Friday, June 27, 2008

More Catching Up

I'm on a roll now--two blog posts in two days. Not sure how long I can keep this up, but I'm certainly going to go with it when the inspiration strikes.

The school year ended with ZimDee graduating from kindergarten. He had a great teacher. She was also Girlie's kindergarten teacher, and I hope that Sproutie will be in her class when the time comes (that time will be here sooner than I know it!)ZimDee celebrated with a few of his closest friends.
I seriously think I'm in trouble with this boy. He is adored by all the ladies. He brought home his yearbook on the last day of school signed with curly little girl writing proclaiming "you're kyute" and "I like you-a lot". In kindergarten! I'm going to have to keep my eyes on those little girls who are after my boy. (In all fairness, he is pretty irresistable).

Two days after school got out, my beautiful niece Stephanie got married. Here she is dancing with her dad. *sigh*She was such a lovely bride.
There was not a dry eye in the house.Stephanie was the flower girl in my own wedding 16 years ago. Coming around full circle, Girlie was Stephanie's flower girl.
ZimDee was a ring bearer. I don't have pictures of him yet, but he looked so completely adorable in his little tux. When I get the pictures back, I will share.

Here is a picture of me and my sweet angel girl, growing up so fast right in front of my very eyes.
And where is Sproutie, you ask?

I think a house fell on him.
I just had to share these pictures of him sleeping in the hotel room. Doesn't it look like a scene from the Wizard of Oz? Even down to the striped leggings. All he's missing is the sparkly red shoes. Maybe Dorothy already came along and took them.
Or is it just me?

And yes, I have been knitting. Like the wind, in fact. I just got so used to not being able to talk about it with all the test knitting that now that I can share, I almost forgot how to.

Remind me to show you Girlie's dragon scarf, three scarves of my own, my tea cozies, and some wash cloths. What am I knitting right now? I finally reached into my UFO pile and started working on a sweater that I began knitting for my sister over three years ago. I still have so much to show you. Thanks for sharing it with me.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Poor little knitting blog...

Poor little knitting blog. So neglected. So patient. Why have I forsaken you?

Whether people want to admit it or not, Ravelry has taken up a huge chunk of blogging time. Something has always got to give. And Ravelry has been great for the knitting community, but what of the friends and family that actually enjoyed pictures of your babies and musings on Easter egg hunts? Sure, you can join a specific group on Ravelry and make small talk about these and other subjects, but where else can you monologue on the subject of your choosing at your leisure? Or read about what your friends are doing in detail? This is where blogging still holds its value to me. But, just like having another baby, your time can't help but be divided, as much as you'd like to be everywhere at once.

So I love Ravelry, yes I do, and I enjoy seeing a lot of you on that site. But I also miss the friends I made before the days of Ravelry, and I so appreciate you checking in on me when you notice that I haven't written a blog post in literally forever. I miss your comments when something I've written has touched you.

I make no promises or expectations beyond the fact that I will write when I can, as much as my la vida loca allows. A particular challenge for me is that you need undivided time to write a coherent sentence. After the millionth interruption because so and so is playing with MY toys, I need a drink, I need a blanket, please can I have a snack, he's playing with my toys again, well, that doesn't leave much left for you and me. Blog posts are abandoned because I just can't get into the groove again after so many stops and starts, and blog posts are not even attempted to be begun because I don't have the energy to balance exactly one hundred and fifty-one (wait--here comes number 152...and 3) things at once. But I want you to know that you all are never far from my thoughts. I hope you know that, whether I happen to write once a day or once a year.

Having said that, let's try to catch up with where we last left off. Girlie got the part of Sacagawea in the 4th grade school play. Many of you wrote your heartfelt congratulations and good luck wishes. How did she do, you all wanted to know afterwards. The answer is: fabulous. I expected nothing less. This girl was prepared. Here are some pictures from that wonderful night:(she is third from the right here):
The whole family came out to see her command performance.
Flowers and presents, and best of all, pizza and family followed the performance. I'm so very proud of you, Girlie!

Next came Easter. The Saturday before was a gorgeous, beautiful sunny day. We walked to our local park and participated in their annual festivities. This was the first year that Girlie was too old to hunt for eggs. My sweetheart was happy to help her brothers instead. Here we are at the park:If you noticed that my expression is more of an annoyed frozen smile, then you are very perceptive. The problem was not so much the average challenge of taking a good picture with three wiggly kids. I'm not a rookie. I've got that part down cold. My particular challenge is that the Count (you've got to love him--more on that later) takes forever and ever and then forever some more to actually snap a picture. It's something I've "discussed" with him ever since we had children. His delayed photo snapping finger skills are not a deal-breaker by any means, but it does get annoying every now and then when I realized that great pictures of me with my kids are going to be rare. This one up here is the best that it got. Pity.

But we went home and colored Easter eggs and waited anxiously for the next day to hide our beautiful eggs. Here are the kids and the Count in action. This most unflattering picture of the Count yawning is my passive-aggressive way of getting revenge for the yucky pictures he took earlier. I could use some therapy. I readily admit this.
If I do say so myself, I love how the eggs looked "hidden" on our deck:
Why are the eggs hidden on the deck and not in the yard? Because as beautiful as the day before was, it was blustery and rainy all day on Easter. But why am I writing about Easter in June? Because I have been trying to find the time to write about it ever since then. It was that, or nothing, and I'd rather you hear anything from me than silence.

Much has happened since Easter that I can't wait to catch you up on. Just let me catch my breath first...