It's Wild Here

score!

The local nursing home/assisted living facility had their annual yard sale. Many handmade, natural fiber, old-fashioned and beautiful things were found.  For the most part, these are linens I'll use or linens with enough damage that I'll cut them for sewing. Either way, happy happy!

Oh, I also found an adorable plate, DVD the boys like (KPax), and a single weight for my new twice-a-week strength training plan. Three Pampered Chef wooden spoons, bag of yarn, and a very sweet Christmas kitchen towel.  Grand total for the pile of linens and all others, $10.

Now, I'm off to fill that same box with something for good will.  A box comes in, a box goes out.

If you're interested, pics of the treasures are here.

Getting the attention of my children

Remember Captain von Trapp's reason for using a whistle, when questioned by Maria?

He had a point.

Ryan is very into these superhero figures we have - they're big and soft. I don't think Spiderman gets a ride like this often.

And I did mention he's into the Wicked Witch from Oz, right?

In other news, Jamie and Jeremiah are selling some of their STUFF. Jamie learned how to list on ebay. Anyone need Yugioh cards or video games?

GIVE THEM BACK TO ME OR I'LL.....

Ryan's new favorite character.

He says he is a Ryan witch. I am a Mommy Girl Witch (yes, he used that word, right after I posted about his not knowing it). He's watched this movie about 3 times now, and I'm shocked that he'll sit still that long. It is definitely the longest his body has been still while not sleeping.  I am enjoying hearing the music and remembering the movie. I watched it so many many times as a child. I remember being so emotionally involved in Dorothy's capture, seeing Aunty Em in the crystal ball, missing her. Sniff. Ryan doesn't seem disturbed by the creepiness - just totally captivated.
There's no place like home.

updates

A Lion in the House  is a documentary created by two lovely local people. I can't tell you how it is because I can' t bring myself to watch it, but as soon as I'm past the late-preg, early-newborn stage, I plan to see it.  I love the village where I live and it's always exciting to see my neighbors achieving cool things like front-page PBS.org status. wow. 

Speaking of PBS, Jamie is up early on this dreary rainy day, sitting in Evan's chair watching this episode of Nova, Newton's Dark Secrets.  It's a pleasure and relief to see that, even in the face of a rigorous and structured academic curriculum, he has retained his natural curiousity about other thinky things.  Other things going on with Jamie:  reading The Secret Garden, watching World Cup Soccer, drawing drawing drawing, in PhotoShop and on paper, hanging out with friends Kira and David, pitching in on housework more and more with very little complaint. What. a. guy.

Jeremiah's occupied by lots of trampoline jumping and Ryan-duty. He's patient and indulgent with Ryan and his very unfair toddler rules. Jeremiah is blasting through the Dragonball graphic novel series faster than our library system can possibly keep up.  He has a couple of standing weekly playdates - Nathan and Daniel/David - and usually sees friends at least 2-3 more times each week. Soccer camp begins next week for both big boys.

There's no shortage of Ryan content on this blog, but a few new obsessions:
the hose (to do list for today: babyproofing gadget for a faucet)
the doorbell (known is the "beep")
3 and 4 word sentences (woot!)
Raffi, on the toddler tape player with headphones
lip-synching to They Might Be Giants, which is acceptable enough to the brothers that it need not be limited to headphones.
helping with household chores - he is a very good clean diaper stacker

Evan:  World Cup watching, in very sane moderation (thank you!), almost daily evening walking with the family, regularly accepting 3-boy duty while I take time for myself, sometimes for shopping and errands, sometimes for leisure. 

busy weekend

Let's begin with a quote I saw yesterday that I really enjoyed.

"You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap! " - Dolly Parton

We accomplished a lot this weekend  (I have no idea why I still don't feel satisfied... ok, I have some idea):
- delivered dozens of bags of clutter to good will, which is a great feeling. Our plan was to get Ryan int he seat and listen to the new They Might Be Giants (ok, these guys are freaks, do you know?)  album Jamie bought, but on the way over, Jamie developed a headache that still hasn't really gone away, in spite of advil, including several hours of us both being awake through the middle of last night. Yaaaaawn.

