High Tea

I have discovered a no-fail recipe for making girls (ages 2 to 92) happy.  Tea Parties--fabulous tea parties-- that include:

*beautifully dressed friends

*crowns

*making bracelets out of gorgeous, plastic, animal-shaped beads

 *tiny food on toothpicks
*delicious hot chocolate "tea"
*cream you can pour for yourself (Or, if you are another little Bella we know, you'll be completely confused, and ask, in astonishment, "Sour Cream?!?! In my cocoa?!?!")

 *little cakes to decorate with loads and loads of frosting and plenty of sprinkles
*a "fancy" PVC pipe tent that makes it actually feel official

*and the surprise hit of the day?  Me.  With a British accent, identifying myself as "Maaahhhhge."  Everytime I'd offer the girls some strawberries or cheese cubes, the girls would giggle themselves silly, and when I'd walk away, they'd whisper to Bella "Your mom talks funny."

So, if any of you out there are looking to make some little girls really happy, just follow my foolproof steps.  And don't forget the British accent.  I'll call you "Aaaahhgatha."

Flip-flops, Forts, Friends, and Fun

Is there anything better than a visit from some best friends (or cousins, as Mimi insists these girls are)?  I submit that there is not.  We snagged the Soelberg ladies for the last couple days of their spring break, and it was a delight from beginning to end.  

We began with some crafting--state love canvasses inspired by so many from around the web.  We both made Indiana (that wiggly-pointy part at the bottom left was a little bit tricky, doncha know), and then I added some Ohio and Utah love.  (Gotta represent!)  I'll probably have to add a little heart in the Roosevelt area of Utah soon, but I'm not doing it until I've actually lived there.

 Then we continued with some shopping--the 30% discount offered at Old Navy and Gap because of their "Give and Get" campaign was irresistible and called for a trip to the outlets. . . 

 . . . where we scored some matching flip-flops.  (The little sizes have straps behind the heels and Bella was genuinely distressed that her "fwips" didn't make the right noise.  And click on the picture to see how Bella--in the black leggings--likes to split her toes with the flip-flop strap.)

 Then the girly-girls slept in forts, made by John between the boxspring and mattress of the girls' bed (AWESOME!). . .

 . . . and me, by tying the fort sheet onto the kid chairs (lame).  You can see which fort made it through the night.

It was sad, as it always is, to let our friends head back to the wilds of Bloomington.  Bella nearly had a meltdown when she realized she was not going to be able to climb back into Sara's car and go home with her.  (Are you sure you don't want to come pick her up, Sara?  I think you need just a little more chaos in your life.)

I'm thinking there has to be an opening for a fantastic MBA somewhere in Roosevelt so we can continue our spring break tradition.  I'll be on the lookout.  Okay, Joe?

We love Santa!

(I started this posted on December 16, and then promptly forgot it.  That's how it goes, I guess.)

You know, there are a lot of great things about Indiana.  I love so many things, especially now that we are finishing up residency and every month here is our last November, or our last December.  But, if I had to make a list of things I love about Indiana, these two would be in my top ten:  Soelbergs and The Children's Museum.  My first visit to TCM (with the Soelbergs) was when Olivia was only 10 months old, and there have been many since.  Including the most recent one that included. . . 

. . . A VISIT WITH SANTA!

Now, we're pretty attached to our South Bend Santa.  He is perfect: kind and friendly and soft-spoken and incredibly photogenic.  However, The Children's Museum Santa may just be the best Santa on the planet.  

Mimi and Jenna (shunning the idea of sister pairs and gleefully sharing Santa's lap with their "cousin") told Santa what they wanted.

  

Olivia (looking incredibly tall) and her teeny friend Libster also shared their wishes.

And this what endeared me forever.  Bella was nervous about sitting on Santa's lap, but she wanted to sit on a stool next to his chair.  Santa scooted himself off his big comfortable armchair and planted himself on a little stool right next to Bella and had the sweetest 5-minute conversation I've ever seen.  I'll love him for the rest of my life.

