My baby boy turned three yesterday, and this morning we celebrated with a cowboy birthday party! Lydia and Luke were dressed and ready for guests. The pattern for Luke’s vest came from here. Lydia’s skirt was made from some leftover fabric Keith’s mom had in her stash. I worked some George Washington fabric (from her presidents party) into the ruffle, which was fun.
When the guests arrived, they colored some horse heads to make stick horses. Luke’s friend Emiana and his cousins Calder and Grant enjoyed the coloring.
Lydia and Luke pose with their completed stick horses. (Thanks, Mom, for bringing the stick horse supplies!)
Cousin Ryan enjoyed playing with the shopping cart while his little brother Drew hung out with his mom on the couch.
Once the stick horses were completed, the kids played a cattle round-up game. Keith put several balloons into our entryway. The kids rode their stick horses and tried to round the cattle into the “corral,” which was our sun room. We even had some barbed wire rope to guide their way. Thanks to Keith for thinking of this game. It’s pretty hard to think of birthday party games that involve both boys and girls of a wide age range. However, every child present, from age two to eight, was involved and having fun in our balloon round-up.
After the game, everyone gathered around a “campfire” (red tissue paper) for a cowboy song.
Before Luke joined Daddy for the singing, he sat with Emiana on the floor.
I’ve been learning to play the ukulele, and I worked up a special song just for Luke.
Present time was next.
A bunch of cowboys and cowgirls gathered around to watch Luke open presents.
Next it was time for cake! I’m a very unprofessional cake decorator. We had chocolate cake and cupcakes with little plastic horses on top. Luke’s cake featured three candles and some hay for the horses. Thanks to my mom for making the bandana-print cupcake wrappers.
Luke practiced blowing out his candles before they were lit.
As the party wound down, cousins Cole and Ryan entertained us with some piano/ukulele music amongst wrapping paper and new toys.
As Lydia’s fifth birthday approached, we debated what kind of theme to use for her party. I flirted with the idea of a cupcake theme, but it just wasn’t grabbing me. So, one day I actually prayed about it. It might seem silly, but I love planning birthday parties, and really wanted it to be something special Lydia would always remember. Later that day I had the idea to use a presidents theme. Lydia had been interested in learning about the presidents for a while. I actually wanted to do an Abraham Lincoln theme at first (being raised in the Land of Lincoln and all), but Lydia insisted that the party be about all the presidents.
So the research began. I checked out a stack of books at the library about the presidents. One woman saw me and said, “Are you a homeschooler?” I guess is shows.
At the party, I was so busy navigating through the crowd of 31 people here to help us celebrate (these parties get bigger every year) that I failed to take many pictures. However, I pulled together a few from various people in order to get a complete picture of the morning.
Lydia’s birthday was on September 27. The party was the Saturday morning before that. The day before the party, Keith took Lydia on a Daddy-daughter date and bought her a new bicycle. In the background you can see the patriotic bunting we hung on the porch rails.
On the party day, I set up a table with some roses (The Presidential Rose Garden), and party favors.
I made one cupcake for each president.
Lydia’s cake featured the presidential seal.
There were three learning center stations set up for the kids play at as they arrived. Since Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin, guests could play with Lincoln Logs.
Abigail Adams was the first first lady to live in the White House. She used the unfinished East Room to hang up her laundry, so guests could hang laundry in our reading corner.
In the sunroom, guests could roll plastic Easter eggs with spoons, like at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. I don’t have a picture of anyone doing the activity, but here in Lydia’s friend Violet in the sunroom.
I’m sad that we don’t have any pictures of the adult game. First I played the “44 Presidents Rap.” Then I handed each adult a card with a president’s picture and name on it. The players had to get themselves in line in the right order. They did pretty well!
Next we played “Hail to the Chief” and the kids waved their American Flags. Then it was time to open presents.
Last of all, we sang Happy Birthday to Lydia and she blew out her candles.
