Monthly Archives: April 2010

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Ten on Tuesday

April 27, 2010 – 6:08 pm

1. I have a stash of Jolly Ranchers somewhere. I really feel like a little watermelon action, but have to settle for the lone cinnamon fire I found in the cupboard.

2. The dandelions are out of control in our yard. If I had three wishes I might use one for a beautifully landscaped, less embarrassing weed-filled yard. Just sayin’.

3. We are missing a ballet shoe. We’re six weeks out from the recital and I may have to break down and buy yet another set of ballet shoes (this has happened before) (we’re like up to five pairs of ballet shoes in our home and two are pair-less) (you’d HTINK we could be a little more on top of organizing around here).

4. I’m planning to do a photo a day in the month of May (B & W style). Care to play?

5. I am visiting Andy in D.C. this weekend — without the girls. I’m not sure who is more excited: Andy because he gets a visitor, me because it’s like a two day vacation, or the girls because they get our friends R & C all to themselves.

6. My girls are crazy into Barbies again. They currently want a dollhouse that will  hold the heighth of their favorite doll, so we’re selling their beloved and barely used Fisher-Price dollhouse. I’m torn, the house is in great shape but collects dust. Literally and figuratively.

7. I finally tried my hand at tattered fabric roses this week. They will be a fun addition to pretty paper, I think.

8. My grandma is celebrating her 84th birthday today. Do you ever wonder what your 80s will look like on you? I’m curious, too. I wonder if I’ll care so much about shoes and running and weeds that grow out of control or will I be able to take it all in stride. Will my heart last that long? So many things to think about, of course, I still have 50 years or so, so there’s that.

9. It’s bake the burden bread day! Burden bread is code name for Amish Friendship Bread. It’s delicious, but you have to mush the bag over ten days… and add to it on day 4 and honestly, we’re the type of people that forget things like this. It’s like trying to remember to take vitamins everyday- what a burden!

10. I’ve read through the book of Proverbs many times, but today I came to a verse that I ordinarily  would have read right over. What a blessing the Word of God is to me, this verse speaks to me as I care for our own children in this season and think about how we’re investing our time with them:

“Be diligent to know the state of your flocks  and attend to their needs.” Proverbs 27:23

Be blessed today!

By Susie | Posted in POTD May 2010, Uncategorized | Comments (15)

7 of 10 Free Things I Love to do: Visit the Library

April 26, 2010 – 8:25 pm

This is 7 in a series of 10. You can see the rest of the free things here.

_MG_7530-EditWho doesn’t love visiting the library? Well, maybe my husband. He’s a quick reader, but still prefers to reread his favorites on his bookshelf. I like to collect books, but have only reread a few. That’s why the library rocks! Borrow and return! Walk the aisles or look up what you need on the computer! Peruse the returns or peek over at someones stack next to you! The library is a great place to spend for story time or quiet time- it just depends how many are in our party. Sarah can check out as many chapter books as she’d like (I limit her so we don’t lose them), Ashleigh will assemble and take apart as many puzzles as she can in a 25 minutes and Lauren can pull books out from the shelves and repeatedly ask if we can buy them (I’m trying to still un-teach this habit). I love that my favorite hobbies have a special place in this building and if the book I want isn’t in it, the magic computer can locate it in a nearby community. Another great advantage to the library is that it’s like trying on shoes, but if you decide they aren’t the right fit, you can easily return it with no questions asked. And who doesn’t love trying on shoes that we don’t have to buy?

I must admit that we have been spoiled with some really amazing local library branches in all the places we have lived. We had to take a break for awhile when the girls were at the toddle-every-whihc-way-and-destroy-bookshelves-in-sight stage, but we’re back and we routinely visit about once a week.

Bottom line: Visiting the library is a free adventure any afternoon of the week. Recently, they cut back the hours of the local libraries, but they are still open everyday, so I put my Save the Library shirt away. We’re still safe.

By Susie | Posted in 10 Free Things I love | Comments (4)

Adventures in Ohio: Whit’s Frozen Custard and Lebanon

April 25, 2010 – 7:27 pm

Untitled-14The girls and I have a sweet tooth. I don’t know how to suppress it, so I give in to it. I can control it most of the time, as to not overindulge, but it’s still there.

