A fun little Saturday

Had a great little family day today.  Tony was home and I was able to sneak out in the morning (all by myself) to a local event and get us a compost bin and rain barrel.  We've never done a rain barrel before so I'm not sure how it will work, but I'm excited about it.

We went to an unexpected park where kids could check out all different types of vehicles.  All in all it wasn't a huge success as it was a hot day and there were some serious meltdowns, but we did get to walk through a school bus.

After food and rest we hung out in the back yard.  And........we made a Pinterest-inspired "water moving machine".  I had pinned one from Let the children play, but there are tons on Pinterest.

We used some containers from the recycling bin and duct tape and just taped it to the chain link fence.  We used a couple of funnels and some sticks to prop where needed.  Pretty fun project.  Emma mostly just liked filling up cups of water and pouring them.

Good family times.

Nature-y day

Taking a cue from one of the values passed down to me from my mom we spent lots of time today just in the garden.  I'm trying to put in a little bed in the front yard for some perennial herbs and a few annuals too.  At our "Mother's Day garden center adventure" I picked up: rhubarb, an everbearing strawberry (we have a dedicated strawberry bed in the back yard), salvia, lavender, oregano, lemon balm, an eggplant, and a pepper (Ada's pick).  I'm going to wing it and add some annual and perennial flower seeds too- mostly intended for picking and bringing inside.  In the morning Emma helped me while Ada was at school.

We found a caterpillar.

She found it hilarious when it squiggled around. 

After we put Emma to bed, Ada came out and helped some more and we found some worms.

SO TICKLISH!

Back to the garden little worm

I was totally the kid who brought in a coffee can filled with soil and worms to first grade show and tell so this made me especially proud.

Then it was time to water.  Tony and Ada had planted some sunflowers along a fence and I had her do that all by herself after we did the vegetable garden together.  She took it pretty seriously and did an awesome job.

Note the mud kitchen in the background

Looking forward to a summer with my happy little gardeners.  

**For the first time I used picassa to upload these photos from my phone and they all have the weird grey line on the bottom.  Anyone know why?** 

Mothers are wonderful

Some of you know my history.  You may have known me as I was growing up and if so you know that I have an amazing mother.

My mom has on occasion told me that the day I was born was wonderful and amazing.  A miracle even.  But, she also reminds me that, "It hurt!"  Well thanks for birthing me mom!  Thanks for nursing me (until I was 2!!), changing my poopy diapers (with reusable diapers and pins!!), for raising me and teaching right from wrong, for putting me before yourself, and huge big ginormous thank you for putting up with me through the teenage years.  Yikes!

I am a lucky woman to have had such a role model in my life.  If you have met my mom you know how motherly she is.  Growing up friends would hang at our house a lot and even after I had fallen asleep (admittedly that was usually around 8pm) my friends would hang with Donna.  She's a snuggly warm mom and I never for one second have doubted her love.  Even when she didn't much like me/ my behavior, I always knew she loved me.  She is a woman who takes care of others by nature- it's who she is.  As an only child I was fortunate enough to have her all to myself for my first 30 years (until Ada was born), but am even more fortunate to have her as a nana to my children.  In fact I believe she was born to be a nana.

At Tower Hill sometime in the past- I think this was a Mother's Day trip.

Eating fresh picked oranges on the tour bus in Sicilia.

Outside the Children's Museum in Minneapolis with the girls.

Over the course of my life I have been exposed to some wonderful mothers.  Growing up I had a neighbor who transcended the lines of neighbor/friend to a whole other thing that there really isn't a name for.  If you've met Peg you know of her true awesomeness.  You know that she gives to her children fully and unconditionally.  I remember her telling me one time that she read every book her children read in school so she could talk with them about it.  Every book!  Are you kidding me?  She is an athlete and is able to take things seriously while also having an amazing sense of humor.  I just love this woman.

I am lucky enough to have had her in my life at a time when I needed a grown up who wasn't my parent.  I needed someone to listen and she did.  I needed someone who I knew would offer some responsible advise but when it comes from someone other than your parent it can be easier to hear when you are, say, 16 years old.  Without her, my life certainly would have taken a different path- not for the better.

These women have deeply influenced who I am as a woman and as a mother.  I am so grateful for that.  Since becoming a mother myself I have thought much about what kind of person I want to be and become for my children.  What kind of example I want to be setting.  Sometimes I feel like I succeed and of course I have my failures too.  But again I have had the pleasure of having some amazing women touch my life and help inform my mothering.  Thank you to all the mothers in my life.  Thank you for listening to me and helping me talk through my craziness.  Thank you for helping me be less crazy.  Thank you for reminding me that motherhood is hard.  Thanks for the advise.  Thanks for the laughs and for listening to me cry.  I love you all.

Thank you too to the two lovely ladies who made me a mother.  The girls who make me feel more than I ever knew I could (and I was emotional to begin with).  I never knew there was that much love in the world and nothing makes me more proud than to see you being kind to each other.  You are truly the best little things to happen to me.