Several people wandered outside on the beautiful fall morning after the festivities wound down. Happy Birthday, sweet five-year-old!
Isn’t this a lovely car? It’s a 1996 Chevrolet Cavalier Z24, and its name is the Purple Grape. Let’s dive into its history, shall we?
1. My freshman year of college, I had no car. I’m not sure how I managed, but I guess I did okay. The summer after that year, however, my parents decided they would help me buy a car. I had always dreamed of driving a purple car someday. Lo and behold, we found a purple car. Actually, we found two purple cars. Both of them were Cavaliers. One was a Z24, and one was not. My parents told me they would buy me the non-Z24, but I could add my own money into the mix and upgrade if I wanted. Being a practical 19-year-old, I decided to go for the lower model. However, when we got to the dealership, there was another woman buying it. So, I shelled out some money and we ended up buying the Z24. The extra cash I contributed got me a bigger engine, a sunroof, a spoiler, and (this was a big deal) a CD player instead of a tape player. The Purple Grape and I began a beautiful relationship.
Me with my mom and the Purple Grape.
Me with my dad and the Purple Grape.
Me with my friend Lee Ann and the Purple Grape.
2. That summer I drove the Purple Grape all over my hometown of Chatham, Illinois and nearby capitol city, Springfield. I remember one time I was zipping along Veteran’s Parkway, and a guy around my age honked and waved at me. I thought, “That’s weird. Since when do guys flirt with me?” Then I realized he wasn’t really honking at me, he was honking at my car.
3. Sometime soon after getting the Purple Grape, I put a Southwest Baptist University sticker on the inside of the back window. I was wearing shorts. When I crawled into the back seat and leaned back to reach the bottom of the back window, the side of my knee got cut on something sharp and started bleeding. The cut was about an inch long. I searched and searched and never found the object that cut my knee. Not long after that, I was leaning to reach the bottom of the back window again (maybe to affix a parking sticker this time). When I got out, there was another cut parallel to the first one, exactly the same size. I never did find the culprit. The good thing is, no one sitting in the back seat has ever cut his or her bottom.
4. Speaking of the back window, it collects dead bugs. They get caught in the car and end up in the crevice at the back of the window. Then they get bleached out by the sun. That is why there are always several dead white bugs in the back of the car.
5. One time I was home from college on a break (spring break, Christmas break, summer, I don’t remember). I was with several of my friends in the Purple Grape zipping along Route 4 in Chatham on the way to Springfield. I saw some pretty lights flashing behind me. They were on a police car. I pulled over to see if it was me he wanted. It was. That was my first speeding ticket. It was kind of fun. All my friends were there, and my name made it into the Police Blotter section of the Chatham Clarion.
A year or so later, I was driving the Purple Grape out of Bolivar, Missouri on Route 32 headed toward Half Way (that’s a real town, folks). It was the end of a long semester, and I was tired and ready to get home. I saw the pretty lights again. I pulled over to see if it was me he wanted. It was. That was my second speeding ticket. It wasn’t fun at all. I was by myself, and I cried. If my name made it into the Bolivar Herald-Free Press, I never knew it. After that I slowed down for good.
6. I graduated from college and got my first job teaching kindergarten at Marion C. Early elementary in Morrisville, Missouri. I lived in a large house in Springfield with three other single women who were teachers in other districts. (Hi Shayla, Mindy, and Marisa!) We had a one-car garage, and we rotated who got to park in it, one week at a time. For the first time, the Purple Grape had a roof over its head occasionally.
7. The Purple Grape continued to serve me well throughout my seven years as a teacher. I carpooled to school many of those years with a variety of people making the daily trek from Springfield to Morrisville. I think I have more fond memories from carpooling than from my actual time in the classroom.
8. During my fourth year teaching kindergarten, I met this guy named Keith. He drove a black Toyota Solara, and he wore aviator sunglasses. I liked him, and he liked me back. I’m not sure whether the Purple Grape had anything to do with it.
