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It’s Friday, so it seemed appropriate to don a Lilly Pulitzer skirt, and in lieu of its accompanying royal blue cashmere top, I chose a cooler LL Bean polo for this soon-to-be 90 degree day.

Last day of science camp today. In about an hour and a half, after I’ve dropped Darian off and come back home, the officers from the gifted student group will be here to go over the website in detail and make any changes. Coffee, water, and pastries to be arranged and served; paperwork to distribute, five small children to situate and entertain throughout. That should bring us up to lunch, then during Caroline’s truncated nap, I’ll start packing for our weekend up in DC with my mother. I’ll get her up an hour earlier than she’d prefer, to go pick up her brother. We’ll then run out to Target to get a few things we need, and a few more things I’m not yet aware of until I start packing. Home to prepare, eat, clean up after dinner; bathe children and dog, play with and read to them (children; although Ivy is almost always on hand at storytime) until bedtime, then finish up packing and get to bed early, because we’re due in Washington before lunch.

The weekend will be a mad rush as well. Lunch with Mother, then leaving husband, Caroline, and Ivy at the house for C’s nap while Mother, Darian, and myself head out to the Lego store at the mall for his Big Birthday Gift, to be selected by himself. Back to Mother’s, then over to Daddy’s for a brief visit with him and his wife before going back to Mother’s for dinner and birthday cake. Bath, bed business again, and then hopefully Mother will have some nice refreshments for us once we are able to sit down.

I tolerated my parents’ decision to divorce reasonable well when I was thirteen and it all went down–they did their best to accommodate my brother and me, even though it got more irritating the older we got to give up Sunday afternoon activities with friends to go do homework at my father’s apartment. His girlfriend appeared on the scene during my adolescence, an opposite of my ladylike mother, loud and opinionated and occasionally fun. They got married just last year after 20-odd years of togetherness, and although my father insisted it was just for financial or insurance reasons, times have certainly changed. She sets his schedule, answers the phone for him, answers his email, and sadly limits his access to his grandchildren. She openly dislikes small children and is in a near panic when we go to visit, so to keep the peace, we keep the visits short. Which is too bad, because my father adores small children and is very good with them. I hope things will relax and improve as my children (and my brother’s) get older–she seems to do better with people who can communicate, so perhaps it will improve.

Anyway, all the running hither and yon is exhausting for the children and a bit annoying for their parents! But we do it because we love my dad and want our little ones to know him for the unique and interesting individual that he is. It will be a mad rush, but we’ll be glad we did it anyway. Have a wonderful weekend!

Super Kawaii Mama was kind enough to pass this lovely Tree along to me, with the direction to list six things that make me happy, and then pass the tree along to six other happy bloggers. Here are six of the many things that make me happy!

1. My Library.

When we moved into this house in 1997, we knew we’d use the “formal” dining room quite a bit, and I took time to get it right. But in my mother’s home, the “formal living room” or parlor was and is never used, and I just can’t get behind having a room that’s for show only. Not under my roof! And being blessed with hundreds and hundreds of beloved books, the only use that made great sense to me was to bring my books together into my very own library.


This is my favorite room in the house. It has five six-foot windows bringing in tons of natural daylight, three tall bookcases and one rolling cart to hold my collection, one extremely comfy chair and two more for guest readers, and an ottoman from which Ivy can survey the comings and goings of the neighbors on the facing sidewalk. This is “my” room in the house. The piano lives here, too, so when Darian begins lessons later this year, he’ll spend time here practicing. When we have guests, they seem to gravitate toward this space. At Christmas, the tall tree stands in the front windows.

This room and my wonderful books make me happy!

2. My Garden.



My great-grandfather was a nurseryman. He was a partner in a well-known midwestern nursery and spent his entire life cultivating plants. This got into the family genetic code and in most of us is the urge to bring forth life from the soil. I am relaxed and at peace when I am digging in the dirt, deadheading flowers, spreading fertilizer, weeding beds. I love the look and feel of a well-tended garden. Someday I hope to have the acres he enjoyed at Gardencott, his and my great-grandmother’s residence on the grounds of the nursery.

