The Crafts

A couple of weeks ago the girls and I made yet another return trip to Black Hawk County paradise. I can't believe I never visited this place until just a year ago. We were truly missing out. My 'city' girls run free range, chuck rocks into the lake and generally dirty themselves with mud and bugs. I've probably exhausted you from my repeated Hickory Hills posts but seriously, I dig this place.  And I'm pretty darn sure my girls feel the same way. Nature does the body good and jeez I love these little girls.

Early morning messes.

Last weekend was our town's annual celebration. The girls rode carnival rides. I dizzied myself by saying no after spending their college fund on ride tickets. Matt golfed. And a whole lot of people thoroughly enjoyed the beer tent.   Did you know ladybugs wear glasses? Despite the fact the girls couldn't crack a smile for a photo, they truly did enjoy themselves. Really...I swear...they did have fun. Don't let these solemn faces fool you. I think they were just overwhelmed. Or scared of the carnies. Aha, a smile. Caught! Of course the weekend involved fireworks. Really great fireworks. But I know my girls and if I kept them up until 10 to watch those fireworks we'd have heck to pay the next day. So I put them to bed and woke them just long enough to watch from our driveway...and then they went straight back to bed. See, I'm fun...kinda. And to wind down the weekend we celebrated Father's Day. Matt enjoyed a whole lot of cou

Actually I drive a Dodge and chevron isn't even a car. But, chevron is the new fabric on my couch turned bed pillows. I longed for yellow and white chevron but wisely chose the brown because I really don't have a speck of yellow in the house. I sewed these babies up in my bedroom and tossed the first finished pillow onto the bed. And that is when I realized this fabric was created to lie on my bed rather than in the living room. The browns pull the whole room together.  Now to say I'm good at sewing is like saying J-Lo is good at relationships or Charlie Sheen is good at staying sober... it just ain't true. I do however have fun sewing and typically the only people who see my sewing creations is me, one husband, two daughters and a cat... except for when I blog about it. Then I just open myself up to criticism. Anyway, I really dig my new bed pillows. Now I just need to find some fabric for the couch that is left naked. I heart chevron.

The eve of Dina's departure we threw a party in her honor. She referred to the night as her graduation party but to us it was a going away event. To call it a party though would make it sound as if we were ready for her to leave. And that just wasn't so. Whatever you call it, the thoughts on everyone's mind became quite obviously. As the sun began to set, the hugs and tears began and this party was most definitely a goodbye. Not unlike CJ, Dina is not a big fan of meat. So why bother with taco bars and BBQ sandwiches, we supplied the good stuff... dessert, an ice cream bar to be exact. And what a delicious ice cream bar it was. Someone enjoyed the toppings so much she was often seen snatching goodies straight from their bowls. Dina and I busted our tails measuring, cutting, paper punching and eventually stringing a banner together. We worked on that baby for so long we thought for sure the banner would stretch half a mile long (or 0.8 km - that's for you,

It's been a crazy week. Late nights. Early mornings. New big girl bike. One less family member around. Swim meet. Golfing. Meetings. Last minute meals. Craft projects. Redecorating thoughts. Parks. Nature hike. Dirt digging. Bug detecting. Belly growing. Vacation planning. Party clean-up.  And it is only mid-Wednesday. All good things. Eh, mostly good things. It's left us a little nuts.

June 11th arrived much too quickly. Today we shared hugs with Dina as we said our good-byes and wished her all the best. When Matt and I signed up to host a foreign exchange student we had no idea what that student might be like. We never thought she would be as intelligent, kind-hearted, loving and cheerful as Dina. We were extremely blessed to be paired up with her and we will forever think of her as our one and only host daughter. Thank you Dina for a wonderful 10 months. And thank you to the Al-Asoussi family for sharing your daughter with us. 

This is going to be one of those tongue-wagging, high-kick, happy, awesome weekends.  And it all starts this morning. Commence fun.

I've typed and retyped this post. The subject has changed with each revision but they've all hovered around the same general idea. Some subjects I worried may come off as offensive. Others were too fluffy. I almost gave up entirely on posting anything at all today but I like these photos too much not to share.  Kate started her second season of t-ball and it's not without drama from varying directions. Her drama, parental drama, coaching drama, etc. Serving as a sitting Council member means I have heard a lot of this drama times 1,000. As a parent I too can get worked up over times I think my kid isn't being treated right. But then I sit back and look at these pictures and realize, Kate has no clue any of the drama is going on. She is simply excited to play ball. She isn't aware of coaching troubles or that the concession stand isn't open, she was just thrilled to hit the ball and hear us cheer from the stands. Sometimes parents make things