life of seven

What we've been up to

Wow, guys, sorry I haven't checked in for a while. The last couple of weeks, as you may have guessed, have been quite busy. Part of it involved an anniversary/birthday trip that Ben and I went on for three days to California. Okay, why lie? We spent all three days at Disneyland. Yes, that was our getaway. I may write about it some more in another post, but Ben proposed to me at Disneyland 18 1/2 years ago. Some members of our family are kind of Disney fanatics. Not so much about the movies, or the characters, but the theme parks. When you visit a theme park, you truly are visiting the Happiest Place on Earth, so, what better place to celebrate an anniversary and birthday than at Disneyland? Sounds like a recipe for a great celebration. And it was. One of the funnest trips we've ever taken, though at every turn I'd see a little girl Evie's age, telling me about a roller coaster she went on, or two little kids Jude's and Truman's ages giggling, giggling, giggling on a water ride, or a toddling two year old like Clementine dressed in a ridiculous princess dress, and my heart broke a little in loneliness for my kids. The paradox of parenting. You want to get away by yourself, until the moment you finally are away. No matter, I promise you that Ben and I made the best of our homesickness by tearing throughout the park at lightning speed (not something that's possible to do with all seven kids in tow) getting to all the rides.

Well, now, I said I wasn't planning to write about our trip, but there it is. A quick synopsis.

As a place holder for not having taken pictures for a couple of weeks, I give you a couple from the Olympic party we had at the start of the Olympics. This was so fun that I think it will have to become a tradition. A few simple games, that everyone, from the littlest kids to the adults, can participate in, a few cheap trophies purchased, food representing the host country (we allowed for a little creative license with the Brazilian food), a bit of decorating which included wrapping hula hoops with streamers in the colors of the Olympic rings (that was my idea, and I admit I felt, and feel, so clever to have come up with it- I hope people pin it a million times on Pinterest!), and you have the makings of a fun evening for everyone.

School has started up again, more or less, for the kids. We aren't putting in our full days yet, but easing into it gently, which is how I like to do it. I've been bad about making sure my little boys have been practicing piano, so that was kind of my goal for this week. I love spending time with Jude and Truman on the piano, since they love it so much and watching them pick up rhythm and melody and harmony is so delightful. Let me write this here and now, as a reminder, for when I find myself too "busy" to help the boys with their piano practice. 

One more thing- we are continuing to love Audible- perhaps the best addition to our lives that has happened to us this year. Gideon, Evie and I just finished Anne of Green Gables, and though we knew the story well, I, having read it a half a dozen times, Gideon once, not to mention the many, many, viewings of the movie, hearing it read aloud to us was a new way to experience it and we all laughed out loud throughout the story, as well as brushed away tears, and sighed, often, in the most satisfied way at the conclusion at the end. Gilbert giving up the Avonlea school for Anne, without any prompting, or even letting Anne know, must be one of the best moments in all of literature. Such a perfect book. We hurriedly began listening Anne of Avonlea because we just didn't want the sweet moments to end.

Today, Cate and Grace and I are going to finish up our last ten minutes of Unbroken, and then it will be To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm really looking forward to listening to this one, because I have heard that Sissy Spacek narrating it is second to none. 

Finally, I hit upon the brilliant idea of downloading a book for my littlest ones, and let them practice sitting quietly like they are supposed to do during church. I picked out Beatrix Potter for them, which they like pretty well, but I am trying to come up with something they may enjoy a little bit more for next time. Possibly Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Winnie-the-Pooh, even Betsy-Tacy,  but I'm still deciding. 

That's a wrap, you guys. Hope to post more soon. Surely you are all dying to know what I'm knitting, for one thing. That's coming, it's coming.

Merriment Bonnet and Cardigan for my Clementine Merriweather

Here ya go, folks: Merriment cardigan and bonnet. You can probably tell from the delight I had taking the pictures that this project was a winner. I used Drops merino, which was a great price, and definitely seems like it will hold up well to a two year old's antics.

One thing that bugs me is the way the yoke pattern ended up lining up. I'm sure had I not mentioned it to you, you would have never noticed it, but now you can't unsee it, can you. Had I foreseen this issue I would have messed around with the pattern to make it line up better, but I just assumed that all would be well if I followed the pattern charts. No big deal for a little girl's sweater, really, but if you are knitting the size 3/4 in this pattern I suggest you double check what the chart looks like and maybe change the number of stitches so that the pattern lines up a lot better.

The bonnet, as you can see, is too cute for words. So, no words. Other than to say, I ran out of gray yarn and so I got creative in using the other colors for the back of the bonnet and the ties. I think it worked well, and again, had I not mentioned it to you, I bet you would have thought that's how it was supposed to go. I can see myself making more of these bonnets, in different sizes. I think they would make wonderful baby gifts. It knit up so quick, and there are so many great color combinations you could do.

