The Finished Product

Here is the apron I made, it is all finished:

It even has a ruffle.  I don't sew, I don't sew ruffles, but I did this one--thanks to the instruction and infinite patience of Penni Bodily.

I had a heck of time at the fabric store picking out my fabric.  It's a long boring story not worth retelling, but basically, what I ended up with was not my first choice.  I do however, really like the brown paisley.  Maybe now, I'll make smaller versions for the girls...maybe.

A Day of Firsts

That's it.  Summer is over.  I miss it already. 

The first day of school was momentous:

Ashley's first day of junior high school.  Lockers, class periods and different teachers.  Big stuff.

Paige's first day of 1st grade.  A full day of school now.

Mom's first day home alone.  Both kids were gone by 8:10 am.  I can't believe how much I got done by 10 am.  Of course, then I just spent the rest of the day waiting for the girls to get home and hoping they came home as happy as they left.

Being the first day, the buses were not running smoothly.  Both girls were dropped off late.  Paige didn't get home until 4:30!  However, all was well when she came bounding of the bus and exclaimed, "that was so fun!"  Whew!  That sure was music to my ears.  Although I wasn't too happy to hear that she also told Dave she didn't eat very much of her lunch, because it "smells funny" in the lunch room.  (Oh dear.)

Ashley in keeping with her personality, gave me a blow-by-blow of her day.  Every detail.  Everything that made her nervous or happy.  She had a good day.  I should be more grateful that she is so willing to tell me everything she is thinking and I never have to wonder.

Now, here comes the homework.  I hate homework.

It's My Party

Swimming, eating, dancing and singing with your friends.  What more can a girl do on her 11th birthday?  Ashley had a few friends over to celebrate her birthday this year and considering how busy we have been this summer, Dave and I were happy to go low-key.  Ashley asked for something simple, swimming and a backyard BBQ.  It was super easy for us and the best part is that I think the girls had a lot of fun.  The party was 4 hours long, but we could have easily kept the girls for longer. 

Dave and I smiled to ourselves as we realized that Ashley is now the age where she and her friends just hang out and entertain themselves.  No more Mommy and Daddy planning crafts and games and basically running themselves ragged.  This is one aspect of growing up I love!

After swimming in our clubhouse pool for a few hours, we came back to our house to open presents and eat grilled hamburgers.

After dinner the girls plugged in the iPod for dancing and singing, outside and inside.

All too soon it was time to go home, luckily we were just able to squeeze in cake and ice cream.

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Domestic Diva

In between taking the girls to the pool and back-to-school events, I have been quite the domestic diva this week.  Got lots of gardening and yard work done this week.  Mowed the lawn, picked veggies, trimmed all the bushes, picked veggies, pulled weeds, picked veggies, cleaned the patio, picked veggies.  The yard is looking okay, considering my one-man effort, but there is always more to do.

Also did some more canning.  Made a good effort to deal with surplus---three grocery bags given to friends, made a big pot of veggie soup, cooked veggie Thai stir fry, and served the girls bruschetta three times this week but I still  had enough to make 10 pints of salsa.  Even now, the fridge is still full and I have tomatoes all over my counter, I have a feeling I might be seeing my canner again next week.

Now onto baking---needed to make cupcakes for a RS activity so I tried out two recipes that caught my attention a while ago:  Cream Soda Toffee Cupcakes and Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes. 

Finally, to really stretch myself into domesticity I also cut and sewed a flirty apron this week.  It is actually not finished thanks to my temperamental sewing machine.  It was part of a RS activity, and I should be able to finish up next week.

Now we just a have birthday party to get ready for.  It's a pool party and we are hoping that rain in the forecast clears up in time...otherwise I guess we are going to the movies or bowling.

Oh ya, I am also very, very busy planning and organizing a tri-ward crafting frenzy.  Some of you are probably snickering to yourselves thinking of me and crafting...that's why (THANK GOODNESS) there are lots of wonderful ladies helping me.

Cookie Monday

The cookie for this week is a Fruit Pizza Sugar Cookie.  Basically, it's an individual serving of fruit pizza.  Sugar cookies are frosted with cream cheese/whip cream mixture and topped with fresh fruit.  I took these to our cousin's baptism and I think my kids ate about 1/2 of them, no leftovers this time.

