How did I miss it?!

I rarely walk along our side yard.  When I am in the back yard I get there through the back door; when I am in the front yard, I get there through the front door.  The other day I chase a couple of superheroes around the outside of the house and realized that we have a lovely flowering bush.  I have yet to take the time to identify what kind of plant it is, but I am so glad that I discovered it before it stopped flowering.   It was a good reminder to me that I need to stop and observe my surroundings more often, and also that perhaps I should use the front door to get to the back yard every so often.

She Just Figured Out Blue's Clues

Recently, Little Ish and Liliana have chosen to spend their screen time watching episodes of Blue's Clues on Amazon Prime .  As far as screen time goes, it is often very obvious what Little Ish is getting out of the episodes they watch, but until recently, I haven't been able to gauge exactly what Lily is gathering from this time.  On Sunday, I got a glimpse of just how much she is taking in.  When we were at Ish's parents' house, she set up a little chair, asked me for a notebook, and then took me on a hunt for a crayon.  She then sat in her "thinking chair" and wrote out and solved several sets of clues.  She also insisted that I call her Steve.

Side note:  Screen time, in moderation, seems to be inspiring Lily's imaginative play, but I know  from experience that too much screen time makes for cranky uninspired children who drive their Momma nuts.

Because Superheroes Need Snacks Too

A Tradition Begins

As the shutterbug of my family, I have thousands of pictures of my children.  I even have a substantial number of photos of my husband with the kiddos.  What I don't have is very many pictures of me with my children.  In the chaos and general busyness of daily life, I don't often remember to hand my camera off to Ish.  As a remedy to this, I decided to start a tradition of getting a photo of me with the kids every Mother's Day.  Clearly, we don't do photo studio perfect portraits around here, but I love this series all the same.  Now I just need to choose one to frame...

7 Quick Takes Vol. 2

1.  Atticus successfully made it through his first big road trip last weekend.  We spent last weekend on a sort of whirlwind road trip to Massachusetts for my sister's baby shower.  Atticus did phenomenally well with all the travel and new faces.  I discovered that I get motion sickness when I travel in the backseat of the van at night.

2.  On Saturday, I found Big Ish and Atticus hanging out together.  This wins for the sweetest moment of the week.

3. Little Ish told me that I am his favorite momma ever because I made banana bread.  I will remind him of this when he is a teenager...

4. We have been having sing-a-longs at the table after dinner this week.  While the rest of America's children are singing the songs from Frozen , Liliana and Ish are belting out tunes from An American Tail.  I may need to record and post one of their sing-a-longs because, if nothing else, it is super sweet to see how much they enjoy singing with each other.

5. Our other post-dinner activity this week has been a pajama stroll.  We get the kids into their pajamas and Big Ish pushes the double stroller whilst I wear Atticus in the Boba.  I can't speak for everybody else, but I am really enjoying these peaceful family excursions.

6. I cast on for a lace shawl today in a vibrant pink yarn.  I guess all of the blue and green knitting I've done in the past year finally got to me as pink is definitely an odd color choice for me when knitting.

7.And a dose of  cute for the day...

Linking up over at Conversion Diary!

Spring has [Finally] Sprung

Consistently springy weather has finally arrived in Delaware, and the kids and I are soaking it up.  The other day I set out a blanket on the front lawn for Atticus to play on while the older littles spent a few hours running around, riding in the driveway, picking flowers, entertaining passersby, and observing [and squashing] bugs.  Now that Liliana has stopped running at the street, our time outside is full of pleasant transactions.  The children are more ready with a smile or laugh and much slower to anger or fuss.  I often dread getting everyone ready to go outside, but I never regret the time spent when we finally get out there.

A baby sweater

Front (preblocking)

Back (preblocking)

It's been a while since I've joined in on a Yarn Along, but that is not for lack of knitting.  Although it took me a little while after Atticus's birth to get back into the knitting swing of things, I am back to my craft.  My absence from Ginny's Yarn Along has more to do with the fact that my last two projects have been knit as gifts for family members who have been known to frequent my blog.  My most recent finished object is a baby sweater for my soon-to-be-born nephew.  It is a Puerperium Cardigan knit in Tosh Vintage in the well water colorway. I am quite pleased with the final result.

On the reading front there are a few things going on.  Ish and I are almost finished reading A Little Way of Homeschooling.  As Little Ish is starting to approach school age, Ish and I are starting to more seriously investigate and decide on how we want to home school the children.  On my own, I am reading Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly.  Although it is directed toward children it, there are several pieces of writing advice in it that are useful to me as an adult.  My current car read-aloud with the kids is  James and the Giant Peach.  This is my first time ever reading it, and I am finding it quite enjoyable.

For more yarn and reading join Ginny's Yarn Along!