Category Archives: The Day to Day

Evelyn: “I like your ring.”

Me: “Thanks. It’s my wedding ring. Daddy gave it to me and promised to be my sweetheart forever.”

Evelyn: ”Uh-huh. When I get a wedding I will use my pink flower ring.” (This is a neon pink plastic flower ring that goes MIA for several months and magically turns up again. Not sure where it goes.)

Me: “And who are you going to marry?”

Evelyn: “Just me.”

Me: “Excellent idea.”

Evelyn: “I will have Evelyn and a baby!”

Me: “Uh- okay. What if a boy wants to marry you?”

Evelyn: Giggles profusely and mumbles unintelligibly through her blanket, comes up sputtering something about a boyfriend.

Oh boy. I may have to keep a closer eye on this one.

The subject quickly changes to Mama dragon and a Gus dragon looking for apples to make pie and finding Evelyn fairy lost in the woods and the big bad wolf not letting them cross the bridge because he’s mean, all said in one breath. And this has been a bedtime conversation with a three year old. Good night!

Sorry about the absence, but the weather demanded it. Highs in the eighties.

In the middle of March.

In Wisconsin.

You don’t take that sort of thing lightly around here. You get out and do something.

But this amazing weather left us scrambling to find suitable clothing. New dresses, tee shirts, shorts, and sandals were purchased. I dug out the bin of shorts from the attic and said a silent prayer (maybe it was more like a threat with some foul language peppered in) in hopes they would fit, found some sandals, and slapped some nail polish on as a feeble attempt at a pedicure. All set? You bet!

We went to parks. We did lots of sidewalk chalk drawing, playing on trikes and bikes and cars, and fighting over said trikes, bikes, and cars. There was swinging and climbing and visiting with neighbors. We ran free and barefoot at Grandma Betty’s house. Covered in a film of frosting, chalk, ketchup, and mud, we came home dirty and tired.

A good kind of week.

It was not to last, though, and today has brought rain. There are mountains of laundry and sticky floors to take care of. But it sort of makes me happy to do these things on a shut-in kind of day. It means I let them go to have fun with my family while the pickins’ were good.

Ebb and flow, up and down. All you can hope for- normal days and better than normal days. We got our share of them this week for sure.

Despite the glumness of Monday, the week has been great. I realized some of the things that had me in a bad mindset were things I can’t directly make happen so I changed my focus. I pulled out paint swatches and thought about over hauling all the walls in my house. I thought about ways I could finally decorate to make it look like a family lives here not just a bunch of squatters who like pink plastic toys, trains, leaving their stripped clothes where they lie, and drink from sippy cups. I started gearing up to try out once a month cooking, via here. I am going to try the whole foods menu (some of it). Anyone interested in joining me? Or taking my kids for the day? Ha!

I called the preschool coordinator and she said that the two day preschool slots were full, but they put me on the waiting list and gave me hope that Evelyn has a possibility of going to school in the fall. I could have got her in the three day a week class but I think that would be a lot for her, and me, so we’ll see what happens.

The sun was shining on Tuesday and with prospects of sixty-degree weather we high-tailed it down to the zoo while Scott had a meeting. it was great! the littles had a fun time seeing all the animals out enjoying the day. The best exhibit was the puddles and melting snowbanks, though.

They both need some new galoshes.

When we got home, it was only getting warmer so we pulled out the bikes and sidewalk chalk. A good day.

Wednesday brought some clouds but Scott was off so we all went down to the Madison Children’s Museum .

Such a great place and we can’t wait to go back this summer so we can check out the rooftop garden.

And what better way to end a great day than with some ice cream? Okay so a better way was that the kids were in bed by 8:30 and Scott and I got to watch a movie together and drink some wine (or scotch if your Scott. Or is it whisky? Scotch whisky?).

Today the sun is shining again and I am off to find a swimsuit before Saturday. I need to accompany Evelyn in her swimming lessons and all of my suits are maternity or two piece. I’m sure there is one out there that is flattering and makes my legs look long and my skin not so pasty, right? I’ll keep the optimism going for now.

Last week was junk. Then the weekend turned into junk. I was glad to see the sun shining this morning or I probably wouldn’t have made it too far out of my pajamas. Things were looking a little better. Then I was trying to figure out where Evelyn’s swimming lessons will be this Saturday because it says one place on our receipt and another in the school district paper and I noticed a little tab for preschool registration on the district’s website.

What what? I had failed to see the notice in the paper, even though I had been looking for it, and registration was February 1st. There is talk of waiting lists and such so I’m not sure if she can still get in. Completely missed the ball on that one. I guess I’ll give a call tomorrow to see if there is any hope. If not, I suppose I’ll be hyper-vigilant with next year’s registration. It’s just that we don’t see other kids hardly ever and I so wanted this for her. Nothing like the anxiety caused by your own muck-ups.

I still don’t know where the swimming lessons are.

And we’re back to junk.

Tomorrow is supposed to be magnificent. High of 59°, sunny. Too bad Scott has a daytime meeting and will miss it. Hopefully the kids and I can find something fun to do and things will start looking up.

