Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend was one big extended party around here.  Or more accurately, we hopped from one party to the next to the next.  We were pretty busy so I didn't really get many pictures, but we did eat well and enjoy very good company.

On Saturday we started out a graduation open house for the high school seniors in our ward.  There was a yummy nacho bar and lots of other goodies.  It was also reallly nice to visit with friends from church.  One of the girls graduating used to babysit our girls when they were little, now she is all grown up and off to BYU.  It happens so fast, Ashley's turn will be here before we know it. 

After the open house, we sped over to our neighbors' house for a bbq and pool party.  The kids swam in the pool while the adults visited.  Our friends, the Edrosa's have a little girl, Riley, who is Paige's age.  Riley and Paige are basically best friends and play together all the time.  Recently, if Paige isn't at home then she is at Riley's.  We always joke that the girls are just another member of each of our families.  The other day, we had the missionaries from our church over for dinner and Riley was with us.  Dave was still at work so it was just me and the girls.  Funny thing was that when I said, I have two daughters and the other little girl is my daughter's friend, they thought that Riley was my daughter and Paige the friend.  You see, the Edrosa's are a Korean/Phillipino family, so Riley really does look more like me than Paige!

Anyway, we had a great time at the bbq.  We ate lots of delicious Korean bbq as well as all the regular cookout staples.  It was fun to just visit and joke around with friends.

The next day, after church we hosted a bbq at our house and had some friends from church over.  We thought it might be too hot to eat outside but fortunately by evening time it cooled down.  So we had some yummy grilled chicken in the backyard.  We ended that evening, with a rousing game of dominoes.

On Memorial Day, we were invited by some other friends to a bbq, but they had to cancel at the last minute because the mom was very sick with strep throat.  Instead, we had their kids come over and go swimming with us.  Because, yes! our pool officially opened for the season.  I love having the pool, it really is one of the best parts of summer.

Renwick Lake Preserve Heron Rookery - family field trip

Not too long ago our Relief Society (women's organization at church) made a visit to a bird refuge not too far from our house.  I decided to go because, 1)we always drive by and see these huge nesting platforms in the middle of a lake and wonder about them and 2)since my family is into "birding" now, I thought this might be something they would like.  So I went and I am so glad I did!  Not only did I learn a lot but I basically found a lovely little gem of a place about 20 minutes from our home.

After my visit, on our first free Saturday, I took the whole family for visit.  The refuge is called the Renwick Lake Preserve and is in Oswego, Illinois.  In addition to the birds, the "lake" itself has an interesting history.  It used to be a gravel pit, but in the late 1800s the digging uncovered a natural spring and subsequently filled the pit with water, creating a lake.  For a time the lake was used for recreation---swimming, fishing, ice skating.  They even built a hotel and restaurant on it's banks.  Unfortunately, this same hotel and restaurant dumped it's garbage and sewage right into the lake so that by the 1920s the lake was too polluted to be usable and the lake and land around around it were basically left to nature. 

There were a few small islands in the lake covered in trees and other vegetation.  And eventually birds started using the islands to nest.  Three major types of birds would come every year to nest -- Great Blue Herons, Cormorants, and Great Egrets.  There were so many birds that their droppings killed all the vegetation on the islands, so that is when the State of Illinois stepped in and declared it a preserve and built wooden nesting platforms for the birds.  Basically, the islands are a bird nursery, but from a distance they look like the sails of a haunted pirate ship.

Not my photo, it's taken from the Preserve website.  This place
is also popular with nature photographers

Now the area is protected and during the nesting season you can only visit on certain days at certain times, and many of the trails around the lake are closed so as not to disturb the birds.  When you do go visit however, there are volunteer "birders" there with really nice scopes so that you can view the birds. 

Now with all that background out of the way, I have to tell you we loved our family field trip.  It was so fun.  There are thousands of birds and they are huge.  A Great Blue Heron stands over 5 feet tall, yep just about the same height as me!  We could see the birds' nests very clearly.  We were also able to see the parents fusing, feed and taking care of their fuzzy headed babies in their nests.  It really is interesting to see so many birds of different kinds all nesting together.  They sort of have a pecking order or as the visitor center at the rookery said an "apartment building" arrangement.  The Great Blue Heron's are on the top floor, Cormorants on the middle, and Egrets on the bottom.  These birds fly south for the winter but come back every spring during breeding season.  They come from as far away as Argentina. 

