A day of mourning

Today Matt goes back to school. WAH!!!!!!!!!

We've had SUCH a lovely summer together as a family that I am seriously mourning today. I'm super thankful that Matt is a college prof; having the summers off is too good to be true!

Besides being a personal blessing and help to me around the house, Matt has engaged and invested in our kids. He has a strong and unique bond with each of them.

I've had to do some focused thinking and planning to make our transition as easy as possible. Honestly, I think I might have the hardest time transitioning. I'm so used to having Matt around to watch the kids while I prepare supper, or take a nap, or need to run to the grocery store.

So, today officially begins our fall semester. Sigh. Goodbye summer. We miss you already, Matt!

A surprisingly pleasant portrait experience

I'm exuberantly happy to report that yesterday we finally had a pleasant photo shoot experience!

Impulsively I called Sears yesterday morning and made an early afternoon appointment. I threw some things in my massive purse/diaper bag, loaded the kids in the car, and we were off!

Despite a 20 minute wait (which felt like an ETERNITY with Clive running around) the kids did a super job. The photographer was amazing! She was happy, personable, funny, and engaging. She managed to get some terrific smiles out of Chloe by getting her to say "Boogers". A word Chloe had not known previously. :) And now Clive is saying "boogers" constantly and smiling. I say that's a small price to pay for some stellar photos!

In fact, I had a terrible time deciding on one pose. I stuck to my guns though and didn't yield to the photographer's sales pitch to order more. And because of my coupon, I came away with 24 prints for $8 plus a free 10 x 13 portrait.

Looking at the poses below, which do you think I chose?

1: sitting on a rock

2: leaning on rock





















3: lying in a field of flowers
















4: standing in the flower field (looks real, doesn't it?)





















5: balloon head





















6: looking up





















7: squishing the 4





















8: steps

Summer Joy

"In summer, the song sings itself." [William Carlos Williams]



Hope you're busy enjoying the last bursts of summer!

August update

Hello, all! We've had an incredibly busy month and it's not slowing down! Hence, my recent blogging break during the month of August.

We're still coming down from the emotional high of Chloe's 4th birthday and the recent visit from my mom and gramma. See a zillion pictures of her genteel tea party birthday here.

Matt and I also celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary this week. Since my mom and gramma were in town we got to go out on a date. Woo-hoo! We crammed a movie, dinner, and putt-putt golf into our date night. And if you're wondering, Matt creamed me at golf. He's so cute when he plays putt-putt. He acts just like a pga pro lining up his putts and reading the greens. I prefer to use the whack-the-ball-without-thinking method. :) Which explains why I lost miserably.

Matt got me a super fabulous anniversary gift -- a car radio that works! Yay! We've been 3 years without a radio in the car. And let me tell you that music in the car seriously helps the kids when traveling. We're all enjoying the gift even though Clive was a bit confused at first (he kept looking around to see where it was coming from).

We're gearing up for the fall semester and getting excited (and a little scared) about the new schedule ahead.

How was your August?

FOUR

My sweet baby girl is no longer a baby! (Though in a very real sense she will ALWAYS be a baby in my eyes.)

I am in a slight sense of shock to think that my Chloe is breaching the 4 year milestone today. Obviously I admit that time marches at a constant rate but it doesn't seem so from my mommy perspective.

Watching this child grow from a screaming needy newborn into a functioning reasoning little person has been a true privilege and joy. I treasure my dear Chloe and I fully enjoy spending time with her, observing her personality blossom, and watching her develop.

I'm also super proud of my girl. She's helpful and obedient (most of the time). She can read simple words and she is an expert at imagination play. Chloe draws and sings and makes up her own poems. She's also very sweet with her little brother (again, most of the time) especially now that they're roomies. Clive waits up for her and then they "talk" until one of two things happen 1) they crash on their own or 2) Matt has to go up and give them an ultimatum. (I'm not a good bed-time ultimatum-giver so it's become Matt's job. I walk in the room and can NOT keep from smiling and giggling with them!)

