My precious Chloe

Dear Chloe,
I am in shock that my baby is 4 years old! Wow, it seems like you were only born a short time ago. You were the sweetest baby ever. You slept constantly and rarely cried. I was in heaven.

You are growing up to be such an individual, you are truly a spirited child. Some of the characteristics that drive me nuts right now, like your stubbornness, you wanting to do everything yourself and your defiance will make you such a strong and independent woman. I think we will either be great friends or butt heads a lot.





You have such a sense of humor for a little girl and you keep us laughing all the time. You love to perform and like to have an audience. While you can definitely try my patience, you are usually such a love bug. You love to hug, kiss and snuggle and I am just savoring every moment of that.

You look up to your big sister so much, even though you like to drive her crazy at times (like cutting her American Girl doll's hair), but I think she is teaching you more than your dad and I ever could (hopefully not too many bad things:) You would sleep in her bed every night if you could.

You are making great strides academically. You know all of your letters and numbers and are starting to try and sound out words! You will definitely be ready for kindergarten next year, even though you will still be 4 when school starts.

It is a bit sad to see you growing up and you are not my baby anymore, but I am very excited for all the adventures yet to come.

You are such a joy and I am so happy to be your mama.

Love always,
Mom

The wedding

So, last Christmas, my baby sister, Julia, (not really a baby anymore), decided to take a trip to Africa with a West African Dance school she had been going to. I thought the timing wasn't great, Christmas is a huge deal in our family, especially to our mom and she had had a rough year. Her partner and a very close friend both passed away and her mother was quite ill (she ended up passing on Christmas day) and I felt that our mom needed her girls home for Christmas.

Anyway, true to fashion, Julia didn't listen to me and went to Africa anyway. It is a good thing she did because she met the love of her life on her 3 week African adventure. This summer he was able to come to the states and they got married on September 6th.

Given the low budget nature of our family (grins) we pretty much did everything ourselves. The wedding was held in my mom's backyard, which required some work to get it ready. Julia had her dress and dresses for me, my girls, and our other sister, Patty, made while in Africa in the summer. She ordered the supplies and made all of the centerpieces herself, we cooked the majority of the food and decorated my mom's yard. The groom's brother, Karim, played beautiful music for the ceremony on an instrument he made himself (wish I could remember the name of it). But, the piece de resistance for me was that I got ordained online and officiated the ceremony, which was a great honor. I am going to tear up just thinking about it.

The weekend was a whirlwind of activity leading up to the wedding and I couldn't fathom how we would get it all done, but thanks to so many including Julia's wonderful new sister-in-law, Sarah Lee, Julia's friend, Janet, our cousins Brett and Eric, Julia's friends Wendy and Charles, the groom, Alya and his brother, Karim, we managed to get everything ready and it was beautiful.








This wedding was a magical experience and I am so happy I had such a big part in it (even though I was rather stressed leading up to it). Lily kept saying "This is the best wedding ever!"

Alya, bienvenue à notre famille, nous vous aimons. (Alya, welcome to our family, we love you.)
(Here is the French translation for Alya (not sure if it is correct):

Ainsi, dernier Noël, ma soeur de bébé, Julia, (pas vraiment un bébé plus), décidé pour la porter à un voyage en Afrique avec une école de danse africaine occidentale était allée à. J'ai pensé que la synchronisation n'était pas grande, Noël est une affaire énorme dans notre famille, particulièrement à notre maman et elle avait eu une année approximative. Son associé et un ami très étroit passé loin et sa mère étaient tout à fait défectuosité (elle ont fini vers le haut du dépassement le jour de Noël) et j'ai estimé que notre maman a eu besoin de ses filles à la maison pour Noël.

Quoi qu'il en soit, vrai à la mode, Julia n'a pas écouté moi et n'est pas allé en Afrique de toute façon. C'est une bonne chose qu'elle parce qu'elle a rencontré l'amour de sa vie sur sa aventure d'Africain de 3 semaines. Cet été il pouvait venir aux états et ils se sont mariés le 6 septembre.
Etant donné la basse nature de budget de notre famille (grimaces) nous avons assez beaucoup fait tout nous-mêmes. Le mariage a été tenu dans l'arrière-cour de ma maman, qui a exigé d'un certain travail de l'obtenir prêt. Julia a eu sa robe et les robes pour moi, mes filles, et notre autre soeur, pâté, ont fait tandis qu'en Afrique en été. Elle a commandé les approvisionnements et a fait toutes les pièces maîtresses elle-même, nous avons fait cuire la majorité de la nourriture et avons décoré la cour de ma maman. Le frère de toilettage, Karim, belle musique jouée pour la cérémonie sur un instrument il s'est fait (souhait je pourrais me rappeler le nom de lui). Mais, le morceau de resistance pour moi était que j'ai obtenu ordonné en ligne et officié la cérémonie, qui était un grand honneur. Je vais déchirer penser vers le haut juste cela.

