Office

Today was a very rainy Memorial Day.  Mike had to work so we tried to entertain ourselves inside while Harriet took two very long naps (go Harriet!  go Weissbluth!).
When I was little I used to love to play pretend and my favorite thing to pretend to play was Office.  This is kind of ironic since I never fulfilled my childhood fantasy by actually ever working in an office.  When we were kids, we would visit my grandparents in Sioux City, Iowa.  They had a huge basement where my grandpa had a tricked out office complete with a typewriter, rulers, notepads, a big ol' phone, index cards, a giant wooden desk with a chair on wheels, a rolodex, and about a 100 sharpened pencils swiped from the bread company he worked for.  It was pretend office heaven.  I remember playing down there for hours with my cousins or siblings and only coming upstairs when called for lunch--most likely bologna and Frito sandwiches.

All of these memories were coming back to me today when Eloise and I decided to play Office.  She helped me set it up and had some cute ideas of what would be in an office.  Her favorite thing was putting REAL water in the coffee mug so she could pretend it was coffee. I was kind of proud that she insisted on "coffee" at her office.  At first I was so surprised by how into it she was, and then I remembered that basement in Iowa.  We played for hours this morning... and this afternoon.  I bet we'll play tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.  Looks like I'll finally be punching the clock at an office after all.

Hard at work

coffee

She also insisted on the pencil behind the ear

If you're going to draft a letter, why not go straight to the top?

and, yes, she is apparently living with Mary Poppins

the year in pictures

Friday was Eloise's last day of preschool.  She was very sad to end the school year but not as sad as I was. We had a great experience with Pope John 23rd.  Her teachers were all very caring and warm and created a lovely environment for a diverse group of kids.  You know its hard to get a 4year old to tell you much about what went on every day at school but on the last day Eloise brought  home a year's worth of art projects and told me all about them.
I realized a couple things while she was giving me the gallery tour.
1.  She has really changed and grown up so much this year.
2.  She is sweet and sensitive and smart---actually, I already knew that.
3.  I will never ever tire of looking at kids' art.

These were the highlights:

Family Portrait.  This was before the arrival of Harriet and the departure of Dorothy (the goldfish)

deep...or disturbing?

She told me this was the way she used to draw people when she was little.

This is me and her.  she said, "mom, remember when I didn't even used to draw cheeks or hair on people?"

My favorite.  Makes me smile every time I see it. 

 "girl in the rain with umbrella"  

naked picnic

So me and the girls headed over to the first mid-week farmer's market of the summer.  We were hoping to get some produce, play a little, listen to music, and have a nice dinner picnic.  Missions accomplished.  We were able to find some pencil thin asparagus, 2 pints of the first strawberries of the season.
We set up our blanket in front of the musicians, a little acoustic duo singing some classics, and started to get our picnic on.  I love being out doing some activity and getting a meal checked off all at the same time.  Birds. Stone.

About midway through the meal, the baby decided to explode poop out of her diaper, all over her clothes, and the blanket.  No sweat.  I just asked a complete stranger who was selling coffee to keep an eye on The 4 year old on the blanket while I proceeded to take The Baby to the car where I hoped to find a diaper, wipes, and an extra outfit. Well, 1 out of 3 wasn't bad.  I laid her down on the seat, stripped her down, wiped her off with any type of fabric I could find in the car (old kleenex, sock of 4 year old, my jacket) and stretched the now way too small diaper that was in the car on to her chubby body.  I swiped a plastic bag from one of the food vendors tossed everything in it, threw it away and returned to the picnic with a naked, but very happy, baby.   Oh, and the 4 year old was fine.  Thanks, Coffee Lady.

say nothing, act casual

what the hell?  where are my clothes, lady?