Chloe is in an interesting stage right now because she's articulating her own thoughts and ideas more and more. Just tonight she said, "Tomorrow when I turn 4, will I be a mommy?" And then immediately after that she told me something unintelligible about God's rules for life. And then she started doing demi-plies while giggling. The workings of a 4 year old mind certainly are curious.

Happy 4th birthday, my snuggle bunny. I love you dearly and I am thrilled with how God has grown you thus far!

Summer treats

One of our favorite summer treats is watermelon ice. I'm too much of a cheapskate to buy popsicles plus I hate the fact that they're just sugar and water.

SO, our summer alternative is watermelon ice. It's super easy to whip up and a great way to use up every last bit of a monster watermelon. Our small family usually can only eat 1/2 a ripe watermelon in a few days. Instead of throwing away the 1/2 that gets overripe and mushy, I chop it into chunks and throw it in the freezer on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. After the chunks have frozen (1-2 days), I transfer them to a gallon sized freezer bag.

As you can see, Clive heartily enjoys watermelon ice. :)

Check out the recipe below and make your own batch for instant summer refreshment!

What special summer time treats do you make to beat the heat?

:: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Fruit Ices

1/2 cup each, sugar and water
2 Tbs. lemon juice
Fruit of your choice (see options below)

1. If you're not using bagged frozen fruit, freeze chopped fresh fruit on a plastic cutting board or a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
2. In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil, then boil until sugar is dissolved. Let cool; stir in lemon juice. Place frozen fruit in food processor and puree while slowly adding sugar syrup.
3. Transfer to container or ice-pop molds and freeze or eat soft.

Fruit:
5 cups strawberries (or 20 oz. frozen bag)
3 cups sliced peaches (or 10 oz. frozen bag)
2 cups blueberries (or 16 oz. frozen bag) plus 1 banana
4 cups diced watermelon
1 cored fresh pineapple
4 cups seedless green grapes
4 cups diced cantaloupe
4 cups diced honeydew

A smile for your Friday

What a ham my little boy is! He'll stop anything to say "Cheese" and give me a big grin.

In this instance Clive was "fixing" my bike. Please ignore the unidentified substance around his mouth. I'm fairly certain that's not dirt. :)

A very happy Friday to you all!

Scavengers, we

Ever since my mom shared the thrill of thrifting and clearance shopping with me as a girl, I've had the insatiable desire to seek out cheap items and to reconfigure old items for new purposes. There is a beauty and an inherent problem-solving nature in repurposing. Like a calculus problem with complicated variables and imposed limits.

During these warm summer months, I've found that I'm not just a cheap-skate. I'm also a scavenger. And my extended family is just as vulture-like as I am!

Since my in-laws and tia have been here visiting we've scored a table, an attachable child bike seat, and a plastic toy lawn mower all for free! Someone's trash has become our treasure. :) Our best find was a few years back when we scored a little tykes desk for free. And then this summer we sold it for $7. Score!

Of course, it's awesome to get stuff gratis but there are a few drawbacks to our scavenging tendencies.

For one, it's hard for me to say no to "free". My mom-in-law and tia have the repurposing vision and see a use for EVERY piece of junk lying on the roadside. I'm a bit more discriminating and I have a difficult time turning them down. They grew up in poverty in Mexico so I feel like a spoiled gringa when I say no to their finds.

Alas, there is the problem of space. We have a small old home and storage space is extremely limited. I really dislike clutter but I find it super hard to pass up good/free deals so we keep accumulating. Argh!

Do you scavenge? If so, what was your best snag?

Life in fast forward

August? How CAN it be August already? This weekend when we started Chloe's calendar afresh for the new month it struck me that our remaining summer weeks are waning.

As I get older it seems that time goes by more quickly than ever before. Do you find that true?