So. Enter Whit’s Frozen Custard in a small town just south of us, about a 35 minute drive. We first heard about the town last summer when we went to a Blues Festival with about 500 other people. I thought it would be a good way to spend the afternoon together while satisfying the sweet tooth (teeth).

One of the more unique things about this place is that they have two flavors that are consistent: chocolate and vanilla. The unique part to their menu is a flavor of the day and a flavor of the week! Last summer, it was blueberry pie and ohmygoodness you would have thought it was the first time any of us had ice cream (or frozen custard, rather!). Deliciousness! Sunday’s special menu called for Dreamscicle and Raspberry Cheesecake!

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The frozen custard is delicious and some nice lady saw how cute the girls and I were sitting there inhaling our treats and offered to take our picture. I’d like to believe that it’s perfect aside from the fact that there are possibly twelve things I might have done differently had I taken it. But, I’m letting it go. I got to be IN the picture.

I’m always practicing taking photos in full sun without a flash, so here’s my little model. She usually complies for some chocolate – or the promise of chocolate at a later time. We usually forget, so it’s win-win. If you’re curious, I had Sarah turn her face completely toward me to shade the sun coming from behind, I metered off her skin, stepped back and took the shot.

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We headed down the street to a few antique shops and went “treasure hunting.” The girls aren’t overly excited about this new found hobby of mine but they were cool hanging by the fountain were we learned that Downtown Lebanon can be seen in a couple of older movies. Sarah is all about showing off. Lauren is all about facial expressions. Silly girls.

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It’s so nice to be outside and enjoying the warmer temperatures with the girls, even if we sometimes need some long sleeves! Two adventures down, eight more to go before July: woot!

By Susie | Posted in Adventures | Comments (5)

Five.

April 21, 2010 – 9:03 pm

_MG_7303-EditAshleigh turned 5 today, a day she’s been looking forward to for, well, at least for 30 days. This little girl could hardly contain her excitement for her special day, I love helping my daughters feel special – especially on their birthday. She woke up to a few decorations ( special shout out to Ryan & Corrie who made those balloons possible, a million thank yous!) and a handful of presents. I explained to her that we would have a birthday week celebration this year since we had to adjust “classroom celebration day” and “special-outing-with-a- friend- day” since this Wednesday wasn’t necessarily  ideal for party day. She took it all in stride and we had a good balance all day.

Untitled-13_MG_7391-EditAsh checked out the Pink Princess Cookbook last week at the library and showed me the picture two pages in and requested THAT cake. I already admitted that I pretty much stink up the house on decorating cakes yesterday, but luckily, my five-year-old could care less. It was “the best cake ever” today.

Untitled-12As far as I can tell, she felt super special today ON her actual birthday. Therefore: Mission Accomplished.

…

Five Things about Ashleigh on her Fifth Birthday

1. She is creative and artistic. She loves to draw, color, craft, paint, chalk, mix, blend, stamp. You name it, she wants to create it.

2. She is also a dancer. She points, spins, leaps, pliés, twirls and performs.

3. She is extremely sensitive but very outgoing.

4. She is amazingly thoughtful. For example, besides wanting to send cards every day to her friends (I don’t know where she gets that from?), she finally talked me into buying flowers for her speech pathologist for no special reason otherwise to be kind and thoughful. Love that.

5. She has Andy’s Flintstone feet.

:)

This blog began the month she was born, so they are both celebrating five this year. Fortunately, only one cake is required. It still amazes me that five years just flashed by, but I really enjoy being able to look back at her very fresh into our family… Happy Birthday to our sweet Ashleigh Rae!

By Susie | Posted in Ashleigh | Comments (14)

Ten on Tuesday

April 20, 2010 – 9:46 pm

1. I read today that adults laugh on average ten times a day. I’m going to conduct my own research this week and get back to you on that.

2. I know I have sung the benefits of Facebook here before, but a friend from fourth grade (FOURTH grade!) found me today. Gosh- I remember sleepovers with her, how fun is that!

3. And now the time machine: 4th grade was 23 years ago. That always puts things into perspective.

4. I received three pieces of fun mail today. It makes me laugh sometimes how fun mail arrives in waves. BUT I love poring over friends words and appreciate their thoughtfulness.