Speaking of Bella, this little crazy-pants in the too-large goggles slipped away from Sara (poor Sara!) while I was nursing Maddie and had to be retrieved from the "Lost and Found."  Sara felt horrible until she watched Bella disappear 7 or 8 more times, including one expedition to an open elevator where she nearly transported herself 3 floors away, and another adventure in the boys' bathroom.  

We made some trips down the Yule Slide.

Santa whispered the secret of the slide to the big girls--the one on the left is faster.

We were lucky enough to meet some more friends from Bloomington.  It was loads of fun.  Maybe we'll all have to fly back in next Christmas?

Thanksgiving!

We had yet another Soelberg-Wells combination Thanksgiving this year, and I think it may just have been the best yet.  Let me count out the ways that I am thankful for these delightful friends who feast with us again and again.  

1.  Craftiness!  Sara and I love to make Thanksgiving weekend into Craft-aholic Central, and this year, we made these creations out of scrapbook paper and posterboard.  (Tip for those who might want to make some for themselves:  We used a Cricut to cut out the gazillions of little shapes (wonky hearts on the "George" cartridge), and 59-cent posterboard to make the base cones instead of the $8.00 paper-mache Christmas trees originally called for.)

 2.  Billions of little girls.  (This picture is even missing the smallest one.)  It's like heaven for my girls when Libby and Jenna arrive, and the visit is full of giggles, dress-ups, reading parties (I'm not kidding), clothes-sharing, dancing, and zippie pajamas.  And you see that darling Jenna girl up with Mimi?  That little girl is so incredibly kind to annoying, destructive Bella.  It nearly brought me to tears to see her include a not-so-fun two-year old in all the fun activities.  I will love her forever.

 3.  Joe.  Being Maddie's hair twin, we would love him regardless, but any guy who will watch five little girls (John was on call--as always) so Sara and I could Black-Friday it up is fantastic.  Thanks again, Joe!

 4.  And speaking of Black Friday, I'm grateful for Menard's.  Menard's, of all places.  I don't even think I've ever checked the Menard's ad for Black Friday specials before this year, but I'm apparently the only one who hadn't gotten the memo.  This year, when we showed up 30 minutes early (with Maddies in the front carrier, deep in the depths of my parka), the line to get into Menard's stretched across the front of the store and up to the back of the parking lot.  Our buddies in line included a darling woman who had been shopping since midnight and the foulest-mouthed long-haired lady I've ever met.  She dropped the f-bomb more often than I use hand gestures, and that's saying something.  Also, unpictured is our annual trip to Jo-Ann fabric for $1.29/yard flannel.  My stash is restocked, thank heavens.  I get twitchy when it gets a little low.

 5. Tangled.  Have you all seen it?  It's maybe my new favorite Disney princess movie.  I loved it.

 6.  (On that same note) Wonderland Cinema in Niles.  I love our little theatre just 15 minutes away with $2.50 matinee tickets (but we went during "prime time", so we had to pay a full $5.00) and $1.25 popcorn.  Amazing.  It's possible for us to go to movies on opening day.  And could we resist hitting a movie about a girl with long-long hair when we had our resident Rapunzel (Libby-girl) in town for a visit?  Look at those darling girls.

7.  Edible name tags.  This is a pilgrim hat, even though it's not immediately obvious.  The making of them involved four little girls and two moms elbow deep in melted chocolate, a container of mini M&Ms studding the outsides ("I don't want just one buckle, Mom.  I want mine to be polka-dots!"), and seven chocolate footprints made by one desperate two-year old.  But they turned out pretty cute, I think.

 8.  A delicious feast with fantastic friends.  I wish I'd taken a picture of all the food, and not just Sara's amazing rolls, but it may have been our best yet.  The stuffing was perfect (even following a near-fiasco), the gravy was not crazy salty (I've learned my lesson), and the pie was plentiful.

9.  Sara's pictures which I stole from her blog.  Thank you, Sara, for always having your camera at the ready. I was embarrassed to see that I had taken two pictures the entire visit.

