this many

Happy fifth birthday, little man. Yes, you're this many fingers now (a whole hand!).


I love you love you love you.

xoxo

a summer weekend recap

24 balloons, 36 beach balls, 48 cupcakes, 6 large pizzas, a water slide, a bouncy slide, and 25 kids in my backyard...

as well as Big Al, a 200 pound tortoise (and a smaller tortoise named Tank who really liked eating my new grass), a kimodo dragon, an albino snake, an alligator (which I held in my arms), and two really happy birthdays.

Then, a night out with friends, some amazing risotto and an even more amazing key lime tart, a couple glasses of wine, and seeing Cirque Shanghai at Navy Pier. The following day, absolute rest and some embroidery. And a couple of new books.

xoxo

Seven

Happy birthday, angel pie! You are the sweetest, smartest, most creative, beautiful girl, and I love you to pieces.

xoxo, mom

a not so brief recap of adventures in Minnesota

Okay, so this is the blog equivalent of me sitting you down in my rumpus room with an RC Cola and forcing you to watch 400 slides of my family vacation. Could someone please get the lights for me?

Slide 001:
a gumball machine at Mall of America. My family loves it when I carry around my big-ass camera and take pictures of things like gumball machines.

Slide 002:
Did you know there's an entire theme park inside the Mall of America? There are roller coasters, a water ride, all the usual theme park rides. BUT INDOORS. And that's why I love it: No heat, no mosquitos. And no heat. It's not hot in there. Other than that, I'm SO over Mall of America, but the kids love it, so we go every single time we're in Minnesota. We eat at the Rainforest Cafe (yech!) and ride the rides and sometimes we visit the aquarium. There's also mini-golf, a wedding chapel (my mom used to own it but recently sold it and now owns a prom-gown shop in the mall), and a college, among other things. All in Bloomington, Minnesota!

By the way, I used to work in the mall. At multiple locations, actually. But not at the same time.

Slide 003:
Some lollipops

Slide 004:
Off to the beach. Last year, we went to the same beach on the same weekend before the 4th of July and they had the same sandcastle-building contest. Except last year, we built sand castles just for fun and left before the contest. The following week, we saw a picture in the local paper of the contest winners, who had merely added on to the castle we had left behind. My kids still talk about it.

We didn't let it happen again this year: We totally destroyed the whole thing before we left the beach.
Sweet, I know.

Slide 005:
I took Olivia for a mani and pedi:

Slide 006:
We celebrated Olivia's 7th and Jackie's 5th birthdays. They designed their own cakes. Olivia wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sunflowers and her name in pink cursive.
Jackie wanted an orange cake with reptiles on it that said, not 'happy birthday' or 'Jackie', but rather, "I'm NICE" -so that's exactly what they got:

Slide 007:
Some croquet. I felt so...snooty. It was fun!

Slide 008:
We so absolutely exhausted this boy that he fell asleep just like this:

Slide 009:
I did some antiquing in a cute little town with my mom:

Slide 010:
And I did some embroidery:

Slide 011:
We took the kids to see a dinosaur exhibit in Rice Park in St. Paul (kind of like the famed Cows on Parade in Chicago, only...you know, Dinosaurs. In Minnesota):

Slie 012:
But the kids had to find grandma's dinosaur. I say that because my mom actually sponsored a dinosaur and it will go live in her backyard when the installation is complete. The artist added a little caterpillar on its back in remembrance of our little guy.


And of course, there's more. I took 400 pictures over the week. But you look antsy, so let's adjourn to the wet bar; I'll make you an amaretto stone sour and we can listen to some LP's.

xoxo

Dammit, Jackie....

a mother's work...

...is never done.

I didn't forget about you today. But my baby girl was sick. And so we were on a strict popsicle and 7-up regiment, interrupted only by a visit to the doctor's office. Once there, we realized that my son was due for a shot that he couldn't receive last week at our doctor's visit, or the week before that at our scheduled appointment, or even the week before that at his Kindergarten physical. So both of my kids got shots today. Olivia's was elective, though; The doctor told her she'd feel much better much faster if they could just inject an antibiotic straight into her little tushie. She agreed. That's how "miserable" (her word) she felt today. And then of course we had to go to Build a Bear Workshop for their prizes. My kids always get a prize after a brave doctor's visit. They both 'built' husky dogs and they both named them Gracie.

We came home and I let the dogs out of their kennel (more like a double wide luxury suite, actually) and I realized that one of them had used it as a litter box. Lovely. I've got my eye on you, Gracie. So that was lots of fun to clean up and launder all their blankets. They have lots of blankets. I told you, they live in luxury.

Then I made dinner, which everyone except my husband refused to eat. Truth be told, I didn't eat it either. And now here we are. And I need to go play puppies with Jack.

xoxo

an unfortunate beginning

Not to get too Lemony Snickett on you, but that's how summer vacation started around here. My daughter woke up with aches and pains and Lola (one of the dogs) threw up all over the carpet - I think she ate a yellow crayon or something.


Luckily, things turned out a bit better as the morning progressed (and after both kids had some chicken noodle soup, yes - for breakfast, and a can of seven up - with a straw). And I was able to cut some fabric and take pictures of some of my thrifty treasures from Mpls. No doubt said treasures will soon find their way into one of my pieces packets :

Now I'm taking both kids with me to my piano lesson. I'm crossing my fingers and praying for the best. And a little bribery never hurts either.

xoxo

better

feeling a little better today.

