Yarn Along

Joining in with Ginny today on the yarn along http://www.gsheller.com/ .

Today I'm test knitting a pattern for Liz of The Sitting Tree ,http://thesittingtree.blogspot.com/2013/04/clyde-bonnet.html . I'm really excited about this pattern, it looks like it will be the perfect Spring/Summer hat for little Magnus. It took me a little while to figure out the provisional cast on, I kept doubting myself and thinking it looked wrong when I really was doing it correctly the entire time. Ravelry notes: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/vintagegreen13/clyde-bonnet

My wonderful husband ordered me a new book to read this week! http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Homestead-Produce-food-quarter/dp/1603421386  .We feel that we are about 1.5-2 years away from being in a position to purchase our first home, which no matter how much space it ends up having it will promptly be turned into our homestead. I figured while I'm dreaming of our future homestead I might as well educate myself on the actual creation and running of it. So far I am incredibly impressed with this book. It is full of charts, sketches, and tons of information.

Knit rattles

Since Magnus is of course too young for an Easter egg hunt I decided to make him some rattles to celebrate the day.

I used the free knitting pattern from Natural Suburbia.
http://www.naturalsuburbia.com/2012/06/cat-knitting-pattern-and-tutorial.html

Instead of stuffing the cat I put a plastic Easter egg filled with dried beans in the bottom and then filled in the rest with stuffing. The cat came out a bit better than the owl, mostly because I finished up the owl with my left hand while nursing.

A change is in the air

Life is always changing. Seasons turn, children go from pudgy cheeked preschoolers to thinned out elementary aged kids, babies change overnight from tiny and helpless to trying to sit themselves up. A couple gray hairs sneak in where there were none before, we would rather spend a Saturday night at home playing games with our children than out with other adults.

Spring seems to finally be breaking through here in Wisconsin. The sun is stronger, the days longer, and the birds are making their presence known.

I'm ready for whatever this turn of the seasons may bring......

Quiet

I've been feeling quiet. I'm not sure why, maybe it's being ready for a change of season. We keep getting glimpses of spring, it rained all weekend. But the weather can't seem to make up its mind and we've received snow and frigid temperatures again. I know spring will arrive eventually, I'm just so ready for it!

I've also been feeling restless about "home". For so many years we have been dreaming about where our permanent home would be, we knew it wasn't back East but I'm unsure that it is here. Don't get me wrong, there is so much I really like here! Yet, when we look at homes for sale I can't help but be disappointed. The yards are so teeny tiny and to get any space we would have to be too far away from work.

I just can't shake this yearning to have a little homestead. I want chickens and goats. I want to let the kids run around on our property and not have to worry about busy streets. I want us all to know the joy and also the frustration that comes with providing much of our own food. I will always do my best to fit our dreams into wherever we are living, I'm planning our little urban veggie garden for the front steps. I just can't help but feel that this isn't where we should be. As I'm getting older I really need to know where "home" is.

Ultimately home is where my beautiful little family is....I just wish I knew where it would feel right. I feel as though I am as confused as the weather right now...

Boys

Just feeling overwhelmingly lucky to be mom to these three amazing boys!

One of those days

I think one of the hardest parts of parenting for me is seeing my children struggle with something be it math, peer relationships, or coping with life's ups and downs. The worst part is realizing that somehow whether through genetics or observation, they got that struggle from me.

Both our older boys have a hard time coping. Ivan seems to struggle most when he makes mistakes, he just can't seem to forgive himself for it and it bothers him for a long time. Erik tends to be more affected by things that don't go his way ( a classmate doesn't want to play with him, uhoh day ruined!).

We are working with them both on becoming better at coping and moving on. With Ivan we are working through strategies such as taking deep breaths and blowing away the mistake. We talk a lot about "turning it around" and "starting fresh". He is doing really well with this strategy. Just yesterday after a rough start getting out the door and being upset with his brother, he told me by the time that we reached the end of the driveway, "Mom, I turned it around and I'm ready to have a great day!".

With Erik we are working on pointing out all the good things that happen in any given day and trying to help him to find those positives on his own so he doesn't feel like his day is "ruined". He still struggles but he is improving on it.

So today could have been "one of those days" for me. The baby didn't sleep well which of course means I didn't either, ours was the only school district in the county that didn't call a snow day (when i really could have used one), I burnt breakfast, dropped a jar of laundry powder and it went everywhere, got pooped on, a pattern I ordered is lost in the mail, and the fabric I ordered came in wrong ( turquoise satin is definitely not cream cotton jersey).

But instead I'm trying to take a lesson from my kids and turn my attitude about today around. Even though they are at school I know I'm still setting a good example for them. They can tell, keen observers that children are...and when I pick them up from school I want them to see that mom had a good day, because really I did.

We had a great walk to school in a bunch of freshly fallen (and still falling) snow, the brisk walk woke me up and energized me ( as did the hot cup of coffee I had once I got home). The boys never complain when I say "Well, looks like cereal for breakfast", I didn't spill the entire jar of laundry powder. Poop...so what? I'm just happy to have an adorable 7 week old here! The pattern I'm sure will turn up, and the fabric company has awesome customer service and are shipping me the correct fabric today. See, I turned it around!

Some really special things have happened today like......boys adventuring across a snowy field, beautiful winter scenes, Magnus napping in front of the fireplace while i make bread, sleepy baby smiles.....the good stuff is always there, I just have to remember to look for it.

“Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
― L.M. Montgomery

Sunday outing

Sunday was a beautiful day here, 36F and sunny. We spent the morning doing some much needed early spring cleaning. The idea was to go sledding in the afternoon but we realized after much basement searching that our sled did not make the move with us. So we did the next best thing; a family walk in the park!

Our park is amazing, over 400 acres on the shores of Lake Michigan. There is a beach, many trails, playgrounds, a fishing spot in the creek, and beautiful views. We had a wonderful time enjoying the fresh air. Snowball fights ensued. We found many animal tracks. We laughed and had the perfect afternoon, followed by hot cocoa once we were back home.

The pictures are a bit lopsided in their reflection of the snowball fight, I swear the boys got daddy good too!