Welcome, Kit!

This past week we welcomed a new member of the family.

Eloise celebrated her 5th birthday this past week.  To kick off what turned out to be a week long celebration we gave her an American Girl Doll---Kit Kittredge and her dog, Grace.

You can't even imagine the excitement.

It really was love at first sight.  All of the sudden they were inseparable.  I heard her reading to Kit.  They had a tea party together.  They had a Christmas cookie exchange.  She asks to go to her room as soon as she gets home from school so she can play with Kit.  Kit sleeps in a little bed next to Eloise's every night... once they are in their matching nightgowns.

Grandma and Grandpa sent a truckload of outfits and accessories to go along with her new bff.  I don't know who was more excited, Eloise or me.  As we opened each little box I found myself screaming things like, "Look!  A clutch purse!" or, "Ohmygosh!  I love this cloche!"    I couldn't get enough of all the tiny little accessories and accompanying sets of toys.

Her cousin, Hannah very sweetly sent a huge bag of matching outfits for Eloise and Kit to wear.  These were Hannah's when she was about the same age and she passed them on to her biggest admirer. Well, this naturally set a day long fashion show marathon in motion.

We have now been almost a week with Kit in the house and she is a lovely addition.  But remember when I was so thrilled at the sight of all those tiny and precious accessories that number in the billions?

They are everywhere!!!

You can't walk two steps in this house without stepping on a tiny shoe or a velvet beret or a miniature Depression era glass fruit cocktail cup.   The arrival of Kit has really challenged my organization skills.  I am working on a solution that needs to be accessible, attractive, mobile, and not cost more than the doll itself.  Ideas?  I think Kit might need her own room.

Kit arrives in the wee hours of 

birthday morning

a small sampling of very small things that 

kit brought with her

eloise calls this the flower girl look

outfit #2

for the record, eloise has not 

worn jeans in 3 years.  

kit made it happen.

and finally, sleepwear.

goodnight, friends.

which came first?

I have never been much of a 'dark meat' kind of gal.  Get your minds out of the gutter, I am talking about chicken here.

Often, when we make chicken, I'll roast a whole one and I eat the white meat and Mike takes the dark.  Jack Sprat and wife if you will.  One day I thought, I bet the kids would love the drumsticks too.  They devoured them.  Of course they did.  They can hold it and eat it and it is warm and juicy and flavorful.  A rare, and much sought after, successfully eaten meal ensued.

Now I prepare the drumsticks only for the kids.  I have made this recipe twice to rave reviews.  It was so simple and fast and quite good.  The last time we had them she ate 3 and the whole time was saying over and over how delicious they were.  It was a little embarrassing how much praise she was throwing at me for these scrumptious drummies.

The other thing I realized with this meal is that Eloise knows where her food comes from.  I like that she knows that the chicken on her plate comes from an actual chicken, you know the animal that we see on farms.  She knows that pork is from pigs and that her milk does not come 'from the store' but from a cow.  She knows that vegetables grow from seeds that are planted in the ground.  I hope to instill in them a respect for the foods that we are so blessed to have.

As she was eating the drumsticks, between compliments and bites she said, "Mom, you know why I'm glad they kill the chicken before we eat it?"
"Why?"  I asked very reluctantly.
"Because if they didn't, the legs would be running all over our plates."

Totally normal statement.  Nothing weird about that at all.

I think that Harriet will be the same way about her knowledge of food origins.  At the dinner table, Eloise said to her, "Harriet, have another bite of chicken."  She responded with a little, "Bawk, bawk".

found this in the play kitchen after eloise told me she 

was making chicken for dinner

one day of summer

It's sooooo haaaaaawwwwt!

Today felt like someone just flipped a switch and ta-da! it's summer.  I know that it is probably not here to stay just yet but we sure took advantage of its brief visit.

We were out in the yard by 8am and working on getting things cleaned up from a long long winter.  We finally put the snow shovels and snow blower away and hope we didn't jinx things by doing so.  If it snows again I will be leaving town immediately, only with what I can carry in my purse.

