Summer Knitting (aka Boring Post).

Knitting and running are my way of meditating / clearing my mind. I sure needed a lot of meditation last summer while both kids were driving me insane. Add to it hours of sitting in a car on a way to upstate NY, Vermont and Canada and back and I have plenty to show for it.

Dress / Vest

Love this pattern although it took me many hours and a lot of ripping until I was happy with a size.

How many of these skirts can I knit, you ask? As many as the number of friends and cousins Julia has.

My favorite hat pattern.

I wish this jacket pattern came in Julia's size.

I used a skirt pattern for a doll and modified it into a toddler size.

Instead of giving a present to a friend when her child was born, I gave it a year later. Never too late for a hand knitted present, right?

The cutest pattern I came across so far. Had to make it for a baby in our family.

Since I was away and had no other yarn, I used the leftover yarn from a turtle to make a sweater and a vest. Not the best yarn to use for the clothes, but it's a machine washable which parents with babies appreciate.

Easy pattern, had to make it. Next time I'll add some stripes, so it doesn't look so boring.

I'm almost done knitting something for David. I need to dry it in a dryer in order to shrink it a bit. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it'll work and I'll post a picture of it next time.

Have a great weekend. If this rain ever stops, our weekend will be filled with soccer practice, soccer game, ice skating lessons, apple picking, drum lesson, swim team practice and going to a local carnival.

Our Summer.

Time is a wonderful thing. Two weeks after the school started and already my summer memories of constant bickering, disobedience, misbehavior seem to be non-existent now and instead are replaced by the following images. Luckily for me, I have lots and lots of sorry notes from my kids written to me, the bugs that were stepped on accidentally or not and to each other to remind me of our challenging times.

Before I forget even good times we had (and we did plenty of them), there it goes.

June and July were busy with swimming. David had team and private practices a few hours a week in addition to swim meets twice a week. He did well and at the end of the season he represented his 5, 6 and 7 age group in a league championship where he placed second. He loved every second of it although he told me that he wouldn't participate in a swim team next summer because they swim longer distances. I really hope it's not the case.

We visited Six Flags which was more fun for both kids this year as they don't seem to have fear of any rides. As long as they are allowed to go on a ride, they are game.

By the end of the swim season, we were all done with our local pool. I kept looking up the hill where we go sledding in the winter and was dreaming of a cooler weather. So, in August I would take the kids to the lakes nearby just to have a change of scenery.

Julia was hatching butterflies in her room this summer. She really enjoys all kinds of bugs... when she is not stepping on them.

We went on many hikes and picnics in the woods.

A day after hurricane/storm Irene hit Vermont, we left NJ and headed there. We had planned a trip to VT for weeks and didn't think we should cancel it. Apart from having a very difficult time driving there we enjoyed New England very much.

David found that it was more fun writing about his experience in VT rather than wander around the museum in VT.

What's better than peach picking in August? Eating peach cobbler for an entire week in August.

Finally, after months of having a playset in the backyard, the temperatures were low enough for the kids to play on it.

First day of school and my cell phone gets attached to my hip.

I hope the kids are happy in their school this year and it wouldn't hurt if the older one matures just a bit.

Aftermath Irene.

(Visit to Niagara Falls last month)

I slept through the storm last night which is not unusual since I'm a deep sleeper. By now, my kids know not to reach for me at night as they'll get no response from me, so they go directly to Seth. I'm glad to report that nothing was damaged on our property and we didn't loose any electricity.

I woke up at 9:40 am realizing that David's drum lesson is supposed to start in 20 minutes. I rushed to the family room shouting that he should get dressed right away and he'll eat cheerios in a car. While he was writing something at his art table, he calmly told me that he and Julia already had breakfast after which he washed the dishes and Julia washed the kitchen floor. "Great, go and get dressed then", I told him.

"I need to finish writing this note and tape it to our kitchen wall", was his response.

I glanced over his shoulder and saw this written on his note "no running, wet" and there was a picture of a puddle.

So, while we got no water damage outside on our property, there were plenty of puddles in our kitchen and a trash filled with an entire roll of a wet paper towel. While hurricane Irene might have come and left, hurricanes David and Julia are here to stay.

We Are No Farmers...

but last weekend our family got a taste of what a farmer's life is like. We visited Hull-O farm to help out farmers to take care of their farm . To be honest, we didn't even remotely experience the hard and non-stopping work that a farmer does every single day. The most, we "worked" perhaps was over an hour a day. Our duties included feeding calves, goats, sheep, dogs, kittens, bunnies, deer; milking cows and collecting chicken eggs.

The kids really surprised me, especially David. Julia wouldn't even feed the calves because of how messy it was. On the other hand, it was David's favorite activity and he was the first one to volunteer (there were other two guest families with total of 5 kids). Julia spent most of our time on the farm holding chicks and kittens. Both kids couldn't wait to finish their breakfast so they could run off and collect chicken eggs (surprise, none of the eggs were cracked). They were both eager to milk cows and got the hang of it right away.

Before we checked in to the farm, we had spent a few hours at the water park nearby. It was a weekend filled with activities from early morning to past their bedtime and if you ask our kids, it was their best "vacation" ever (haven't I written those words before?). I can see it being our annual getaway spot.

Visit to Howe Caverns. David still can't stop talking about them.

This is where I lost a few years off my life. David told me later he was nervous, but once in air, he had fun. Not sure how they let him do a zip line since he wasn't quite tall to go on it.

Julia got scared on a rope climbing and didn't finish it. David did complete it, but not before shedding a few tears.