flight of fancy

We opted for another stay-cation this year and have been livin it up like it was 2002 hey it was a good year.  To be honest I was too tired with school and work to even pretend to have a plan for our 9 days together.  But it turns out that's exactly what I needed.  It has been a week of whims and I'm kind of addicted to it.  Yesterday when Ben asked me if I wanted to go on a hike I literally rolled my eyes and said in my whiniest voice, "Do I have to decide now?!"  Maybe I want to clean the fridge, maybe I want to go for a walk, maybe let's eat frozen yogurt for dinner and go see a movie, or maybe let's hop on the train and turn every random corner ok, there's a chance I steered us in the direction of the Anthropologie clearance section, that sparkles with adventure and smells of cinnamon rolls.  Um, I'll take one of each please.

Ava agreed to only speak in spanish with me all the way downtown. She suggested I ask for Rosetta stone for my birthday.

We hit up our favorite DDD digs and ordered four greasy cheeseburgers.

Hawaiian sunset soda

Daddy's girl

Shakin our sillies out at Finnegans

Boy loves him some train table

No city stop is complete without a little Powell's books

Someone swiped my mocha and now declares herself a coffee lover.

City park fun

Oh spring break.  You had me on day one when I realized it was 9am and I was still in bed while Ben fed the kids cereal.  I know this is only a fling but I love you anyway.
xoxo

special olympics?

He's got the soul of an 84 year old grampa...

but the gymnastics skills of an eleven month old toddler.

Unfortunately they didn't have a column for the cutest participant.

or he would have aced it.

Recap and Six on Sunday ~ kid picks

I was a St. Patrick's day slacker this year.  It might be a symptom of a larger issue.  One I like to call, "My life is crazy."  I'm telling you, I haven't seen the last four episodes of Parks and Rec.  I don't even know if they got married yet.  I miss Leslie Knopp.  (Only one more week of class and then I'm all yours)
Side-note from Saturday
Ben-"where do you want to go for lunch?"
Me- "I don't know."
Ben - "how about McDonald's?"
Me - "No, the kids ate there yesterday."
Ben- "How about sandwiches?"
Me- "Eh..." (Can you even believe he puts up with me?)
Ben-"How about Burgerville?"
Me- "It's just so expensive."
Ben- "We'll split something then."
Me -"Ok"
(Pulling up to the drive-through)
Ben-"We'll take a number 6 basket"
Static Lady-"Ok, do you want anything else?"
Ben - "A loan"
Static Lady- "What was that?"
Ben- "Nothing"
End scene
Oh, man.  This is my life.  Eating in the car.  Whining.  Being entertained by my traveling comedian. Leading the way for my two littles who like to pretend that my cardigan belt acts as horse reigns through the aisles of Michael's.  I refuse to neigh.  I've got to hold on to some dignity right?
 But today.  Today Ava acted like I betrayed her because I didn't tell her to wear green to church.  "Everyone's going to pinch me!"  I told her just to tell people that she's wearing green underwear.  And I swear up and down that she lifted her dress right there in church to check.  It actually did cross my mind that it was a holiday about ten minutes before we left but does St. Patrick, however great of a guy he was to get his own line on the calendar, really need to factor into our churchwear?  I think not.  My emotional six year old did not agree with my, Let's just skip this holiday ok, decision.  Luckily Anne carried the team and invited us over for shamrock ravioli and honeydew.  I whipped up these with some green food coloring and called it a party.  Here's the evidence:

Ok, maybe it's not great evidence but that's because they were about to watch Wreck it Ralph and I was  in the way.  The day did end with a five way asian conga line and tears over not enough "chocwate tuptakes."  A raging success in my book.

I'm rambling again.  I really came here to share some of our current kid favorite, mommy doesn't want to start taking her happy pills again  approved randomness.  Just in case you're stuck in a pb&j with a side of sesame street over a bed of wheels on the bus rut.

In no particular order:

#1 Rio Soundtrack

As much as I LOVE this movie, the soundtrack is even better.  I'm telling you that you need to get in touch with your salsa loving roots.  The kids love it and I don't have to listen to Raffi sing Tingalayo for the one thousandth time.  Win win.

#2 Elephant and Piggie Books

I'm not sure how Mo keeps it going with the prolific amount of books he produces every year but man is he on a roll.  We love looking for the pigeon at the end of every book.  