Had some sushi last night (look how lovely they present it - and that's just take out!):
And some good strong coffee this morning:
(Although I spilled half of it on a pile of clean laundry when I was looking for some shorts for my daughter this morning. UGH!!)
Went to Olivia's school for a volunteer appreciation breakfast:
flew kites with her class:
and played in the school yard:
I can't believe the year is almost over! And my baby boy is going to be in kindergarten next year. Time goes too fast...

Work on the Sweepstakes continues. More tomorrow, I promise.

xoxo

look closer

closer.

I opened up a package of raspberries this morning to find this little guy perched on top of them. Of course we needed to create a habitat for him. He's been a source of endless amusement for the kids today. Haven't named him yet.

Is it weird that I still ate the rest of the raspberries?

I have a yucky sinus infection and feel like crap today, but have big plans in mind for later this week (a sweetjessie sweepstakes, perhaps?), so please check back with me.

xoxo

all grown up

Jackie gets in the car the other day and says, "Libby's still my girlfriend"
me: what does it mean to have a girlfriend?
Jack: "I will give her a candy and invite her to my reptile birthday party. She's in love with me. And I'm in love with her. I'm in love with her!" (emphasis was his).

oh my.

sweetiepies

Mother's Day just gets better and better every year. This time, my babies each painted a piece of pottery for me (Yay! I finally have my own coffee mug!) and wrote to me. Olivia's class had been working on books for the moms for the past three weeks. It was the sweetest thing ever and something I will treasure always.

It even had a 'meet the author' page:

Jakie's class took a different approach with fill-in-the-blanks. He answered questions like:

my mommy has brown eyes and brown hair.
She is 4 years old.
Her favorite color is orange.
She loves going outdoors. (who is this mommy he's speaking of?)
My mom likes to go get food. (Well, at least he got one right).

I also got some beautiful flowers and an elliptical machine. My husband wants me to make it very clear that the elliptical was not his idea.

Thank you to the best family in the world for a very special Mother's Day!

happy mother's day

I found this card in a box that belonged to my great grandma Hale, sweet Frances. The box contains all of her prized birthday, valentine, and mother's day cards dating back to the 1930's.
I love going through that box.

I hope your day is filled with warm hugs and kisses and hand-made cards that say "I love you". This was my best mother's day yet!

xoxo

ps: a friend just sent me this video - it's awesome! really.

a perfect weekend

Went for a bike ride around the new neighborhood ::


Went out for a lovely dinner with a few girlfriends, and drank some good wine ::

Took the husband and kids to the zoo on the most beautiful day ever::
and got to see the baby giraffe ::
hung my new tote bag from a tree (my husband said "that's normal") ::
made a notepad cozy (a nod to Jill Bliss) ::
and used it for directions to get to an antique market with Melissa on Sunday ::
Scored a ton of cloth covered golden books at said antique market (well worth the 60+ mile drive into farm country) ::
and also these, which have great illustrations for cutting up, or for, I suppose - educating myself and/or my children ::
And some treasures for the Old School Swap (including this spelling & counting board) ::
And then I watched a movie on the couch with my husband, cleaned the kitchen, showered up the kids and got in our pajamas, and we all went to the Oberweis drive-thru for ice cream (I had a turtle candy sundae. yum). It was a perfect weekend.

Snow Day

The kidlets are home from school today. We're expecting lots and lots of snow and right now it's so windy that it appears to be coming down sideways. As much as I love my minivan, a snow car it is not. So here we are at home. Jackie's having a jam session, and Olivia wants to take her new tea set to a friend's house. Later, because I'm feeling inspired by the felt cookies we made this weekend, I think we'll make some real ones. With lots of sprinkles.

Chore #8: Relax

My daughter loves money. She's always coming up with ways to try to make more of it. Yesterday she wanted to sell water. She can't wait until summer when she can have a lemonade stand, and she's forever trying to come up with chores that she can be paid for. I explained to her that she needs to do chores just because she's a part of the family, and that she won't be paid for them. Her allowance is therefore not based on chores, but on the goal of learning about the value of money and how we save it, spend it, share it, etc.
Yesterday she insisted on making a chore chart anyway, complete with "chore" name and the days she will be executing said chore. As her school ecourages 'invented spelling' in first grade, I will go ahead and translate here:
Bed: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (I'm not sure if this means going to bed, or making the bed);
Dressed, Teeth, Hair: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Breakfast: Every day
Play or TV: Mabye Every day
Ready for School: Every day
Quiet time: Maybe Every day
Laundry: When there is laundry
Relax: Maybe Every day
Dinner, pajamas: Every night
teeth, bed: Every night

I think my favorite is #8: Relax , maybe every day. If I was getting paid for chores like that, I'd surely use my money to bid on something over at the Kim Family Auction. Holy moly, are the bids getting high! I bid on a few things yesterday, and already lost them, which is wonderful for the Kim Family. Kudos to Stephanie and Lisa and their mother for organizing the auction. In great Chicago fashion, be sure to get over there and bid early and bid often.