An extra day to do anything and we are stuck at home with a nasty stomach bug. At least the weather is junk, too. Poor Evelyn has basically been alone all day while Gus and I slept on the couch. Chips and cookies for lunch? Can you get them yourself? Yes? That’s fine. You want to play with all of the bandaids and use them as stickers? Just shut the cabinet when your done. Sure I will play the Barbie movie again for the fourth time. Do you know where your clothes are? No? Whatever, just shut the blinds.

And the whole time she kept giving me kisses on my forehead and brushing my hair off my face, asking if I needed more juice. Maybe there is hope for her being a true motherly first-born. Poor dear. I know her time is coming even with the no sharing food or cups rule today.

Maybe tomorrow things will be on their way to being normal and it will be as if this day never happened…

My Darling Girl,

Three.

You are here tonight in my bed, safe from those bats that come out in your dreams. You have snugged yourself in and I watch your eyelids dance and your lashes flutter as your thoughts float back to the twinkling foam. Your hair, not sure if it is blonde or brown, wisps its way around your little elf ears. Your small, turned up nose just peeks out from under the covers, showing that spot that’s the color of tea with milk. Your breath slows to the rhythm of sleep.

So little and so big. I’m not sure if you even weigh thirty pounds yet, but your personality makes up for what your stature is lacking. Never a dull or predictable moment with you, Miss June. Belting out your favorite songs at a screechy pitch whenever the moment feels right, usually in the check out line at Target. Telling us what is a good idea or not a good idea (mostly that the things you want to do are good ideas). Perpetual wardrobe changes and uncoordinated dance moves. You like painting, telling stories, giving your brother hugs, and macaroni and cheese. You are way into mermaids and your favorite color is purple, or pink, or blue, or white, or whatever color Olive’s eyes are. Changing your mind is the prerogative of a three year old, I suppose.

You are clever and funny and the source of many laughs, as well as tears and frustration. But I know one day I will be so proud of your will, your independence. All I want is for you to be a smart and strong woman. Stronger than me, I hope. But know that it is okay to ask for help along the way.

I see you here in your petiteness and I think about how much smaller you were and how much of that I have forgotten. I can’t recall what your baby giggle sounded like or what your soft head smelled like. The memories of your lisp and the songs you make up will fade in time, too, but I know that somewhere there is a small part of me that has locked away what it felt like to kiss your toes or what your small hands felt like on my face. Those places in me know of our time together, when it was just you and me at the beginning. You are of me and because of this, there is no false memory of the things that matter. You have been imprinted on my heart forever.

And this is what you are, my sweet girl of three years; you are a twinkle in my eye, a spark in my heart, a song in my ear, and a smile on my lips.

Happy Birthday, Evelyn June

Love,

Mama

Here are some of my favorite pictures of you from the last year:

Do you have sunshine where you are today? The sun is shining today, but things had been pretty gloomy around here lately. All the while I was making little jars of sunshine.

I sought out some little meyer lemons with the intent of cooking up a batch of marmalade. Well, a few pounds of lemons turned into six and a batch turned into three.

I wish I could point you in the direction of a recipe but I can’t. All of the batches were different. The first two Momma and I experimented with. We started out with the intent to not using pectin and let it cook down for a long time. It still wasn’t setting on a plate in the freezer so we added some pectin. Then it set up real good. For the second batch we added some vanilla bean and used the pectin from the start, but I think we used too much water and it took a long time to set. This batch even got put in jars and almost sent to the canner and then we decided to dump it back in the pot and cook it a little longer.

The third batch I did by myself and I’m really happy with the way it turned out. This batch has mint and vanilla bean in it and is awesome! I used pectin so I didn’t have to cook it for so long, which I think makes the lemon pieces lose their flavor and then they just start to taste like grapefruit. This also resulted in a slightly lighter color (in the picture below, this batch is the first jar on the left. The color is more notable in person).

I am halfway considering buying a few more pounds just to see if I can get the same results from my notes. Then I’ll post a recipe. But to satisfy the need to can something I made a batch of pomegranate cherry jelly.

This is so tart and tasty and takes so little time to make! I love it. I think my sister might, too, so I will have to save her a jar. The recipe for this is from Better Homes & Gardens Canning, a magazine that was out last summer, which I hunted down after reading about so many good things made by Amanda. I am so glad I got it! I think every page has a marker on it for something I want to make. I can’t wait for produce to start rolling in. Ah, summer. I miss you.

I hope you have a sunny Monday!

We made a sort of mindless attempt at Valentine’s decorations. Pulled out paper, cut out strips, rolled, taped, strung.

But Evelyn thinks they are beyond awesome. I even had some extra strips to hang some little hearts from the light fixture.

Sort of cute, right?

Well, I’m not sure what I was thinking. I have a 17 month old who spends every free moment he isn’t smearing food into the carpet or terrorizing the dog scrambling up on the kitchen table, tempting fate by running around as fast as he can then seeing how close to the edge he can come to a halt. Like jumping off a cliff but pulled back just a bit. He then zooms to the other side when I try to grab him, squealing in delight knowing he has single handedly shaved a year off his mother’s life with one little move.

This table is under the light fixture with the cute hearts. Gus says wrong.

Gussy broke my hearts. Twice. I restrung them and in the minute I took to brush my teeth, he did a smash and grab. Personal hygiene be damned, this kid has an agenda.