9. Not long after that came the defining moment for the Purple Grape. After school one Thursday, I went with my carpool friends Sarah and Chris to a kickboxing class at Chesterfield Family Center. Sarah and I got there first and went into the class. Chris came in after the class had started. She pulled me aside and said she had just seen a green truck pull out of the space next to the Purple Grape in the parking lot. The truck hit the side of the Purple Grape, lifting the wheels off the ground. Chris watched the guy driving the truck get out, look at the now-mangled Purple Grape, get back in his truck and drive away.
Any normal person would have said, “What?!” then run to the parking lot to look at the car. However, I figured if the guy was gone, there wasn’t much I could do about it, so I stayed and finished the class. Besides, having my car hit wasn’t on my agenda for the day, and I didn’t appreciate my plans being interrupted.
After the class was finished, I went out to look at the Purple Grape. It was a pretty big dent. I called my new husband Keith, who came over. My carpool friends stuck around. We went to the front desk and asked if they had any idea which fitness club member drove a green truck. Somehow they were able to figure it out. We called the police. They contacted the guy’s insurance company.
The problem was, the cost of repairs exceeded the value of the car. The insurance company would not pay for the full cost of the repairs. The car was totaled, even though it still worked fine. We could get rid of the Purple Grape (gasp!), or we could take a check and a salvage title. We took the cash. Viva la Purple Grape!
10. Two years later Keith and I were expecting our first child. We had two two-door cars. We sold the black Solara and bought a Toyota Prius, which has four doors, excellent gas mileage, and at that time, an unbelievable tax rebate. The Prius became my car, and the Purple Grape became Keith’s.
Before I married Keith, he got a new car about every two years. He was single and he had money and he was antsy. I made it clear to Keith that there was nothing wrong with the Purple Grape (what’s the big deal about a dent?), and he would be fine driving it back and forth to work.
And you know what? He’s such a good husband, that’s exactly what he’s been doing for the past five years.
A few problems have come up during those five years, however. The fabric on the sun shade fell off and crumbled.
He finds it a bit frustrating.
The radio (including the fancy CD player) no longer works. Whenever the battery is disconnected from the car, you have to enter a special code to get it to work again. This is supposed prevent theft. The code is the last three digits of the PIN of my old debit card. I’ve used the code successfully several times. However, the last time we changed the battery, I could no longer remember the code, because I gave up that debit card long ago.
The driver’s side window will not go down. Poor Lydia just wants to say hi to her Daddy, but he can’t open the window to speak to her. Keith also cannot use any drive-thrus.
The paint is peeling all over the car.
And of course, there’s the big dent on the passenger’s side, thanks to the guy in the green truck.
So, I finally let Keith buy a new car. After months and months of research, he chose a 2012 Mazda 3 in Indigo.
The Purple Grape won’t be far away, however. It’s going to live in Keith’s parents garage. We’re thinking of it as a loving nursing home, where it will be protected and driven infrequently, living out its senior years in relative peace.
So even though I’ve moved on, I will always cherish the memories made in the Purple Grape.
Earlier this summer, I began the Couch to 5K program. Running is not my favorite thing to do, but I was walking around every day feeling tired and WEAK. I realize I’m not a spring chicken anymore, but really, I am way too young to walk around feeling like such a wimp. Running is also cheap (no gym membership required) and convenient (we live on a long street with very little traffic). So, I downloaded a Couch to 5K app for my iPhone, laced up my old shoes after L&L were in bed, and got started.
The first week of the program, you alternate 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of walking for 20 minutes. I thought I was going to fall over after doing that for the first time, and my legs were very sore for the next two days. However, when I tried it again a few days later, it was quite a bit easier.
The program is designed to be nine weeks long, and it takes you from running 60 seconds at a time to running 30 minutes at a time. I’m going through it a little slower than designed, but I am making progress. The last time I ran at home, I completed week 5 day 2 and ran for two eight-minute periods. The next day’s plan was to run for 20 minutes with no stopping. Yikes!
