? Do you think it would hold my interest long enough? I'm not sure. I just love the geometry.

~2~

Ender and I decided to make a "fun jar" for the summer. I will only be teaching 3 days a week over the summer, so we made a list of several things he wants to do on my free days and I had a list of things I added as well. They range from going to the zoo to drawing with sidewalk chalk, playing a card game and having a picnic. The plan is to draw one card each day and add it to the plans that day.

~3~

Superman has been a die-hard Royals fan since birth. Have you ever heard a sadder thing? Every year on January 1 he wakes up to tell me how many days there are until pitchers and catchers report. By the time February rolls around he's predicting, "This is the year!"

 

Seriously. It's an infectious disease, this baseball stuff. So now I too am a Royals fan. It permeates the house.

 

This year is looking petty good. 18-11, Zack Greinke pitching complete games, shut-outs, a gazillion strikes per game and a 0.40 ERA . . . I've liked Zach and his weirdness ever since he came up several years ago and I'm glad everyone else finally gets to see how awesome he is! Another thumbs up to the Royals organization for actually putting together a team that can support their pitchers.

~4~

In my giant geekiness I've been watching a new show on the History Channel called Life After People. I find it all so interesting! People think that all these things they have built will remain important forever, but in this show they demonstrate just how fragile our human history is.

In another geeky note, I also have 2 netflix disks awaiting my attention- Colonial House.

~5~

I haven't baked bread in several weeks because I'm just not happy with my bread recipe. It's great for general bread eating, not so great for regular sandwich bread- which is what I need. I've been reading Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and I'm considering trying this method in my search for a good sandwich bread.

~6~

Ezra is finally starting to pick up some language! It isn't recognizable to many people, but he's making 1 sound in reference to 1 particular item with intention. He's now asking for water (ra-ra), gesturing constantly and babbling and at least TRYING to speak. At the zoo on Tuesday he was enamored with the hippo and kept pointing and saying "mmmmmmmm-po!"

Must have been the threat of a visit to the speech therapist.

Oh- and can't forget this one: he says no to us, then runs away giggling.

~7~

I'm starting to get through some fiction again, thank goodness! So far this year I've finished a grand total of two books- Kushiel's Chosen and Kushiel's Avatar, both by Jacqueline Carey. Can I just say that I should get credit for reading 5 books after that? My latest read is decidedly shorter- Undone by Rachel Caine. I'm a huge fan of hers, and true to the other novels in her Weather Warden world this book is keeping me up way too late. I started it Monday night- I have about a third of it left.

Good Nights

Bath time is my very favorite part of the evening. After baths there's spiky hair, lotion for the rough eczema spots, and picking out favorite jammies followed by running to Mama and Daddy's bed to cuddle and read. We read as many picture books as Ezra has patience for and the boys switch back and forth between us, sometimes mid-book. In case you didn't know, some books are "Daddy books" and some are "Mama books" (nothing to do with who is reading) and you have to sit with the right parent for the right book- this is Ender's rule, at least. Ezra is happy to have which ever parent is left with an empty lap.


After reading it's on to Ezra's room for a family singing of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (Ez's favorite) then kisses, noses and squeezes from everyone. I stay and rock with Ezra for a few minutes before he goes to bed; Ender and Daddy go on to read Ender's chapter book.


I kiss Ezra and sing a bit more to him before he points to his crib. He sleeps with a special Mickey Mouse pillow and blanket my mom made for him, as well as his silky blankie and a veritable zoo's worth of stuffed animals. Ezra barks at me- he wants me to ask if he's a doggy or a baby, so I do and he smiles and says, "Bay-beee" (his newest word). He waves to me and cuddles into his blankets. I leave the room and go to visit my other boy.


Daddy and Ender are done reading and hiding in wait under the blankets. I pretend that I can't find them anywhere and search all over- behind the dresser? Inside the piggy bank? By then Ender can't stand it any longer and he bursts out from under the blankets. "I was here the whole time!"


I kiss him goodnight and he asks if Daddy can sleep with him "for just one minute. And then I'll send him back to you." I agree and tuck him in a little tighter. We sing the blessing song and I kiss Bear-bear good night too. As I close his bedroom door I hear him tell Brian, "I told Mama I'd send you back to her in just a minute." True to his word, Ender sends his daddy out just a few minutes later.


Good night, my sweet boys.

A Few Notes

** I updated the About Us page for my own clarity. I needed to re-define what this blog's purpose is so that I use it the way I need to without unnecessary guilt.

** If you're interested in a new educational blog, Check out Amongst Lovely Things. I like her term "Relaxed Homeschooling". That's totally my intent.

** If you're hunting for Kara at Rockin' Granola she can no longer use her typepad account and has moved to blogger. You can find her new place here.

** If you're wondering where all the Montessori stuff went from this blog, I'll be honest with you. There's been very little "formal" education here. The grown-ups have been very stressed out busy with the end of the school year (Superman=finals, violingirl=scheduling for summer lessons) so the children have been busy digging in the dirt, visiting the zoo, creating "the longest train track EVER" and reading lots of books. Mama will be back to more organized things soon. Only two more weeks of school year lessons and then we're into a much lighter summer schedule!

Don't call- I'm busy for the next 6 years.

I kind of had a crafty weekend. Two of my sisters came over Friday night for a crafty evening- I finished up the elastic on pajama pants for the boys and then worked a little on the socks that have been merely a cuff for weeks and weeks. One sister cranked out over an inch on her crocheted afghan, and the other sister is learning to embroider and gave us all a mini lesson on what she's learned so far.

 

I realized while cleaning up my crafting area for our little get together that I have about a million half-finished projects. I generally finish what I start, but I work on everything in phases. I absolutely hate cutting pieces, so when I'm in the mood to cut pieces I cut out pieces for a few different projects and then I don't have to cut anything for another month. It's awesome. However, I occasionally get a little nuts and have too much going on at once. I'm down to quilting the last few blocks on Reed's Quilt, I'm halfway through a beautiful purple sock, I have the pieces cut for an apron going to my future sister-in-law, I'm finally down to embellishments on this odd project I'm calling "bloomers", and I'm working on some curtains for the kitchen.

 

Those are just the projects I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there's something lurking in the bottom of one of the project baskets.

 

So I thought it would be smart to go through my fabric and yarn stash during Ezra's nap on Saturday and write down the projects I had planned. I don't really stash fabric just because I like it- I generally have an idea of how I'm going to use it. So I have all this fabric earmarked for projects, and when it's written down on paper and I consider how much time I actually have, I discovered that I have enough projects lined up to last me until 2012.

 

Seriously.

 

And the bigger problem? I have 29 links in my "Future Projects" folder. TWENTY-NINE. Four of them are quilts. So that takes me through 2014 at least.