This Week

With leaving our baseball schedule behind for this season, this week has felt so very quiet! No practices, no games, no making sure that all the uniform pieces are together and clean and ready to go...

I worked a little, we played a LOT and yesterday was a lovely celebration of Independence Day and a recounting of the Revolutionary War with our boys. Unfortunately we ended up missing the official fireworks last night- I came into contact with something and had an allergic reaction. I'm heading to my doctor early next week to see about an epi-pen for myself and to discuss the next steps I should take, as this is the second time in the last 3 months I've had an allergic reaction to an unknown allergen and this reaction was far more severe. Today I'm left with hives that will hopefully fade in the next few days.

Our next door neighbors were doing sparklers and some smaller things out in the street when we got home, and they invited our boys to participate. Ellie and I went to bed and Brian and the boys went outside to enjoy the celebration.

On the Needles...

I shared pictures of a new cardigan for Ellie during Wednesday's Yarn Along, and I'm sorry to say I haven't knit on it since Wednesday. I worked all day that day and then yesterday I used every available moment to spin. It was time well spent, but I do want to get back to knitting a bit in the next day or two. 

I read...

An article on digital dimentia that got me thinking again about our screen time limits. Our family rules have always been that everything else should be done first before screen time- even for the adults. Have you been outside? Have you been creative? Have you read? Have you helped around the house? Is your room clean? Have you used your brain?

Most of the time this plan leads to no t.v. for anyone, particularly during the regular school year. But this month when we've *technically* begun a new school year but are *officially* on a break, the screen time does come in. We have just in the last few months allowed the boys to earn time on the Xbox 360, and they rarely use a computer, but I know that should change soon so they can keep up with the world around them. Not yet though. Still trying to decide when that point will be.

Just Keep Spinning…

I've been spinning every day for at least 15 minutes for Tour de Fleece and yesterday I spent most of the afternoon spinning while we picnicked with family. I've made some great progress I think and I'm getting better at catching and fixing mistakes. 

This is just what I've spun in the last 7 days- it seems like a LOT to me in my beginner state, but after looking through the daily threads I know this is barely anything compared to the more advanced spinners. I'm so happy to see this much complete! I also have another "bobbin" that I had finished before the tour, so I'm up to 3. Then I need to watch a few videos to remind myself how to ply and look up more information on plying with a spindle.

Learning all the time…

We officially started summer break almost 2 weeks ago and it has been lovely! We got our copy of the summer science special from Alphabet Glue and the boys helped me choose books off the reading lists to order from the library. Next week we will have our books and will dive in to the science issue's experiments.

Watching (Spoiler Free, of course...)

Brian and I are working through the DVR on the episodes of Once Upon a Time from this past January-May- I think we have 9 left that have just been sitting there waiting to be watched all this time.

Garden Things...

We have a lot of beautiful green tomatoes going and a few teeny tiny peppers, but nothing ready for harvest yet. We did get to pick 2 little cherry tomatoes off of my mom's tomato plants yesterday, but nothing from our own yet.

This weekend...

A little boy is turning 6 and going to enjoy a baseball game with "the guys"- and then coming home to feast on cupcakes I think. There might have to be legos. I have rehearsals and a performance, and there's a final baseball get-together Sunday night for a picnic with t-ball buddies.