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.)