I did not steek this sweater; no, I simply knit the small areas of stranded knitting back and forth. It was no big deal, really, since only the few rows for the yoke are stranded. Of course, had I added in the dots I would have needed to steek it. I saved myself a lot of time not knitting the dots. It turned this into a super quick project that way. But, again, I can see myself knitting other versions of this, and perhaps I will try steeking them and adding all those little dots. I can imagine lots of different color combinations for this pattern, and indeed, a quick check on revelry will reveal many, many different color iterations of this design. One of my favorite things to do is to group different colors together, just for fun. Especially when it comes to balls of yarn. For this reason, I am pretty sure I will want to knit another one of these, just because choosing the colors would be such a delight.

Well, I think that's all there is to be said about this pattern, for now. I'm definitely looking forward to dressing my little girl in this once it is not August, and the temperature still determinedly insisting on reaching 90 degrees each day...

A Visit From the Fairy Godmother

When I look at these photos, I think, It's too bad Clementine Merriweather doesn't have many dimples...then I chuckle to myself at how hilarious I am. She's got dimples upon dimples upon dimples. 

As you can probably tell, this little girl turned two yesterday. My littlest baby, still a baby in my eyes, really isn't much of a baby anymore. I really wanted to commemorate the occasion, with Pinterest-filled thoughts of a Cinderella party dancing in my head. Or, perhaps we could visit Lakeside (one of the oldest amusement parks in the country- I had many a birthday party here, my dad went as a boy, and we have lots and lots of memories at this place that twenty years ago was scary and run-down but has suffered through it to have graduated to the esteemed status of vintage and cool). When my party planning efforts failed and my husband informed me that this would be one of the busiest work weeks of his life, I thought I could scale back. I had the idea of visiting my aunt, who shares the same birthday as Clementine, sometime during that day, but discovered she would be out of town. Suddenly it was the night before the birthday and my sister asked me if I had a party or something like that, or even anything at all, planned.

"No."

"What about the epic Cinderella party we talked about???"

"Sure, Steph, sounds great. We'll be Cinderella in rags and you be the Fairy Godmother who shows up and makes a party appear!"

"Well, do you want me to come over?"

"Yeah, I guess. I don't know what we will do, but I can at least promise you a birthday dessert. I mean, I'm not even promising a birthday cake, but at the very least there will be stale Oreos."

Yesterday, on Clemmie's birthday, I had to leave early to take Gideon and Evie to piano lessons, so I just got a chance to say good morning to my birthday girl. When I got home, after being with her for a half hour, she fell asleep and took one of those long afternoon naps. 

Around three in the afternoon, I admit that I had a meltdown. I sat down in the hall and cried. I felt like a terrible mother.

My mom and three daughters surrounded me and comforted me. 

"Mom, it's fine. Clemmie is only two. She'll never remember this birthday."

"Let us go the store and grab a cake mix and we will make her a birthday cake."

"Invite Aunt Amy and our cousins and see if they can come over for just dessert. Afterward, we can watch the Olympics."

"You're being so silly! You knit your daughter a sweater for her birthday- I didn't give you girls handmade presents growing up!"

I realized I was perhaps being just a little bit silly. We ended up throwing together a cake mix, cleaning up the house, wrapping a couple presents, inviting my sister's family, and it did kind of feel like Cinderella in her rags, making do with what we had.

And, somehow, the magic happened. Almost like the fairy godmother really did visit. 

Grace dressed Clementine in her party dress.

We found a glittering number two decoration leftover from another birthday and watched Clementine run around outside with it and I quickly grabbed my camera and took some pictures. Had you happened upon those pictures on Pinterest I'm sure you would have thought I was one of those moms who staged a photo shoot weeks, or at least days, ahead of time. No, these pictures were thrown together in a matter of minutes. Click, click, click, click, hey, I really like that!

Clemmie's aunts and cousins arrived. Gifts were set on the table and Clementine let out the longest squeal. She knew from her sibling's birthday parties what a present was, I guess. She was so excited.

We sang happy birthday and played a few songs on the piano and she laughed and danced.

She opened her first gift, and she let out the loudest shriek of delight. My mom had gotten her a baby doll. You may know that I used to make all natural Waldorf dolls and sell them on Etsy. I'm sort of (sort of) a purist when it comes to natural toys. I mean I'm not too extreme, but I have never bought my kids plastic dolls with batteries that cry and wrinkle up their faces and make sucking sounds when you put a pacifier in their mouths. Well, this is exactly the sort of doll my parents bought Clementine. I mean, if you are used to all natural dolls stuffed with organic wool, the doll may have even looked a bit scary. But when she opened it up, you would think that Clementine was a mother who had just laid eyes on her own newborn child for the first time. For the rest of the night Clementine held that baby and put the pacifier in and out of the doll's mouth, over and over and over. She showed us the doll, but she didn't lay it in our laps to hold. She wouldn't set it down.

Later on, my aunt, the one I wanted to visit, but couldn't, gave us a call and we did FaceTime. We got to give each other great renditions of the birthday song. Clementine and her great aunt were each delighted by the phone call.