#3 Cuties

Whoever invented these should get their own holiday.  I realize this is in no way original but I put them in the bottom drawer of the fridge and every time they ask for a snack that's where I send them.  They can do everything themselves from retrieval to peeling to clean up.  Which means I can finish drying my hair or have a few extra minutes to stare blankly in my closet trying to remember what I was doing.
#4 Vans
These shoes are a family affair.  I love them because they can go in the wash.  Magic Eraser makes them look brand new.  These are the current Hsieh-favs:
Sharks for Ian (check out the genius idea of sharks on the outside so he knows which feet to put them on)

And Hello Kitty for Ms. A

A good way to get your pretty princess dresser a little bit of street cred.

#5 Water Wall

I'm currently constructing one of these for the bathtub (pics coming soon).  I made one for grad school (although I'm not sure that's going to make you respect the education I'm receiving or not) and it turned out awesome.  Put one on your fence in the summer and let them go to town.  I got funnels at IKEA for $2, a bunch of clear flexible tubing (and small L corners) from Home Depot for $8, and then just various plastic containers.  It's especially fun if you color your bathtub water.  

#6 Ponyo

This movie is a trip and a half.  You will not even believe it.  Watch it together as a whole family.  Maybe check it out at the library first.  It's worth it just for the Tina Fey driving scenes.  I realize that doesn't make any sense.  Just trust me on this one.

Ok, it's now about four hours past my bedtime and my littles will be making me breakfast in bed in about 6 hours (ha!) so I should probably find my way upstairs.  I hope this leads to some new inspiration on the long mommy road!

100th day of school!

There was a little miss-communication around these parts last week as Miss A talked up the 100th day of school like the fairy godmother herself was coming to give her a unicorn so she could ride to the  Pinkalicious themed ball in a strapless dress.  I wasn't quite sure what all the enthusiasm was about but smiled as she told everyone who would listen about how important this celebration was.  She basically told me that tomorrow is the 100th day of school for three weeks.  I finally had to email her teacher to get the non six year old filtered information.  When the day finally arrived I whipped up some special pancakes and we sorted crayons and glued small poems on each color.  There were 100th day cookies and 100th day glasses and Daddy made sure to give her 100 kisses (after she had to convince him not to give her 100 spankings) on his way out the door.
Finally a light went on when I heard her telling Ian how much she's going to love the 1st grade.  I asked a few questions and realized that she thought this was the last day of kindergarten and that she would be going to first grade tomorrow.  It's not that she hates kindergarten, it's probably just because she thought she would be one grade closer to bff John (who's in 2nd grade).  So we celebrated with a little bit of a heavy heart and mommy made a note to self about investigating all our happy dances.

Do you buy this smile?  Neither do I.

Sorry you didn't understand baby girl...and I'm sorry I didn't have the time (or upper body strength) to put your hair in 100 braids, or let you bring 100, hundred dollar bills to class.  You're still my pookie- wookie 10 times 10.

Money Shot Monday

Maybe it's because I went to Anthropologie yesterday and stood in bewilderment at how a beige Russian granny's blouse could cost $118 (ok, it does have owls on it), or because I almost laughed my a&% clear off when trying to stuff myself into a size 26 pair of coral jeans from the clearance section.  Or maybe it has something to do with feeling angsty over not loving Ava's school or accidentally cutting Ian's hair too short when Ben wanted to grow it long, or because I'm antsy for adventure but want to sleep all the time.  Oh, hello March.  Whatever the reason I'm feeling the need to search out the best minutes of the day and hold them up to the light (sorry David Wilcox if you didn't intend that song to be about pms and spring sunshine.)

 

We have had the most beautiful string of sunny days I think I may have jumped the gun on spring a little bit.  I took all our winter coats to the dry cleaner and made muffins with the rest of my frozen strawberries, thinking more were just around the corner.  But unless those strawberries look like chives we are in for a long wait.
Last week it was so warm, Ian and I decided to take our lunch date on the road.  We hit up Jimmy's John's $1 sub day and headed for the park.  I mirrored the Dogwood that we ate under.  All my pinks and greens opening under the warmth.  If I didn't have work to do I would have gone for broke and skipped naptime alltogether.  I'm telling you, the sun makes me lose all touch with reality.

I'm ready Mama!

Oh...fountain coke.  You are my soul mate.

Ian was totally freaked out when I walked into the spray park.  "No!  Mommy you'd get wet!  Don't do it! (panicked expression...hands covering eyes)  "Oh.  Dere's no water here."

just pretend weapons for shooting parties

pshew! pshew!

You can't catch me!

The blue sky had me so confused that I forgot to wear makeup but remembered to put on perfume.  I was tempted to also "forget" dinner and "remember" ice cream sandwiches but at some point reason prevailed.  

