June, One Step at a Time

We finally did finish our school year just days before the end of June, despite Opal's best intentions and even despite me taking a tumble down our stairs.  I missed the last three steps of our stairs one morning, while carrying Opal and texting on my phone.  We all know you should never text and drive, but I am also preaching that you should never walk down stairs while texting and holding a baby.  Maybe you shouldn't even walk down stairs while texting even if you aren't holding a baby.  Thankfully, Opal was not hurt, just scared and my leg, although I thought for sure broken, was just badly bruised.  I called Will home from work, and employed all of my natural remedies while waiting to go to the doctor.  I just kept thinking that I had ruined our summer, as Will only had a few days left of work and we look forward to his time off all year.  I am so very grateful that it was minor compared to what it could have been and I am trying to be more mindful and take the steps one at a time.

For our last day of school, I made strawberry shortcake for breakfast, complete with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  The kids could not believe that I was allowing them to have ice cream for breakfast, and I enjoyed wowing them with this celebratory indulgence.  We also ended the school year with a play at the local university, based on the book James and the Giant Peach, which we had finished reading just a day before attending the well-done performance.  Will took one for the team and stayed home with Opal, who would not have sat through the entire performance.

Lucy, Emma and Violet had their dance recitals this past month.  Violet's was first, and took place in her classroom, which is one of the many things I love about the dance studio we go to.  Next year she will perform on the big stage like Lucy and Emma, but this year, she performed in the comfort of her classroom which I believe is just right developmentally.  It was a fun experience, and Violet did great.

Afterward, we had the grandparents back at our house for a picnic lunch and playtime.  The top, left hand photo below is of Violet and her beloved ballet teacher.

Lucy and Emma's recital was the following weekend, and we did a photo shoot in the front yard so that I could have all of my dancers together in their costumes.  I love that Opal and even Charlie knew to get in on the photos.

Lucy and Emma are always so excited to put their own makeup on for their performances.  I hope that someday they will be so skilled that they can put my makeup on too.  I never felt like I had any skills with makeup, and so don't really wear it unless I'm going out for a special occasion.

The girls did an excellent job dancing to An American in Paris.

We also celebrated Father's Day this past month, and the girls and I made homemade cards for Will and bought him one of his favorite snacks - chocolate covered peanuts.  That same weekend we went to Costco to do our bi-monthly stock up, and I couldn't help but have a flashback of our early Costco shopping days when we only had two kids and how Will told me he couldn't wait until the day that we had a full cart in kids and groceries.  Well, it looks like he made it because on that shopping trip, we seriously thought that we may not be able to fit all of the groceries and all of the kids into one car. What we didn't realize back then was the price tag attached to a cart full of groceries and kids!

We took a long-awaited trip to Cincinnati this past month, and visited with Will's brother and his partner, and my college roommate.  We hadn't been to Cincinnati in about six years, and it was so nice to finally visit with family and friends on their home turf, after years of them faithfully coming to see us.  Will's brother is on a radio station morning show, and so the kids got a huge kick out of visiting him while he was on the air.  Opal enjoyed meeting her Uncles' dog Captain Steve for the first time, and Captain Steve took her in cautious stride, but I don't think cared for Opal's interest in his food dish.

We visited an aquarium with Uncle Tim, and enjoyed some gourmet southern food with him as well. While we waited for Will's brother to get off work one day, we explored one of the bridges connecting Cincinnati with Kentucky.

Unfortunately, Opal came down with a super high fever while we were in Ohio, and gave us a bit of a scare when it didn't break after 24 hours.  We ended up cutting the visit with my friend a bit short so that we could take her into the emergency room.  Turns out she just had a virus, but she was definitely not herself for a few days.  The brief time with my friend and her friends and family left me wanting more, and I will not allow another six years to go by without multiple visits back to see them.  They are like family to me.  In the top, left hand picture below is a small water snake the girls spotted in a creek we had been planning on playing in.  The snake put a stop to that idea!

