Hello, Summer!

It’s finally arrived- my kids’ last day of school!  The last day of kindergarten for my daughter, and the last day of third grade for my son.  It’s been a busy, fun-filled year full of new adventures and frustrations, and though it may sound crazy, I am truly excited to have all of my kids home for the summer.  Yep, I’m that weird Mom who loves the crazy chaos of summer.  This year I am determined to have a structured summer program to help alleviate the “Mom I’m bored!” syndrome, so I hit up Pinterest and went a-searchin’.  I came across this blog post from Power of Moms.  It gave me a good starting point for what I want to do this summer, and here is what I’ve come up with so far:

Make it Mondays- scour Pinterest for the neatest, easiest kids crafts and make them.  This first week, we will be making salt dough decorations using this salt dough recipe and cookie cutters.

Take a trip Tuesdays- Pick somewhere relatively close and cheap and go.  For the first week we will be going to the library to get the kids started on their school-sponsered summer reading program.

Wet and Wild Wednesdays- Take a trip to the community pool if weather permits.  Other things I have lined up include water guns or if weather does not permit for outdoor play, a water table set up in the basement.  Basically just small totes filled halfway with water and bath toys.  This will probably work well for my daughters, but I might have to come up with a backup activity for my 9 year old son.

Think about it Thursdays- Let my kids pick something new that they want to learn about.  Maybe a new country or a new city.  Maybe even the basics of a new language.  I don’t have anything firmly planned for this first week, and I plan to let this one be mostly kid-led.

Frame it Fridays- On Fridays, I will have my kids draw a picture or write about their favorite part of the week.  At the end of the summer, before they go back to school, we will compile all of the weekly drawings/stories into scrapbook for each of them.

I’m really super excited about this!  What plans do you have for summer?  Are you doing anything fun or exciting?

Dolphins and Derbies

A few Summers ago, our family went to Sea World in San Diego.  It was great, we had a blast, and my darling daughter Lola received a little stuffed dolphin named Surf from her Papa as a souvenir.  To this day, she has to have it every night when she goes to bed, and the minute she comes home from school, she runs upstairs to get him for a wee snuggle.  It’s adorable, really.  So last week, she was having a particularly difficult time saying good bye to him before going to school.  I don’t know why, but she truly was struggling.  So I offered up my services as a dolphin nanny for the day, making Lola pretty happy.  Anything for my babies.  Surf and I had quite the day, and I took a series of photos from our adventures to show Lola that Surf was well taken care of and that he had a great day.  She loved it.  Probably the sweetest picture (though I am biased) is the one I took in which it looks as though Surf were knitting.

This past weekend was my sons Cubmobile Derby.  For those of you not familiar, the different Dens build what is known as a “cub mobile” out of 2×4’s.  The put it on wheels and create some sort of steering mechanism, slap on a belt for safety purposes, and pull them up a hill to see who’s pummels fastest down the hill.  Sounds fun, right?  Except the church where our boys meet doesn’t have any hills.  So our leadership build some not-so-steep ramps with drop gates and let the boys race them down the ramps into a sectioned off part of the parking lot.  The off and on rain did not damped the boys’ spirits at all, and they all seemed to have a great time.  My darling Husband braved the rain and let me use his rain jacket- who says chivalry is dead?!

This is the last week of school for my babies, so I hope I will find the time to continue blogging!  I’m putting the finishing details on the upcoming collection, as well!  I plan to release the patterns around mid- August to celebrate my birthday.  I am debating releasing them all at once versus one per week.  What do you think?  Do you have a preference when it comes to buying patterns?

Have a great week!

Just Plucky, thanks!

Sneak peek of another new design, currently being knit using The Plucky Knitter Primo worsted.  Ohmygawd guys.  This yarn.  This YARN.  It is simply incredible.  First of all, Sarah’s eye for color and the incredible depth of color in her yarns is phenomenal.  But the bases themselves are so soft and perfect.  I was lucky enough to have been able to use Primo fingering on another upcoming design, and when I approached The Plucky Knitter to inquire about yarn support for this new project, I was met with a gracious and enthusiastic reply.  It’s times like this that make me truly feel like a real, honest to goodness designer.  (You know, minus the 39 designs that I have released!)  If you haven’t had the chance to check out The Plucky Knitter yarns, I really hope that you do now.  There are so many colors to choose from- good luck settling on just one!

I hope that your Tuesday has been lovely!  Have a great week!