Wow. Summer’s going quick!

We’ve been super busy around the house, meeting our neighbors, having a BIG party (30+ adults and ~45 kids!), going to the pool, etc. I don’t anticipate posting much for the remainder of summer, but I’ll do my best. Since I haven’t got a lot of time, I’ll give you another barrage of photos to describe our past months. Hope you enjoy!

We watched the local wildlife from our dinette window:

We hunted toads, catching a couple:

We stopped for a quick pic while hunting for the toads:

We dug at the park:

We got 3 hamsters and within days had 9:

We had lunch with several ballet friends and their siblings:

We attended a preschool friend’s 5th birthday party:

We finished the baseball season:

We had a ballet recital:

We added 5 more hamsters to the mix (for the record, 2 of the 3 we bought were already pregnant!):

Aren’t they cute and gross, all at the same time?

We went to Brookfield Zoo and saw some silly signs at the Dinosaurs Alive exhibit:

Then we saw a big triceratops:

Then we took some silly pictures:

And “rode” the swamp boat:

And finally we saw the camels…

I think that about covers it. I’ll try to come back soon with the knitting I’ve completed in the past 2 months.   I hope you had a great 4th of July with friends and family and that you enjoy the rest of your summer vacations!

Getting Settled

Miraculously, we met the moving deadline.  Since then we have become much busier than ever before.  Our neighbors ROCK!  This is an excellent thing because the neighborhood we moved from was, simply put, the WORST I have ever lived in.  Ever.  In 4 states and almost 33 years.   Anyway, our cool new neighbors brought us a welcome coffee cake that was yummy-yum-yummity-yum, then this past Saturday they threw a party to welcome us and allow us to meet some of the folks we hadn’t yet.

So since moving, we have (in no particular order) had my dad out for a visit (see above pic), played 5 baseball games, had 3 baseball practices, 4 ballet practices, played 4 soccer games (won 3 of them!), tried out for and been accepted onto the travel soccer league for U9 boys, finished preschool with a fantastic program, had 3 soccer practices, attended the Nascar Funny Car races in Joliet, finished a soccer season, prepared for an upcoming ballet recital, unpacked most of a home, installed closet shelves for all of our linens (YAY!) had mudroom cabinets installed, hung the stained glass we bought at the school auction last year, decorated the kids’ bedrooms (except for painting them,) met a whole bunch of great neighbors, participated in a community garage sale, played at friends’ homes–new and old, and had several kiddos over to our house–sometimes all at once.  I do believe there is more for that list, but I don’t recall at the moment since my head is spinning at an alarming rate!

You might notice one major thing is missing from this list.  Knitting.  I didn’t even pick up the needles until about a week ago.  For the first time, I had ZERO desire to knit.  I was so intently focused on unpacking and getting settled that even knitting didn’t stand a chance!

Since I don’t have any knitting to show, I’m just populating the post with various pics of the kids. I can’t believe how fast they’re growing up. It’s not right. Just not right at all.

I’m hoping to be back on the blogging front more often now, but depending how things go I may give it up entirely. It’s not like I’m Wendy or Wendy, afterall!

Can’t Blog…. Busy Moving!

On April 29, we finally closed on the house we had been lusting after for months.  I am super excited and super stressed.  I didn’t pack much of anything before we closed because I was hesitant to have a packed house and nowhere to move!  We didn’t know for sure until 24 hours prior to closing that we were actually going to close! (Just a sidenote:  If you’re considering buying a short sale home, I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a lot of time and a strong stomach!)

Although life had become really crazy with the addition of soccer and baseball to the schedule, it’s become evident that we were not even close to busy before the closing.  It’s also become quite evident that we own a LOT of crap.  I’m trying my best to filter the things we will never use again and create the keep, sell, donate, and trash piles with some degree of accuracy.  I will admit that I tend to keep things that really don’t need to be kept.  I don’t think I’ve quite reached the pack-rat status, but it could be I’m in denial.

I am down to about 36 hours to pack as much stuff as I can before the ‘real’ moving company comes in to do the dirty work.

One of the first things I intend to do when we’re settled is dig myself a burial plot in the yard.  I do not intend to leave this home under any other circumstances than death.  EVER.  In fact, I might just let my spirit roam free in the home once I’ve left the world! 