How convenient that Keith and I were registered to participate in a 5K race in a few days! I had never participated in an event like this, and I was pretty nervous. What if I’m the very last person to cross the finish line? What if I don’t cross the finish line?
Once we got started, however, I knew I would be fine. There were lots of walkers. I ran about the first half of the race and then alternated running and walking for the second half. The excitement of the event kept me going. (That and passing people, which was fun.)
My final time was 34 minutes and 18 seconds, which was about in the middle of the results. Keith’s time was about five minutes longer than mine. Not bad for someone who didn’t train. He actually started the program with me, but his knees started hurting, so he didn’t continue.
It was also fun do something together as a couple. I am realizing more and more how important it is for our kids to see us have our own interests and hobbies besides just being parents. Often they get caught up in what we’re doing anyway. Case in point:
This event also included a “Kids K” race. Maybe we’ll look into that for next year….
On one edge of the garden this year was a row of Giant Primrose Sunflowers. In the background is the only time I photographed the garden in its extremely weedy state. There are pumpkin vines buried somewhere under all that tall grass.
After the pumpkins and watermelons were harvested and the weeds were mowed down, the row of sunflowers was all that remained.
The bees liked them.
The goldfinches liked them.
The goldfinches left the remains of their sunflower seed snack on the leaves beneath the blooms.
We have always enjoyed growing sunflowers. Here are some previous posts. The Garden ’08 Sunflowers and Hot Peppers (written on Lydia’s due date, almost five years ago!)
The harvest of 2011 was pretty easy. One Saturday in early August, I ventured into the very tall weeds to see what I could find. I realized the Golden Nugget watermelons and Jack-Be-Little pumpkins were ready to be picked.
Next, I went out to check on the Connecticut Field pumpkins. I tenderly turned one over, and the stem came off. I took a closer look at the vines and realized there wasn’t much life in them, maybe due to bugs or drought. I figured the pumpkins would be better off inside, so I harvested the rest. They weren’t really as big as I had hoped, but what’s a laissez faire gardener expect? There were also two Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkins, which were tiny. I don’t plan to each any of these pumpkins, since they are not fully ripened.
The watermelons, however, were ready to eat immediately. All except this one. Poor little watermelon.
Anyway, five of them were good. Lydia and Luke were excited to see what the inside looked like.
We took them out on the porch. One reason I chose to grow this variety is because each one was a “personal size.” The outside is yellow and the inside is pink. The “rind” feels very soft, more like a grapefruit.
I don’t think I will grow Golden Nugget again, however. They are cute, but the flavor was pretty bland. Even my watermelon loving son didn’t finish his. I used the rest of the watermelons to make popcicles. I pureed one batch with strawberries and another with blackberries.
What he did enjoy was spitting the seeds from the porch onto the driveway. Keith and I did this earlier this summer with a watermelon from the farmer’s market. Why did anyone ever invent a seedless watermelon? Seed spitting is so much fun.
Later that day, Keith mowed down the vines and weeds, leaving the sunflowers, which I will feature on the next post….
This year we decided to go big for the garden. We bought our seeds at Baker Creek in Mansfield, MO. (See my post here.) The first thing we did was hire a man to plow the earth. He found lots of rocks.
I divided the space into four equal sections with twine. Then I dumped four bags of mushroom compost (evenly spaced) in each section. These became the hills where we planted seeds.
We planted three varieties of pumpkins (Connecticut Field, Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin, Jack-Be-Little) and one variety of watermelon (Golden Nugget). Each type of plant was in a different quadrant. We also planted sunflowers along one side.
Pretty soon, seeds began sprouting! Here is one of the first pumpkin seedlings.
After the vines grew some big leaves, they started blooming. Giant yellow blooms covered the plants each morning. The bees were thankful.
Eventually, we started seeing some fruit. Here is a watermelon.
It’s too bad that weeds and destructive bugs are also a part of gardening. We think these eggs belong to squash bugs.