It was a showplace where clients could see mature plant specimens and landscaping examples. This is a photo of it taken in the early 1940s. It was sadly razed to make way for the Interstate during the 1960s, and my great-grandfather did not outlive his home by many more years. It’s as much a part of my family’s legend as any of the people. Can you imagine living in a horticultural showplace? I can.

3. Handwork.
My college roommates were really into cross-stitch. It was kind of a craft fad in the late 80s, and I took it up after they showed me how to do it. I became a fan of Teresa Wentzler’s beautiful, intricate, difficult, challenging designs, each of which took well over a year of stitching many evenings a week. Here are a couple I did:


My swan song for embroidery was doing a birth sampler for Caroline. Darian has a lovely Teresa Wentzler one, and I found a similar one for her. There is not the time to continue with embroidery right now, but I enjoy knitting and crocheting (afghan going for Caroline now) and sewing. Here’s my sewing table:

Darian’s room used to be my sewing room and the guest room. Now I set up a side of my bedroom and it works just fine. I wish I had more storage for my supplies, but doing it this way keeps me creative!

4. Labrador Retrievers.

Labs ARE happy. Our Ivy is about half-a-Lab, plenty for us just now. We adopted her from our Humane Society in late 2006, and she has been a perfect addition to our family. My “first” Lab was my husband’s dog brother Joshua, who passed away in 2001 after 14 personality-filled years. What a guy. Getting to know Josh gave me a love for the breed, and I read up a lot more around the time we adopted Ivy. I started studying what they were bred to do, retrieving waterfowl, and found this perfectly delightful show on Versus to which I am now unashamedly addicted: DU’s Waterdog Yeah, I’m not in the demographic. Who cares? I LOVE this show. It’s only on from October-December. The message boards are active, and the host and producer are on there almost every day. And they’re just normal, cool people who love ducks and hunting.

I attended two Super Retriever Series events, one this past Spring and one last year when I was seven months pregnant. Outside all day in the elements, didn’t care because it was totally worth it to watch these amazing, incredible dogs work. The trainers are so talented and get the most from their intense dogs. I’m not a fan of the couch sitters, as you can tell. Someday when we have older children, we’ll adopt a fire-breather of our own. One of my dreams is to get into field trials or hunt tests one day. You could not find finer people, and they are head over heels about their dogs. The host of Waterdog TV, Justin Tackett, was kind enough to let my son toss a few bumpers for his GRHRCH, Yella:

GRHRCH: Grand Hunting Retriever Champion. Best of the best. Look at her face–she is locked on. When I first found the show, he was talking to Yella in the hunting blind as though she were another person. Guess what? She sees it that way, too.

5. Good Cooking. I like light, healthy, well-prepared food with a few treats thrown in for good measure. I like my time in the kitchen to be fun and the people I feed to be happy with the end result. These days, I am using the South Beach Quick & Healthy Cookbook quite a bit, but my go-to cookbook is America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

They test recipes and equipment, then publish the best techniques so that it turns out near-perfect each time. Every time I cook from my ATK, everyone comments. Betty Crocker has been relegated to a top shelf now, and this book is within arm’s reach. Basic to fancy, it hasn’t failed me yet!

6. My beautiful, wonderful family.

My husband of 13 1/2 years, my almost-six year old son, and my 14-month old daughter. My husband is supportive in every way, and I think appreciative of my decision to leave an accolade-filled career behind for far more important work. My son is smart, witty, and good-looking….who could ask for more? And my daughter is twenty toddler pounds of pure joy. Nothing makes me happier than to know that I am part of this delightful family!

Now it’s your turn! If you are so inclined, please accept the Tree of Happiness and write up six things that make you happy. I would love to see, so please comment if you are playing along!