Love,

Looking for 360 degrees of 

beauty

full

Ordinary and extraordinary

We have a new normal around these parts and I'm trying to roll with it.  Mama took on a little job as Dad's secretarial sidekick at Hope which forced me to take on a new bedtime hour somewhere in the 8's.  Happily, I get to work from home in my jammies so I don't miss any of the good stuff, like naptime snuggles.  Unfortunately I also don't get to miss any of the bad stuff, like Ian putting a rogue tramp stamp on Ava during our spontaneous fingerpaint hour.
The littles decided they didn't want to be left out of all the fresh starts.  Miss A asked us a few weeks ago if she could start taking communion at church.  I've got to say I was a little hesitant.  Now, all the children at our church take communion, which is every Sunday.  It is the general viewpoint that they are welcome in the church's traditions and shouldn't be restricted from entering into God's presence at the Table.  I really do love the spirit of it but I also believe that there are certain privileges or maybe spiritually significant moments that go along with asking Jesus into your life, like communion and baptism.  I want Ava to remember these moments with great joy and significance.  After a lot of family discussions we felt that she was ready and mostly didn't want to diminish her act of faith in the tender moment of commitment and surrender.  I was a little teary as I watched her approach the table and as we prayed together I felt the weight of the moment and deep joy in my big girls decision of faith.

I don't know what God has for her in this life.  I don't know what thrilling adventures she's going to have or what tragedies she will have to endure.  I do know that the One who knit her together loves her more than I ever could, and it is my every morning prayer that she always knows His presence and the joy of following her creator and biggest fan.  

Butterfly~ a guest post by Ms. Ava

Ava' social calendar this spring has been busier than mine. She's quite the extrovert.  In the time it would have taken me to get up the nerve to say hello to someone Ava's already exchanged phone numbers and playdate themes.  She had a couple of extra special events this past month and so I asked her to tell me about them here.

Father/Daughter Ski Date

Here's me and Daddy leaving in the car before going skiing.  I was feeling happy and excited mostly about the chairlift but when I got there and I was on the chairlift I was feeling a little more scared that my ski's were gonna fall off.

Here's me skiing.  I felt cozy.  There were lots and lots of trees and maybe I was taller than the mountains.  When I was on the big hill I was maybe going too fast and fell down and my glove fell off. My hand was on the snow and I got really cold.  I told Daddy, "I don't yike skiwing and I wan't to go home!"(In her best Ian voice)  And Daddy said, "You'll be fine.  Let's keep going."  I wasn't ok for a long time.  I got ok again when we found a warm store with m&m's and hot chocolate.

Here Daddy and me are on the chairlift.  We were going really high up into the mountains.  We were on the chairlift two times but the first time I fell down on the snow but I got back up and skied again.  I didn't like going really fast.  I liked going medium down the hill.

Somebody took this picture while we were skiing down the hill and daddy thought I was so good he wanted to take a picture of me.  And then a guy said, "Hey, I'll take a picture for you." (She wants this in a low voice.)  Daddy taught me to do a snow plow or make a pizza when you put your ski's pointing each other to slow down.  On the tow rope we had to hold on and keep our ski's really straight.

I felt like I broke my arm because I fell down and landed my hand in a funny place.  But it's better now so it probably isn't broken.  I didn't want to go skiing again right away but Daddy said I could ski some more or go to the hospital.  I decided to keep skiing.  If Daddy's wanted to go skiing again I would say, "O.K." (In a screaming excited voice.)

Party Post!

I was having a girlfriend tea party and I wore my pretty dress.  It was a valentine's party and I invited all my friends except not my school friends because Mommy said some of them might feel left out if we didn't invite everyone.

This is Aubrey, Phoebe, Me, Hannah, and Willa.  Ian was not invited but we let him have some tea.  We acted like princesses and I don't remember what we talked about.

We're playing Mrs. Party's Popular Princess School and Hannah's the teacher.

Guest poster Ian:
That was Joel and me.  I yike to pay wif Joel and he pays trains wif me.  We fight about rivals and dwagons and sometimes I pay nicey but sometimes I don't pay mean.  Sometimes me and Joel pay Ninjas and sometimes we say, "ching-a-ying." (ninja sounds)  We were eating chips and cake and cupcakes.

Back to Ava:
These were our cupcakes for after the lunch and the crafts.  They were supposed to look like a box of chocolates. I found them in a book my Tia gave us.  My favorite thing to eat at the party were the scones and the lemon cookies and the cupcakes.

I had fun at my party.  I was sad that Miriam couldn't come to my princess cupcake party because she was sick.  But we had fun anyways.  My favorite thing about the party was playing with all my friends.  The End!!
And just because they make me smile.  Here's a few of her invitations:

My personal favorite.

Here's to inventive spelling and to sweet six year old memories