- rearranged some furniture so that Ryan's toys are not quite so clutterish in our living room.  (Mom, any time you want to visit? The two tables are ready for you!)  I'll probably have to take a picture of it. All R's toys are on three low shelves, which Evan cleverly decided would work perfectly on that wall (never would have thought of that particular shelf, thanks evan!). E cleaned off all the crud and buggy nastiness, which involved discovering an old mousey stash of bird seed and corn in our garage. omg, puuuuke.  I am loving my crud-cleaning hubby, what a man.

- the speediest grocery trip in history. Holy wow, I spent $125 on our basics in ten minutes, while Evan and the boys and their friend went to blockbuster, across the parking lot.  They rented chicken little, and that was one creepy-looking flick, from the few glances I gave it.

- saw two excellent soccer games.  OK, this warrants Bold and CAPS:
Jeremiah scored two goals, resulting in a 2-1 win for his team. He also had two saves as goalie in the second half. GO JEREMIAH!!!
He was thrilled and we were so excited for him. Grandpa and Katie sure did pick the right day to make the long drive and see some soccer.
Jamie's team also played a great game, tied, and showed some excellent teamwork and passing. Jamie got a very hard ball in the face... ouch.  I sat there in my chair, holding baby Audrey, wanting someone to run over there and give my boy some comfort, but no, Evan and Katie assured me that was Not How It's Done. ::sniff::  He was ok - gave Evan thumbs up, and was back in the game soon.

- considered inviting some new friends for dinner (are we nuts?) but didn't because I am too self-conscious about how badly our lawn needs to be mowed (tomorrow that happens)

- cleared out a lot of the garage, much harder than anticipated. We thought: no problem, Ryan loves to play on the driveway with his Big Car (little tykes red thing) and we will sort garage clutter. Oh no... garage is open? Must play with dangerous poisons and climb rickety plastic shelving.  There was just no way. Evan ended up doing most of it himself.  But speaking of Big Car and Ryan, he learned a new trick yesterday: he can't easily drive forward in that car, but he discovered that if he goes backward *really* fast, he will slam into cars, end up off-road in the grass and topple over into the grass, suddenly spin around, etc. He thinks it is excellent fun and hollers through the whole game. It's very good spring evening entertainment for the rest of us.

- installed Ryan's toddler swing out front. wheeeeeee.  For a daredevil, the kid does NOT like to swing high at all.

- set up his ladybug sandbox out back - thankyouVERYmuch Jamie for your hard work hauling sand

- gave Jamie his Scrabble fix (thank you again Evan for giving me the pleasure of watching my kid clutch a dictionary all weekend without having to play such a boring board game myself)

- and in the knitting department, started the second bootie out of 50 Bootees, as well as stared at my horribly ugly Pedicure Socks (they look *nothing* like the ones in this pattern).  As I was knitting, I said to myself, I don't care how they look - I just want warm feet in my flip flops. We're having a very chilly May. OK, I care. They look bad.  I think some hand-painting/dyeing will help, possibly some light felting. Why is my ribbing always so HUGE and not springy? I'm also trying to figure out how to knit my nephew a sweater in a month, before his birthday. I need to really get into gear and choose something.  Finally, I have knitting purchase news - a very unusual thing since I've put myself on a strict no-new-yarn diet.  I bought the Boye Needlemaster set from Ebay for a Mother's Day gift, so I should be able to find the size needle I need when I need it. My needles do not like it here - they run away and hide constantly. In other non-purchasing news, Hello Yarn posted a link to this knitpicks Pallette Sampler, which is a Very Good Deal on wool yarn. But still, a big purchase. Sigh...

House of Flu, spring, soccer, pregnancy

Recently, more people have been reading this blog than just the 3 family members who previously checked in. For this reason, I've tried to make my posts a tiny bit more interesting, add more pictures, talk more about knitting.

In the past, the blog was primarily about record-keeping for homeschooling and just general family history. As in, what year was it when Jamie dyed his hair green?  How old was Ryan when he stopped throwing food off his tray? Silly little stuff like that. And I'm not really getting those details in lately. So, I'm just saying, I have to go back to some of my older more boring posts, but I promise to keep adding the more amusing bits as well.  I mean, it's not like this blog could be anyone's source of real entertainment, so I know this isn't a big deal. Just FYI.