Today’s outfit is a teal tee from Target and a Project Runway print skirt, proudly made by me!

I don’t watch much TV at all. Like, if I catch a half hour of news a couple of times a week, that’s a lot of TV for me. I don’t have shows I follow, don’t watch anything but the news on broadcast, and have a scant handful of shows I catch from time to time only–and two of those are about dogs! TV has never held a lot of appeal for me. When I used to cross-stitch a lot, I’d watch some, but those days are long gone with children, and I’d rather spend my free time once they are tucked in bed reading a book, catching up on my correspondence, or reading your lovely blogs. TV is too passive for me.

But someone last year in their blog (can’t remember who) started talking about Project Runway. A reality contest show where designers sewed projects each week and competed for a grand prize at the end of the season. Reality? Sewing? Really? This coincided with the new season, which I watched with rapt attention each week. I can’t remember being so captivated by a TV show! The designers were fun to watch, but the hook for me was the fabulous Tim Gunn. Oh my goodness! Erudite, witty, impeccably dressed, constructively and diplomatically critical. He’s the mentor everyone should have.

So when I was leafing through the Hancock Fabric sale flyer this weekend and saw there was Project Runway fabric on sale, I thought maybe they’d run up some prints of dresses they’d made. Meh. Then I saw what it was:

All awesome. The Notions one is going to re-cover my sewing ironing board. But the one that captured my heart and said, “make me into a skirt TODAY” was this one:

So now I have a cute A-line skirt with mannequins, notions, “Carry On!” and “Make it Work!” Season 5 of Project Runway starts tonight.

Rain yesterday left it a little cooler today, so today’s outfit is the LL Bean khaki skirt, black ballet flats, and a blue summerweight sweater with a pretty cable detail on the front. I bought this sweater at a Nordstrom sale late last summer and did not like how it looked on when I got home–but I was just three months past pregnancy, nursing a baby, and a bit heavier than I am right now. It seems to fit fine today. I was very pleased to hop on the scale this morning and find that I’ve reached a new benchmark in my weight loss! I have just five more pounds to say good-bye to.
A slightly crooked detail on the cable down the front of the sweater. Once I get the five pounds off, I’ll be near the top of my healthy range, so a couple more pounds may have to go. The diet is going well!

Caroline does indeed have a cold, and was up a few times in the night. We didn’t go to Little Gym yesterday to save the other children her germs. Her energy level is normal, no fever, so she’ll be past this soon. We will drop her brother off at camp this morning, which he loves, then probably have a fairly domestic day again. I have to return to the dentist this afternoon to have the crown installed on the root canal tooth. It looks perfectly normal with the temporary filling in–I had the impression that much would be destroyed, but it all seems to have been internal. I guess that’s the idea of saving the tooth. I hope you have a great Tuesday!

Today’s outfit is pink plaid capris and an LL Bean pink polo with LL Bean lobster sandals. Practical for today’s trip to Little Gym, which may not actually happen. Caroline has a bit of a runny nose after being extremely fussy last night, so I think we may be dealing with a cold. She’s been OK since breakfast, though, so I’m not ruling out taking her until later this morning.

We will be heading over to the science museum first, though, to drop Darian off at Earth Tales science camp! This is the camp he’s looked forward to since last year. It’s a one-week day camp, and the theme this year is taking care of the earth. He’ll study trees, animals, the water cycle, recycling, and weather. They do real experiments, get messy, and have a wonderful time. This weekend, we are hitting the road to go see my mother in advance of his birthday next week….a trip to the massive Lego store has been promised. I’ve never been, so I am anticipating Lego Overload!!

I’ve been sewing this weekend, and I have a seriously cute theme skirt to share in a couple of days, but I’ll hopefully finish it today. Later on, I am going to puzzle through what to do with this dress I thrifted. Pure linen, nice color, fine condition, but absolutely stick-straight from the shoulder seams down. Since I’m only five-foot-two, I need my dresses to have some shape or I end up looking like a square! This dress also has about twice as much material floating around as I need. I’m still figuring it out, but I think I will take some princess-seam like darts in the front and the back to shape it. The high waist may make that not such a great idea, but it’s worth at least pinning to see what can be done. But I’m going to put the hardware and hem into my skirt first….I am so excited about it I can hardly stand it! Have a great Monday!