We spent most of the morning cleaning up garbage, trimming spent perennials, and plotting this year's garden.  We put in a few perennials and some ground cover.  It seems like we add so much stuff  every year but we are blessed with a lot of ground to cover.  I was happy to see that most everything survived the winter and is now poking curious little buds out of the soil.

We were able to get the lettuces planted and put in tons and tons of flower seeds.  I am hoping for success with zinnias and sunflowers to bring some beauty to the delicious, but let's face it, not very pretty tomato plants this year.

We still have much work ahead of us but an early treat of a summery day was just what we needed to get moving and shake the winter off of us. The kids loved helping with the chores almost as much as they loved goofing around in the yard.  The whole family is sunburned, exhausted, and reminded of why we love living in the midwest.

intense discussion about 

genetically modified seeds

harriet was so hot we had to start removing 

her clothing

she may have gotten overheated moving bricks

in our impromptu chain gang

nice shot from the swing's perspective

taken by eloise

what is a summery day without a good soaking

from the hose?

maple syrup festival

Last weekend we took the whole fam out to one of my favorite events in Chicago.  North Park Village Nature Center hosted its 30th annual Maple Syrup Festival.  

The weather was chilly, but beautiful and sunny and we were able to trek out to the maple trees to see how they are tapped every year in the spring.  The Nature Center does a great job making this a fun and educational day for families.  We were able to watch (and smell!) as they boiled the tree sap down turning it into maple syrup and we were allowed to sample it also.  Some of us (Mike) may have gone back for more than 5 samples.  The kids could make a little craft out of nature-y stuff and they could take a turn, with a grown up, at the crosscut saw to make a wooden "cookie".  There was also a farmers market and handmade goods for sale as well as pancakes with, you guessed it, maple syrup!

After we finished with all the outdoor activities and some exploring we headed inside to warm up by the roaring fire and enjoyed a performance by a storyteller.  We played for a bit in the discovery room where they have loads of animal and nature themed toys and books.  Eloise treated the crowd to several puppet shows and Harriet tried to ruin each of them by stealing all the puppets,  just like a little sister should.

One of the highlights of the day was discovering a new band that we all loved.  They were folksy and hippy and cute and cuddly and they call themselves The Giving Tree Band.  Harriet was completely mesmerized by them.  As we sat in the front row she was absolutely still (a rarity) and focused.  The only thing moving was her head which nodded up and down, up and down through their entire set exactly in time to the music.

The perfect finish to our fun adventure was lunch at the amazing Smoque BBQ.  If you haven't been yet, get your ass over there.  It is so delicious and worth the trip--go early, the lines can be long.  We ate ourselves silly and then headed home for well deserved and lengthy naps.

ready for some maple fun

boiling down the sap--takes 40 gallons of sap to make 

1 gallon of syrup

tapping a tree

in the discovery center

very clever little animal faces painted on the mirror

love this

baby love

I know I have mentioned before how much Harriet loves babies but she is downright nutso berserk for them.   I just think it is so cool because Eloise never showed any interest at all in dolls or babies.  It was always, and still is,  stuffed animals with her.  Just another piece of evidence proving the fact that apparently everyone knew except me---duh, every kid is different.

Harriet first spotted another baby on the Costco diaper box that was sitting in the kitchen for quite some time. ( I was doing a little experiment to see if Mike would move it before I did.  He didn't.  It sat there for 13 days.)  During this time, Harriet fell in love with that giant baby's head on the side of the diaper box.  She would stare at it, crane her neck to see it from any location in the room, and she eventually started saying "ba-ba".

Soon babies were popping up everywhere in Harriet's world.  She was excited to see them in her books, on the side of her baby food jars, on t.v., in photographs, and oh my god! look at that one in the mirror.  Every other person in the world that was not an adult, was a baby.

She then discovered a baby doll.  A 3D baby that she could actually hold and rock and hug and kiss and feed and push around in the stroller and chat with.  We went from having zero dolls in the house to having about six or seven, and I'm sure they are still coming.

