Rain Art

For a while I've been telling Lily about a special art project we would do once it rained. But it's Albuquerque, and we're in an "exceptional drought." (Did you know there were four levels of drought? I didn't, until I read an article about how we're in the worst one.) The bottom line is that there was no rain. For several months.

Last week it finally rained, so I got our supplies out in a hurry. It was close to bedtime (Lil was already in her nightgown), but I didn't know when it might rain again, so I decided I'd let Lily stay up a few minutes late so we could do our project.

The idea is simple. Get some card stock and some food coloring. Drop dots of food coloring on the card stock, then stick the paper out in the rain and watch as the raindrops turn your drops of food coloring into cool designs.

HUGE hit!

The only one who didn't like our project was Wrigley. He wanted to be outside with us, but he doesn't like rain, so he hid under the table (which is itself under an overhang) on the patio the whole time.

Lily was so proud of her rain art that she took two to school the next day to show her friends.

Pop Star

Who's ready for a performance?

Garden Update

The garden is really clipping along, thanks mostly to Chris's diligence, but in part to the heat wave we've been having. Here's a view of the bed that has the squash in it. You can see the squash are growing like crazy.

Here are a couple of shots of all three beds inside the fence (one from each direction). In these you can also see that Chris and I stained the fence (Sikkens mahogany stain and seal in one). It was time-consuming and I got a sunburn, but it looks prettier and is now much more durable.

Here's one of the barrels. This is the one with the blackberries in it. They are really thriving. (The blueberries are also doing quite well, but the raspberries have gone to the great garden in the sky.)

What amazes me is how pretty it all is. Here's a picture I took of a squash blossom:

And here's an eggplant blossom:

The Stinky Old Shed

In the back corner of our yard there lies a shed. It was there when Chris bought the house, and while we consider ourselves lucky to have a decent-sized shed (with a window, no less) already there and installed on a concrete slab, we weren't treating it well. We had accumulated a lot of new things in the last seven or eight months and all of it had just been kind of thrown in there willy-nilly. The shed was a mess. I didn't take any "before" pictures, but picture it as looking roughly like this. You won't be far off. It might have even been worse than this.


Plus, to quote Lily, it was "stinky and nasty." She refers to it exclusively as "the stinky old shed." Here she is demonstrating how "nasty" it is.


Over the weekend Chris and I finally got around to cleaning it out. We emptied everything out of it, sorted it all, purged a bunch of stuff, then thought about how to organize it in the shed. After making some notes, we went to Lowe's to get the accessories to hang things on the pegboard (which was already mostly installed). And here's our shed now.



Finally! A shed I don't dread going into! Right now the only "messy" stuff in there is the black trash bag of leaves (which will go into our compost soon enough), the bag of mulch (which will go down in our garden next week after we do another small project), and some bags of soil that will also be used up next weekend when we re-pot a bunch of indoor things.

But this is my favorite part of the shed. We had a little bit of extra peg board leftover, so Chris mounted it inside the door of the shed and we got some extra hooks to hang up Lily's stuff.


Here's the close-up. You can see all her tools, and the little basket at the bottom right holds her gardening gloves. Every time I see her stuff hanging there, I smile.


As a side story, I heart Craigslist. We had a number of things from the shed we wanted to get rid of (e.g., the old side gate from our yard that Chris replaced right after buying the house, the old rusty push mower the previous owners left behind, an extra seed spreader). I took pictures and put up a "curb alert" Craigslist ad Sunday morning, then we put everything on the side of the driveway. Less than an hour later, everything was gone. Everything. Even the cardboard box filled with half-empty paint cans that had been sitting in that shed for a year and a half. As soon as it was gone we took the ad down, but still had another half a dozen people come to the house to try to claim our free stuff. There's truly no excuse to keep old junk lying around your house if you don't want it anymore -- someone will want it enough to come and take it off your hands.

The Mall

Over Memorial Day weekend I did something that was long overdue . . . I took Lily to the mall. No, I had never taken her before. I really dislike the mall and never go there, but it never occurred to me how much Lily would like it until we were on our way there and I was explaining to her what it was.