This afternoon, we had the great pleasure of attending “It’s All Greek To Me!” the grand finale of two weeks of art camp. I have to admit, this is precisely what I have always looked forward to as a parent. I love to see how all the children worked SO hard to learn their parts, make their costumes, memorize the dances…..there must have been dozens of proud parents in there watching their kids do things they weren’t capable of two weeks ago. These kids had a ton of fun up there on stage. The teachers did a fine job of working out the nerves, so the performers were as relaxed as if they were hanging out with friends. Which they were! There was a one-act comedy with the Greek gods appearing on Oprah, a dance about the Olympics, and the sweetest finale. We are definitely doing art camp again next summer!
Darian’s first turn on a “real” stage. This means rows and rows of hot canister lights aimed right at him. He was blinking hard until he got used to it! The people and the hot lights made for a warm theater, and little Caroline got a bit fussy toward the end. We took a quick break out in the lobby and made it back for the last number:

He was so thrilled with the toga that he’s keeping it on until Dad gets home.

On the way out, they had cookies and punch along with the gallery of art they’d created. The 5 & 6 year old class created Mt Olympus in clay, surrounded by clouds:
We collected our art, and then the skies opened up–it was absolutely pouring. I was fortunate enough to get a street parking spot right next to the building, but we got a bit soaked getting loaded into the car! What a fun afternoon. The shows, the recitals, the games, the presentations–these are the icing on the cake for me as a parent. Can’t wait to see what they come up with next year! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Yellow lily-of-the-valley print sundress with grosgrain ribbon trim by J.G. Hook. I love this little dress! This will go to the summer camp “It’s All Greek To Me!” show this afternoon, then out to dinner this evening with my husband with slightly fancier shoes. The back:
A bonus is that it’s fully lined, so no need to bother with a slip, which would be an additional hazard with the narrow straps. One of my sewing to-do’s is to add lingerie holders to this dress. It’s surprisingly not much of an issue, but I’d like the added insurance!

A few errands this morning, then the summer camp show (pictures to come!), some volunteer work writing letters and making flyers for the PTA and for the gifted student group, some bird feeding, and then we’ll get our sitter oriented and go out to a new Irish restaurant for dinner. We shouldn’t be gone two hours, which is about right for a brand-new sitter–not too much for the children, and it will give her a chance to get to know them a bit while we are not far away at all if we’re needed back!

I will pop back later with toga-clad campers! Darian is a bit worried: “I’ve never been up on a stage in front of a crowd.” He actually thrives with an audience, so if they are able to help the kids get relaxed, he is going to have a lot of fun today!

No outfit picture today–just a pair of khaki shorts, a lavender polo, and slip-on Keds today. I used to wear that every single summer day, so this is progress, people! Now this outfit is reserved ONLY for my heavy cleaning day. Today’s adventures included six loads of laundry (the last is drying), cleaning three bathrooms, cleaning the kitchen top to bottom, dusting upstairs and down, running the vacuum everywhere carpeted and the mop on the tile and wood floors. But it’s DONE! The house looks fantastic and tomorrow can be a mostly-fun day. I love getting it all out of the way at once, even though most of the love happens after it’s all finished. I do still have ironing, but I kind of love to iron.