Harriet is a good little mommy and it warms my heart to see how sweet she is with her babies.  She observes things so diligently and acts out pretty much exactly what she sees.  Why is she always dropping the babies on their heads though?

playing in the nursery at the children's museum

a.k.a. harriet's heaven

putting babies to bed

this is the look she gives a girl who dares

to take the baby away

getting baby dressed at home

a quick smooch

a nice stroll

seriously, do not get between harriet and 

a baby

future dorothy hamill

I have not been ice skating since 8th grade.  Growing up we lived near an outdoor rink at a local park that was right across from our school.  I had some great times at good ol' Ottawa Park even though I was never that great of a skater.

Recently, I was able to relive my youth when I took Eloise ice skating at our local rink.  She has been asking to go ice skating for some time now.  Seeing as how I am no longer pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking care of a newborn, I was out of excuses.  We headed to the open skate last weekend and had a ball.

As with nearly every activity we do, Eloise has to have what, in her mind, is the perfect outfit.  This outing was no different.  When we decided that we were going, she went up to change--purple tights, gray Puma tube socks, striped sweatshirt, winter hat, and blue sparkly ice skating skirt that I had made for her 2 years ago to play dress up.

We were able to rent ice skates and I got to work lacing hers up and really trying to pull them tight.  She was so excited she could hardly sit still.  She was going on about how she was going to do some "twirly arabesques" and some "spins" as soon as she could get onto the ice.  I was trying to let her know that it might be difficult to even walk but she wasn't hearing it.

She got up on her skates and we walked together, clutching hands, and trying to make our legs work. It is not natural that someone of my size and nature should be able to balance on two thin blades of steel...on ice.  I think we were both surprised by how hard it was but I was so proud of Eloise for giving it her all and never wanting to give up.

We mainly skated, and I use that term loosely, around the edge of the regulation size hockey rink a few times while hanging on to each other and the wall.  Eloise fell 279 times but she hopped back up every time.  It was so loud in there but I knew she was shouting things the whole time.  From what I could tell, she mainly alternated between "This is so awesome!!!!" and "I am so angry they gave me brown skates!!!"

As luck would have it, a new session of ice skating lessons was set to start the following week.  We were able to sign up and after her first lesson yesterday morning she is already able to let go of the railing to cross the rink on her own and skating backwards.

 This week, I plan to purchase a BeDazzler and book tickets for the 2022 Olympics.

outfit of choice

this is what we looked like most of the time

getting in the hang of it a little more

a very proud finish

birthdays

Another birthday here and gone.

The thing about birthdays as you get up there in years is...they are kind of dumb.  I mean, for the most part they are just like any other day.

I was still awakened by crying at 5:45.  I still had to wrestle the eye drops into Harriet's eyes.  I still had to make breakfast for everyone and get out the door and to school on time.  I still had to do all the mundane usual stuff--dishwasher, laundry, diapers, couch sitting.  

 I am a full time mom and even though that makes birthdays seem like just another day, it also makes them extra special.  When I knocked on Eloise's door the morning of my birthday she handed me a piece of paper folded up at least 30 times into the smallest piece imaginable.  When I finally got it open it simply said HAPPY BIRTDAY with a double exclamation point smiley face.  It was the best.
 Then, there was the cake.

Eloise has been talking about making me an ice cream cake for my birthday since my birthday the year before.  She had the whole thing planned out and would interview me about it all the time all the while trying to keep it a secret.  She would say, "Mom, what are your two favorite ice cream flavors, for no particular reason?"  She and Mike snuck around like ninjas trying to execute this cake without me finding out.  They sent me out for a couple hours and I only got two texts:  one inquiring about a spring form pan and another about chilling a bowl before making whipped cream.  What I imagined was going on at home was keeping me pretty entertained.

On Sunday night we all went out to a very early dinner.  God, I think it was 4:30.  Once home, I put Harriet to bed and came downstairs to a darkened kitchen and heard suspicious giggling under the table.  The cake was on top, candles were lit, and Eloise was beaming all through singing "Happy Birthday to Mom..."

Even a dumb birthday can be pretty swell.

the cake!  

in all it's oreo glory.  

the ice cream cone candles were seen by Eloise 5 months ago.

she never forgot about them and made her dad help

her find them again.

what can I say?  the kid loves a theme

proud chef enjoying the ice cream cake