It was extremely hot by Michigan standards while we visited Ohio, and that left our adventure options a bit more limited so that we could ensure Violet was comfortable and safe.  We ended up visiting the Cincinnati Art Museum which was an excellent experience, and also had the kids play all of the video games that Will and I grew up playing when we visited my friend's house.  She and her boyfriend had gotten a retro game console and that was a fun way to spend an air conditioned afternoon.

Our final excitement on our Cincinnati trip was a Kidz Bop concert.  It was crazy hot, but the excitement of the kids attending their first live concert was enough to make it worth it.

I was surprised how well Opal kept the noise cancelling headphones on.  I think she realized it was better that way, as the concert was loud for a one year old.

 When we came home from our Ohio trip, I had exactly two weeks until I would have a booth at the Lavender Festival.  It was go time for me, and I had a to-do list that pretty much took up every free second until the Festival.  I'm thinking of videoing myself right now, as a reminder for next year when I try to decide if I will participate in the festival again.  Liz right now would tell future Liz to not do it, as it is just too much work at a point in my life right now where four kids is about all I can handle, not to mention running the online business selling my products and the classes that I teach.  Here Will is below, taking care of our honeybees - they lived through the winter, and we were able to split them into three hives.  Even splitting them wasn't enough though, and they decided to swarm into a fourth hive that despite my friend and her fiancé who is an arborist best efforts, we could not reach the swarm that had settled about forty feet up in one of our oak trees.  I am considering this my donation to nature, and I hope that the bees found a comfortable new home.

I also met with a woman in my hometown this past month who is doing amazing things for pollinators, and I am super excited to align resources with her.  They say if you want to create change in the world, start where you are.  This woman is doing this with an efficiency and vision that I hope to join and I am excited to see how it plays out in my hometown.  Meadows, bees and butterflies everywhere I hope!  Below is Will's assistance for everything Harding Honey - he organized my workroom for me, and faithfully wraps signs for shipping.

We did have time with friends and family this past month, despite it's busyness.  Below is a vision I came home to one afternoon of my girls snuggling with our beloved babysitter who is home from college for the summer and we are trying to see as much as possible.

We also got to see our neighbor friend dressed up for Eid, which the girls were so impressed by they thought she looked like a real-life princess.  The kids were excited to babysit another friend's hamster while she as on vacation.  To me, pet sitting is the best of all worlds - the pet arrives here in a freshly cleaned cage to be enjoyed for a short time, and then goes back to it's family just a few days later.

We celebrated Will's mom's birthday, and my family had a joint birthday party for myself, my brother and my dad.

We made trips to the chiropractor and even happened upon the bookmobile for an impromptu, but very excited experience.  Violet perfected riding her bike on our walks and for a while, ended them with skinned knees and Will carrying her home while I pushed Opal in the stroller while towing Violet's bike.  In the bottom, left hand picture below is a gorgeous blue bird's egg we found on one of our walks.

 We had park playdates with friends...

...and we also just played in our own backyard.  In the bottom, right hand pictures below is Violet learning to ride her bike without training wheels.

We played together at home and I just loved seeing how Opal is starting to at least play beside her sisters.

We ate chicken basil pesto tomato and fresh mozzarella grilled sandwiches almost every day this past month as they were that good, and enjoyed harvesting strawberries from our garden as well.  Charlie enjoyed our increased time outdoors as well.

Life is never dull, and it seems every month brings more reasons to celebrate and milestones to accomplish.  I was pretty overwhelmed this past month, and to be honest, I had a hard time seeing the blessings while I was just trying to focus on the very next thing that needed to be done.  Writing this blog, and compiling the photos continues to provide such great focus for me - to give me a moment's pause to reflect on all of the great things that are happening, and give me such gratitude for the life that I lead.  I will continue to try and achieve a more healthy balance of doing and resting though, and I'm hoping after the Lavender Festival next month, I can have some rest before Will goes back to work.  In the meantime, here is a small glimpse into the humor that surrounds me every day - I mentioned above that Will organized my workroom for me - complete with a fake mouse in a little drainage hole (that looks so much like a cartoon mouse hole).  It gives me an adrenaline rush each time I startle upon it, but I wouldn't move it for the world as it is just a small reminder of the creativity and humor that is my other half.  For sure I couldn't pull of this life without him and his humor!

