Birthday Girl Louise

Today my baby turns five. How is this possible? Wasn't it just last week that I packed my bag to take to the hospital?

Today Louise and I got to go out for a lunch date. She had already eaten at school by the time I was done teaching, so she was more than happy to order chocolate ice cream at Wise Acre Eatery while I lunched on a lovely salad with a poached egg on top.

We sat outside and enjoyed the sunny--and breezy day while she wrapped up in her nap blanket from school to keep warm.

Happy fifth birthday to my red-headed soon-to-be kindergartener who loves to sing, dance, color, dig for worms, eat fruit all day long and play preschool with her dolls and animals. I love you Weez!

Chalk in the Late Sun

The weather has been on-and-off here lately in MN. Recently as I was trying to wrangle the kids into the house for a bath and bedtime, I spotted Louise in her studio, er, in front of the garage with a masterpiece.

Permission to paint

While we were stuck indoors from the blizzard, the kids and I found many, many fun things to do. The boys mostly played with Legos, thrilled that I allowed them to spread them all over the living room and dining room instead of the cold basement playroom. Louise helped me make the dough for gingerbread cookies that we'll bake later this week and practiced cutting things up with her scissors. (Is that a 3 year old thing? She could spend hours cutting!)

I needed a little break from kid play, so I pulled out the laptop at the kitchen counter. Louise walked in and asked if she could do facepaint on herself. I think she was expecting to hear no, so when I told her "yes, as long as you take off your shirt and promise to take a bath afterwards," she was astonished. I gave her permission to paint. Permission to paint her entire body. And paint she did.

Happy Halloween

The Shadow Ninja, Witch and Anakin Skywalker are all in bed after a warm evening of trick or treating. I'm coming down off of my sugar rush. Must get to bed. Maybe just one more Almond Joy? They won't notice if I sneak another one, will they?
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And you? What's your favorite thing to score from their loot bags? Special Dark is my other fave!

Bringing in the Crop

We have had a lovely fall in Minnesota this year. Usually by now all of the tender plants have long since wilted or been zapped by bitter overnight frosts. This year our tomato plants and impatiens are still blooming-- or at least for those people who have continued to water them. Mine grow in spite of a lack of regular watering, weeding or much tending. We've been busy watching the turkeys run around the neighborhood, right?
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Last week we began to bring in the carrots that the kids planted in June. Though we religiously plant them each year, ours have never had much success beyond being finger-sized orbs of orange goodness. Perhaps a child's pinky would be a more appropriate size guage for what we've grown up until now. This week we've been hauling in some downright chunky, albeit short and squat beauties. Our vegetable garden area has dappled sun and prevents us from having a truly marvelous garden, but we have fun with the mixed results. Pea sized brussel sprouts? Bring it on!

Feeling Fall

While the Vikings played today, I got a chance to be outside by myself. Usually I have many little bodies and paws surrounding me to play with and chase and inevitably spend my time making mental lists of all the things I'd like to accomplish. Today was just the day I had been hoping for. With the kids inside with Daddy, I grabbed my rake, bags and trimmer and got to work.

To do:
-cut down/dead head flowers
-empty wilted flower boxes
-rake and bag
-clean up firewood/branch pile
-dig up weeds in the south garden
-pick last tomatoes for counter ripening
-check for remaining carrots
-dig out canna bulbs
-put away hose for the season

I did all but the last two and I feel wonderful. Dragging the firepit to the driveway in the front where I was working, I managed to both fill the neighborhood with the tell-tale fall smell of burning wood and deal with the overflowing pile of accumulated sticks that I trip over every day when I exit the van. I alternated between raking and stoking the fire, pulling dead plants and breaking sticks over my knee. My list is not quite as inspiring as Martha's to-do list is every month in Living magazine, but for a working mom, I'm rather satsified.

The kids joined me later when they grew bored of the game and learned of the fire. I even coaxed Louise in her party dress to join me with the raking. Gus was most at home tending the fire, trying to wave sticks with a fiery end in the air when my back was turned. Carl was happy to help with the leaf bagging process, especially once he figured out that s'mores were a possibility once the work was finished.

Someone loves tomatoes

Our tomatoes are starting to yield a little bit of fruit around here. We planted three different varieties: cherry tomato, yellow pear tomato and an Early Girl, I think.

Gus called me over to the tomato plants the other day and said, "Mom, there's something that looks like a yellow egg plant growing!" Sure enough, our first yellow pear tomato was ready and Miss Louise was more than happy to be the recipient of our first yellow beauty.

I think that is chocolate ice cream on her face, by the way, her other favorite summer treat.

And you? What kind of tomatoes do you have planted chez toi this summer?