Le week-end était un tourbillon d'activité amenant au mariage et je ne pourrais pas sonder comment nous lui obtiendrions tout le fait, mais grâce tellement à beaucoup comprenant soeur merveilleuse de Julia la nouvelle, l'ami de Sarah Lee, de Julia, le Janet, nos cousins Brett et les amis d'Eric, de Julia Wendy et Charles, le toilettage, Alya et son frère, Karim, nous sommes parvenus à obtenir tout prêt et il était beau.

Ce mariage était une expérience magique et je suis si heureux j'ai eu une si grande partie dans elle (quoique j'étais plutôt amener soumis à une contrainte à lui). Le lis continué dire « ceci est le meilleur mariage jamais ! »

Alya, bienvenue à notre famille, nous vous aimons.

Lovely ladies

We have been having lots of fall fun, despite the dreary Michigan weather. I love this time of year. Fall color, apple picking, back to school.

Two weekends ago, we ventured to Wasem's orchard with great family friends (one of whom is Chloe's future husband) to pick apples and eat fresh donuts and cider. Yum. We are still eating the delicious apples (we got a half bushel) and I hope to get around to making applesauce this week! Thankfully, my kids love apples, so even if the applesauce doesn't happen, they will not go to waste.
Last weekend, while Shawn was on a business trip, the girls and I went to hang out with my BFF, Kelley, in Cleveland. She is an awesome friend to host us (and the mayhem) for the weekend and she loves my kids "buckets". Some of the weekends activities included a Halloween party, fort making, movie watching and a fashion show. Good times.

My Sweet Lily

Dear Lily,
I can't believe you have been with us for eight years! It seems like only yesterday that you came into this world and made our lives infinitely more exciting, wondrous, meaningful. (and also crazy, hectic and exasperating at times) You made me a mother and you mean the world to me. You are such a special girl, here are a few examples.

1. I admire your empathy toward others. You are always considerate of people's feelings.
2. I respect the fact that you always try to do the right thing and follow the rules.
   
3. I am in awe of your self confidence and self-awareness at such a young age. You do your own thing even if everyone else is doing something else.
4. You are a fabulous artist and writer.
5. I think it is amazing how well you pay attention to things, you can always retell an event or story with many details.
   
6. You are so sweet to your little sister, even though I know she drives you nuts sometimes.
7. I love that you will let her sleep in your bed, so she isn't scared or upset
8. I loved when you went on a field trip you used some of your tickets to get a prize for her too.
9. I love that you can be so patient with her in helping her learn how to do something new.
10. I love that you call each other 'sissy'

There are so many more things about you that are amazing. I am so grateful to be your mom and I love watching you grow and mature (although don't do it too quickly, OK?)

Love,
Mom

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who gave me input about my little hellion. I have removed the post because it doesn't feel right to have all of her bad qualities on display for the world to see. I sure wouldn't want a list of my bad qualities floating around the internet ((shudder)). Here is a pic from our recent vacation to South Padre Island, TX instead.

The fabulous Grosgrain strikes again

I have been saying I need an apron for ages. Every time I cook (or eat for that matter) something ends up on my shirt. I have the fabric yet not the time to make one for myself, so I am posting a link to try and win a gorgeous, retro apron that is way cuter than what I would make anyway. Cross your fingers for me!

Boojiboo Flirty Apron GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Edit: My fabulous friend Chris sent me a Boojiboo apron for my birthday and I love it. Thanks Chris!

Father's Day

Well, I tried. That's all I can say. I got my hubby tickets to the Tigers game with my oldest daughter, Lily, for Father's Day. Pretty good gift, right? Wrong. Lily slept over a friend's the night before and had a bit of a cold, that combined with the heat made her a cranky mess so they ended up leaving the game before the end of the 4th inning. She was apparently whining the whole time and being quite embarrassing. Great. I just wanted to yell at her "Why are you ruining this day?" but she is just a kid and it doesn't matter what day it is, if she's cranky, she's cranky. The other one was no peach either as you can see from the pic below:
I may have redeemed the day somewhat with a steak dinner and the 'best chocolate sheet cake ever'.

My husband is such a wonderful father. Having grown up with barely a relationship with mine, I am so grateful that my girls have a dad who is here and will always be here for them, no matter what. I also know that we wouldn't have the life we have without him. So, I am sorry this day wasn't the best representation of how much we appreciate you, we will try to show you everyday how much you mean to us.