For now, I need to get back to frantic packing so I can meet the Tuesday moving deadline!

First Communion

Our biggest little boy is growing up faster than we’d ever expected. Yesterday was First Communion for the entire second grade class and it was amazing and sad and beautiful and lots of things I’d never anticipated.

I am so proud of you, little man!  Congratulations!

And it began….

We made it home from Florida without much incident and were happy to have almost two days to get ready for the return to school.  My daughter spiked a fever on Sunday evening and wasn’t able to go back to preschool Monday–she was none too happy about it, either.  Other than that, things have been status quo.

Except for one little factor:  Spring Sports.

This season, my oldest decided that he reallyreallyreallyreallyreally wanted to play both soccer and baseball.  It’s his third season playing soccer and his first for baseball.  Thankfully, the practices are on different nights, but Saturdays will become the busiest day of the week for us now that we have both sports’ games. I always swore that I wouldn’t over-schedule my kids, but when it comes to my oldest and sports, if he asks I’ll let him play. If he doesn’t play something, he’s perfectly content to sit on his butt and be the laziest kid on the planet. I am less okay with that scenario than I am with him playing two sports. The added bonus is that most of the kids he plays with on both teams have younger siblings for my younger kids to play with. Yay for that!

Since sports aren’t nearly enough to keep busy, we’re still searching for a home closer to the kids’ school… In fact, the home I posted about previously is now under contract again… Only this time, we’re the ones holding the buyer position!  We’ve been keeping tabs on the house for months now and when we noticed that the home was no longer listed as under contract, we pounced.  Within 3 hours of it being placed back on the market, we had a signed contract in place.  Now we’re waiting for what seems like FOREVER for the bank to reply to our offer.  The home is a short sale, so things are taking much longer than my impatient self can handle.  Any happy thoughts you want to send our way will be well received! 

With all of the above information at hand, you can imagine I haven’t been knitting all that much. In the past month I have finished a few things but just haven’t taken the time to blog them. I finally finished the rosary bags that will be given to all 18 girls in my oldest son’s class when they receive their First Communion on May 2.

I’ve handed them over to a super duper mom in our class to package them up nicely for presentation.  I can hardly wait!

My daughter asked me to make her some socks, so I made some generic toe-up socks for her using Bernat Hot Sox in Hippi Hot color:

I’m working on several other projects, but none have enough progress to really post about.  In fact, it’s time for me to run… gotta make it to our first soccer game in an hour!  Have a GREAT Easter weekend!

Take a seat

It’s like someone knew we were coming so they went to the trouble of making us comfortable…

Look closely and you’ll see the built-in cup holders!

Hope you’re having a great day!

We made it!

After an incredibly long day of travel, we have made it to Florida. The weather is so much nicer than we left… at last look, Chicagoland was anticipating 2-8+ inches of snow! SNOW! Barely missed that one! We’re in the 80s here.

I hope you’re enjoying whatever weather has been thrown your way this weekend and will try to post some fun pics over the week we’re here!

Going for a ride…

It’s Spring Break time around here and we’re headed to Florida for some much needed relaxation and warm sunshine.  I hope to post some pics while we’re there, but won’t promise anything for fear of becoming a liar!

I will leave you with the most recent pics of the kids… they’re growing so dang fast I can’t even believe it!
The boys:

and the girl:

See you soon!

Do you see what I see?

We did some Spring clean-up outside today and I found something…

Doesn’t look like much, does it?

But look closer…

Do you see the buds among all the icky yucky brown?! Spring is finally coming to Chicagoland!! YIPPEE!!

I hope you’re seeing some Spring-like signs in your neck of the woods, too. 

Kate the… Bumble Bee

Because who doesn’t need a hand knit bumble bee toy? I mean, really. Who doesn’t need this?

Pattern: Kate, the Cat with Britches from Knitty Winter 2005, also City Mouse Toy from Lion Brand’s website (registration required) for the wings.

Yarn: Red Heart Super Savers in Black, Bright Yellow, and White. Not sure of the amounts, but not much of any color.

Needle: US5

Started: February 23, 2009
Finished: February 25, 2009

I am in love with him. LOVE. I didn’t make him for anyone or any occasion… Just spotted this one on Ravelry and had to be a copycat. Can you blame me?