Feeling crafty

 Here are a few of my recent projects which have been fulfilling my need to create while trying not to break the bank!  The first project is the silhouettes of the kids (and yes, even the furry one is included).  This was a super-easy project which took me a few hours from beginning to end.

 I'll have to update William's and Emilia's once they are old enough to actually see a neck :)

 This was also an easy project, but it took a little longer because it required some painting.  This part of the wall leading up the staircase became a display area for Lily's artwork.  I've been wanting to display her artwork in a nicer way for some time.  So I took a bunch of picture frames we had lying around (we all have them!), spray painted them black and then took out the glass and replaced it with corkboard.  Easy peasy project that lends a more uniform look and hopefully shows Lily that we really value her artwork.  (The quote in the top picture frame is from a John Mayer song and says "I know a girl, she puts the color inside of my world".)

 We have several birds that live around us that LOVE to use our front door wreaths as material for their nests.  So instead of fighting it, I decided to just change my approach to this problem.  I bought a wreath form and moss at the dollar store and then bought white ribbon from Michaels and made a wreath for a total of about $4.  The birds have already destroyed it several times, but I just keep fixing it, and if I need to replace some moss for $1, no big deal.  So, I don't get mad AND I'm supporting the local wildlife - win, win.

 Memorial Day is a reminder to appreciate all those - past and present - that have sacrificed in order to make our country a better place to live.  So, in honor of the day, I naturally have to incorporate some red, white and blue and a sense of Americana.  Above are cupcakes made to look like little fruit pies and below is a fruit and cheese platter made to resemble the American flag.  Yay America!

With all that fresh-picked fruit we gathered recently, we had to make a tasty treat, and who doesn't love a good peach-blackberry cobbler?

Look who's standing!

Emmy used one of the kid's chairs to pull up to a standing position, then let go and turned to the couch!  My little girl is getting so big!!

Lemonade Stand

How this whole thing came about, I still don't know.  Lily asked me yesterday if she could have a Lemonade Stand.  I think she may have seen this idea on a tv show as a way to make money for toys and such?  I'm not really sure.  I couldn't do it yesterday because I was elbow-deep in laundry all day.  After I put Emilia and William down for their afternoon nap today, I thought "Okay, this may be a fun mother-daughter summer activity".  But my intent was to have this be solely for Carl's benefit.  I'm NOT a saleswoman, and in fact, selling anything makes me quite uncomfortable.  At this point, it was 2:30 pm, and I decided to print a little sign for the stand, make the lemonade, bake a couple of goodies and done. 

So all went as planned.  I told Carl to call me once he was close to the house (Lily wanted to keep it a surprise) so that I could set up the scene for him.  He was literally no more than 5 minutes from our house when I put out the table.  As I was setting up the sign, a car stops and out hops a woman looking to buy some lemonade.  I was caught totally off-guard.  Yes, I know this looks like it is for real, but really it's not.  When she asked the price, I didn't even know what to say so I thought 25 cents sounded fair.  She bought two cups and gave the kids a dollar.  Lily was over-the-moon excited with this development.  As I'm still in disbelief that we had a real customer for our "fake" lemonade stand and thinking how thankful I was that I had actually made fresh squeezed lemonade, another woman comes walking down the street toward our little stand.  I really could not believe it.  Thank goodness we brought out multiple cups. 

Part of my amazement is due to the fact that our street is a circle that does not connect to any other neighborhood, so we get very little traffic in front of our house.  I guess we have some particularly thirsty neighbors (and ones who surely are just being sweet to their young neighbors).  At this point, Carl pulls up and wonders what in the world is going on, as he was supposed to pick up the kids and head straight to the grocery store.  I couldn't even tell him the story because our neighbors wanted to stick around and chat for a while, and I thought they wouldn't really get the whole "fake" lemonade stand with very real balloons, signs, homemade lemonade, cookies and rice krispy treats.  I'm just glad that while Carl may never really understand it either, he knows that this is just me and loves me anyway.

Marching on and on

 Emilia 2012

 William 2010

Lily 2006

Today marks 6 years since the death of Tricia, a then 30-year-old friend of Carl's cousin, Roger, who battled with metastatic melanoma for over a year. When the picture above was taken of Lily, Tricia (or Teb, as she was called by her friends and family) had just 6 days to live. On Sunday, July 29th, there is a 5K run in Chicago known as the March on Melanoma. You can go to http://www.tebstroops.org/ to register for the run or to donate to support cancer research. You can also read about Tricia's battle with melanoma in her own words at http://www.tebspage.blogspot.com/. It is a moving journal of sorts, detailing her brave battle and a good reminder of the many reasons for which we have to be grateful.

Mama drama

Okay, so here's my latest issue as a mother.  Lily has been asking to take Hip Hop classes since this Spring.  So I finally got my act together, found a class, and signed her up for a trial session which she attended tonight.  After the class, she said that she liked it.  She was most excited that she had a "protective shield" during the judging portion which granted her immunity from getting out.  (I think the game was kind of like a cross between Simon Says and America's Got Talent.  When you were judged out, you became a judge and eventually rotated back in.  Regardless, she liked it.) 

