Letter to my Little Girl

Ella,

These are the best times. Your innocent times. Time to live. Time to grow. To take the time to enjoy the sights and sounds of life. To be fascinated by the world around you. A time of few worries and few judgements. A time when you are able to find some good in everyone and everything around you. Hopefully you take your love of others, love of self and love for life with you forever.

Your spirit is awesome. I am in awe of you. You choose to be you, not concerned of what others think. Always wanting to experience the new, not afraid of the challenges that have been placed before you. I was so honored to walk with you today on your first day of school. You gave me strength during that walk. All of my doubts and fears washed away by your confidence. Oh what confidence! Soon that confidence will take you on to big things and ultimately away from me. Hopefully you will cherish these days and remember the times like this morning when you have moved on, or are feeling down, or think that I am the worst person in the world, which you will.

You were named for two very strong women, I see that strength in you today. I hope you forever remember that I will always be there for you, to fight for you, to support you, to hug you, to love you. You are a blessing. You are a joy. Set your sights high and then blow them out of the water. Most importantly, be you and hold on to this spirit that you have been blessed with forever!

One day, if you choose to get married, I hope that I will get the honor to take you on another big walk. And hopefully you will once again give me the strength that you gave me today. I am honored to be able to watch you grow up and see you face down the challenges in your life. Hopefully in some little way, through the days of your life, I will be able to give you a fraction of the strength that you have given me. Remember that I will always be there for you and will always love you forever.

You will always be my little girl.

Love,
Daddy

**Guest blogger today!
(I am crying!)

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Watch this video!

School starts this week and I have to go back to work. Such a sad week. I really had a great summer but it just would be nice to have 2-3 more weeks! Sigh...

City Park

I live super close to this amazing park. I am pretty sure we could walk here...but oh the hill...so we don't. Perhaps next summer! But for the number of times we drive by this place, we rarely stop. My friend, Miriam, called me to go to City Park to check out shelters and then go on the rides. I almost fell over when I got a punch card for 10 rides for $6! Super cheap and you can do a few then come back another day. The people running the rides were super nice too. Nothing scared me too much and the kids love it. I am sure to go back. THis to me seems like a real memory maker for the kids- or at least me!

One Week Left..boo hoo!

Such a sad sad post but one that happens every year. Right now I am having my coffee and watching cartoons with my kiddos. This is one of the luxuries I will not have after this week. Weekends only. Now don't get me wrong, but I love the time of year where I go back to school. I am also excited for the learning that is going to (hopefully) take place with my children. It still seems like a magical process- how do they remember and learn what they do!! Amazing!

This year more than others I will miss my children in a different way this year. Before I felt I was going to miss some developmental milestone or cute actions, but now I really love them for WHO they are and their personalitlies. It has been a blessing this summer to see Bret and have breakfast and lunch together as a family. This has made these times special every day which I will miss greatly. I think my goal of spending this summer with my kids rather than carting them around everywhere has been a great one. I have loved my time with friends to connect and play. I am excited for school to begin- yes I have accepted it- but I loved this summer!!

3/50 Project

Have you heard about the 3/50 Project?

The 3/50 Project encourages people to shop locally. When we shop locally, the money we spend stays in our community. For every $100 we spend locally, $68 is returned to the community.

When we spend in a national chain, only $43 remains in the community. And, of course, when we buy online, nothing stays home.

So pick 3 businesses you would miss if they went out of business. Spend $50. Save our local economy.

Here are my 3:
If you know me you know I steer clear of Walmart. I understand it is cheaper- but I think I can work on saving in differnt ways as it is better for my community if I do not shop there. I will go there if I have to..but it pains me when I do. I am slightly addicted to Target but I am working in that. This summer I have been finding my local Ace- (just a few minutes from my house- I can actually walk there!) - often helps me find what I need with great service. They have so much more than just hardware. I often will run there when I am in need of something unique and useful.

I think I could also recommend Stuff- or any local consignment. : ) You are actually buying used goods, it really is recycling at its finest. What a green and economical concept. Stuff has made consignment cool in this town. Revival, Second Act, Kidsworks...it's all so good! So it is a shoppers market! Yea for me!

Last I would choose a local restaurant or local bakery. The Breadmarket has made us really want to go downtown more. In fact Bret and I are pretty much in love with most things Mondinaro-not the man but his creations are pretty tasty- Givannis (my fav!), Mickeys (has that sold yet?), Sports Cafe (yeah its back!) and Hothouse Yoga too.

For more information, check out http://www.the350project.net/home.html

Napkins

I know napkins are not very exciting, but I recently finished a stack for my friend Kim and I have made quite a few for myself. The kids are really good at reaching for these re-usable napkins and since I wash my towels every other day, keeping enough clean has not been an issue. I do think when I get my serger back I will need to do another load for me. I am getting it cleaned and adjusted as some of the pieces are a little loose and need fixing. Kim's stacks are from fabric selected by her own kiddos. Lots of pink and dogs and cats if I do remember right! They turned out so cute. Her mission is to have a waste-free lunch. Her and Nora also found these adorable re-usuable lunch snack and sandwhich bags which are lined and completely washable. They are a lot like these. I think a waste-free lunch is a great idea...now if we can get the schools on board!

Pardon the Mess

I apologize for the mess pictured here, as I have been scraping wallpaper off the walls all week. Still looking for a new paint color idea...I like Pear from Benjamin Moore. Bright greens seem to be working for me right now. There is a lot of prep work ahead so lots of time to decide.

But there is some hope with the new hardware on the cupboards. I also have one light fixture installed due to Mr. Mark (thanks!) and I hope to try installing the other sometime this week. More updates to come later this week!

OLD- can you believe how ugly this is? I have referred to this as the Spanish Inquistion Style.

NEW! Better?

Kernels Baseball

Last Tuesday was our first Kernels game of the year. Twice we were not able to go due to naps or other things popping up. I was really impressed with Lars and Ella doing much better at this game than in past times we have gone and all I seem to do is walk around with them. We actually were able to enjoy ourselves. I think the kids had fun too! The Kernels staff do such a great job of entertaining everyone. Our seats were great and we even had a free ticket thanks to our Kraft cheese wrapper!

Lars was very respectful during the anthem!

The eyeball race is one of the oddest looking races. It is quite entertaining for the kids but not quite as much fun as the racing sausages at Milwaukee. I am pretty sure red won!

This is the tooth fairy- Ella went crazy for her! She really thought she was the real thing. It was cute - she brushed the bases clean after we sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and she skipped from base to base.

Lars' Barn

I was cruising through Goodwill the other day and I landed upon this barn- it was taken apart and in the box with the other two small boxes which were chock full of accessories. This is an older barn and as you can see it swings open. THis was an amazing deal - only $10.38- gotta love Goodwills crazy eight prices! I would guestimate the whole lot was over $100 new. There are a few issues with the house but for ten bucks I am never going to complain! LArs thinks it is just great and so do I!

Ella has a dollhouse by the same company, Plan Toys, and she is slowly accruing furniture to fill it. She is becoming the right age as now as she often will close the door to her room to play with her dollhouse without her little brother tagging along. He would get so sad and teary because he wanted to play too. Well, now he goes to his room to play with his barn. In fact, the two of then often go between their two rooms and play with both items !