Daybook

Outside my window…
Another humid morning. Maybe we’ll stay around 90 F instead of hitting more like 95 F.

I am thinking…
about Ezra’s poor chin! On Friday we were out running our weekly errands and he fell at the grocery store. He fell into the edge of the dairy case and cut his lip and the bottom of his chin as well as his teeth puncturing the inside of his lip. After 5 hours in the ER the outside gashes were sealed with Dermabond and we’re keeping an eye on the wounds inside his mouth and trying to protect his chin as much as we can.

I am thankful for…
an unexpected but good family trip next week, complete with my husband coming along!

Always Learning…
Grandparents gifted us with a telescope recently so we’ve been checking out the stars! Ender has been really good at finding the Big Dipper the last few days. We got a few books too, and we’re checking out some more constellations.

From the kitchen…
We made strawberry jam last week and this week I’m planning an adventure into hand pies. It may or may not go well since I don’t have a ton of experience with pastries, but we’ll try it and see how it turns out!

I am wearing…
my blue tree skirt, a white shirt and knee socks.

I am creating…
Sleeves. This is the week of finishing sleeves- I have 2 one-armed sweaters in need of a second sleeve, and I still haven’t finished a sleeve for my Tappan Zee Cardigan yet.

I am going…
to stay home and try to keep everyone cool this week. We’ve been going to swimming lessons every day for the past 2 weeks and I’m ready for a few weeks of not having to go anywhere.

I am reading…
Sweater Quest by Adrienne Martini, which has proven to be a really interesting read for me, but explaining what it’s about to a non-knitter, well . . . that’s *really* difficult.

I’m also reading the new Jacqueline Carey book, Naamah’s Curse and Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper.

I am hoping…
That the rain will stop so that something will actually grow. Everything we’ve planted this year has been drowned out, except for the gerber daisies on the back deck. I’m going to have to see about new tomato plants or give up for this year.

I am hearing…
Steven Curtis Chapman, Beauty will Rise.

Around the house…
I’m trying to maintain all the reorganizing that’s been going on lately.

One of my favorite things…
Our fresh strawberry jam . . . mmmmm . . .

A few plans for the rest of the week...
A trip to the doctor for a checkup for Ezra, a special program at the library, packing for the trip, and then getting away with my family!

Weird

This has been a weird week.

We are down another router and we also lost 2 windows in a storm. Add in the car trouble for Superman and you have a nice view of our lives for the last few days.

I also seem to have misplaced my camera AGAIN.

But!

I’m caught up on laundry, I finished the body of the Tappan Zee Cardigan and started the first sleeve, finished 1 sleeve on my February Lady Sweater, and worked on getting our learning environment in good shape to make an official start to Kindergarten next month (aka the month that is too hot to leave the house unless you are forced to).

We’re going to try a little unit work in the next few weeks and see what Ender thinks of it. Nothing too serious, but lots of read-alouds, great pictures to explore and maybe a project or two. We’ll see what grows out of it!

Catching Up

We have internet again.

*little happy dance*

See, I knew I had blogs I like to read and boards I keep up on, but I didn’t realize how much more we depend on our online connection! I couldn’t check my library card to see what was due back or check what was on hold or add books to our list . . . and I realized after a day or two that we use our online bill pay for *everything*.

So what have we been up to while internet-less?

:: Swimming lessons for both boys: Ezra in a parent/tot class and Ender in his first group class without a parent. Ender is working mostly on his fear of putting his face in the water, Ezra is working on not splashing the younger kids in the class.

:: LOTS of knitting for me. I cast on for the Tappan Zee Cardigan on June 1, and I’m down to 7 rows left on the body. I’m adding sleeves to it, so I have those to do before I’m done, but I’m aiming for a June 30 “finished” date. If I can make it by then that would be my fastest cardigan to date, and that kind of thing makes me *really* happy.

:: I’ve cut out several pieces for things- a skirt, pieces for a small quilt, etc. and I’ve gotten as far as a few blocks together, but nothing finished. My sewing is seriously slacking right now.

:: tee-ball for Ender! It has been an exciting few weeks for him! They mostly work in stations for catching, hitting, ground balls, running bases and all those kinds of things, but they’ll play a few short games in the next few weeks. I love seeing all the 3 and 4-year -olds out there with their dads!

:: Planning for Kindergarten. I know a lot more now about our state’s homeschooling laws and calculating hours. Now I’m just trying to figure out how to meet those requirements while still keeping things simple. Suggestions?

Not Missing!

Sorry to have gone missing, but I have no internet access for the time being (and for about a week before now). It's a long-ish story about smoking equipment and horrible customer service that hopefully ends with a new modem and router tomorrow. (!) We've been busy these last few weeks and I have good things to show you- a bit of jam making, new knitting and sewing projects to share, and a re-do to our learning space. I'm also finishing up our school plans for Kindergarten and I'm planning to share those as well. :)

 

In other news, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and I share a birthday! That made me feel a little bit better about greeting the last year in my 20's.

 

I'm hoping to be back in this space within a day or two. I'm sending lots of "Get here soon!!!" thoughts to that modem and router!

Seven Quick Takes

 

~1~

We spent yesterday morning driving around to more garage sales than we've ever managed in a single morning. At several I collected comments in the vein of "those poor little boys being dragged around to all the garage sales . . ."

The funny thing? Ender actually spent the last few days counting down to the first big garage sale-ing day of the season and every morning asked me if it was the Thursday yet.

So far we have scored some books, 2 new table cloths, some vintage buttons, and a cabinet that I'm planning to use for my sewing things.

~2~

I'm in a crafting slump. I can't seem to get up the motivation to finish up the last details on a few projects and nothing has jumped out and said "make me!!!" I went hunting through my ravelry queue and landed on the Tappan Zee cardigan and cast on Tuesday night while we were at the ballpark. It's the first project that has kept my attention in awhile, so I'm hoping it will be the thing to help pop me out of my crafting funk.

~3~

Ezra's birthday is just a few weeks off . . . I'm really not sure how it's been 3 years already! The last few weeks I've been having little flashes of sadness that my youngest is already three- it's a great milestone for him, but at the same time I'm sad because it has been three years without another little one to join our family. Perhaps our two beautiful boys are meant to be the sum of our family, but I find myself still hoping for another if my body will cooperate . . . 

~4~

Ender gets to start his first organized sports experience tomorrow: t-ball. At this age they have 4-5 kids and one parent per station and they work on different skills- running through first base, hitting off the tee, different kinds of catching and running the bases correctly. We've spent the last few days counting down to the first day of t-ball and having repeated "how many more days???" conversations. I *heart* this kind of excitement!

~5~

I moved living room furniture yesterday trying to find the magic arrangement, but it isn't quite working yet. I think I'm going to try pulling a few things from other rooms to see if it will help and with a little bit of help from Superman on Saturday hopefully we'll figure out a good fit.

~6~

I've been organizing some schooly things for fall and we're going to try out something a bit more formal (at least for us) soon. I'm planning a bit of a continent study to help us get to know a little bit about the outside world. My sister and her husband will soon be leaving for the mission field in South Korea, so we're going to learn about the area where they will be and use that as our starting point to learn about a few other places in our world.

~7~

We're off for picnics and more time outside this morning before the heat and humidity drive us back in. what are you up to this weekend?