Because Sometimes You Need To Run Off

We tend to plan trips- even weekend trips- a long while ahead of time. Brian just isn't terribly spontaneous about that sort of thing. We planned a 4th of July weekend trip to the lake way back in January, but as his mother has become more and more ill we planned to stay here.


It seemed wise a few weeks ago when we made that decision, but we've come to realize in the last week that we just need time away, even for just a few days. After long weeks of helping out while my mother-in-law has had various procedures, including the beginnings of a treatment that led to the discovery of more tumor growth, we need a mental break from cancer. The next month will bring more surgery more chemo, more time together as we try to help each other through.


We picked up our plans again and we're heading out early in the morning.

We need a few days dedicated to

:: being outside

:: swimming

:: fishing

:: looking at cool things in the creek

:: sleeping in

:: staying up late

:: roasting marshmallows and hot dogs...

Because sometimes it's a good thing to step out of the every day,

To focus on a place and people you really love

And just be with them without the every day laundry and work and worries surrounding you.

Yarn Along

Yarning along with Ginny this week..

Wow- I had the hardest time getting a decent pic of this sweater that would actually show the true color of the yarn AND me without a goofy expression on my face. I'm ready to start the 3 purl rows before I head into several inches of stockinette on my Textured Tunic. We have our last baseball game of the season this week and I'm thinking I can make it through an awful lot of stockinette in that one game as long as it's not too humid to knit.

Must teach 5-year-old to photograph my knits so I don't break my neck trying to get pictures like that...

Current reads?

We started a little family reading contest about ten days ago.

We're trying to encourage Ender to read and he's pretty motivated by contests of this sort, so we're using it to our advantage. Brian has also had a hard time getting back into reading fiction after reading so much for school the last few years so he's in on it too.

Our first family goal is for everyone in the family to read 5 books at their level. Ezra is still being read to of course, but Ender is aiming to read 5 level 2 readers of his choice from the library.

The contest so far:

Brian: 1.5 novels

Me: 2.5 novels (I'm almost done with Gone)

Ender: a few pages shy of 2 readers

Ezra: 5 (and beyond since we read 2 or 3 books every day...)

The reward at the end of this family goal is TBD,  but I'm thinking some ice cream, a new book (he's checked out this DK Robot book from the library three times now so maybe that one?), maybe an outing to the local water park, something like that. Suggestions? We don't want to go super big since we plan to repeat the contest with different perimeters, but I do want a reward an almost 6 year old will actually feel is worth all that reading effort, you know?

Weekending

I can hardly believe my boys were ever this small...

:: We spent one loooooong weekend cuddled up in bed, Ezra and me, sleeping a lot and taking medicine to helpfully get him back on the mend. Friday and Saturday were really rough with seeing the doctor and figuring out medications, but since then each day has been better than the last. Last night was the first night of relatively few wakeups and hopefully each night gets better and better.


:: I cast on for a Stephanie Japel sweater during one of Ezra's naps on Saturday. I've had the Textured Tunic  in my queue for about a year- I love so many projects from her book Fitted Knits that I used a bit of birthday cash to get a copy of the book. I'm currently planning about 4 projects out of the book- to start with. I'm almost through the basket stitch section of the body- I think maybe 3 or 4 rows and then I'll be on to the stockinette portion of the body.


:: Yes, I'm still working on the Omelet shawl, but I just couldn't work off a chart over the weekend with a sick little guy. I needed to work on something I could pick up and put down without worrying about where I was on the chart or in what row. This sweater was really easy to get going and also to take breaks at pretty much any moment.


:: I blasted through a bunch of reading (benefit to spending 3 or 4 days mostly in bed I suppose)- I'm much further along in John Adams and also most of the way through Gone by Michael Grant.


:: We missed our planned day to pick blueberries and raspberries on Friday so we're trying to re-set plans before the end of season. Our local places to pick our own are generally only open to the public one or two days a week so it takes a bit of coordination to find a day that works for our little group of berry pickers. Hopefully this week still!


::I finalized school plans over the weekend.We're starting school next week on Tuesday with a light week of getting back into a few basics. before fully starting back on the 11th. I've made a few changes to what I thought was our completed plans, but for the better. When I started breaking things down into terms and then weeks we had too many things going some weeks and not enough in others. So there have been a few adjustments for what I think is going to keep us really organized this year.

How was your weekend? Anything interesting going on at your place?