Our summer has been packed full of activities. For the last 2+ weeks we've had my in-laws here visiting. Tia Becky joined the crowded house this past Friday. We are thoroughly enjoying living, cooking, and laughing together in our small home. It feels like we're a multigenerational family from years past as we function cooperatively to keep the household running. I'm certainly going to miss their help around here!

For us the month of August holds a smattering of playdates, visits, and activities including Chloe's momentous 4th birthday. Agh! How can my baby be turning FOUR? Again, I note the passage of time in fast forward mode.

How is August shaping up for you and your family? During our unscheduled August days I hope to squeeze out as much summer as possible! Wading pools, bike rides, and grilling galore!

Smoothie recipes

I'm discovering that when cooking, some items require me to use a recipe. Take smoothies for instance. I can make the standard yogurt-strawberry- banana-orange juice smoothie without fail but as I venture into different fruit combinations it's not as easy as it seems.

Today I tried doing a peach blueberry smoothie using plain yogurt as the base. I added a dash of oj, some honey to sweeten and some ground flax seeds for extra nutritional oomph. Clive drank it down excitedly but Chloe was less than enthusiastic about my impromptu concoction and only drank 1/3 of her glass.

I'm convinced now that I must stick to a recipe when it comes to smoothie blending. Some fruits go nicely together while others aren't sweet enough or don't compliment each other well. I made a yucky pineapple kiwi coconut smoothie once that was awful!

The key might be in the ratios . . . I tend to overdo it on the plain yogurt and then I end up dumping in way too much honey to offset the yogurty taste.

I love the ease and accessibility of summer fruits for smoothie making. Help! Any smoothie tips or winning recipes for me?

Sunday night traditions

The quietness of a Sunday afternoon is waning. The clock reminds me that naptime is ending and soon clamoring hungry children will be underfoot.

Thankfully, our little family has continued my in-laws' Sunday night meal tradition of eggs and potatoes. Delicious and easy to prepare.

We don't regularly attend our church's Sunday evening service so there's no rush. Still it's stress-relieving to realize I've got a simple supper prep ahead. Ah.

Do you and your family practice any regular Sunday night traditions?

Picking up a Mexican accent

My dear mother-in-law is a native of Mexico. She's fluent in both Spanish and English. And she makes the absolute tastiest and roundest tortillas I've ever seen! By contrast, my tortillas usually end up looking like amoebas or the outlines of third-world countries.

Since I know Spanish (I should say I knew Spanish -- I've not used it much in the last 5 years and my knowledge is quickly vanishing), the more I'm around my mother-in-law, the more I find myself easily picking up her accent and expressions.

Last night while competing in our annual tourney of Eurorails I heard myself using my mom-in-law's signature phrases and even copying her exact tone of voice!

I'm certain the explanation for my parroting is due to our proximity this last week. My mom-in-law has been my companion in the car, on walks, and in the kitchen as we prepare meals.

Have you ever fallen prey to this speech-copying phenomenon?

Enjoying my in-laws

Matt's folks arrived Saturday afternoon and we are having a ball! I'm not saying that tongue in cheek either. We all look forward to their annual visit each summer. It's especially fun for them to see the immense developmental, physical, and verbal changes in our kids since the previous summer.

Chloe bounces around the house excitedly and snuggles up to Buelita (my mom-in-law's nickname) any chance she can. And my little Clive has taken an immediate liking to Gramps, his namesake.

We usually fill our time with games, walks, puzzles, trips to the park, thrift store shopping, house projects, and short movies in the evening.

My in-laws are incredibly sweet, gracious, and helpful people. I hope the days go by slowly so we can soak their presence up fully!

How often do you get to see your parents and in-laws?

Chloe's first ballet lesson

Today as I sat on the sidelines and watched Chloe plie, point her toes, and attempt an arabesque in her first ballet lesson, I was slapped in the face with how quickly her little life is progressing. Something about observing her out there by herself, functioning independently, and thriving in the midst of the class made me see her in a new light.

