The Crafts

Each summer our family creates a bucket list. It's a list of fun things we want to accomplish over the three short months of warm weather. Last year, I must admit, we kind of skipped it because no one could come with ideas. Sure there were suggestions like, "cook supper" and "watch tv" but that, to me, isn't a good list. This year however we came up with some great ideas. Once I started writing the list on our chalkboard wall, there was renewed interest in using the chalkboard (note small bodied, pajama-clad, chalk-wielding child in the corner). So I quick jotted down our list on paper too.  I think it's going to be a great summer.

An ordinary weekend with no plans is really rare nowadays. Somehow most weekends seem to fill up with activities, practices, grocery shopping. It's partially our own doing really. To create an ordinary weekend takes more work than filling the calendar. A day with no plans leads to imagination and creativity instead of living by the clock.  I was thrilled to have this long, extended, Memorial Day weekend with virtually no plans except one t-ball game. It's allowed us so much more family time. Now that doesn't mean we've sat around in the house watching paint dry, it means we could actually go out and have fun together... all of us. A rarity, really.  The weekend has been full but fun with activities of our choosing, like trips to the pool, family golf, cook-outs with extended family and of course, some lounging around.  I love this picture of the two of them. Notice CJ's upside down sunglasses? These pics weren't actually taken this weekend.

Our house may be white on the outside but inside it's veins pump cardinal and gold. And it's all by the design of my Cyclone fanatic husband. So when the annual Cyclone Carnival makes it's way to Waterloo each May, Matt makes sure all us girls are there with ISU shirts and the camera on.  We did however have one little girl who wasn't quite in the mood to change into ISU gear, a big girl who was playing in an away soccer match and an even bigger girl (ahem) who can't fit into her ISU clothes anymore. One of said girls was a wee bit frightened at the thought of posing with CY while the biggest girl in the house (again, I think we can all figure out who we're talking about) is not nearly as photogenic as the little girls so I  she usually stays behind the camera. I like the three people in the background hunched over the table like they are investigating something really intriguing. I think, however, they were just signing up for a give-away.

No one is quite sure what goes through this girl's head but I like to think she is simply high on life.

Craft Cafe was open for business Sunday morning. Chef Matt cooked up the food while Kate and CJ took orders. We even had menus and orange juice (although some had mimosas) in wine glasses. It was all very elegant. Of course the motivation behind Craft Cafe was Mother's Day and it was a lovely day all around. When not taking food orders, the girls provided entertainment in the form of interpretative dance and balancing fine china on their heads. Conversation was great and the food was actually quite terrific which makes me think Chef Matt needs to try his hand in the kitchen more often. Hint, hint.  No really, all in all it was a great meal with family followed by a girls shopping trip in the afternoon. Although you had to be over the age of 5 to participate in the shopping trip. Sorry little girls. Hope you too had an enjoyable weekend.  Not much blogging this week because we have been too busy playing outdoors under the cloudless sky.  I love summer.

I really don't know much about soccer. I know it involves getting kicked in the shins and not using your hands with the ball, but that's about the extent of my knowledge on this topic. What I do know is that I fell further in love with my new camera as I took pictures of what looked like close-up plays but were, in reality, really far away from me. I also learned that I really like to watch Dina play soccer, but that's a given. And Union had a pretty great ball retrieval team...at least for the first game. :)

I have days when I'm not really sure how to answer the question, "how many kids do you have?" I have two biological daughters. I have a baby on the way. I have a Kuwaiti host daughter. And I have a cat (who is also a girl) that follows me around like a daughter. It's a life I never really dreamed up but it is mine and I couldn't be more thrilled. Dina blowing out the candles of her 16th birthday ice cream sandwich cake. So delicious! When I was a kid I'd imagine having twins, a boy and a girl. I planned to name the boy Daniel and the girl Danielle, because that is how a little kid brain works. This, to me, was an awesome idea so surely it will work out in real life. Grandma Smith, CJ and Kate watching Dina open her birthday gifts. Some women spend their entire childhood dreaming of the day they will become a mother. It's not really something that often crossed my mind as a kid. I didn't play 'house' with friends. At l

After a fun birthday weekend I have been a wee bit lazy. And that is not going to end right now. Dina and I have leftover ice cream sandwich cake and "Revenge" waiting for us so I'm going to keep this short.  This morning CJ proudly dressed herself and I didn't say boo about it.  Although I could restrain myself from changing her clothes, I was not able to restrain my laughter. And then later that morning I found her in my bedroom trying on glasses. How could I not snap a photo of this? This is 100% her personality shining through. Wild, goofy and full of individuality.

Oh boy was the weather gorgeous yesterday. Highs in the low 80s, sunshine...it's these ingredients that make my day into a happy recipe. But who wants to dwell on the weather in a blog post, right? Yesterday afternoon I unexpectedly announced the girls should dress in swimsuits and I'd dig out the sprinkler. They were so thrilled I think their little faces may have cracked slightly from smiling. They were out there for 2 1/2 hours; an unprecedented amount of time for these two to focus on one activity.  By the end of happy-sprinkler-playtime they were filthy dirty and thoroughly exhausted... and I got to soak up sun while reading a book. It was quite possibly a small taste of heaven for us all. Matt's parents are taking the girls today for an overnight and Dina is out of town for a school function, leaving just Matt and me at home. That means, eating out, venturing around town and sleeping in. What a delightful combination. And Sunday we ce

There are days I have to channel my inner George Costanza... you know, that short, bald head guy from Seinfeld. During moments of complete meltdown by the girls I just want to yell, "Serenity Now!" Doing so provides little to no serenity but it at least gives me a smile. In my motherhood quest for simplicity I have learned the road is not a simple, straight-forward path. In fact, the road to destination simplicity takes many twists. Sometimes it overlaps itself and you find yourself almost back at the starting line located in Insanity City.  Insanity City is a town of overstuffed drawers, piles of papers and general unorganized chaos. While it feels lonely in Insanity City, I imagine the true population is in the millions.   Right now I am somewhere in the middle of the road on my destination to simplicity. I have boxed up toys no one cares for, I've sorted through a few drawers long forgotten and untouched and I have begun the arduous process of separ