Category Archives: children

apples, apples

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It’s a family tradition to head for the apple orchards this time of year, but with all the warm weather, turned out we made it just in the nick of time — the last weekend apples were available! We did our best to pick the very last ones, this time heading out with some friends who pick in bulk for making applesauce and apple butter, so as a group we picked — wait for it — 200 lbs. of apples! Whooo-hooo! And with all of us working together, not to mention some very enthusiastic little ones willing to shimmy up trees, it didn’t take long at all.

One of us even got his very first taste of apple. Oh, yes. How I do love Fall!

notes from the mending basket

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I don’t know about you, but I do a fair amount of mending around here. The girls know where to find my mending basket and they fill it up on a regular basis.

We have plenty of clothes, enough so that I probably don’t need to mend things, but we seem to have a limited number of beloved, treasured, all-time-favorite clothes. Ones that are slept in, played in, worn day in, day out. These, indeed, are rare and they are carefully mended.

I tend to make the patches heart-shaped; it is a labor of love after all. What magic a few scraps of cotton and felt can work on an little rip or hole! The “mended” garment has more personality. It’s lively. It has a story: “That dress has a hole from where the cat scratched me.”

I love mending the kids’ clothes. I love the way they remind me over and over again — “Mama, my red heart dress is still in the mending basket!” And that is the catch — the mender needs to repair the things in her basket before the kids they belong to outgrow them.

Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do or Do Without

I don’t always live up to this motto, but I do love my mending basket.

tooth pillow

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This is Catherine’s tooth pillow. A little snug pocket for the lost tooth (the felt tooth on the front there is the little pocket!) and a nice big pocket for any treats the Tooth Fairy wants to leave her.

So far only one tooth has come out, but all the other front teeth seem to be very, very loose. I thought this was going to be the Summer of the Missing Teeth, but Tooth Watch continues…

In the meantime, homemade popsicles soothe aching gums and are easy enough to eat. These are blackberry-blueberry and apricot-honey striped. The sailboat popsicle makers seem to be sold out all over, but I finally found them here at Prairie Moon Beverage Syrup Company and they have lots of other popsicle makers, too. The girls love the sailboats so much.

We didn’t really use a recipe, just blended frozen blueberries and blackberries and a little half and half to make it more cream-sicley, which is the way I like it.

The suitably hot, hot, HOT weather has been Nature’s own around here. I know we’ll have more of that (and more therapeutic popsicles) before summer’s over. Cheers to that!

Tooth Fairy necklace

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Since we’re on constant loose-tooth watch around here, I honored my 7-year-old’s request for a little hand-made pouch to wear to school (and everywhere!) in case her loose tooth falls out and she doesn’t have anywhere else to keep it. Isn’t that the kind of thought a crafty kid would have? I love it!

So here’s what I came up with at 6 a.m. on Monday morning.

Monday was Day 1 of Elsie Marley‘s awesome Kids Clothes Week Challenge and I’ve been playing along. Hope this counts (it’s an accessory, isn’t it?). If you haven’t taken a look at the amazing things going on there, you should. Elsie’s got links to tutorials for how to make all kinds of children’s clothes. Not to mention a ton of inspiration. Now, what to do for Day 2?

But my little person was delighted and has worn it ever since. We’re still waiting for the tooth….

a visit to springtime

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My friend recently posted her story of our spring break trip out to visit her in California and our adventure with a rattlesnake. Indeed. I’ll let her tell you that story if you’d like to take a visit and read it. Everyone survived the adventure safe and sound, thank goodness. But seeing her post reminded me that my pictures of our trip out West are way past due.

{at the Pacific Ocean}

There’s nothing like going out to see an old friend. Wherever she is, I am so happy just to be with her. Together to watch the kids be their delightful, silly, whimsical selves. To plan artworks and share ideas. To talk late into the night about every little thing, while drinking many, many cups of tea.

What heaven to visit her while Chicago was still in wrapped in a chilly, muddy March! A visit to springtime. Flowers, birds, even citrus fruit ready to be picked from the trees. Her lemon tree was covered with blossoms and giving off the most heavenly smell, not to mention fat, juicy lemons. Lemonade, anyone?

We did some great California thrifting and the kids played outside non-stop. It was a wonderful break for all of us.  The only difficult part was how sad we felt when it was time to go home.

Yet another reason to yearn for spring. It’ll be back next year, and so will we.

knitting for Easter

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I don’t know if there’s anything more satisfying for a knitting mama than to see her little ones wearing something she’s made. And if this “something” happens to be matching, swingy, sweet, bright little shrugs, well, all the better. The pattern comes from the Interweave magazine Weekend Knits that came out last fall. I knitted the blue one for Catherine a while back and had it stashed and ready, but the pink one came out a bit too small. I was scaling up from the baby and toddler sizes given. I ripped it out and started over on Thursday. Um, yes. A little bit of last-minute knitting there. Indeed.

Cath and Lizzy enjoyed wearing them so much and kept them on nearly all day — for egg hunts and brunch and dancing in daffodils and playing in the rain. Made my handmaking heart sing. I do think some more tinkering is in order — Catherine’s and Lizzy’s had to be held on with a pin; the edging on Lizzy’s is a bit loosey goosey and probably needs to be redone, but for now, for Easter, they were wonderful.

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

Bunny Party

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We love birthday parties! We like to plan them a little last minute — throw together a homemade cake, kids, family, friends, a game or an art activity or two and have at it. Things tend to be spontaneous and simple We let the kids take the lead on many ideas and decorations. The girls usually help bake their own cakes and decorate them.

This year, Lizzy wanted a bunny theme and Mommy did a larger share of work on the bunny cake than usual. It turned out so well, with a pink raspberry eye and butter cream frosting on top of homemade chocolate cake. Yum. The girls looked at the leftover cake scraps and icing and said, “Let’s make a carrot!” So we did. Every bunny loves carrots.

As a craft activity, we decorated blown eggs with watercolor paints and hung them on an egg tree — one of my family traditions this time of year.

And there was an impromptu puppet show:

starring Lizzy’s new birthday bunny from Imagine Childhood:

It was such a mellow, low-key party, with so many parts of it made by us and the kids. I really love that. I feel like it makes the day so much more memorable, with everyone making and enjoying together. Happy Birthday, Lizzy!

Birthday girl

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It’s been an amazing four years that’s seen this:

{in Grandma’s arms}

turn into this:

and now into this amazing creature ::

I tend to have a hard time wrapping my mind around changes and this transformation has left me a little speechless. I’m going to gather my thoughts a bit and write about her delightful fourth birthday party in tomorrow’s post. But I can say this, Happy Birthday, sweet Lizzy, we love what a big girl you are now!

an evening skate

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Ah, February. So bleak and yet so beautiful. Last year, when we still lived at the Shoreland, we’d cross over to the Point every wintry day, to investigate the lakefront and poke icy puddles with sticks and have all the outdoor fun that February has to offer. Now that we’re further inland, a bit of silver lining is the ice rink right outside our door. Usually my husband takes the girls, but tonight we all went for an evening skate.

Lizzy and Catherine love to skate fast.

Right around dinner time the rink is nearly empty. There were little new skaters pushing orange traffic cones while they get the hang of it. A fantastic skater who seemed a better fit for Olympics than our neighborhood rink, did pirouettes that made my head swim. And then our little family…skating hand in hand, “racing” (but who can catch Lizzy?), falling (the girls say “slipping and sliding”) and admiring the “moon up high”….

A lovely way to end a snowy winter day. How are you enjoying February?