And along those lines...
- this flu will not leave the house. Jamie is almost up to 2 weeks sick. Not as sick as last week, but too sick to be normally active. Jeremiah is the same, but has had it much less time. Ryan is well. Evan is sick. I keep feeling slightly sick but don't seem to really get it. Thank goddess!
- I love spring. Even though our yard is muddy and leafy from non-raking in the fall, the weather is warmer. Even though it's raining almost constantly and I still barely see the sun, I can go out in  a sweater and take the toddler outside.
- soccer is starting up soon. The select/travel team last year was a nightmare for us, for various reasons. If you click "soccer" on the left in categories, I probably wrote about it some. I actually might have left out some of the most horrible stuff. Anyway, the boys are going to play rec league again this year so we don't have to travel, don't have to watch one of the boys sit on the side the whole game, don't pay an arm and leg, and don't lose every game (ok, I just summed up last year).  Fortunately, Jamie's select team is short player so they're willing to take as much playing from him as they can get. He can just play home games and join in on practices, so he should get lots of soccer in this spring. That's great for him.  Jeremiah is doing TTF and soccer at once, and those practices/classes always overlap, so I'm crossing my fingers on that - hoping for a soccer practice day that doesn't conflict.

I'll be in my third trimester on Tuesday (also the day Brokeback Mountain comes out on DVD). This pregnancy has flown by, now that I don't feel like crap. Same as with Ryan - every week that passes I think, I can't be THIS pregnant!  So, it's time to start checking things off the to-do list.

Baby is wiggling like a spaz! I have that alien-belly going on, and loving it.   

Friends David and Daniel

Kids watching Spirited Away with their friends.  I guess that's not so much a movie for a 2-year-old, is it?

busy

Yesterday, Jamie scored a goal in his soccer game! His team is doing really well this season, and he tends to consistently assist other players' goals (which is important, of course). But yesterday (in a game I missed :-(  ) he scored a goal himself - cool!

On Friday, Katie and I took the kids to Lebanon to see Curious George. It was a cute movie and the theater was pretty empty, so there was no problem with Ryan's running around and occasional outbursts. We went to a McD's playplace after, and discovered that Ryan is not afraid of any of that. He crawled to the tip-top and came down the big slide, protective brothers hovering after happily.

The kids were all up in the structure, and Katie and I were chatting below, about various things. We got on the topic of Clover's need for some sneakers.  She didn't want to go to Walmart (?) I think because among other reasons, they have Strawberry Shortcake shoes and she doesn't want to buy those for Clover. As soon as she told me this, from way up in the atmosphere, Clover's voice calls down, "DID YOU SAY STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE??!!" 

Poor Katie ;-) 

Yesterday was productive. We put up shelves in Jamie's room and got the mess off the floor. It looks like a totally different place. At various times throughout the day he could be heard running in there and yelling "I love my room!"  Ahh, don't we all love a tidy space?

Evan worked on the big wide gate for our kitchen, but the directions were really, really bad. So, we're stalled but I think he has some plans for trying something else today. His back was really hurting by the time he stopped last night.

I got our book work planned out for the week, finished knitting those green stripey socks, and also paid the bills.

So, we did all that and also managed to keep our kids alive and fed. Not a bad Saturday.

Today:
grocery
trike-walk with Ryan
family meeting
children's hour at Dharma Center

this and that

The boys have decided to spend a good portion of their allowance each month on a service like netflix, except for video games. They want to try out a variety of games without paying the huge purchase  price. The biggest reason, though, is probably that they want to play games that are more violent than I want to have in the house on a long-term basis. My compromise with them at this point is that they can play some of those more violent games (within reason) but on a short-term basis. I'm not willing to own them and have them played and stared at daily for weeks and months on end.  Fortunately, they are just as interested in trying out all kinds of other games  - sports games, racing games, various Mario games.

The boys and I watched Mrs. Doubtfire last night.  When I realized they'd never seen it, I ran out with Ryan because our little local movie shop had it to rent for $1.  I'd forgotten how long the sad divorce part goes on. It's really gloomy and the boys seemed very drawn in. They loved the humor with Robin Williams and said it was a great movie overall. 

Ryan has become quite skilled at stacking duplos and getting his trucks across the floor at a good speed.

Evan is sick with a cough/chest thing.

The Patriots and Bengals are out of the playoffs.  Pathetic. So, football is over until next year - just as well.