Here's to rest and mindfulness, and taking life one step at a time!

Opal at 15 Months

Opal is unstoppable!  She can now walk to wherever it is she wants to go, and she is starting to try and climb up on the couch and chairs too.  She loves Elmo so much these days, and says "EL-Moe" in a soft, high-pitched voice that is so adorable.  Here she is below in her favorite Elmo jammies, harassing Will as he is trying to get some work done.  

Lately, she prefers for Will to put her down for naps and bedtime.  This is a first for any of our kids, and it has given me some new found freedom.

Opal's latest skill is slowly backing up and sitting down on a step or a low chair.  Half of the time she misses, and sits down with a plop onto the floor, but the other half of the time she daintily sits onto the little seat of her choice.

Opal made a new friend at my parents house the other day...her and St. Joseph are pretty close.  Little does Opal know that her name would have probably been Joseph if she had been a boy.

Opal tried a Popsicle for the first time all by herself this past month, and made a royal disaster of it but had the time of her life.

 It was straight to the bathtub after that, which fortunately, she loves baths.  The other day we were downstairs and she was being super fussy.  Finally after all attempts to pacify her didn't work I asked her: "Show me what you need."  She took me by the hand and led me upstairs, all the way to the bathtub and started to pant in excitement when we got there.  She wanted a bath!  She was so happy when she got one, too!

Probably my favorite thing about Opal this past month is watching her walk with joy and freedom, and also having her confirm when we have answered her requests correctly with happy, excited panting.

Opal, you have us wrapped around your tiny, baby fingers and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Up North in May

We spent ten days Up North this past May.  Up North, a place where my heart is at home, and all six of us are happy to be together.  Here we are below on our favorite trail, hours after arriving at our rented cottage Up North.

It rained almost every day, but we didn't let that stop us from exploring.  

 We even lucked out with a few nights that the weather allowed us to enjoy a campfire.  Opal had her first taste of s'mores and loved them.  It wasn't relaxing around the fire with Opal on the move, but it was still fun.  I didn't get to savor the sunset, but I did get to share something I love with my littlest lady.

We discovered a new trail while Up North, which was a huge bonus, considering this was our fifth time here.  What an amazing trail it was too, and funny because the name of this new trail was what we have been calling our favorite trail all of these years!  This new trail is now our second favorite trail, and it has been hard to remember what to call each trail.

Opal was a challenge on the hikes, but we managed with two adults passing her back and forth and lots of snacks.

The spring wildflowers were out in full glory while we were there, which is exactly what I had hoped when I planned this trip.  We are learning the names of the spring wildflowers, but I still feel like there are so many plants out there that I don't know.  Below, in clockwise order from top left, are the spring wildflowers I am becoming comfortable with identifying: trillium, squirrel corn, trout lily, violets, fiddle heads (ferns), Jack in the Pulpit, more violets, and Spring Beauties.

 Will had to go to work for a few days during our week Up North, and so my sister and her boyfriend Isaac came in from the East Coast and drove up in Will's car so that they could stay with us and Will could take his car back home.  On the way up, about halfway between our garage and our rental cottage, Will's car broke down.  Several hours later, Will brought Jane and Isaac back to our cottage and ended up staying an extra night while we waited for the car to be repaired. Isaac is from the UK, and to hear his account of his very first Up North experience was quite entertaining.  Let's just say he was almost as speechless as all of the stuffed taxidermy hanging on the walls and behind glass under the service counter of the auto repair shop.

 I can't tell you how happy I was to have my favorite people all together, if only for one night.  It was an expensive bonus, but a bonus just the same.

After Will left for real this time, the girls and I enjoyed showing Jane and Isaac all of our favorite places.

 We even tried a new sandwich shop that has now been added to our Must Do List the next time we are Up North, and also discovered our first Morel Mushroom.