I’m a pretty lazy gardener. I didn’t fertilize, and I didn’t do any kind of bug control. It’s my all-natural approach. We started watering late in the summer because of the intense heat and drought. I failed to take any pictures of the garden when the grass was knee-high. In early August, I finally ventured out into the grass to see what was growing out there. To be continued…..
The day after visiting the Gateway Arch, we went to the St. Louis Zoo. We have become quite familiar with our little hometown zoo, and we love it. But, we wanted to check out what the big city zoo had to offer, too.
On the walk from the parking lot to the zoo entrance, there were several animal statues. We love animal stautes.
Whew! So we made it past all the statues to the inside of the zoo. Time to cool off!
We were excited to see the chimps, since we don’t have those at our local zoo. Keith took this picture of a chimp, who apparently has more experience looking straight at a camera than either of our children.
Lydia and Luke rode a merry-go-round for the first time. Luke called it the “merry-go-around.” Lydia really wanted to ride the seal, and she got to. She was pretty nervous, and kept wishing her seal had a seat belt on it. I think we’re a few years away from trying a roller coaster. (Now I’m noticing the guy behind them in the picture is looking right at the camera and smiling, just like the chimp was. Interesting.)
Our next destination was the penguins. On the way, we saw a grizzly bear.
Some of the penguins were outside.
The rest, however, where inside the gloriously cold building. They were very close to us!
When you leave frigid penguin area, you walk into a gift shop. Funny how that works. It felt warm and stuffy in there. My mom, aka Grandma, offered to buy each of them a souvenir. Keith and I stepped outside while L&L did their shopping with G&G. Stepping outside into the 100 degree air made me realize that gift shop wasn’t so stuffy after all. We waited a few minutes. Then, my dad stepped out and hollered to me, “Amy, is it okay if Luke gets a pink penguin?” I said yes. Luke named his penguin Floppy. Lydia named hers Puffa.
We went to the children’s zoo area, where some members of our group posed as otters. We never did see the real otters. They had enough sense not to be outside in the heat, unlike us humans.
There was a really fun play area, but it was so hot, we lasted there only a few minutes and got a few pictures inside a hippo statue’s mouth.
We were exhausted, hot, and hungry. We found a restaurant near the north entrance to the zoo. Due to Luke’s milk allergy, eating while traveling can be a challenge. Before the trip, I packed quite a bit of food, which we used on the road and in the hotel, but I didn’t have it in me to pack food to take to the zoo, too. I actually prayed and asked God to take care of food for Luke at the zoo. My brain could not handle planning for one more thing. On the menu was a kids meal which had a hot dog, baby carrots, and applesauce. These are all things Luke can eat with no problem.
After our hour in air conditioning and our much-needed blood sugar adjustment, the rest of our group went back to the hotel, because one-year-old Caleb was about to drop. Our little family, however, pressed on. Our favorite two things we saw in the afternoon were hippos and Asian elephants. We have both these animals at our local zoo, but at the St. Louis zoo they are in water. The hippos get to swim in a giant tank, and the elephants have their own pool, too.
It was so hot, that water full of elephant poop actually looked refreshing.
Later that evening, Luke and Caleb hung out on the couch together.
Luke carried his pink penguin Floppy all over the hotel without of hint of embarassment. I absolutely love the age of oblivious innocence. He’s a boy, and he has a pink penguin. The penguin is also a boy. Of course.
And Lydia was such a delight on the trip. She is old enough to understand what we’re dong, talk about it, and get through the day. Makes me want to plan another family vacation. Maybe next time it won’t be so hot.
Last weekend we went a little crazy and took a two-day trip to St. Louis. We met my parents there, and also my brother and his family, who flew in from Virginia.
Whenever we drive through St. Louis on our way to Illinois, we always notice the arch, and I’ve been telling Lydia for about a year that we would go up in it someday.
So, last Friday afternoon was the big day. We arrived at our hotel in downtown St. Louis, met up with the rest of the crew, and started walking to the arch in extreme July heat. At first, walking next to all the very tall buildings was pretty exciting. (More of my videos than I would like to admit begin with the sound of me saying, “Oh, I’m taking a video.”)
