It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

The Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired host a tree sale every year. I like to support their fundraiser, and it makes for a fun tree hunt. They have cookies, hot cocoa, and even Santa. Emma loved Santa, and let him know she wanted books, books, and more books. Claire was a bit more hesitant and her conversation went a bit like this:
Santa to Claire: Hi, little girl have you been good? Claire: Santa, I thought you watched me to know. Santa: Well, yes. So what do you want for Christmas. Claire: A phone. 
Yes, she wants a cell phone at the age of four. I don't think Santa knew what to make of her choice.

Traditions

When I was a little girl my mom would warm us up with apple cider with a peppermint stick. It continues...

Claire is sick

Sunday morning I woke up to Claire crying for me. She was so hot with fever, and couldn't catch her breath. I put her on the nebulizer, but it didn't help. My mom instinct was worried, and said you need to take her to the hospital. I still have anxiety over taking her in after the last ER nurse told me during an asthma attack that maybe I should have waited to see if the meds kicked in. But when we got there her heart rate was SO high and her fever was over 103. We were there for over 4 hours trying to get her to have the fever come down.

We are still sick today. Not much change in the fever. Some bubbles did make the cool bath more fun. I love bubble snakes

Last day of the pool

Back to School

Summer was too short. I was teaching a lot of art camps, and it felt that there was never a real break to stop and enjoy summer. I think that was the hardest part for back to school for me. The second hardest part was sending the littlest off to full day Pre-K. I know she is ready, but the letting go isn't easy.

26 July

We have hit that point in summer vacation..

TrendFactory at the IAC

http://trendfactory2012.tumblr.com/
A very neat hands on art exhibit at the Art Center. Emma made a fish.

Her World

Her world is still full of joy, and simple pleasures. A quiet bed is her carriage to wonderland.

Concert in the park

A few years ago we started going to the weekly concerts in the park. It is such a fun summer tradition, and it is free!

The girls love dancing, and even get some special attention by the performers.

Emma wasn't very sure what to think about her chair being occupied by Rick K.

    

In the garden

Patrick with Blossom. She is a very sassy chicken, and will really only cooperate for Patrick.

  

Clair and Bubbles. Bubbles is out most friendly chicken and will do what we call circus trick for any treat. She prefers mealworms, but will even perform for common plantain and dandelion greens.

The potatoes are in bloom. I think they are the coolest flowers. It is said that Marie Antoinette was given a bouquet of them and she wore them in her hair, and the potato flower hair accessory spurred quite the fashion trend. Perhaps I should wear them in my hair tomorrow too.

Tending to the dolls

C: Mama I need to go get Jessie, Peachy, and Alice.

Me: Ok, go get your friends.

C: They are not my friends they are my children, and I am their momma.

At first this conversation had me sad, because I wanted to say, "I am your momma, and I am your friend." But then I thought about it, and so I said to myself, "good job self, you are not blurring the boundaries of parenthood."

I think this is one of the toughest positions of parenthood, and while we do want our children to love us and talk to us like a friend, being a parent is so much more.

Claire, at 4 years old, was able to relay that to me in a single sentence.

Field Day

Creek Stomp

Claire's preschool went to the creek to find treasures and have fun in the sun.

Growing wishes

Egg Dying

Last year I saw somewhere in the blogging world someone using a whisk to dye eggs. It is a brilliant way to dye eggs with children, or even not with children. There is no fishing for an egg with a copper piece of wire that looks like MacGyver bent from a paper clip. It is the best egg dying tip ever!

Seven times around the sun

Emma wanted a cookies and cream cake. It was a blizzard the day before her birthday, and I wasn't going to make a trip just for oreos. So I went to my trusty blogger and used her homemade version. This cake was fabulous.

  

Look at how much you have grown. You are such a kind and generous girl.

Happy seventh birthday Emma!

St. Practice Day

It is the annual family gathering for what we like to call St. Practice Day. Where we live we host a great big St. Patrick's Day Parade, well if St. Patrick's Day falls on the weekend they host the parade on Fri. Making the parade a practice run of St. Patrick's Day, and that is where the name St. Practice Day came from. Next year it will be an official St. Patrick's Day parade so the name will end this year.

Emma stayed out of school for this cultural event. We got dressed in our best green attire.

The girls collected about as much candy as they did on Halloween.

And sported a lovely green cap for a photo op.

It was a really fun day, and has become such a great family tradition.

Cloverbud

Emma joined Cloverbuds, formerly known as Mini 4-H. The club she is in has all the children of all the levels working together. The March meeting they learned about floral arranging. She did such a good job, and was so proud of her work.

The Flu

Everyone got the flu shot this year. However, Emma freaked out when getting hers and I believe she didn't get a good dose of the vaccination. She was the only one to get sick. Poor girl was sick for a whole week.

We knew she was feeling better when she was up for doing some school work. A strawberry frap from Starbucks was the perfect fuel for the task.

Rainy days

Visiting Dory at the library makes rainy days not so gloomy.

Lunch with cousins

Claire had a special lunch with her cousins. It was me and them. I was a bit nervous, because that is a lot of little ones for one adult to eat at a restaurant. Everyone minded their manners, even through poor service. So we had a round of milkshakes.

Hydrating

The day after being up all night from the moon festival means caffeine for mom and sugared beverages for the children.

Claire tried a Korean beverage called Milkis, which is basically a cream soda. Why is it that cream soda sounds better than a refreshing milk beverage? She loved it!

To balance the sugar Claire had some lovely tea from Uncle Brian's really neat tea set.

Chinese New Year

This year we happened to be visiting Patrick's brother during Chinese New Year. The kids made lanterns and then we went out and talked about the moon and what made it so special on this night.

  

They say it's your birthday

She wanted an Angelina Ballerina cake. I agreed because I swore I saw little Angelina figures for sale at the store. I couldn't find the toys when I went back. So I knit a tiny Angelina doll.




















We gave her the laundry jumble game. It was recommended by another mommy blogger, and I have to say that it is such a fun game. It is easy rules, and can even be a single player game. It has skunk's underwear too, and underwear makes anything better when you are 4.