 We ended our week in a beach town an hour or two south of our first rental where Jane and Isaac dropped us off on their way back home, and Will came and met us after his few days at work.  We spent lots of time at the beach...

 ...coloring inside to get a break from mosquitos, enjoyed a hike to a lighthouse, and a picnic lunch outside.

 We watched a few sunsets where we spent the majority of the time keeping Opal from falling off the 120 foot cliff to the water below, and marveled at her newfound walking ability.

When we first got to the new rental, just after Jane and Isaac left, I felt so homesick, and just wanted to go home.  We had already been Up North for a week, and the final three days at the new rental a few towns south of where we had been felt like it was too much, and a let-down after such a wonderful week in our well-loved happy place with our favorite people.  But, like an omen, as we looked out over the water to take in the view at this new cottage, we spotted a hummingbird flying just inches from our face, heading south and then moments later, saw a bald eagle soaring just feet above our heads going north.  It was breathtaking and left us in awe.  It also gave me peace to know that it was okay to lean into my sadness at missing my sister and Isaac (it will probably be a year until I see them again), and to be open to new experiences at this new cottage.  And, as if on cue, my younger brother text me and asked if he and his girlfriend could come visit us on our last full day at this new cottage.  We had a lovely day with them, and I am so glad that I had these opportunities to make memories with not only my hubby and kids, but my siblings as well.

Until next time, Up North, I carry you in my heart!

May Holidays and Happiness

We had so many holidays this past month!  We started off the month with an Easter re-do with Will's family, since we were sick last month when we had originally planned to get together to celebrate.  The kids did not complain about finding Easter eggs in May.

Next up on the holiday list was Violet's birthday and Emma's First Communion - on the same day.  So, we celebrated Violet's birthday when we woke up, and then put it on pause while we went to the church for Emma's First Communion.  After the ceremony and photos were over, we headed back home to continue Violet's birthday celebrations.  Here Violet is below, opening up presents.

She really wanted a Barbie doll pushing a baby in a stroller, and she also wanted some Legos.  The rest were surprises and she seemed to like those pretty well too.

After Emma's First Communion, Violet had fun building her Legos, playing with her new Barbie set, and drawing on our chalkboard (I only let them draw on my chalkboard on their birthdays - the rest of the year it is mine for school).  We measured her on our growth chart, and she decorated her requested chocolate cake.

Violet was pretty laid back, sharing her special day with Emma, and truly, it is the ability to go with the flow that contributes to a happy day.

Emma had a lovely First Communion, and was just the right size to fit into her Grandma T's First Communion dress from when she was a child.  It was really nice to have that sentimental value added to the day.  I had made the veil and crown for Lucy, and for Emma, I ended up sewing a slip to go under the vintage swiss dot dress.  Slips in the 1950's were easy to find but not so much any more!

Emma did a reading during the service, and although she was super nervous, she did an awesome job.  She had memorized her lines, she had practiced them so much.  In fact, we all had memorized her lines, she practiced them so much.

It was a great morning with our family there too - both sets of grandparents and Emma's Godparents and cousins as well.

The following day we headed out of town to our niece's First Communion.  She is also our God daughter, and Emma's God sister.  We celebrated with a joint party for the two First Communicants after Ellen's First Communion, and in true, big family style, also celebrated Violet's and my nephew's May birthdays as well!

I breathed a big sigh of relief after Violet's birthday and Emma's First Communion and was grateful that Mother's Day and my birthday were the last holidays for the month - both of which did not require me to do any special planning or magic-making.  Here we are below on a hike for Mother's Day, as well as some playtime in the yard and a delicious steak, potato and asparagus dinner, compliments of Will.

My birthday was during the week, so for the majority of my day, Will was at work.  The girls and I had a lovely day though, and just like I let them take the day off of school when it is their birthday, I took the day off from teaching them.  They did what they could independently and then finished off with Will when he came home from work.  Lucy picked me a birthday bouquet, and I picked myself a lovely bunch of rhubarb for a delicious birthday strawberry rhubarb cobbler with vanilla ice cream.  I did not mind making this for myself, as I love baking and it was a treat for Will to watch Opal while I made it, uninterrupted.