I put the sweater and bonnet on Clementine, despite her protests, and realized what great knitting project it ended up being.

Clemmie blew out her two candles after charming us with her antics around the cake, sneaking a finger in and tasting the frosting before we cut the cake.

The party ended with Olympics watching and Clemmie walking around from person to person, showing off her baby doll or pushing it in the stroller, or placing it in the high chair to feed it. After the long afternoon nap, Clemmie stayed up cheerfully until eleven, and finally we put her to bed. She didn't quite make it until the stroke of midnight, when the spell would have been broken. Instead, the party was over before the magic ended. 

Knitting, turning 36, and life

Ooooops...totally meant to post before another week went by but that's the way life goes sometimes. Well, gear up because I feel like writing today. An organized blogger would put all these thoughts and photos into two or three posts, but I never said I was an organized blogger. Or an organized anything. 

I'm feeling the knitting pull again, not that it ever goes away, but when we head toward fall (finally! hooray!) the knitting needles and the wooly stranded patterns and thick cables begin to call my name louder than ever. I am not much of a summer knitter, not meaning that I don't knit in the summer, I do, always, always, but I mean I hate knitting with cotton or linen or anything that's not from the fleece of an animal. The biggest compromise I will make when it comes to summer knitting is to use fingering weight yarn (love it, just takes so much longer) and I try not to knit huge projects that will cover my lap in a wool blanket. But, sometimes that happens anyway and there's nothing for me to do for it but to grin and bear all the sweat under my knitting. I know, did I make you cringe with the water balloon photos on an obviously suffocatingly hot morning, mixed in with photos of stiflingly hot stranded wool knitted projects? It's wishful thinking- fall is surely almost here!

Oh boy, so many projects going on. Love, love, love how Merriment came out. I need buttons still, and need to weave in the ends and sew up and block the adorable matching bonnet, but how cute did that pattern come out? Like always, Alicia's been inspiring me with her talk of stranded yoke sweaters and how fun they are to knit. I thought that already, but she has gotten the wheels turning in my brain as I scramble to remember the yoked sweater patterns I have been wanting to make for a while now besides Merriment. Should Alicia ever happen upon my blog, here you go Alicia: not sure if you yet discovered these yoked patterns yet. Like my sister said to me when I showed her Alicia's blog, "Um, why are we not best friends??" Um, right?? I just love checking out what she is up to in her adorable little Scandinavian-inspired house!

Back to knitting: I just hit the point (yet again, for the hundredth time) where I have to tell myself to slow down and not start so many things. Just when think I am getting burned out on knitting, or making things in general (like where I was a couple weeks ago), something or other always gets the ball rolling in an unexpected way. Maybe it will be with some sort of decorating project, maybe it will be something totally different, like sewing or cooking, but more often than not some new inspirational knitting project will call my name and I will be amazed that I ever felt the need to take a break from knitting.

For my readers who aren't knitters, don't worry, I have more to write about. I turned 36 a couple of days ago. I am so okay with it, in fact I have loved being in my thirties. Each year of life that goes by gets better than the last. I am not just saying that, I mean it with all my heart. Life takes so many unexpected twists and turns. So many bad, but so many of them so, so wonderful. I didn't realize watching my children grow up and seeing them experience the same things I experienced at their ages would be ten times better than when those things happened to myself. It's as if I'm living my life, plus seven other lives at the same time. Good thing I chose the right name for my blog.

There's so much joy and emotion I wonder if I will ever explode. I'm sure I entered the doll playing stage when I was two, like Clemmie is in the thick of right now, and I know watched my other kids love dolls as well, but that does not dampen my delight in watching Clementine discover her love of playing with "babies." In fact, it is perhaps more fun watching my last almost-two year old than it was my first. Now I know how much to appreciate it. I worry less. I am well aware now how quickly that stage, and all stages, pass. Before long, she won't sing "Hiya-Hiya" in the same sweet way she does now ("Hiya, hiya, Jesus hiya, Hiya, hiya, hiya, Lowa, lowa, Jesus hiya!"), or say with delight, "Shoe-y! Toad-y! Snake-y! Monkey!" quite the same way next month. And I use Clementine as the example because she changes so fast, but oh my, how proud I am of each child as they achieve each new accomplishment. Last night we watched what was my favorite movie growing up, in honor of the Olympics. When it was over, Cate asked Jude how he liked it (I wouldn't think a six year old boy would like a gymnastics movie). He gave a deep sigh and said, "I loved it." Ah, Jude. There is nothing more wonderful in life than sharing your favorite experiences with your children.

In five years my life will look so different from what it is now, and I am more than okay with that, in fact, I am delighted and I absolutely can't wait to see what life will bring. Though things don't always go well and many days, weeks, months, and years have been hard, I know for a fact that God has blessed every single day of my life. I'm so thankful that He loves and delights in His children every bit as much as I do mine.