The first thing we did when we arrived was go to a couple of department stores and try on a few "fancy" dresses. Lily was brainstorming ideas for her flower girl dress. She loved this one but it was way too big.


Lily was delighted to realize that the mall has its own carousel. Naturally, we went for a ride. (That black thing around her waist is the seatbelt, which Lily insisted on wearing even though I told her she didn't have to. She is very concerned with safety.


And our last stop of the day was Build-A-Bear, which was the impetus for our mall visit. Lily received a gift certificate to Build-A-Bear from my sister for her birthday. Lil had never been to Build-A-Bear before, but she had a fab time. (Thanks, Jenn!) She chose a white kitten, named it "Princess Maddie," and selected a wedding dress with a veil and pink "click shoes." (That's what Lily calls heels that click on the floor when you walk.)

Farm Trip

On Saturday morning the CSA from which we get most of our produce had a free farm tour at their main farm just south of Albuquerque. We are always down to show Lily new things (and have been teaching her about the life cycle of food), so we decided to head down for the event.

Lily heard "morning on the farm" and selected this ensemble.


I went a little more practical. Prepare to see this sun hat a lot this summer. It's all downhill for one's skin after turning 30, so I am getting vigilant. Just because I live in the desert doesn't mean I want to look like a lizard by the age of 40.


While we waited for the tour to start, I kept Lil happy with a few rounds of "Patty Cake." She especially enjoys the part where we roll it.


Lily also demonstrated that she doesn't quite understand the concept of putting bunny ears in pictures.


The tour itself was pretty cool. It was neat to see the scale of a farm that provides food for so many people, and also to look out on a sea of chard knowing some of it will end up in our stomachs. (Were you aware of how good chard is when you bake it with some seasoning and a bit of red onion? Heaven!) Nothing on the farm was off limits, and after the formal tour we were allowed to roam around on our own through the fields and greenhouses.


We had a good time, although Lily did kind of freak out when she got mud on her shoes. Perhaps she's more of a city girl. After all, despite the baby pigs and the fruits and veggies growing there, her favorite part was the flowering weeds.

Dentist

Lily recently visited the dentist. Thanks to a recommendation from Emily, Lily switched to a new pediatric dentist who was, in a word, amazing.

Believe it or not, Lil loves the dentist and is a strong advocate of good oral hygiene. She brushes every morning and brushes, flosses, and uses mouthwash every night. She was the one pestering me to make her four-year dental appointment. When the day rolled around, she woke up delighted. When I dropped her off at preschool that morning I told her teacher I'd be back to pick her up before lunch for a dental appointment, and I swear Lily was gloating to everyone that she got to go to the dentist.

Her visit was good. Her dentist truly caters to children, with a special half-sized front door for kids only, a play room in the waiting room, and prizes for being in the "No Cavity Club." He also let Lily pick out a new pair of sunglasses to wear in the exam chair so the light wouldn't be too bright in her eyes.


The assistant cleaned her teeth, gave her a flouride treatment, and took x-rays. The dentist had told me most kids her age won't tolerate the x-rays but that we'd give it a shot. Lil did the x-rays like a champ and was very excited to be able to see her big girl teeth hiding under her gums. The x-rays did provide one funny moment. I had told Lily the night before that the dentist was going to want to take some "special pictures of her teeth called x-rays." At the dentist's office, everyone kept calling them "special pictures." When the dental assistant pulled them up on the screen to look at, I asked Lily if she remembered what the special pictures were called. She thought for a second, then asked, "Fossils?"

When it came time to get her exam from the dentist, he complimented her on not having any cavities. (According to him, 64% of children have at least one cavity by the time they go to kindergarten.) Lily was feeling very chatty that day, and spoke at length about how she always brushes, flosses, and uses her Barbie mouthwash, how much she loves dental floss, and how she doesn't eat too much junk food because it has "sugar bugs" that will eat holes into her teeth. It was pretty amusing. As a reward for her chatting, the dentist threw some extra floss into her goodie bag. She also got to pick some prizes, and she went with a sticker, a blue plastic ring, and a special "no cavity" prize of a free round of mini golf.