Happy Mother's Day

The bubba party

I'm not proud but until a couple of nights ago the three year old has been using her pacifier (we call it a bubba) when she sleeps.  When I start to let my "mommy guilt" set in I think about how I have caused her orthodontic and possible speech issues along with teaching her how to have a crutch just to make my life a little easier.  Well the fact is- there is no answer book in the world of parenthood and we are all just doing what we can to survive.  Yes, I see it as survival.  In his undying effort to keep me from overthinking and guilting myself, Tony reminded me that we would have done this a year ago if not for all the big transitions Ada has been through.  We wanted her to have something for comfort with all the changes and that is true.  But now, things are more stable and it's time.  Did I mention she's 3?

So, on the advise of the N.P. (their primary care person) and several friends we decided to do a "bubba party" and to leave the bubba for the "bubba fairy" to come and get and magically turn it into a bubba for a tiny baby.  She seemed to buy the story.

The cake....

It was a ballerina bubba party- because much of our life is "ballerina-ed"

Ada wrote a note to the fairy after the party telling the fairy that she wanted her bubba to be made into a new bubba for a tiny baby girl named Eve.  We folded up the note and put it and the bubba into a bag and taped it to the sliding glass door.

And...The fairy came!!  She left a glittery note for Ada saying how proud she was and how big she was.

Notice Books waiting to come in:) I imagine he's thinking something like, "great, something else to be chased with and to have less attention payed to me.  awesome."

Honestly we had been planning on her having a bike for this summer but this made it way more fun for everyone.

Ada even got excited about Emma using her old "bike".  And off they went with Papa on the maiden voyage.

The going to bed without a bubba portion of this experiment has been a little rough.  She screams and cries and pleads.  Last night she got so desperate she even said, "no, I'm not a big girl I'm a baby.  I need my bubba!"  If you know Ada, you know she would never call herself anything but a big girl, so this was a last ditch effort for sure.

I am trying to remind myself that it will all be better in the end and that as her parent I need to see the end game of a person who can get through tough times on her own.  She needs to be able to fall asleep and we need to give her the opportunity to succeed.  Without a bubba/ crutch.  But it's hard.  I feel responsible.  I feel guilty.  Of course, because Ada is such a vocal and expressive person it makes it a bit harder when she explains that she wants her bubba and she feels sad without it.  We'll get through it and just when we get this bubba thing under control, I'm sure there will be a new challenge to pop up.  That old phrase comes to mind from my farming days, "It's always something and it never ends."  But it's good.

In other news, I made a recipe from Pinterest this morning.  These cinnamon roll pancakes looked so yummy and easy I had to try them.  Well the result was meh.  Not bad but I probably won't make them again.  If they look good to you I would suggest making half the frosting recipe- it makes a surprising amount.

Enjoying outdoors time

The last week we have been experiencing the joy that is parenting a 3 year old.  The sweet innocence right along side the intense attitude.  Back and forth back and forth.  At times it seems she is 16 years old, but today we had a respite from the behavior we are so desperately trying to curb.  It was a good day.

Tony was given the advise when Ada was a baby and again we were both told by parent friends when Emma was born that making special time with each kid individually with each parent was key to their being happy.  We really try to do this as often as possible.  In particular Ada has a strong bond with her dad and craves his attention.  For a bunch of reasons we haven't been able to arrange one on one time with the two of them for a few weeks and after they went out together for a few hours yesterday I'm thinking maybe that has been the reason for the "undesirable behavior" and I'll have to reread this post if it starts up again and make that one on one time happen.

Whatever the reason, our little miss Ada was being cooperative and helpful and pleasant today and we all enjoyed the nice sunshine together.  Picnic lunch (on the "Gramma Bon Blanket" of course which promptly became the roof/walls to our house.

After nap we hung out in the yard and planted seeds in the garden-peas, carrots, beans, baby lettuce, and sunflowers.

Then we went for a little walk when we started hearing the hawk squawking.  We found the pair sitting together again.  One was guarding while the other ate.  Not sure how to tell male from female (I assume the one guarding was the male).  I had the camera although I realized when I got home that I shouldn't have zoomed all the way in because our super old camera gets fuzzy when you do that.  But here are some pretty cool shots.  I also got one of the nest- if you look closely through the maple leaves you can see the mess of twigs.  It is literally in the middle of a dense maple tree.  So cool!

The nest is in a separate tree than where I've seen them eating.

The hawks in all their awesomeness.

If you look closely you can actually see (her) eating.

Ada's not the only dancer in the family

This is a pretty good honest look at our life.  Messy, silly, beaded, with a little music and fake crying thrown in.  Enjoy.

Hawk update

Today the girls and I went on a little walk after dinner.

Just as we were getting home we noticed some noise in a tree above us and when I looked there were TWO hawks above us on the same branch.  I think we startled them a bit and one flew to a branch just above the other.  After reading a little bit about what I believe are broad-winged hawks, I think the one to the right in the picture is the male who had just brought back some food for the female.  I am so digging that this family is in our yard- although the random clumps of feathers and heads of other birds that I find under their favorite eating tree next to the driveway leaves a bit to be desired.

I realize these are cruddy phone pictures and I am really hoping to get something better at some point but I'm thrilled I was able to capture this special moment at all.  I really could have watched them all night.  These animals are amazing- and huge hope you can tell from this shot.  And what you can't see is that we actually live near a pretty busy road- I think having these creatures nearby while we live in a city of over 100,000 makes me feel somehow comforted and like we are more rural than we actually are.