Thursday, August 25, 2011

Once Again! First Day of School!


It used to be that I looked forward to-or dreaded-the first day of school because I was the student. The kid going into a new grade full of nerves and trepidation and the excitement of seeing my friends and wondering who would be in my class and if I would like my teacher and would I ever, ever get math class. (The answer to that last one was a no.) Would I somehow get lost or screw something up or embarrass myself. (Those answers are no, yes, and oh definitely yes.) As I got older it became even more about the social aspects of school; wondering if maybe I'd be like the girls in the movies who blossomed into raving, hip beauties over the summer only to stun everyone back at school in the fall. (Um, also no.) I became adept at pretending to be happy in my self and my quirkiness and eventually I was happy as I grew into myself. Eventually.

Now each year I look forward to my kids starting school. We get supplies and shoes and haircuts and clothes and talk over what they're excited or nervous about. We label things and organize them and go to the open houses and meet teachers and bring all the stuff and then finally comes the NIGHT before the first day of school. Picking out clothes, talking about what time we need to get up and OH WOULD YOU PEOPLE PLEASE GO TO SLEEP BECAUSE YOU HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW!!!!

Our first morning of this school year went amazingly smoothly. We'd picked out clothes and done baths the night before, scheduled who would use bathrooms when, and were actually ready a half an hour before we needed to leave. I was really proud of us. Very proud. It's the first time it's happened in 8 or so years of school in our family. I'm still in shock. The girls were troupers about taking the FDOS pics, standing nicely and smiling while I tried not to totally lose my temper while hollering at the boys to PLEASE stand up straight and no don't make that goofy face and please, please smile. I ended up begging, reminding them that their aunts and uncles and grandparents and little cousins would be so excited to see their FDOS pics! Please. And they humored me, sort of, and the girls were so patient and we got our pictures taken. I think my favorite part of these pictures is seeing how their personalities come through, even when I'm talking in that exasperated mom voice and biting my tongue and trying to make them laugh and not lose my mind over a picture.

They look pretty awesome, don't they? I love my kids and they had a fantastic first day of school and I hope the rest of the year goes well. In true us fashion, this morning was crabby and chaotic so at least I know they haven't been taken over by zombies or robots. Whew.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Sigh and YAY!

I can't get my pictures to upload today. And somehow, despite having successfully used texts on my old phone to update this blog, I am now unable to on my fancier iPhone 4. They appear to work, but just aren't there. I'm still convinced its user error and may have something to do with my cognitive difficulties. Blogs just seem more interesting with pictures, especially when you can marvel at my crochet and knit achievements and how cute my kids are!

The girl portion of our family went camping this past weekend with our best friends for one of their birthdays. It's now the second year we've gone-although last year the boys came along too-and we have decided its a must do every summer. If you've never been to Ponca State Park in Ponca, NE, I HIGHLY recommend it. It is stunningly beautiful and has a ton of fun things to do including horseback riding and hiking trails. The girls went on their first big hike without us and despite a little panic when accosted by a rogue cow they did really well. We relaxed, played games, had lots of campfires, ate delicious camping meals, and reveled in the beauty of nature. It's so wonderful I'd marry it if I could.

The boys stayed home and did whatever things boys do when the girls aren't around to boss them. (I try not to ask for too many details.)

School starts in a week so we're attempting to get as much lazy time in while still being moderately productive. The school supplies are mostly bought, the kids are sloooowly adjusting to new bedtime schedules and while I'm going to miss the heck out of them I'm also really going to enjoy not listening to the girls fight over the tv/computer/whatever is the focus of the day and the boys obsessively playing Xbox until I kick their booties outside. We really have had an awesome summer though and I am sad to see it end. I'm fairly certain I need to sleep for a month to recover.

On the yarn front I've been crocheting and knitting away; including a short obsession with headbands for the girls and a new toque for my brother. The best part was that I actually followed a pattern for it (found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mountain-nights-toque) and then about 3 /4 of the way through I realized I should've been knitting in the round the whole time. Thankfully I'm good at seams. And it was a bulky yarn that hid it will. I will now need to re-attempt this one and actually follow the directions. Even with my mistakes it turned out really nicely and you'll have to trust me on that unless you are my ravelry or facebook friend and then you can just go look!

Next up, aside from more headbands and dishcloths are BABY THINGS! My youngest sister is having a little one in December and while I'd love to share our fantabulous news on whether its a girl or a boy I will leave that up to her. :) In the meantime I'm mapping out all sorts of fun baby things and heading to buy yarn for the baby blanket this weekend. Yippee! (And hopefully I won't have to be secretive for long because I almost typed out two different things that would've given it away, so I obviously can barely be trusted. Oh and if you are ARE a ravelry friend keep quiet if you're being snoopy.)






Monday, August 08, 2011

Long time, no post

Ahh, here you are my blog, I have missed you! Having not been on an actual computer for a number of days this poor blog has been neglected. I tried posting from my phone a few times, but for some reason they wouldn't stick (I'm going with user error.) Things have been mighty busy in our world, Vacation Bible School at SOP, a trip to Minnesota for a family reunion, and all sorts of other little adventures. I'd written a post about VBS-which got lost, and started one about the Minnesota trip-which I didn't finish, so for now you get this post!

We've probably had our busiest summer yet, seems like we are always off to do something and the next two weekends will be no exception! I'm fairly certain we'll stay busy until school starts (and stay that way including a Labor Day Weekend trip to Lifelight.) I am most definitely NOT complaining, we have been having a blast. I'll try to come back to post about some of it, hopefully. I think.

Our garden is producing like a maniac and given its rocky beginnings with some late frosts it has really surprised us. The best are the brandywine tomatoes, which come in all sorts of fun sizes and shapes and are extremely delicious. We had one so large the slices of tomato were larger than the slices of bread for BLT's. YUM. That one I named Giganto tomato and most recently we've gotten Bizarro tomato, who is an oddly shaped duck but will hopefully taste just as yummy. I love having a garden and we're looking to expand it next year. Our herbs are doing very well, this year we only planted basil, oregano, and rosemary; next year we plan to add a few more. Love it.

In yarn news I've been crocheting and knitting away (after a brief hiatus due to the many mosquito bites I had on my hands), having lots of fun making headbands and a few other things-lately I've been into instant gratification. Last night we went swimming at my sister/brother in law's and afterwards I was having fun crocheting with my niece, Jozie. At 2 she isn't quite ready for full-blown projects, but she had a lot of fun pulling chain stitches through with me and we made ankle bracelets for everyone! Here are a few shots of her, I just love this kid. (pictures to be added later, as I am having some trouble with them. Apparently I'm technologically challenged right now.)