After a while, the heat got to Luke, and he had to be carried.
Finally, we arrived at the arch in all its Gateway to the West glory. (Tiny history lesson: In 1804 Lewis and Clark began exploration of the West in St. Louis, where the Missouri River meets the Mississippi. The arch was built to remember their trip.)
Those willing to sweat in a photograph posed for those of us who were not.
After what seemed like an unreasonably long wait (everything seems longer with three preschoolers in tow), we finally stood in front of the little door that eventually opened so we could get on our elevator car.
We were strictly warned not to take a picture of ourselves getting on the elevator car, lest we be left behind. Each elevator car, which I did not photograph since I’m a rule-follower, has five seats, is extremely cramped, lifts its occupants 600 feet off the ground, and looks like something straight out of the original Star Trek series.
The top of the arch was more crowded than I’ve even seen it. No one pooped or puked while we were up there, and we even got some good pictures, so we’re calling it a success.
Then we got back on an elevator car (which went quite a bit faster on the way down). It was still very hot outside, and also time to eat, but I had my heart set on getting some artsy arch pictures outside. My dreams were not fulfilled, but we came up something kind of cute and definitely worth posting.
I took these pictures with my iPhone. While I did, my dad took this picture of me.
At the tender age of 23, I was teaching my second year of kindergarten. That year I became very interested in what is called emergent writing. It’s the kind of writing children do before they can write like adults. It starts with scribbles and progresses to inventive spelling. Children who are beginning to read possess knowledge about letters and sounds, and even though they can’t spell conventionally yet, they can put something down on paper that almost makes sense.
I dived in and encouraged my students to write, and boy did they ever. When they wrote thank you letters to the fire station after our field trip there, did I have them copy a teacher-produced sentence neatly from the board? No way! They wrote whatever they wanted, then I put a sticky-note with a “translation” on each paper.
I thought it was thrilling, letting the kids write what came out of their own minds. I remember showing the thank you letters to a fifth grade teacher before sending them off. (Now I’m thinking this story happened my third year teaching kindergarten. See previous post about five-second memories.) I was so exicted to show her what the students had written. She shook her head politely and said, “I don’t see it.” She really wasn’t that interested.
I had a similar experience a few weeks ago. I took Lydia and Luke to storytime at the library. The theme was Australia, and the librarian showed the kids examples of Aboriginal art, which is made of lines and dots. One of the activities was to decorate an animal shape in an Aboringinal style. I think it is supposed to look like the animal’s skeleton. (Any Australian art experts out there, please feel free to correct me.) This is what Lydia made.
I was so excited about Lydia’s interpretation of lines and dots, that I took the horse over to where the librarian was standing and showed it to her. Lydia was across the room, very involved in a sticker project. The librarian immediately began praising a little girl standing nearby, thinking she was my daughter. I said, “No, my daughter is over there. I just wanted to show you what she did.” I didn’t even think about Lydia needing praise. I just wanted to share with someone the product of a child’s brain.
I tell you these two stories, because I realize not everyone finds children’s work as interesting as I do. Of course, I’m also biased about my own children’s work. But, I found a few more items worth documenting before throwing them away. And, since this is my blog to write about whatever I want, I’m going to post pictures of what comes out of a child’s brain.
These are three people. I’m not sure who the two on the outside are, but the one in the middle is Murray Monster from Sesame Street. My kids watch quite a few videos on the Sesame Street website, and we discovered him there. He has a lamb named Ovejita. He has red fur and orange hair on top. We also made Murray crowns out of orange contruction paper. The excitement for Murray has waned since we first discovered him, but finding this homemade version of him made me want to remember our short-lived obsession.
One more item I found endearing was this giraffe.
These pictures are also in my Flickr album. If you made it to the end of the post, thank you! Does anyone else have a passion not necessarily shared by others??