Another plus was that we saw a bunch of other birds and animals while at the preserve such as turtles sunning on the islands with all the birds and turkey vultures flying overhead.  While we were there we got lots of good advice about backyard birding from the volunteers and even some more suggestions for birdwatching field trips in the future.

Go Lightning! 2nd Grade Soccer

Paige also played soccer this season and we had just as much fun watching her as we did Ashley.  Those 2nd grade girls are so cute and they really do have the best coach.  We adore Coach Kerry!  He is so good with the girls and also teaches them a lot about soccer. 

Soccer season was much more manageable this season because Ashley played during the week and Paige on Saturdays so we didn't have to worry about conflicts. 

Paige had a great season and scored a goal in 4 of 6 games!  She perfected the long range shot and caught a lot of little goalies off guard with her outside shots. 

End of season trophies!

Go Bulldogs! Girls' Soccer

Ashley played on her school soccer team this year.  This was her first time ever playing competitive sports, she has always just played recreationally.  It was a good learning experience for her and I think she enjoyed being part of a school team.

Her team took 3rd place in the conference tournament.  They were a pretty good team and did have a shot at the championship.  The conference league is really interesting.  It basically consists of half Oswego schools and half Aurora schools.  The Aurora schools are more inner city and the Oswego more suburban.  Basically, the way it works out is that the you have a huge talent gap between the Aurora and Oswego schools.  This means that for teams like Ashley's they spent half the season killing teams from Aurora, beating them 8-0 and the other half of the games against other Oswego schools were very, very close.  No middle ground really.

We had a great time going to watch Ashley play and cheer her on.  I'm pretty sure she will try out again next year.  The whole next year thing is a little up in the air, with the school boundary change, half of the team will be going to a different school next year as will the coach.  It will be difficult to replace some of the really good players.  As for the coach, I can say that many of the parents are NOT sad to see her go---to put it nicely, she is a different person and really just plain mean but not in a "coach trying to motivate players" sort of way, more like a "sarcastic, bully" sort of way--not really the kind of person you want as a role model for your child.

Anyhow, soccer kept Ashley and our family very busy in the spring but it was fun.  Ashley chose to be #10, Grandpa Tana's number and a tribute to Pele!

 

Flat Stanley Got Spoiled

2nd grade = The Flat Stanley project and this time we sent Flat Stanley to California to visit my sister Debby.  And my, oh my did he get spoiled.  He went to a Laker's playoff game, Disneyland and In and Out Burger.  After all that fun, we are lucky that he came home.

We have to give a big shout out to Aunt Debby, who so graciously carried Flat Stanley around and took pictures with him.  She sent a big packet of pictures, a DVD and a letter back to Paige's class.  Paige was very excited to read all about California and share it with her class.  Now that Flat Stanley has shown us all the fun things to do in California, we can't wait for our trip! 

Spring Smiles

Okay new school picture plan.  Remember all my complaining about Fall school pictures.  Well here are the girls' Spring pictures and I have decided this is the way I am going to go next year. 

In the Spring, everyone gets their picture taken and then the photographer sends home a packet of photos.  If you want any of the photos, you keep the ones you want to buy and send in a check to pay for them, returning pictures you don't want.  If every photo is horrible, then you send it all back and you aren't out any money.  The new plan is to try the risk free Spring photos.  If I don't like them, I'll take the girls to a studio.  No more worrying about retakes, refunds, etc.

Mother's Day

I love Mother's Day.  I know lots of other moms & women hate Mother's Day for a bunch of different reasons.  I'm not going to judge, to each their own. 

But...I LOVE MOTHER'S DAY!  It is not about the presents I get or what my family does or doesn't do for me.  It about spending time together as a family.  Okay the "the Restaurant" is pretty fun too!