5. I am a hugger. Sometimes it’s embarrassing because I want to give a hug to people that don’t like to be hugged and it’s awkward. What do you do, stop mid-hug? Give up hugging? Weird, right?

6. Lauren got her pointer finger stuck in a plastic tubular eraser on Sunday evening, right as we were getting ready for bed. I saw two options (besides panic): 1. Try to saw or hammer it off with one wiggly toddler by myself or 2. Take her to my neighbor’s house that probably had more experience with this and let them saw off (the eraser from) her finger. Rob and Lisa are my heroes. And Lauren still has ten fingers intact.

7. I’m a pro at cutting lettuce and cantaloupe. I know, totally boastful, but I feel like I have some mad skills when it comes to these two produce items. And so much satisfaction once complete.

8. Did you know that the library has an entire section dedicated to cookbooks? AWEsome. I’m a little late to that game, but I’m so excited to try a few that have been on my wishlist!

9. I made a cake tonight for my girl that’s turning 5 in just a few short hours. I know she won’t care what it looks like too much, but sheesh, I won’t be quitting my day job (well, I probably can’t do that anyway). Let’s just say my craftiness just might be limited to paper supplies

10. I bought Lolo some bubbles last week and they were just too hard to blow -but she kept on trying and finally got a few to fly. She is one determined little girl.

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By Susie | Posted in Ten on Tuesday | Comments (7)

Adventures Around Ohio: Aullwood Gardens

April 18, 2010 – 10:17 pm
Untitled-9We headed up to Aullwood Audobon Center & Farm on Saturday to take in nature at its finest. After all, Spring has arrived here in Ohio and there is plenty of bursting flowers & plants to celebrate! The charming Aull House is a field trip destination for many schol-aged children, but on a Saturday afternoon, it wasn’t too busy at all. There were plenty of hands-on discovery tables for us to learn from- some even had live animals in them. Ashleigh was the one that initiated getting the snake out from its container. It gave me the heebie jeebies and I proceeded to step as far back as I could.
Here she is spotting birds in the observation room:
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Lauren loved checking out all the fur coats from various animals on display.
Untitled-11We headed outdoors for a walk along the trail. I would call it “hiking” but we exerted almost little to no extra energy so a walk it was. The paths were surrounded by a gorgeous mixture of Virginia Bluebells and other greenery.
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Sarah in her element: reading signs. Her daddy would be proud.
_MG_7124-EditWe later drove over to the farm to see the baby goats, lambs and pigs that were born recently. Here’s Sarah doing another activity she loves: Cartwheels.
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The farm portion of our visit has a small duck pond that we walked around. Ashleigh had a moment when she needed to sit down by herself (I must remind myself that afternoon is not always the best time of day for them, case in point. Luckily, she quickly got back to her cheerful ways):
_MG_7178-EditOh– Lauren, too. Hey, keepin’ it real here. We’re not always sunshine and smiles…
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Luckily, she got out of her mood quickly.
Here’s my favorite image of the day- I kept snapping away at this grazing horse until I saw this shot. Since we visited Nashville, I’ve been tilting my camera up, it’s kind of been fun to experiment with. Give it a try and see what adding sky into your shot will do :)
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More adventures soon..!
By Susie | Posted in Adventures, Family | Comments (4)

Ash + Jump Rope = Afternoon Joy

April 15, 2010 – 7:09 pm

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By Susie | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (4)

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Weekends to Fill Edition

April 13, 2010 – 9:18 pm

My friends at Bible study reminded me this morning that we are moving soon- ack! It’s not one bit crazy around here because there aren’t any signs of a traditional move. But the end of June will creep up on me, I think, and it reminded me that I have many things left to do that I  want to experience with the girls that are fairly close. So in no particular order, 10 things we can do here on the next 10 available weekends (two are filled with other visiting plans, so they got tossed out by default):

1. Visit Dayton Art Institute- it’s long columns and artistic staircases on the exterior are beautiful, but I am excited to experience and take in the inners of this building, too

2. Enjoy a Farmers’ Market experience at National City 2nd Street  Market. Fresh flowers for our table and brunch from a french creperie- what could be nicer on a sunny Saturday?