Birthday Sewing

For Louise's birthday this year, I really wanted to sew her a birthday dress and continue a tradition I began when she was one. A week before her birthday I found the perfect fabric and although I knew I had no time to be attempting such silliness, I decided to go ahead. The fabric was only found at faraway fabric stores or even a local store in NE Mpls... but that meant packing up three kids to a fabric store and hoping for the best. Instead, I found a terrific resource here in my own backyard, almost. An online fabric store called Cia's Palette is located just over a mile from here and... she delivered my fabric! I wanted to kiss her when she arrived at my door! Not only did she deliver it, she also consulted with me over the phone about which fabric would make the best contrasting fabric and mailed me some generous samples in the mail from which to compare.

I finished the dress after her birthday, but at least I finished it within a month of the date. Next year, my sister warned me, I had better get started after Christmas.

The Green Kingdom

I saw a picture of kids in green crowns on my friend Kerry's blog and asked her how she learned to make them. Her response, "Really? I just wrapped them and twisted 'til they looked right."

So we made crowns of green and pretented we lived in a green kingdom with Gus as King and Louise as Queen for the afternoon.

Next on the list? Dandilion crowns... but I think we're a little late in the season. Maybe purple coneflower tiaras?

The Summer of Berries

We love berries around our house. We have three varieties from which the kids make their daily rounds of pre-breakfast sustenance. Many years ago we planted red and golden raspberries from cuttings from my parents' plants. Mysteriously one day some black raspberries popped up and appear to be on steroids. No matter how much I whack them back in the fall, they come back full force in the spring. It has been an amazing year for berries... the best crop we've seen around these parts. No, she did not get into my lipstick. This is 100% black raspberry slime. Do I need to start worrying now about her teenage years?
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And you? How do your berries grow?

In Search of Summer: June 4

We've been in search of beautiful flowers here. As May tumbled gently into June, the spring and summer flowers have been at their peak of beauty. Gus and Louise helped me remember to stop and smell them.

My favorite flowers of the early summer have always been tulips and irises, but this year the peonies have been calling my name. Poppies too. I think when we move to the farm I might just have to plant lots and lots of them. So beautiful, and so bright!

The Bug Catcher

Louise grabbed my hand and pulled me into the porch. She didn't want me to finish what I was doing. She needed me *now*! I looked down and she was wearing big brother Carl's boots on her feet and had one of her ladybug boots on her other hand. She pointed to the window-- at a bug that was trapped between the glass and the screen.
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"I'm a BUG CATCHER, Mama. I have to catch it."

She stared intently, willing it to come out.

With a little poke of the boot, she wanted it out.

Fortunately, we have a few fly swatters around for such occasions. Bug catchers need the right tools. Two pairs of boots, a fly swatter and no pants. Sounds about right.

I think she finally gave up when she heard that dinner was ready, but the determination on this one makes me wonder where her future will take her. This little bug catcher might just conquer the world... in her underwear.

The Birthday Girl turns THREE!

May Day Parade 2010

May Day Parade 2009

What a difference a year can make!

Our little Louise is not so little anymore. She is turning three today and we're so proud of all that she has been doing lately. She wears underwear, sleeps in a big-girl bed, likes to help feed our dog Molly, wants to serve herself food from the freezer all day long, enjoys meat more than any other food (meat: want it!), loves singing, looks forward to visiting and cudding her five grand parents, gets silly with her brothers, could stay in the tub all day, thinks that dancing to "Put a Ring on It" with me is great fun, would paint her entire body if we let her, tells her Daddy "notha' hugkiss" several times each morning, thinks Barbie dolls look better naked, likes to dig in the dirt, can form a mean loaf of bread, and is not afraid to name all the flowers in our yard and make up names of the ones she doesn't remember. Weezie, you're quite a girl.

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Happy Birthday, sweet girl with red hair.

Spring Cleaning

My favorite way to clean a room is to rearrange it. I love to totally switch things around, leaving no thing untouched. That way, I am forced to clean everything... even the little dust balls that lurk in the teeniest nook and cranny. Recently, it was the porch. Over the winter I had let piles of stuff for thrift store donations pile up in the corner along with other random stuff left over from last summer. Ugh. So, with a little help from two little helpers, I rearranged the porch and cleaned. Afterwards we celebrated with some fresh cut flowers from the garden, plus a vase for both of their rooms.

What's your method for the spring cleaning madness? Are you a rearranger? Do tell!

Singin' in the Rain

It was raining a bit last week and we've been loving our rain boots and hand-me-down raincoats.

And don't forget mama, in those orange polka dotted boots. I'm dancing in the rain just as much as those three little ones.