I thought you’d enjoy before and after playgroup pictures from yesterday! Here are Caroline and Ivy before we set the home office/playroom up for the children:

The little folks played for almost two hours and didn’t stay in the room for long–we moved on to the living room and found the random toy basket, which was great fun. The other mother was teaching her older son how to clean up after playing, so the living room got all cleaned up! And the office wasn’t so bad after all. A mess is totally worth it when little people are having a good time. Caroline wasn’t quite ready to finish, anyway:

I hope your Thursday was fun, too! Tomorrow is the Art Show at camp for the final day, and our new sitter will be over late afternoon so that my dear husband and I can have a lovely dinner out. We have lovely dinners out with our children, too, but it’s nice every so often to go to a spot where the cuisine isn’t child-focused. The little ones will have fun playing here, and we’ll make it an early evening so we can still tuck them in. See you tomorrow!

Today’s outfit: Chadwick’s madras skirt, LL Bean polo, Ipanema sandals. Do you see how baggy the shirt is getting? Wow! I’ve dropped about eight pounds on my diet thus far, and it’s definitely causing a split in my wardrobe. Things I haven’t worn since before Caroline are back in rotation, and last summer’s clothes are starting to look a little flowy. It’s a good thing, except I’ll need to replace some of the pieces I really like in the right size. I guess that’s a good problem to have!

Today’s adventures include getting our camper into and out of downtown today, and hosting the toddler playgroup here in between. One little girl and her big brother are definitely coming, and the other little girl has a very erratic schedule, so we’re not sure about her yet. She actually lives in the neighborhood, so I tried to very diplomatically suggest to the mom “if you’re able to put her down a bit later, we’d love to have you join us” –but Mom says she’s napping from 10-1 this week and can’t do a thing about it.

And then a few sentences later asks how I get Caroline to nap later. *sigh* I sort of feel that babies need our guidance to work out a healthy schedule, rather than eating and sleeping whenever. I mean, we put up with that in the first couple of months, but after that, house rules. And when they’re old enough to join us for table meals, those are served at our family’s meal times, not when Junior says he or she is hungry–that’s how children get settled into a comforting routine and go about the business of learning how to be people.

Of course that wasn’t my answer. I told her that Caroline doesn’t have a lot of choice with her naptime because of school and now camp pick-up schedule in the afternoon, and that she’s very tired by the time naptime happens and she does go right to sleep when I put her down. This poor mother was astonished–her child can take up to 90 minutes to fall asleep when she’s put down at 10:00 in the morning.

I said, “Please come over then! You can leave after 11:00 and maybe she will be tired enough to fall asleep after she’s played here!” We’ll see. Have a wonderful Wednesday! If I remember, I’ll take before and after pictures–they’re a riot.

Today’s outfit: purple scoopneck stretch tank from Kohl’s, self-sewn skirt, black ballet flats from Target. I was worried about the tank being too long, but it actually doesn’t look too bad–so that takes this skirt into summer. Its alternate is a purple cotton sweater that is far too much for 90 degree days like today!

Today’s adventures include errands, errands, and a few more errands. Then lunch, then camp pickup, then son’s Little Gym Sports Skills class before a late dinner. Then baths, play, stories, and bedtime for the little folks.

Then the fun really starts! Because there’s a new guy in my life these days:

The guy is my Wii Fit trainer. Yes, I finally got my Mother’s Day present–the Wii Fit arrived a little over a week ago, and I haven’t missed a day yet. I am having SO MUCH FUN with this!
Every day, I go for a 10-12 minute run around the Wii Fit Island, then I participate in a Super Hula Hoop contest, then it’s step aerobics on stage with my daughter and my mother (for they have “Mii” avatars as well). Then it’s time to do strength and yoga with my super-cute trainer, who is sometimes tired from staying up too late–but he always says that getting enough rest is a key to good health. He is developing a little more personality as I’ve spent more time with him, and that’s part of what makes Wii Fit fun. The more you use it, the more it sort of makes you part of its community. I get a weight and BMI each day before I start my workout, and it’s plotted on a graph so I can see how I’m doing.

It’s just the sort of visual-graphic-audio experience that makes fitness fun for me. My trainer is very encouraging (”Wow! You’ve got great abs!”) and all of the activities are a blast. Hooray for Wii Fit!