The real laughs came when it was time to check out. I was talking to the appointment lady to set up Lily's next cleaning. Meanwhile, Lily decided she'd make small talk with the receptionist. Her small talk skills aren't quite as refined as she might like. She basically just walked up to the receptionist and started talking. "I was really good today and didn't have any cavities, so I got some prizes. I picked a blue ring. Chris, my mommy's boyfriend, really likes blue and green. He also loves cheese a lot. I think it's his favorite food. And he really loves me and my mommy. He gives us lots of hugs. I'm going to show him my ring later and tell him about the dentist." The receptionist, God bless her, managed to avoid laughing.

Affianced

Thursday when I got home from work, the house was oddly quiet. Lily's dad had picked her up from school and she wasn't due home until 7 p.m., but I knew Chris was home. I heard not a peep from him, so I put down my stuff and walked back into the bedroom.

When I pushed open the bedroom door the first thing I saw was that the floor was covered with balloons. Then I realized there were five enormous vases full of flowers spread around the room. Then I saw Chris standing there wearing a suit. And I started to cry.

Chris gave me a quick hug and kiss and got down on one knee. He gave his speech (it's private and I won't go into it here) and asked me to marry him. Yes, yes, yes!


When it got close to time for Lily to come home, we put all the balloons and a small vase of roses in her room and closed the door. When she got home I told her I had something important to talk about with her and asked if we could go to her room. When we went in, she liked what she saw.


She immediately wanted to know if she could try the ring on.


Once that was out the way, the discussion began of what she'd wear to the wedding. She proposed that, as flower girl, she should probably wear this flower headband.


Then we spent the rest of the evening looking at "gowns" for her on the internet. Priorities.

Knight in Shining Audi

In While You Were Sleeping, Sandra Bullock's character is trying to convince Peter Gallagher's character that everyday actions can be heroic. She tells him he's a hero because he gives up his seat on the train every day to someone who needs it more than he does. He argues that it's not heroic, and she says that it is to the person who gets to sit there. It's a good reminder that the little things in life mean a whole lot to the person for whom they're done.

On that note, this is my hero.


Today when I got to Lily's daycare, I realized I had a flat tire. I called Chris and said, "I'm at daycare. I just got Lily but I have a flat tire." Without missing a beat, Chris said, "I'm on my way." And my little heart went pitter-pat, pitter-pat. I have an AAA membership (that Chris got for me), so I asked, "Should I call AAA or something? I don't know how it works." Chris answered, "I'll take care of it." And my little heart went boom-boom, boom-boom.

Lily and I went and played on the daycare playground for a few minutes while Chris drove over from the house. He gave me his keys, transferred my stuff out of my car into his car, and sent me and Lily on our way home while he dealt with my car. While we waited at home in the air conditioning (we're having a heat wave and it was 90 degrees today), he put on my spare, took the car to the tire place, got me a new tire (I just bought a new set in January but this one was damaged enough that it had to be replaced), and brought the car home.

It is so nice to be taken care of sometimes.

New Friend

This past Saturday at the music and movement story time, Lily made a new friend.

Story time had just begun when a mom and her daughter came in a little late. Upon seeing Lily and her getup that day, the girl called out, "Look, Mommy! It's a real ballerina!"


After storytime was over, the two of them bonded immediately (remember when friendships were that easy?) while playing with the little connectable mats. Her new friend's name is Shiloh.


When they got tired of the mats, they raced around for a while.


Lily got into a little reading cubby while Shiloh was talking to her mom. Shiloh turned around and didn't see Lily, so she asked, "Where did the princess go?" Man, Lily eats that stuff up! Fortunately, Shiloh quickly located Lily and the playing continued.


Eventually Shiloh had to go home, so they said goodbye. Lily was sad to see her go, but we reminded her that this particular library is surrounded by a large rose garden and all the flowers were in bloom. A stroll around the grounds quickly cheered her up. Especially when we told her she could go home and pick a rose of her own.