3. Brave the crazy weather between here and Cincinnati (okay, just the last time it was crazy rainy with tornadic conditions) and go to the Newport Aquarium. I’ve heard amazing things about this place, and the stop at Ikea on the way home is fun for mama, too.

4. You better believe we won’t miss this annual event this year- the Strawberry Festival in Troy is world renown (I’ve heard) (from the locals). But I love me some strawberries, it should be fun!

5. Get back to Lebanon and enjoy a scoop (or two) at Whit’s – THE  local frozen custard shop. It appears that their flavor of the week is cookie dough, I might have to cross that off our list sooner than later!

6. Head west for an overnighter to visit the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. They came highly recommended since the first moment we stepped into Ohio. Go back, they cried, go visit Indiana! Will do.

7. I think I can handle one more zoo trip this year (remember my thoughts on going to the zoo: Once you’ve been to the zoo, you’ve been to the zoo. Not much changes). So, I’m thinking Columbus Zoo is a destination. And maybe a stop by Pei Wei because you know, it’s there.

8. I heard Oxford, OH might be a cool place to walk around.I’m considering bringing my camera, too.

9. Aullwood Farm is expecting baby animals soon, I think a few little people around here would love to pet some. They are trying to talk me into a pet of our own, right now, but that’s another post of its own. Sigh.

10. Town Hall Theatre isn’t too far away from us and I have wanted to take the girls for some time to see SOMEthing. I think Thespians are wonderful and hope the girls will think so, too!

Here’s to a fun-filled and packed last ten(ish) weekends to explore our world around us. What’s on your list of things to do this Spring?

By Susie | Posted in Ten on Tuesday | Comments (14)

When in Doubt, Twirl!

April 12, 2010 – 9:18 pm

-Anonymous

Untitled-6Untitled-7I love three-year-olds. Especially this one.

By Susie | Posted in Lauren, Photography | Comments (7)

Nerds Breed Nerds

April 9, 2010 – 6:52 pm

Sarah came home yesterday with very exciting news. See, Thursday is library day for her first grade class.

“Mommy, guess what? I checked out the dictionary to read!”

Yes, you read that right: THE dictionary.

The girl’s excitement could not be described! She pulled that monster of a book out from the monster of a backpack her dad bought her and happily skipped on over to the floor where she could spread it out and pore over the words, their definitions and the small pictures here and there to help with meaning.

Of course I did what any supportive mom would do: I laughed.

Then, quickly tried to cover it up by generating some encouragement and woo! woo’s! because after all, her dad is sort of on the other side of the fence with the whole nerd title and I’m the happy cheerleader.

Today, she took that oversized hardback in the car with us while we ran some errands and happened across the section toward the back where it lists each state with its nickname. She  proceeded to quiz me on them by saying first, the state, “Ohio” to which of course I was expected to respond with the assigned nickname,  ”The Buckeye State.”  Let’s just say, I know about five out of fifty off the top of my head and the ones I THOUGHT were gimmes, were seriously missed.

For example, Idaho is not “The Potato State.” She did get a good laugh out of that one, though.

And if you think she was done seeing if I was smarter than a fifth grader, she wasn’t. And I’m not. She began to read off the list, the last 42 presidents of the United States (G.W. and President Obama were not listed). Maybe the most embarassing conversation that I’ve had to date:

Sarah: Mom, who was the president before Grover Cleveland?

Susie: Hmm… I’m not sure.

(I should point out here that after some investigating, I could have had one of two answers since G. Cleveland was president twice) (but I didn’t have Google on hand while I was driving)

Sarah: C’mon, Mom, you should know this stuff.

Susie (thinking someone that wore a wig): Which century was he president in?

Sarah: Moooo’ooom! Didn’t you have to memorize this when you were little?

Susie (thinking to myself: I’m not sure, did I?)

…

Let’s face it, nerds breed nerds. The girl has Andy’s genes! It makes me laugh that she is so excited about the dictionary, but in all honesty, I’m so proud of her  and she encourages ME to be a better reader, to seek answers to questions and be excited to learn! Love this girlie.

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By Susie | Posted in Kid Funny | Comments (9)