Out of Left Field

I don't know where the saying, "Out of Left Field" comes from, but I do believe it describes life since the last blog post.
Since the boys' birthday party Kelly was out of town for another week for work. Just when we were going to get back to a schedule I found out my nephew was very very ill. Last Wednesday at about 6pm I got a phone call from my mother that he was being flown to Wichita to be in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. I told Kelly I was going to Wichita and he said, "Go."
Thankfully, he is getting better! I was in Wichita with him and my sister and mom for three days. In those days I saw improvement but the virus that made him sick along with a case of mono will leave him weak for a long time.

Thank you to everyone who was following along with his health on Facebook and kept him in your thoughts and prayers.

The boys missed me while I was gone, but not too much! This was the conversation on the way to the library Sunday night.
Me-Geez Kelly if you hadn't met me you might just be laying on the couch all day watching football on a day like today.
Kel-Ya, wouldn't that have been awful.
Daryl-He would LIKE THAT mom. (he was using a Duh! voice)
Me- Daryl you think daddy would be happier without us?
Daryl- Probably just without you because you don't let him watch Royals. You should just let him watch the Royals mom!
Kelly was totally cracking up and I was laughing a little bit too. Daryl picks up on everything even the nightly debate of is there anything better on TV than Royals tonight. PS-Usually there is. ;-)

For an update on Alex, the kid is an awful sleeper. He is cute, and he gives great hugs, but almost all that good is negated by the fact he might be a vampire. Or whatever mythical character goes without sleeping! Kelly and I are going to soon have to get back on the every other night rotation that we had with both of the boys when they were infants! That way at least one of us is getting some sleep!

While I was sitting with Canyon in the hospital I did get started on a new knitting project. It is a blouse made of lace weight yarn. If you are not a knitter that last sentence should read, this is going to take awhile!  I would love to have it done in time to wear this winter, we shall see! I am using some of my Wollmeise stash. So I am finally knitting with the good stuff!

Awesome Weekend! (Last weekend, not tomorrow!)

 This last weekend we had the annual Meerpohl boys birthday party! I thought I better post about it today because it is almost the weekend again!

The party was a lot of fun and the Manor was full of people we love. We rented a bouncy house to keep the kids busy, little did we know it was going to be 100 degrees that day. The kids still loved it and the moms were just making them drink as much water and juice as they could.

I don't have a picture but Daryl got a Roman soldier dress up set from Ms. Pam. He LOVED it! He has been wearing it every day. Yesterday, I asked Daryl to feed the dogs before we had to leave for school. I was in another room and I could hear him putting on his entire soldier costume instead of going outside to feed the dogs.

Me- "Daryl why are you putting on your Roman stuff when I asked you to feed the dogs."
D-"BECAUSE I AM A SON OF TROY!"
He didn't even miss a beat! That kid! 

Alex had a great time at the party too. He likes to run with the big kids. He hurt his foot outside and I went to pick him up and he said, "No, Laudia!"

His babysitter Claudia came to the party and he wanted her to take care of him! She was happy to oblige him. :-) Claudia's family has become the boys second family and we love that they are so close.

We had cupcakes and ice cream. Kelly had doubts but I got six candles in one cupcake for Daryl! Alex was just a little concerned about the candles. He still doesn't like fire, he calls it "hot". This all came about on the 4th of July with fireworks. He didn't even get close enough to them to blow them out. So Kelly and I did it for him. :-)


The Birthday Sweater in all its glory! Don't mind those ends, they are all weaved in and taken care of now!

Happy 6th Birthday Daryl!

Today, Daryl got to have a cupcake for breakfast! It is his sixth birthday today so it was OK. Since it is his first year in school he also got to take cupcakes to school for treats. For the sake of his class he had to taste them to make sure they were good. Good news for his class, they passed the test!
I learn so much every year that I am Daryl's mom. I record most of it right here on the blog so some day when he leaves me for college I can relive his childhood! I can also remind myself what a sassy pants he was!