How could the baby that I held in my arms so recently now be this darling girl prancing around in pink ballet slippers?

I am unspeakably proud of her. I was radiating joy as I watched, a perpetual smile spread on my happy face.

Aside from my inherent mommy bias, Chloe truly did a fabulous job. She listened well and followed the teacher's instructions carefully. The other moms even asked me if Chloe had been in dance class before. Nope! She's just an obedient and respectful little girl (most of the time). And we've worked (and continue working) VERY hard at cultivating those traits in her.



The trite saying is true. These babies really do grow up too fast.

In need of physical "white space"

Recently I spent an evening in a friend's home. Her home was peaceful, calm and inviting. The house was clean, thoughtfully decorated, and uncluttered.

In stark contrast my home is filled to the hilt with stuff. Because we have a small home with little built in storage (i.e. no first floor closets) we often use that as an excuse to put things everywhere and anywhere. In reality, we have lots of space; it's just poorly used.

In seeing my friend's living area, I've finally pinpointed what our home needs - white space. You know what I mean, like the border of white margin around a typed sheet of paper. As white space is easy on the eyes, so I think strategic empty spaces in a home are soothing and calm-inducing.

Granted I have not forgotten that we have two small children who are experts at creating messes. I'm not referring to their playspace here. Obviously many areas of our home will be unavoidably messy throughout the day as the kids use their creative energies in play.

This afternoon I'm attempting to look at my home with a new reorganizing perspective in mind. Trying to rethink our current systems and come up with some better more efficient ones.

My initial thought is that we own way too much stuff! Several items we keep in drawers or cupboards have gone unused for months or even years. Why am I holding on to this stuff? So that I can have an actual gravy boat for the theoretical Thanksgiving I might host 5 years from now? (Sorry gravy boat, your days are numbered.)

Picture frames are also getting the axe. While I love being surrounded by photos of family and loved ones, we just do not have the shelf space to house them.

I'm sure this is the beginning of a lengthy process. How do you fight the clutter in your home? Any unique ideas you can give me would be much appreciated!

Sharing a room experiment

Tonight our family embarks upon a big transition. Tonight Chloe and Clive are sharing a room for the first time.

Though our small home does indeed have three bedrooms making it possible for Chloe and Clive to have separate rooms, things get shuffled around when overnight guests arrive. And guests will be arriving shortly! My in-laws are coming this Saturday for their annual 2-3 week stay.

Usually Clive gets moved to our room or vice versa but that does NOT go well for anyone. Clive's old enough now to know we're present in the room and that disrupts both his sleep and ours. And this mama needs her sleep!

So, the siblings are in the same room tonight. The new roomies talked, laughed, and sang until 10 p.m. tonight (WAY past their bedtimes). Other than that all has gone smoothly.

Any tips for us as we continue on this new room-sharing venture?

The lengths I will go to for free food

Oh yes, I will most definitely dress myself and my children up like cows in order to get free food.

To show appreciation to their loyal customers, on Friday Chick Fil-A offered free meals to patrons dressed like their cow mascot. I hastily cut up an old white sheet Thursday night, glued on black fabric spots, affixed makeshift cowtails with safety pins, cut out construction paper cow ears and voila! The kids looked adorable and had an absolute ball dressing up like bovines.

Did I mention we got free food? Score!

We dragged some friends into this year's festivities. They were great sports and jumped right into the craziness. :) Chloe and her friend Grace kept saying, "Happy chicken nugget day!" My darling calf Clive mooed cutely for the onlookers.

Did any of you participate in Chick Fil-A's annual dress-like-a-cow event on Friday? Or am I the only crazy one?

Boys and toys

My husband Matt is a treasure. He's dear to me for lots of reasons but especially because of his lovable quirks.

