Friday, May 29, 2009

7 Quick Takes

7_quick_takes_sm


Go visit Jen for more Quick Takes.


 


~1~



It's been a good week. I worked one measly little day and spent the last 2 days with my kids. Sorry about the lack of posts, but little boys come first around here. In the last 2 days we have:

  • Signed up for the summer reading program at our library.

  • Had a tux fitting for Ender (for his uncle's wedding tomorrow)

  • Finished making the wedding gift for my brother and his soon-to-be bride (will share pics next week after they've opened the gift!)

  • Broke my sewing machine

  • read A LOT


Oh yeah- and Ezra colored all over the t.v. It was awesome.

 

~2~



Did you catch that "broken sewing machine" part? It completely freaked out on me last night as I got started on the secret wedding gift. After an hour of re-threading, cleaning it out, changing the needle, fiddling with tension and almost pitching it out the window I called my mom. She told me to turn it off and she would stop by to help me figure it out in the morning.

About 5 minutes before my mom was due to arrive I turned the machine on and ran a few lines . . . it worked perfectly. Mom messed with it too and I finished the whole project this afternoon without a problem. Grrrrr...

 

~3~



I've spent the last several days re-reading sections of Real Learning by Elizabeth Foss, primarily the Teaching Reading and Teaching Writing portions. This is the area that I am struggling in with Ender. He is pushing forward in this area in ways I'm struggling to keep up with so I needed better suggestions and ways to help him.  Is there any good way to help him with his handwriting frustrations? Ender desperately wants to write letters and the perfectionist in him wants the letters to look perfect on the very first try. Obviously he doesn't have the control necessary to do this- he's three years old- but he doesn't understand that.

 

~4~



I mentioned above that my brother is getting married tomorrow. We have had a ton of weddings in the last few years. Superman and I were married in 2001 but it wasn't until June 2006 that my first brother got married, followed shortly by a second brother in December 2006 and a third brother in March 2007. One of my sisters got married in 2008 and now I have my next-to-youngest brother getting married tomorrow. Only 3 siblings to go! My youngest brother and sister are both in serious relationships- maybe more weddings in the next year or two?

 

~5~



Superman and I have been having a lot of discussions about home learning lately. When to start kindergarten, how a "school day" will look, a budget for materials and books, what is important to cover, what outside activities the boys should be involved in, and that kind of stuff. I'm trying not to feel overwhelmed. Something about the idea of officially starting kindergarten has me a little nervous even though we have an entire year before we start. There is a lot of really good material out there and there's a tiny voice in my head chirping that I can't cover everything that needs to be covered. Then I remember- math, reading and writing, love of learning . . . that's the important stuff.

 

~6~



 Do I have the only little boy in the world who loves to dress in very nice clothes? He's been in 4 weddings before this and every time he has been absolutely in love with the tux. He asked me at the tux fitting if he could keep it forever. I recently found a new shirt and tie for him and he wore it for a few hours every day for almost a week. This kid likes to look nice!

 

~7~


Want to guess what is staring to ripen in our garden first?


Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Long Weekend





I spent my weekend in the car knitting. How about you?



I cast on for this cute little baby sweater a few days before the trip when we found out that my brother and his wife are having a little GIRL! The pattern is Daisy by Stephanie Pearl McPhee and I'm making it in the 0-3 month size without a hood. How many newborns need a hood?



We spent our long weekend with Brian's extended family for a family reunion of sorts. There was lots of grilling, a few bonfires, some time in the pool and shopping. Oh... the shopping. We hit a really great sale at a Carter's outlet that rounded out the clothes I already have for the boys for fall, and my mother-in-law gave me my birthday gift early- money for some new clothes for myself. I really have needed some new things for awhile, so I took advantage- 3 skirts and 2 shirts later I feel like I have a brand new wardrobe. And the most important shopping point? I FINALLY found a dress for my brother's wedding on Saturday! I'm playing in the wedding and neeeded something to fit with the bridal party. Now if only I could find some black dress shoes for Ender (who is the ring bearer) we'd be all ready for the wedding.


The boys spent almost the entire weekend outside. You've never seen 2 boys sleep so well at night and 2 hours every afternoon! Between the swimming, croquet, baseball, hot dog roasting, marshmallow toasting, and boating they were two happy little boys.




Ezra was in love with this little croquet set that my in-laws brought for him. He loved to push the stakes in and out, and he also tried to wear the wickets as hula hoops. Silly boy!




Ender spent much of his weekend practicing batting. Superman's true love is baseball and it seems that he's passed that love on to the boys. Ender stayed out there for ages asking his daddy to throw the ball to him and practicing running the bases (which were a shirt, a towel and an extra baseball mitt. Grandpa was home base.) It will be fun to see this boy play some t-ball next summer.


But of course, now we're home. I tried to get through at least some of the laundry last night while answering Ender's unending question: "but whyyyyyy can't we stay camping all the time???" I promised him that there will be lots of camping this summer, but he won't really believe me until we go again in a few weeks. But once he realizes that our neighborhood pool is now open and that Mama is working much less (which means whole days outdoors) he will be just as happy as he was camping.
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