Reclaiming the Kitchen

Today, as I walked into the house after taking the girls to the pool, I was greeted in the kitchen by what has become an all too common sight: tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash and green peppers all over my counters, in bowls and in colanders.  This goes along with vegetable bins in my fridge stuffed with the more of the same squash, cucumbers, green beans etc.

Right then and there I decided enough is enough.  I wasn't exactly planning it as my "Friday Project" but I started canning, cutting and shredding.  I ended with canned tomatoes, two loaves of zucchini bread, and lots of frozen green peppers and shredded zucchini.

I feel so much better now that I have reclaimed my kitchen countertops.  Of course, even after all my hard work, I still have a bunch of vegetables laying around the kitchen.  I guess I'll have to make some more visits to the neighbors.

14 years and counting

Dave and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary this week.  We had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called Meson Sabika.  It is housed in a historic mansion in Naperville and is arguably the best Spanish tapas restaurant in Chicagoland.  This was our first time eating here and it made for a great anniversary dinner.

After dinner, we picked up the girls and all went out for a slice of pie to celebrate.  On the way home, the girls sang along to Justin Bieber's Baby for us, they sure know how to make us feel special.

Of course, we didn't really need anything special, just being happily married to each other for the past 14 years has been special.

Summer in the City

In the dwindling days of summer, we had to squeeze in a few Chicago Summer Traditions.

The Field Museum

We definitely had a different perspective after our trip to Thailand.  Some of the animals on exhibit we have actually seen and touched live.  Many of the culture exhibits reminded us of seeing, first-hand some very primitive ways of life and marveling at what man is able to make and create entirely by hand without the benefit of machine or technology.

Paige enjoying the "comfy" headrest on an ancient Egyptian bed

The girls in the Africa Exhibit

Jenny and Paige in the Arctic and Northwest Exhibit

(yes, Paige is picking her nose)

Ashley and Paige with Sue, the T-rex

Millenium Park

After the museum we headed over to Millenium Park to play in the fountain and visit the "bean."  It was a hot and humid day, perfect for cooling off in the fountain.  Too bad mom didn't bring her swimsuit (ha, ha!)

   

Paige, loving herself!

Ashley's turn

Dinner with Daddy

We can't spend the day in the city without stopping by to visit our favorite guy---Dad.  We met him at his office and ate dinner at a little Mexican place in the Sears Tower.  After dinner, Dave drove us home as he had the car with him, saving us from another ride on the train.

Daddy-Daughter Work Day

Ashley went to work with Dave this week for his company's annual "Take Your Child To Work Day." They got up early in the morning and left for the train station in the 6 o'clock hour.  Dave's company did not have as many formal, planned activities for the kids as they usually do so Ashley spent most of the day with Dave.  This also happens to be the time when things start to really pick up for Dave, so not only did he have work to do, he was very busy.  Ashley definitely got to see first hand what her dad does at work.  She also got to entertain and visit with co-workers while they were waiting to meet with her dad.

When they walked in the door at 7:15 pm that evening, Ashley said, "whew, I wouldn't want to do Dad's job, that's a long day, I'm tired, and Dad usually works much later than this."  I think she really learned to appreciated how hard Dave works for our family, plus she did have fun.

In order to participate in "Take Your Child To Work" you have to be 8-12 years old, which means Paige is not yet old enough.  So, she stayed home with her mom and had what she called, "the best day of her life!"  Gotta love her enthusiasm.

 I decided to finally say, "yes" when she asked me to go to Build-A-Bear.  I know it's a waste of money but this is really only the second time she has ever been and she actually does play with stuffed animals.  Once at the store, she promptly picked out the purple, sparkly I-Carly bear. 

After Build-A-Bear, we or I should say Paige, had a chocolate cake shake from Portillos then we came home to go swimming where I taught her how to do the back float.

Cookie Monday

Another Monday, another cookie.  I went for the fast and easy this time---Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

Made with only three ingredients:  Spice cake mix, canned pumpkin, chocolate chips.  Yum.