How can it be June?

I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks because, well, I haven't had time. I usually try to put a lot of thought into a blog. I compose an essay with a definite theme and some sort of conclusion. Now that the summer has begun, I need to get over my legal self and just write.

The past two weeks have been crazy busy. The week of May 16 was our children's last week of school. Sunday, my oldest child "graduated" the religious school first grade program in the morning, and in the afternoon he graduated to a "wolf" in the Cub Scouts. Monday and Tuesday were filled with doctor appointments and non-stop errands. I also spent the week finalizing camp plans. On Thursday, my oldest had a school awards ceremony and camp orientation. Friday was my middle child's preschool graduation and my oldest's end of year presentation and school party. Friday afternoon, my parents and sister arrived for a quick overnight visit. Not much knitting happened that week.

To add to the crazy week, we had an unexpected houseguest. Our friend, S, suffered a broken ankle from a nasty car accident. S is single and has no family in the area, so she stayed with us after she was discharged. So while we were running around from school event to school event, we were also taking care of S, who was far more disabled than we had realized.

Taking care of S had an additional unexpected challenge - her duplex. Eventually, S would need access to her own bedroom and bathroom, both of which were impassible. I spent over an hour cleaning her bedroom floor, and I was not even close to being done. I hauled her laundry over to our house for cleaning and gave her keys to a friend who was bringing a cleaning person to the home. My friend and the cleaning person spent an additional 4 hours cleaning just the bedroom and master bath, and then they returned another day to clean the rest of the duplex. S has been informed that her bedroom is to stay in pristine condition; there are now several people who have a vested interest in seeing it clean.

Immediately after my family left town on Saturday, I turned my attention to getting our family ready to go to Florida on Wednesday morning. I spent Sunday doing nothing but laundry and creating packing list for the kids. S's mother arrived on Memorial Day, which worked out very well for us. We were able to take S back to her house home that evening and begin to pack for our trip to Florida on Wednesday, May 27. As you can imagine, packing for a family of 5 for a six-day trip took all of our time on Tuesday, and we left town early on Wednesday morning.

From a knitting perspective, the trip to Florida was wonderful. I was left in charge of the baby much of the time, which meant that spent a lot of time sitting and waiting for him to wake up from a nap or watching him roll around on the floor. That was great knitting time. I made considerable progress on the Baby Surprise Jacket, and I should have a picture of it in the next couple of days.

Unfortunately, because I was watching the baby, I really was not able to take advantage of the beach or my in-laws' pool. I took the baby to the beach once, but he spent his time trying to get off of the beach towel and eat the sand. Normally babies eat a handful of sand and spend an hour trying to get the grains out of their mouths. My baby, of course, loved the sand and spent his time trying to eat more of it. In our six day Florida trip, I spent a total of 2 hours on the beach. Sigh. Maybe next summer. . . .

I wish I could say that the rest of the summer would be more relaxing, but I suspect it will be just as busy. In fact, I know it will. I just updated my calendar for June, and it's not pretty. The next two weeks are packed with appointments, medical procedures, and playdates. I did hire a babysitter today to come by two days a week to watch the kids, which will be extremely helpful. Also, the older two have camp next week, which also should free up some time.

Then in mid-June, the children and I head to Franklin, TN to visit my my parents for two weeks. This should be a lot of fun. For the first week, the kids are going to an awesome camp. They will play soccer with Nashville's semi-pro soccer team in the morning, and in the afternoon they will perform science experiments and learn to build Lego robots. They should have a blast. The second week is Mommy and Nana Camp where we take them to cool places around the city and on day trips. Again, we all should have fun.

While the boys are in Soccer/Science camp, Mom and I will hold "Knitting Camp." We plan to check out all the LYS we can find and take as many classes as we can cram into two weeks. Knitting heaven.

My husband is staying behind on this trip to focus on his work, on finding a new job (know anyone who needs a CIO?), and on his "Honey do" list. I am very proud to say that today alone, he staked six tomato plants and fixed the pantry door. More importantly, for the first time ever, the water closet door in the master bathroom actually closes and locks. You have no idea how important a locked WC door is until you have little boys pulling it open demanding to know whether you have a penis and what exactly you are doing at that moment. I can't wait to see how my house improves during his two weeks as a bachelor.

I had hoped to have pictures to show you from our trip, but my husband apparently has not downloaded his photos from his camera yet. Look for them over the next few days. In the meantime, wish me luck. I may need it.