Matt is a genius in several ways (thinking, writing, inventing, and creative problem solving to name a few) but he's also a fun-spirited little boy at heart. It's been incredibly rich to watch Matt so fully enjoying the kids and our family life together. He is a perfect blend of silliness, sweetness, and seriousness. (And no, I did not plan to alliterate that last sentence.)

Now, I grew up in a female-only home so as Clive grows into boyness it's a completely foreign world for me. Trucks, balls, and dirt were not high on my play list growing up. That said, I don't get the fascination with motor vehicles. Matt obviously does though . . .

Matt's latest much-needed distraction from writing his dissertation has been the electric race track. It all began a few weekends ago when we happened upon a humongous yard sale during an after-supper walk. It was as though Matt was magnetically drawn to the box of miscellaneous track pieces and wiring. Matt snatched up the track pieces for $2 with ambition and schemes for the race course already speeding in his mind.

Long story short the yard sale race track was not ideal. Even after Matt's expert tinkering it didn't work properly. So, he scraped it and bought a $10 race track set from the drug store.

The look of happiness on Clive's face when he got to race was priceless! In all the pictures I snapped Clive has his mouth completely agape with joy as the cars whiz by on the race track.

That's $10 very well spent.

What toys are your boys infatuated with right now?

The mom bob

For ages I've had the same long mangy hair style. My hair USED to be shiny, healthy, and thick. Thanks to hormone changes from two pregnancies and thyroiditis my once lovely hair is frizzy and tangled looking.

Adding to the problem is the fact that I never take the time to actually style my hair. Sundays I aim to blow-dry and curl my hair. But even then it doesn't often happen.

My usual look is to throw up my hair in a ponytail or twist it around and put in a 90's style claw clip thingy. I'm afraid my hair style screams "harried-barely-holding-it-together-enough-to-shower mom".

While I LOVE the look of neatly styled long hair, my hair did not fit that description. Desperate for a drastic change, I got six inches chopped off at a local beauty school. I liked it for all of one day and then it was back to sloppy ponytails. The beauty school student merely chopped -- she offered no style or suggestions. Even after getting that much length cut off my hair shape looked the same! Arrggh. Even my friends didn't notice that I'd gotten my hair cut. That's bad. When my perceptive detail-oriented mom pals didn't see a difference then I knew my hair cut had gone wrong.

Tonight I impulsively jumped into the car after supper and stopped at Great Clips. And voila! Dawn, the fabulous Great Clips stylist, cut off four more inches of hair and gave me a subtly angled bob. That Dawn did a fantastic job!

So, I've joined ranks of American moms everywhere and succumbed to the mom bob. I don't care if I'm a conformist, I love this hair cut! Already the cut is proving to be easy, healthy-looking, and fun. I feel younger already. :)

What mommy hair style do you prefer?
















(Chloe insisted on tagging along and taking photos of the hair cut. Not bad for an almost-4 year old. Of course Chloe took about 10 pictures of the floor and the hairspray bottles before she snapped these keepers.)

How do you bring a little one to the fireworks?

Last year we took both kiddos to see a local fireworks display. Of course Chloe was buoyed through the lateness of the night by the promised excitement of seeing fireworks. Clive was only 6 months old last summer and was a veritable wreck by the time the fireworks began. And the loud banging and popping of the display didn't help his mood!

This year, Clive is 18 mos. old and would probably be able to handle the super late bedtime. BUT he's also sick and has been struggling through a runny nose and cough. Plus he's been extra snuggly.

Hence, we decided that this year Clive needs to stay home and forgo the fourth of July light-show. And Matt gladly volunteered to stay home too. (Matt can't stand the crowds and traffic jams that accompany big community events.)

This whole process got me wondering . . . how do you survive special late-night activities with little bambinos? Do you schedule naps differently or just go with the flow and recover the next day?

Whatever you and your family end up doing, hope you enjoy a super spectacular fourth of July weekend!