Mama Acorn

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I haven't been posting much lately party out of frustration with the blog space that I have and because we've been busy. The Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. In the early years of our family, we would watch the parade from our front yard and host a BBQ with family and friends. We'd walk the half a mile to a local park to enjoy the carnival and fireworks. Nothing like that planned for today, but we are enjoying some festive family time. The boys and I made some star-shaped cookies and then we headed out for some berry picking at Spencer Farm (I'd link, but that option isn't working for me right now.) I think we picked 4 pounds of blueberries and 1 pound of black raspberries. Yum! Our hands are stained red and we're all drooling over the things we can whip up in the kitchen with all of our blueberries. James is making some barbeque pulled chicken and potato salad to add to the watermelon and deviled eggs I had planned and then we'll try to catch some fireworks from the balcony. Happy Day!

Izzy and Jack are sick AGAIN! Another stomach virus resulting in puking as soon as child is tucked into bed. Jack started in on Saturday evening after I made a big deal about picking his toys up. And Izzy joined him last night. I sent James to sleep in Jack's freshly made bed and kept the sick kiddos with me since I figured that we wouldn't be sleeping much. They surprised me though and slept fairly well after 1 am or so. Today is James' birthday. Happy Birthday Honey! Alex and I managed to make some cupcakes that we're hoping to frost in a bit and I made an executive decision to order pizza for dinner tonight. We already let him open his presents this morning before leaving for work. He seemed to like what the kids and I got him, new shoes and a water filter for camping and hiking. He's planning his next trip for July. Oh, and I never posted James' new blog link: http://www.myspace.com/jadoakes He has it set up as private so you'll have to request permission, but it's worth all the effort. I've almost finished knitting up a project and started thinking about Christmas. I have to be vague, but I can tell you about what I have in mind for the kids! For the boys, I'm going to knit up a farm play mat from Living Crafts: http://www.livingcrafts.com/page/Winter0708 Here's a completed one from another blog: http://mollyreads.blogspot.com/2008/...-farmyard.html I'm hoping to find a small wooden tractor and a few farm animals to go with it. And for Izzy, I'm planning on knitting her up another pair of longies and I'm not sure what else.

Obviously, my blog and our new iMac aren't getting along and there appears to be some formatting issues. I'll have to look into it.

James went on his hiking/camping trip last weekend and had a few mishaps, mainly his car not starting when they went into town to get a few dry things on Saturday. They were in a Walmart parking lot and despite trying to jump the car, it would not go and some random computer error light came on. He had it towed to a local dealership and rented a minivan and continued on with his trip. He drove the rental home on Sunday only to find out on Monday that his car only needed a new battery. Yay the fix is cheap, but grrr about the rental car bill, the towing bill, and all that gas. So today, James took the day off of work to return the rental and pick up his car down in Kentucky and he took the boys with him. I had a full day planned in the midst of a busy week, so to say I was grateful for a lighter load today would be an understatement. The boys left around 8 this morning, which left plenty of time for me to gather my things for our day and pack them into the car. I leisurely made my way to the car and actually made it to my LLL meeting early for a change. It was lovely being able to chat without having to compete with piano playing, dragon talk, or little boys jumping chairs. Izzy took to taking a nap in the car afterwards, so I had a quiet lunch in the car and knit a round or two. When she woke up, we had a girly day at the mall, window shopping for a new quilt. Everyone complimented her sweet curls and lovely eyes and cooed over her, which we both ate up. We continued with our errands and picked up our produce and did some light grocery shopping before heading homeward with one last stop at the polls to vote. I threw some crab cakes into the oven for the two of us to share for dinner and then we'll split a basket or two of laundry to fold together. As nice as it all was, I miss my boys and look forward to their homecoming in another hour.