 I finished his birthday sweater! I was so happy I had enough green yarn. I used all that I had and still had to make the button bands shorter than called for. As soon as I get some buttons on there I will post a modeled picture.

I don't know if you have been keeping score at home but now Daryl, Alex and I all have matching sweaters. I couldn't be more thrilled with myself! This pattern is Wonder Years and I used Cascade 220 and hand spun Hello Yarn Fiber. Go me! Now I must find something new to cast on....

We made it!

This was a crazy week! Daryl had his first day of Kindergarten and even though I cried he did great! He likes his teacher and he says he has made friends, but he can't remember their names yet. :-) When I picked him up on Wednesday I started asking too many questions so he got mad at me and told me I can only ask one question every day. That's not going to happen so I got him some gum and he spilled his guts!
Kelly and I were really curious how meals would go because he can be a really picky eater at times and he doesn't like to drink milk. So the first thing we both asked him about was lunch time. He told us the same thing.
"They made me eat probably 21 or 22 bites and I had to drink my milk. I picked strawberry and it was OK."
I do not doubt one little bit that he counted all the bites he took!
On Thursday he had chocolate milk and he told me he was never going to have any other type of milk. Chocolate is the best!
I know he is still a little nervous about school because when we pull up to the school he has asked me every day if I will go in with him. They didn't have us go in on the first day but I have walked him in the rest of the week. I'm sure pretty soon he will tell me I can just go, that is how it was when he started preschool. I will sure walk him in every chance he gives me!
I have less than a week to go on the birthday sweater. I still have half a sleeve to go and button bands. This one is going to cut it close!

Alex gets so mad when we don't take his picture. So here is Alex

 on Daryl's 1st day of school!

Brotherly love!

Daryl in front of his school!

All the kids waiting to go in on the first day.

Daryl's little backpack walking in. I was losing it right about this time. :-)

First School Night

Today, Daryl got to drop off his school supplies and found out who his teacher is for this year! It was really fun and took some of the panic out of tomorrow. I can drop him off at school and know that all his school supplies are there and he has met his teacher.
I'm more emotional about Daryl going to school than I thought I would be. It all hit me on Monday and I've been on the verge of tears ever since. So I imagine tomorrow I will probably cry. I will just bite my lip until I leave the school. Goal #1 Don't cry in front of him, he is happy and excited and not worried a bit. So I will be the same! In front of him that is. LOL
Think about both of us tomorrow!
On Monday Daryl had another first. He attended his first 4-H meeting!

First 4-H meeting!

Alex taking a selfie!

Meet the teacher night! Um Alex was running around the room
grabbing everything. I'm afraid 2 has hit him pretty hard!

Decisions Decisions

The progress on Daryl's sweater had stalled. This is a problem because his birthday is August 20th and this is his birthday sweater. There is a culprit for this. My spinning wheel and the glorious bump of fiber I'm spinning.

The Hello Yarn Shetland that I am spinning is a dream. It is an easy spin without a lot of work on my part to make even singles. And the colors! Oh the glorious colors! I just want to get home at night and spin spin spin! This colorway , Bristling, has been in the stash for many years. It is one of those colors I collected before I was in the Fiber Club. Now that there is a monthly delivery of Hello Yarn being delivered to me it is time to let this fiber free of the fiber closet! I can't wait to show you all the finished yarn.

But, that will have to wait until this sweater is done. I'm on the sleeves, I struggle with sleeves, they are boring to knit....grumble grumble.

Daryl went to Aunt Barb's on Wednesday night and we will go get him tonight. He was very excited about this and didn't really want to tell me goodbye because he was so excited.

Me-Daryl give me a hug before you leave
Daryl-**running around the house grabbing toys to take with him not paying attention**
Kel-Daryl tell your mom goodbye and give her a hug!
Daryl-Goodbye mom! I will always remember you!

Oh dear turns out he didn't think he was ever coming back. And...he wasn't bothered one little bit!!

Daryl's Tee Ball picture!