What are we going to do next year when the Soelbergs don't live just 4 hours away?

Bella's Favorite Chicken

My camera is lost forever--left at O'Hare Airport (otherwise known as the Pit of Dispair). This makes it difficult to blog, you know, with no pictures. However, my dear friend Kelly had compassion on me and sent me these snaps of one of our recent trips to Silver Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan.
Silver Beach is THE beach. If we mention a beach, it's this one. There are other lovely beaches, at Warren Dunes, or the Indiana Dunes State Park, but Silver Beach is delightful. As evidenced by the smiles on these two crazy faces.
Bella loves "Chicken" as she calls Colton. Loves him, loves what he loves (the movie "Cars", actual cars, swimming, whatever), loves to be just like him. And now Chicken has left us--headed to his new home in the Great White North of Alberta, Canada, with the rest of his family. When we went to the pool today, she got excited about seeing Chicken, since we usually do. I didn't have the heart or the ability to explain to her, so I just smiled. And cried a little inside. We miss you, Galbraiths!

(We miss you, Bradys, and Sandersons, too, but I don't have pictures of you guys. Send me some, and I'll dedicate a post to you. :)

Zoo Visit with our Buddies

The lovely thing about family practice residency is that it's only three years long. No matter the crazy hours, the limited vacation, the tremendous insanity of the patient population, it can all be survived for three years.

The sad thing about family practice residency is that it's only three years long. So the people who introduced you to the program, the community, and the best ways to cope with no husband eventually move on. To greener pastures (or if not greener, in the cases of Utah and Alberta, at least sunnier).

We recently made a little day trip with two of our soon-to-be-departing families. The weather was colder than anticipated, but the kids had a great time at the zoo (where I forgot my camera) and the park (where I didn't). In the picture below are (top row) Olivia, Maddie Galbraith, and Ryan Brady. Mimi and Kacie Brady round out the bottom row. We wanted to get Halle in with the other girls, but she had not included a photography session in her play plans.

Bella's best friend in the whole world is darling Colton Galbraith. She calls him "chicken", and if he's there, she's happy. She will follow him to the ends of the earth.

Or off the bottom of a slide.

Happily.

Over and over again.

We've been so lucky to have so many good friends here in South Bend. It will be sad to lose the Bradys, Galbraiths, and Sandersons, but we all have to grow up sometime, and we wish them the best of luck in their new "real lives".

Visit to B-Town

You know, I have this friend.  She's the one (to my South Bend friends) that I mention once or twice a minute to talk about the creative things she's doing.  She's the one (to my Provo friends) that I battled through the teaching trenches with.  She's the one (to Olivia's friends) that's Libby's mom--and Liv and Libs have been besties from birth.  (Olivia actually visited Libby in the hospital.)  We've each moved two or three times each since our Provo days, but we're still within driving distance, and since I needed a small vacation this last weekend, the girls and I headed on down to visit the Soelbergs in their new Bloomington digs.  John was on call or moonlighting all weekend, and Joe, in his hard-working MBA mode, was in California, and so we had a houseful of little girls and happy moms.
We did so many things they need to be listed in number mode.
1. Sara and I worked on cutting out blocks (from our scraps) for a Paintbox Quilt.  I am not a quilter, but I am a mathematician, and I thought that I could honestly figure out the fabric needs for this little quilt.  I was wrong.  Last time we attempted the math for this, we were honestly coming up with answers like 67 yards.  12 yards!  15 yards?  Obviously, WAY off.  This time, since we were using scraps, we were just cutting what blocks we could, but I made about 10,000 mistakes on 10 blocks.  I can see that this is never going to be my talent.
2.  We had the girls make Homemade Taffy.  There are no pictures because we were, quite literally, up to our elbows in both sticky taffy and greasy butter.  There may actually be a 1:1 ratio of taffy:butter in the finished product because it takes that much to keep the candy moving in the little hands.  But I absolutely recommend this activity for anyone with five- and six-year olds.  (File it away for a rainy spring afternoon.)

