ketchup day!

Don't get me wrong.  I love trees.
But there is a large cottonwood tree near our home.  And that thing has been dumping cotton fluffies and all kinds of garbage on us lately.  Alli and Ruby loved watching the "snow" float down in big white tufts.  At times it seemed like a summer blizzard.  They loved running through the drifts on our sidewalk.
I tried to keep the screen door shut and keep shoes wiped off, but somehow we ended up with cottony piles tumbling through our kitchen.  I haven't looked under the couch yet, but I'm sure the dust bunnies are more like dust mammoths at this point.
The cottonwood snow was followed with a bit of rain, so all those tiny seeds are sprouting in the darndest places... in our garden shed, on a glove left outside, in the sill of the window, between the windshield and the wiper...


There was a sidewalk chalk festival at our park a week ago.  We met some friends there and had a picnic lunch.  We watched the artists and Alli took lots of pictures. 
Unfortunately, it rained shortly after the festival, so the art didn't last very long.


Alli is done with preschool!  We celebrated with her class at a picnic in the park.  Alli surprised her teachers on the last day by reading some pretty big words.  She is getting to be a great reader.  She amazes us everyday!


The water playground opened up for the summer!  Alli jumped right in and got totally wet.  Ruby stayed dry and played in the warmer puddles near the fence.  It took her a long time to get into the spraying water.


June liked watching all the water action.  She rolled over all the way yesterday!  She is very chatty and loves to "talk" to whoever will listen.


The bead has been removed from Ruby's ear!  She had an appointment last Wednesday afternoon.  The tricky thing was that she couldn't eat for six hours before her appointment... and her appointment was at 1:45 pm!  So we kept her up late the night before and fed her lots of snacks... five chicken nuggets at 11:30pm.  She slept in until 10:40am, and then we played and kept busy until her appointment.  The doctor strapped her into a papoose board (as is standard for this sort of thing).  Ruby instantly got totally relaxed and closed her eyes and held perfectly still.  The doctor used a teeny tiny vacuum to get the bead out.  She didn't even flinch.  Afterwards I told her I would get her anything to eat: tacos, pizza, sandwich, hotdog... and she said, "I want to eat them all!"  So we stopped at the first place and she ravenously devoured her entire meal!

Grandma Utah is in town!  We are getting our house ready to sell... more on that later.

And now, you are caught up... but I hear the girls waking up, so stay tuned for more action!

dear abby

Today was the day.

We had a little lemonade stand to benefit Abby.  We made treats and ice cold lemonade.

And people came!  They were generous.  They gave... and enjoyed chocolate chip cookies, pink-lemonade cupcakes, dirt cakes, and ice-cold lemonade.

Friends and neighbors came.  We were even serenaded by the neighborhood guitar duo.

Alli really wanted to earn a lot of money for Abby.  She made up sales slogans for each treat.

"You'll love the COOKIES"
"Lemonade Lemonade You'll love the lemonade"
"Oh the cupcakes are delicious!"
The sign on the front says, "All money goes to Abby."

Alli was a natural saleswoman!  And she sold lemonade and treats for over three hours!
And she raised over $111 for Abby!

Sweet.

do something sweet

Alli and I read this inspiring story on another blog about a group of moms and daughters who had a bake sale for a young girl named Abby who has leukemia.  We have been trying to teach our kids about service, and a bake sale for a girl in need is right up our alley!

So if you are in Lincoln Park this Friday (June 12) from about 4-5:30-ish, stop by the corner of Webster and Burling by Oz Park and Alli will be hosting a little bake sale for Abby.  Lemonade too.  All proceeds will be sent to Abby with lots of love and well wishes.


If you have any bake sale requests, please comment!  And if you would like to join in and help, let me know!

it's always something, isn't it?

Lately Ruby has been teasing Alli with, "You have dark hair and I have bright hair."
Which bothers Alli to no end.  Of course Ruby continues, "Maybe June with have bright hair, like ME!" 
Alli usually takes all this pretty well, but Ruby knows which buttons to push, so Alli does get upset sometimes. 

When I was young, I never fought with my siblings.

Just kidding. 

I grew up in a family of ten kids.  Fighting was fun.  Something to do.  And picking little fights over stupid things was funnest of all... you're on my side of the room!  I called the front seat yesterday!

Oh fun.

cake makes me laugh

I love this blog.  It makes me laugh every time I go there. 
Laugh out loud.
(Is there an abbreviation for that?)
If you like cake and think misspellings and grammatical errors are funny, check out Cake Wrecks. 
I have added it to my list on the side.

skipping rope in our secret garden

This year we have started reading chapter books at bedtime (see my reading list on the sidebar). Right now, we are three chapters from the end of The Secret Garden. Reading this book with Allison and Ruby has been such a treat (except when they get grumpy about actually going to bed). Alli nearly gasped when Colin got out of his chair and walked. She said, "I can't believe he ACTUALLY walked!" Even the next morning she was talking about it. She is really into the story.

She also asked me if we could get some servants like Colin and Mary. Nice, huh?

Spring is a great time to read this book. We have been gardening in our own secret garden (patio). Alli and Ruby are extra interested in the sprouts popping up. It has been so much fun. In the book, Mary learns to use a skipping rope. So Alli and Ruby are practicing too.
In this clip, they show off their skills.

And then I get whipped with the rope.

Ruby is wearing a dress that I made for her. More about that here.

Super stuff.

This clip is from last week. Ruby insisted on wearing a cape to the park. She was "Super Ruby!"
The sunglasses disguised her true identity.
Alli was the sidekick "Scooter Girl." She tried to scoot home from the park without touching the ground. How? you might ask... she used fences, walls, and steps to push off of instead of the ground. Clever.

the bubble popped... Saturday

After a long week (actually it was a "short week" with Memorial Day, but it sure felt like the longest week ever) Saturday we had a family fun day.

First stop, the forest preserve at Bunker Hill.  This place is just acres and acres of open grass and forest with trails and convenient bathrooms!  Alli and Ruby rolled in the grass and picked dandelions and clover blossoms.  We found some tadpoles in a small  pond.  We watched a hawk snatch up a small, unsuspecting bird.  We brought frisbees and toys to play in the grass.  The warm sun and cool breeze relaxed June; she slept the whole time.


Alli posed this picture.  The water bottle HAD to be in it... because it is "so cute."

We left the park and headed east... to the leaning tower?!?!  What?!

There was a whole park around this replica.  We will have to explore it more fully another time.

We stopped for gas and a car wash.  Ruby did not like the car wash... until we did some quick-thinking-pretending!  Aaaah!  There's an octopus on our car!  The hula skirt is going to get us!

We hadn't had enough fun yet, so we sought out a playground we had never been to before.

New parks are always more fun.  This one up in Skokie had lots of climbing apparatus. 
We worked up a good appetite, so next stop was Old Orchard Mall.  This place has fountains and play areas between the stores... an outdoor mall.  We strolled through and stopped for macaroni at one place, pizza at another place, etc... sharing each course.  Lots of playing and eating.  All good things.

The day was so fun, but it left me wondering why we hadn't ventured to these places long ago.  We stay in a 3-mile bubble most of the time.  There is a lot to do in our bubble... beach, zoo, museums, parks, downtown, shopping, trails... we love it in here.  But sometimes it is so nice to leave for the day. 
Where do you go when you escape your bubble?