Will made the below picture frame himself, and framed a postcard from our favorite National Park that we visited just days earlier (Up North blog post to follow this one) for my birthday.  He claimed it was a "something out of nothing" gift, since I had spent the budget on the repair of a quilt that my friend made for our wedding, as well as a new, custom quilt to replace our wedding quilt which is now more memorabilia than every day use at this point.  I ordered both of the quilts last fall, and would you believe they were finally ready for pick up on my birthday?  Will picked them up on his way home from work and I was soooo excited to see them finished.  Will also ordered rather late a beach umbrella that our family of six could fit under, seeing that we have outgrown the shade patch that our old beach umbrella casts.  Would you believe that it was delivered to our porch as I was opening up the other gifts Will and the girls gave me?  I can't wait to use it Up North at our favorite beaches!

We somehow managed several other hikes this past month, and I am so glad, because hikes are rejuvenating for us as a family, and we especially needed them with our event-filled month.  In the below photos, we found some spring wildflowers, and some frogs at a local frog pond that we enjoy.  At one point though, the path to the frog pond became flooded and Will had to carry each of the kids over it.  Needless to say, he and I had squeaky, wet hiking boots the rest of the hike home.

We've had so much rain this spring that it's a wonder we were able to walk at all.  Below are some more violets we spotted on a walk, and a glimpse of all of the pollen on the ground after a rain shower had passed through.

 I'm also happy to write that we had time in our busy month for playing with friends both at our house and at the park.

We also enjoyed the company of several uncles...

...and found time for school as well.  This is the point in the year where school is so very difficult to complete as we are so close to being finished and our attention spans are just not what they were in the Fall and Winter.  In clockwise order from top left below: Violet doing school, Lucy and Emma at art class, Emma on her balance board to help her focus on school work, Emma doing a math lesson on volume, Emma's drawing of Opal when we studied sound in Science, and finally, Emma building a tiny vehicle from a building set that no one else in our family had the patience or skill set to complete.  We may have a budding engineer on our hands!  But back to the science lesson, I was laughing so hard when Emma answered the question of "draw a picture that shows something making a sound.  Then write two words to describe it."  Keep in mind, Opal was screaming during the entire lesson on sound waves and vibrations and it was all I could do to get through it.

A book by one of the girls favorite authors was released this past month, and it was exciting to bring the girls to the book store to buy it.  In clockwise order from top left below: the girls all reading the new book at the book store (I only bought them one copy so the harmony ended as soon as we left the store), Emma and Violet in a fort they made at the chiropractor's, Lucy's newly pierced ears, and Lucy among the tulips we found at the library.  Tulips bloomed the day Lucy was born, and so we always say that they are her flowers.  

 It was a big moment for Lucy to get her ears pierced, and she had saved up the money by selling her handmade herbal eye masks for months.  I was very proud of her, and she was very proud of the earrings that were finally in her ears.  The kids did some work for my business this past month and I paid them in Shopkins.

 They also helped me host two bee classes this past month and were so excited when some of their friends came to one of them.

 What a month we had!  I'm not sure how to simplify it down with two birthdays, Mother's Day and a First Communion in there, but I will continue to try that is for sure, as it was a lot.  Give me a regular day with our regular routine and I am a content girl.  Here my girls are below, in clockwise order from top left, on some regular days, enjoying life in our own backyard: putting on a show in our garage with Opal included, Violet posing in a patch of violets, Violet learning how to ride her bike without training wheels, Violet and Opal playing with sidewalk chalk, Lucy catching frogs in the drainage ditch in our yard, the caught frog, and a fairy in the girls' fairy garden.

Finding balance between busy and rest is a learning curve for sure with this brood, and I haven't found that sweet spot yet as a family of six on earth.  I keep telling myself that someday when they have all grown and gone, I will miss the busy as I sit with the quiet.  Until then, I will simplify as much as I can, thank God for grocery delivery, and continue to keep an open mind as I look for more balance.