3.  We visited "Suesspicious Behavior" a birthday party for Dr. Seuss at the Bloomington Public Library.  We fish for "Red Fish and Blue Fish".

We made fun Cat-in-the-Hats.

Livi and Libs opted to be Thing 1 and Thing 2.  (Perfect for them).

Bella begged at least two extra cupcakes off the cake server lady while I was dealing with Mimi meltdowns.  Awesome. 
4.  The girls played and partied and pulled every toy out of every box and basket and then crashed.

Hard.

5.  Bella smeared toothpaste in Sara's carpet, dumped cat food all over the floor, alternately chased and ran away from Phelpsie (the sweetest cat in the world), emptied Sara's pantry, begged for animal crackers incessantly, cried herself sick after being put to bed (she NEVER cries when being put to bed), and loved the freedom of eating at the big table (too much, really).  And Sara still loved her.  That's why we love Sara.
6.  We partied hard at the Big Hill.  (Reminiscent of our Big Hill from Toledo.)  The girls rolled, and ran, and fought to their hearts' content.

I reveled in the beginning of spring weather and relished not wearing tights to church. 
7.  Mimi and Jenna had their best interaction ever.  They've been frenemies since birth--both strong-willed, both determined to be the big girls and not the little girls, but this time, they hit it off perfectly.  It was wonderful.

8.  We drove home, sad to miss our friends ("I wish we could have our dad and school and Libby and Jenna all in the same town," Mimi sobbed as we drove away.")  We planned some excursions for later this spring, and wished Joe congratulations (Congratulations!) on his new exotic San Diego internship.

Etsy it up

My lovely and stylish friend Larissa here in South Bend has a beautiful Etsy shop where she makes and sells very hip women's clothing and accessories.  She is currently giving away this cute toddler backpack/woman's purse, modeled by none other than the famous Naomi Wells.  (How did she the budget for a model of Naomi's caliber?  Just goes to show, you never know who's making the big bucks.)

Seriously, I love everything that Larissa makes.  Take a look here. 

Oh, I'm so thankful.

For a month now, Mimi has been telling her friends, teachers, neighbors, even total strangers that her cousins were coming for Thanksgiving.  At first, I tried to correct her, saying, "Our friends, Mimi.  Our friends, Libby and Jenna."
But she would correct me, saying "My cousins, Mom.  My cousins, Libby and Jenna."
And it's okay because they feel like cousins.  Sara is my war buddy.  Our friendship was forged in the trenches of teaching junior high.  Even after each of us have moved three times, we've always ended up less than 4 hours apart.  And, in lieu of a Thanksgiving with blood relatives, the Soelbergs are the best possible option.  I have Sara.  Livi has Libby (and believe me, that simple "b" or "v" consonant sound was a constant source of confusion when the girls were teeny.  We still refer to Libby as "Lippy", just for the sake of clarity.)

Mimi has Jenna.

And poor, poor Joe.  He's got John, but the hospital never sleeps (and John occasionally has to), even over Thanksgiving, so his socializing was pretty limited.
We partied hard, until the girls crashed exhausted into bed (and crashed OUT of bed onto the hard wooden floor in the middle of the night.)

 

We ate delicious food, even if I dried out our turkey and made not-so-delicious new-recipe Broccoli Gratin.  Sara's contributions more than made up for it.

And even if the girls couldn't wait for the delicious food and sat down to a snack of Pringles with 45 minutes to go.

And even if my little baby Bella is a serious snack-snatcher.

We took pie to share the resident festivities at the Bradys, and played Beatles Rock Band until we were so sweaty we felt like we'd actually been to a concert.  (Sidenote:  Do you know you can still score 9% playing Rock Band even if you are the bass and you are following the drum part?  Amazing, eh?)
And Sara and I, we decided to make Christmas stockings, which are going to be absolutely darling, thanks to Sara's artistic abilities and my nonstop trolling of craft blogs for ideas.  (Look at us.  Even our sewing machines are exactly the same.)