Our family tradition is for Dave and the girls to create a "restaurant" for dinner.  They are really getting pretty good at this.  They also have to be creative to come with a new theme every year.   This years restaurant was called, "Mother's Day Surf and Turf."  There is even a picture of me surfing on a steak on the cover of the menu.

As you can see we had NY steak, sea scallops and watermelon (my favorite food!)  For dessert Ashley made strawberry Danish dessert cake.  Everything was delicious.  It was such a nice day that we ate outside on the patio and soaked up lots of warm sunshine.

I also got some fabulous presents from the girls.  First off, an alarm clock with iPhone dock for my side of the bed.  We have one on Dave's side but I really wanted one for my side.  Secondly, Dave & Ashley bought each person in the family a tennis racket.  This has been on my list of wants for a long time but I have just never got around to it.  We have a tennis court as part of our rec club, so it will be great to go over as a family and hit a few balls around.  Fun, fun, fun!

I also got a few handmade gifts from Paige.  Between class, church, girl scouts, and every other group she is in, she had a quite a few Mother's Day projects to give to me.  In fact, I opened the coil clay pot she made in art early, because according to Paige, "Mom, I already have so many gifts for you to open on Mother's Day, can you just open this one now?"  I was the proud recipient of duct tape flowers, flower pens, a chocolate bar and three separate poems.  Wow!  I loved all of them!

Awesome picture Paige drew of us playing soccer

Can't forget the entertainment.  The girls upped the ante this year-
Ashley learned to play, "The Music of the Night" from Phantom and Paige sang the words.  So cute!

I've been particular lacking when it comes to taking pictures on Sunday mornings.  I always forget.  I would have liked a picture of me and the girls in our church clothes, but oh well, t-shirts are good too.

What a nice day, everyone was happy.  What more can you ask for as a mother?  It doesn't have to  be perfect, just happy.

Because I don't already have enough to do....

So, we have recently made some new friends in our neighborhood.  This is a good thing, we are meeting some really great people and it is helping us to be connected to more than just our church community.  On the otherside, it keeps us very busy because now we have neighborhood events and obligations on top of our church events, on top of work, etc.

Another consequence of making connections within the neighborhood is that you end being more involved at the local schools as you and your neighbors have a common interest in the schools your kids attend.  Hence, the day after I was called to be the Young Women's President at church, I got a pleading call from my friend, Jane, who was just asked to be the elementary school PTA President. 

"Jenny, please you have to help me.  Will you be the PTA Vice President?  I would feel so much better about this if I had you as friend to work with, etc., etc."

 Of course, I told her this wasn't a good time for me that I just accepted a HUGE responsibility at church and was really going to be limited in my time, etc., etc.

And of course, she completely understood, etc., etc..

Fast forward about month or two....I was just sworn in as the 1st Vice President for the PTA at our elementary school.  I know.  I need a lesson in saying, "no." 

I will say that I am the 1st VP, but there is also a 2nd, 3rd and 4th VP because the 1st VP made it clear this is not going to consume her life.

So here is my first contribution---Teacher Appreciation Week.  I was asked to make a sign/banner to hang in the school foyer.  Mmmm.  Instead of getting a giant roll of butcher paper, painting or cutting out huge letters, etc.  I got online and ordered a vinyl banner to be delivered to my door and asked the school custodian to hang it---done in less than 20 minutes and reuseable for next year.  I'm trying to set boundaries for my involvement and stick to them.  I didn't even sign up to help at Field Day.  Maybe I will be able to handle this :)



Paige and her friends at "Reading Night"

Dreading the Threading

When it comes to appearance, Ashley obviously tends to favor me.  As a consequence, she has also inherited my dark hair and far-ranging eyebrows.  I know she is young but seriously, no girl wants a unibrow and mustache, no matter what your age. 

SO...she has started getting her eyebrows waxed and fortunately, we have a brilliant esthetician friend who was doing it for her.  Unfortunately, our friend is moving so we have to figure something else out. 

Enter threading.  The newest thing in hair removal.  We know some people who have tried it and recommended it, so one day while we were at the mall, Ashley and I decided to go for it.

