A Little of This... A Little of That...

So far, summer has been going so great. All the girls are at a fun age- and there is SO. MUCH. FUN. STUFF. TO. DO! I have to remind myself (and my children!) that sometimes we just need to stay home...and do laundry and stuff! 

The past week it has rained. A lot. That has forced us to kind of stick close to home and get some projects done. Like this lovely: 

You see, two little (fashionista) girls and one small dresser was no longer a feasible combination. As I started moving the fall/winter clothes out, and the spring/summer clothes in, I knew it was time for a second dresser. I found this little gem at a garage sale for $20. I wish I would have taken a "before" picture- it was a dark green. We painted over it, using some leftover paint from the basement walls. Then, I "roughed it up" with some sandpaper until some of the green started to show through. Finished with a coat of poly, then bought some new fun drawer pulls at Hobby Lobby... and, ta da! Maggie has a new dresser... It's in the spare bedroom, but she thinks it's pretty cool that she can go get her own clothes from a totally different room, so.... 

Yesterday, I had big plans to bring the girls to a story/craft time at the library, a quick run to the grocery store, then home for naps with plenty of time to make a nice dinner. Then, life kind of blew up, and I had to head into work for a while. This turned into an impromptu lunch date with a co-worker and her two little girls, an unexpected run-in with a dear friend, and a little bit of shopping to close out the day. None of those were in our plans. But we had a blast! Besides, it helps when you look as cute as this: 

The first few days of summer break were rough. The girls were accostomed to waking up between 6:15 and 6:30, which made for some looooonnnngggg days until Dan got home from work around 6pm. They've been staying up a bit later, however, and have been sleeping in until 7:30 or 8:00, which has been awesome (too bad I have to go back to work in a week!) This morning, though, Miss Hattie woke me up about 6:30... singing. I grabbed her quick before she could wake up the other two, and we enjoyed a nice breakfast together... just the 2 of us! Coffee and a newspaper for me... a banana and some cereal for her! Besides, who can be grumpy waking up at 6:30 when you get to hang out with this? 

Yum!

Yeah, so I'm kinda grossly behind on blogging about all the fun stuff we've been doing so far this summer because, well... we're busy doing fun stuff! 

Anyway- we did find time tonight for our first Shirl's visit of the summer! Yum!

 Cotton candy dipped cone is pretty much the ONLY way to go!

 See? All the smart girls get them! 

 Hattie shares...

 ...but decides she'd rather just do it herself...

Screw the spoon! This is so much more efficient!

Let's Go Fly a Kite...

Dan bought Lucy a kite for her birthday. I bought one for Maggie shortly thereafter. 

No, I'm not a sucker. I just know when it came time to actually fly them, there would be much arguing and fighting, and frankly, it was easier to spend the $5.99 and just be proactive and avoid it all. 

Tonight after dinner, it cooled down quite a bit and the wind picked up. A great night to try out the kites! We headed across the street to the soccer fields.. and had a blast! I haven't flown a kite since my student teaching days, over ten years ago. Seriously- worth the money. Buy a kite. Fly it. Good old fashioned fun!

 Maggie's rainbow kite

 Lucy's Snow White kite- it was waaaaay up there!

 Hattie thought the kites were awesome!

 So proud!

 Getting some exercise!

Sparkle Birthday!

For the second time this year, we celebrated a very special "sparkle" (golden) birthday in the Salmon house! Miss Hattie turned one on March 1st, and Miss Lucy turned FOUR on June 4th. How exciting! Back in December or so, I made a quick reference to the girls both celebrating their golden birthdays in the same year. In Lucy-land, that translated to "sparkle" (or spaw-kle bewth-day) birthday... and so, "sparkle birthday" celebrations were born! (Side note- Papa turns 66 on July 6th of this year- the big girls have already dubbed it his "double sparkle" birthday!) 

Originally, we had planned a big, Candyland-themed party to celebrate Lucy's special day. However, while early June babies are really great for teachers when it comes time to deliver, it's not so great in subsequent years when it comes to celebrating. End-of-the-school year paperwork, testing, graduation ceremonies, parties, programs, recitals.... where does a party fit in- much less the planning? About 2 weeks before said party was supposed to take place (and I still hadn't even printed/mailed invitations) I threw up my hands, and suggested a fun-filled day at the Shedd Aquarium instead. I must be a darn good saleslady, because Lucy was ALL OVER that idea! (pictures to come in separate blogpost!) 

June 4th fell on a Tuesday, which was a work/school day. Lucy brought donut holes for her classmates, and invited some family over for homemade pizza and cake. It was a fun day for sure!

  

 Pinterest sure made it sound like making a #4 cake was muuuuch easier than it really was!

 Getting ready for pizza with the special birthday plate!

 Ant Jood came to celebrate!

 While I am not overly fond of how this cake turned out- Lucy LOVED it... and in the end, that's all that matters (and man, it tasted yummy!) 

 Opening the first of many, many presents!

 Showing off her new light-up shoes from Gramma and Papa!

 Opening presents is a serious job!

 Big sister Maggie helped read Lucy the special card she made for her

More presents!

Chef Hattie

A few days ago, I was in the kitchen baking cookies. Hattie was walking around me, half grunting, half crabbing... but I could not figure out what she wanted. She had just woken up from a nap, had clean pants on and just finished a snack... yet, she was whiny and restless. I tried distracting her with a number of different things- she'd go over in the corner and play with her play kitchen for a few moments before she'd return to pull on my pant legs and start the grunting all over again. Finally (warning: "bad mom" alert!) I lost my patience and said (OK, yelled a little...) "Hattie! WHAT. DO. YOU. WANT?" She toddled over to the hook with the kitchen aprons and pulled on the strings that were hanging down. Oooohhhhh. 

Mom works in kitchen wearing apron = Hattie works in kitchen wearing apron. GOT IT. 

I tied one of the "kid" aprons on her.. and she went happily on her way. She now insists on wearing an apron every time she's "cooking." I think it's awesome. 

 Hattie looking cool and feeling proud in her apron!

 

 I want to note that I later found this tea cup in the diaper bag. Hmmm.... 

 Makin' soup!

 Taste testing the lettuce... 

 Hattie says, "WHO WANTS EGGS?"