As usual, when I put her to bed tonight, I asked her about her day, and specifically about the class.  She again said that she liked it.  Then when I asked her if she would like to go back, she said no.  (Just a side note here that she also added if I really "cared" (wanted her to), she would go back.)  Ahhh!!  I couldn't believe it.  Just days ago, Hip Hop classes were her ultimate dream and passion, only to be replaced by the all-too-familiar lukewarm feelings.  My frustration is that Lily has now taken gymnastics, ballet, tap, tennis, softball, soccer, ice skating, swimming, cooking, acting, and now hip hop classes.  And at the end of each and every class, it is the same thing.  She likes them while she is in it; she just doesn't show any interest in going on.  She could easily take it or leave it.  I really wanted to expose her to as many types of classes as possible so she could find something that she truly likes to do without imposing any biases on her.  What do I do when she shows no bias toward anything?? 

Although I am glad that she has been exposed to all these classes, I don't want to keep rotating through them because she is now at an age where she could be building skills in a particular sport or activity but that won't happen if we do everything once or twice.  At the same time, it feels weird to randomly pick one of these activities for her.  Carl and I discussed this, and we think that part of the problem is that she does not immediately feel proficient in these activities so she quickly loses interest.  Academic endeavors seem to come very easily to her, and she may have become accustomed to that instant gratification.  For this very reason, we would like her to follow through with one of these extracurricular activities - to push her beyond her comfort zone and know the feeling of accomplishment that one feels after working hard at something that did not come easily.

Then again, she has taken so many classes now and seems to transition in with ease.  Ice skating was particularly difficult for her, but she saw it through to the end and completed the class successfully.  She just didn't seem particularly excited to go on.  I do give her lots of credit for trying all these new classes and going through the exploration process.  I really just thought that she would become passionate about one of them.  Is that an unreasonable expectation at six?  Maybe. 

So what to do now?  I truly don't know.  Knowing me, I'll probably have many more discussions with her on this topic, trying to discover her innermost passions while she will become increasingly annoyed with our conversations and disengage.  Oh so productive.

Lily did, however, remind me tonight that she has never taken horseback riding lessons....  And so it goes. 

More summer harvest

 This weekend was truly great.  We hit the zoo with Ingrid & Ryan on Saturday morning, Lily and I went to the Muny to see Aladdin Saturday night (thanks mom & dad!), we picked peaches and blackberries on Sunday morning followed by swimming and dinner at my mom & dad's (thanks again!).  Carl said that is was like a delayed Father's Day gift.  It really was wonderful.  Above is a picture from our peach and blackberry picking day.  Lily and William enjoyed riding the tractor which we had entirely to ourselves (people don't want to pick fruit in 100 degree weather, what??). 

 Our country kids

 Carl in his glory

 Carl has really taught the kids well when it comes to picking fruit

 They are experts at finding the ripe fruit.

 5 pounds of delicious blackberries

 Emilia got her first taste of blackberries...

 and peaches.  She was a fan of both.

 Our little monkey in the peach tree.

 Good times

Great memories

Strawberry lane

 We went strawberry picking in early May, one of our favorite annual family traditions.  The picture above shows the kids well into our strawberry picking/eating expedition.

 Our little William is such a mystery.  He will eat fruit off the vine, tree, etc. with a seemingly bottomless stomach.  However, the instant we bring said picked fruit into our door, it instantly becomes the least appealing thing in the world to him.  Sigh.

 Picture perfect summertime fun

Sweet baby Emmy slept peacefully in the shade.  It is hard to believe that next year she'll be running through the fields along with her brother and sister!

6 month check-up

This is long overdue considering Emilia's 6 month check-up was on April 20th, but I wanted to post Emilia's stats for comparison purposes.

At 6 months...

Emilia:  15 lbs, 5 oz (36th percentile) and 26.25 in. (69th percentile)

William:  18 lbs, 9 oz and 28.75 in.

Lily:  16 lbs, 12 oz and 25 in.

So it appears Emilia is our smallest bean yet, although she is taller than Lily was at 6 months.  At her current age (8 1/2 months), she definitely has less hair than either William or Emilia which is unfortunate for the many hair accessories that are ready and waiting.  She is a wonderful baby that eats well, sleeps well and has the best disposition.  She is babbling with lots of da, da, das and ba, ba, bas and can be quite loud at times.  She still does not crawl on all fours but continues to make her way around with her very determined army crawl.  I have seen her grab onto things and lift up her upper body but no pulling up to a standing position yet.  Although she is still not even 9 months old, I think she is going to be behind Lily and William with standing and walking, but we shall see.  I'm certainly in no hurry for her to have increased mobility!  By this point, I think both Lily and William also had a couple teeth, but Emilia still has a sweet toothless smile.  And, boy does she smile a lot!  She also laughs and laughs when tickled and when her siblings play with her.  We just can't get enough of this sweet baby girl.