Ashley went first.  The lady doing the threading was probably Indian and didn't speak a lot of English.  She pretty much just motioned for Ashley to sit in the chair and said, "brow?"  I sat and watched as Ashley was worked on.  I asked Ashley if she was okay and she shyly said, "yes."  When she was finished with the eyebrows the lady said, "lip?"  I figured might as well go for it, as Ashley needed it done and we were already there.  I will admit that after the lip was done, Ashley's eyes were a little teary.

Then it was my turn.  I sat in the chair and from the first pull of the thread, I flinched big-time and was thinking, "OUCH!!"  Just to make it clear, if you have not ever experienced threading, I am telling you right now, it hurts!  It's much more painful than waxing. 

After my brows were done, I too got the question, "lip?"  Now at this point I have two choices.  I can just do it like Ashley did, give her a little moral support, considering I'm the one who got her into this or I can jump out of that chair as fast as possible and say, "NO WAY!"

Wondering what I did?  I'm not ashamed to tell--option two all the way.

For the Birds...

We have a new little hobby around our house.  BIRD WATCHING.  Seriously, I didn't really see this one coming.  I've always thought of bird watching as the sort of thing "retired folk" do, but I was so wrong. 

Late last summer, Dave and Paige hung a cheap plastic bird feeder on a tree near our patio.  It attracted some birds and they had some fun with it.  Well, this spring Dave and Paige started back up again.  We got lots of seed and they have been keeping the feeder filled.  This of course, has attracted quite a few birds.  Well, one step leads to another.  First, Paige got a backyard bird field guide.  So now she can identify the kinds of birds that come to our feeder and learn about their habits and figure out why they do what they do. 

Next, Dave and Paige hit the home improvement store to "improve" upon our feeder system.  Why have one bird feeder when you can have a system of four in a fancy stand?  Each feeder has a different kind of bird seed designed to attract different kind of birds.  The results were lots of birds.  Feeding right outside our back door.  Basically, we spend the whole day looking out the kitchen door and windows watching the birds.  It's really pretty addicting and hard to resist.  Dave and Paige especially love this.  They are little buddies in this project and are so cute working together.  They are always bird watching.  They are also responsible for filling the feeders, which at the rate the birds go through seed can be pretty often.  We are going to have to start rationing or else we'll go broke feeding birds!

We have learned a lot about birds and seen lots of varieties.  Some of our favorites are the Cardinals--we have seen them feed each other in a mating ritual.  We also like the purple and yellow finches.  We have seen a bunch of different varieties of sparrows, a rose-breasted grosbeak, cowbirds, doves, red-wing blackbirds, starlings and a woodpecker.  Of course, I can't forget to mention the grackles.  They are a blackbird and are bigger, smarter and more aggressive than the song birds, so they can really dominate a feeder.  We're not big fans, because they scare the other birds off, but are hard to get rid of.  Fortunately, we have a robin who spends a good amount of time chasing the grackles off.  Robins don't eat out of feeders they eat worms and fruit, but they are very territorial so every time a grackle comes to feed, if the robin is around he will chase the grackle away.  Of course, that was working for a while until the grackle went and got a bunch of friends who ganged up on the robin.    See isn't this whole social behavior interesting?!

We have also attracted a couple of ducks.  They don't use the feeder but just eat the fallen seeds from the ground like the doves do.  The female duck is lame so that is probably why she comes to our yard to feed--it's easy for her.  Dave doesn't like the idea of her hanging around our yard becase she is a pretty easy target for a coyote, but we kind of feel sorry for her and her hurt leg.  Right now in our area we have a pretty significant coyote presence.  A couple weeks ago, we found a mangled rabbit carcass by our front porch, most likely a coyote victim.  A few days after that we heard howling one night.  We didn't see them, but our neighbors saw three coyotes walking down the street! 

It's wildlife sanctuary right in our backyard if you count the rabbits and ground squirrels that are always trying to eat my plants.  Anyways, it's become a fun family past time and great learning experience especially for Paige.  She knows a lot about birds now--hopefully we can turn this into some kind of science project.  I guess now we need start learning to listen for and identify their calls.

Of course, I did tell Paige, that soon I will be planting our veggie garden and if the birds interfere with that than the feeders have to come down for a while!