I have some very important visitors coming this weekend. I’m beyond excited. I hope these flowers last for their visit.

Our big old elm tree was removed today. What a big job and what skill those tree guys have – I was amazed. Here are a couple bad photos from my phone: They worked a long day yesterday just removing branches. Today they started by taking down chunks of the trunk. They used a pulley…

This week went quickly for me. It finally warmed up and we saw the sun. I think the girls have been sleeping well after getting lots of fresh air during the day. I hosted a little birthday party for Claire this week. I wanted to keep it low key so we just invited her friends…

For Claire E.’s fourth birthday we went to the Kohl Children’s Museum. We hadn’t been there since Bea was little. It was good fun for the birthday girl and for the rest of us too. They have a mini grocery store – it was a hit: Here are Claire and Brian in the water play…

Claire turned four this weekend. Four! Just yesterday she was looking like this: And now she is this big: Here is something I wrote about Claire a few weeks ago and never posted. I’ll put some birthday pictures up soon. Claire and I have been in a sort of sweet spot when it comes to…

Claire and I took a walk at the Chicago Botanic Garden on the last day of April. It was a rainy walk with lots of flowers. I so enjoy seeing the vegetable gardens – their peas and lettuce were way ahead of our little sprouts – but I guess they probably brought them out of…

Our first outside painting session of the year. Yeah! Bea painted our back yard – you can see our garden with its green fence and the nice brown soil. Not sure why she made the other side of the yard GOLD??? The garden soil is a lot duller looking in real life. But we do…

This is the first time I’ve sewn this Oliver + S pattern – the Birthday Party Dress. I’ve always loved the little button tab and the box pleats. The fabric is an old curtain that I got at a rummage sale. It looks like summer doesn’t it.

We finished off our great weekend with a warm walk down a ravine trail to Lake Michigan.  This trail is at one of our favorite walking spots, Fort Sheridan. I think they finished this particular part just after we moved away. There were three of these colorful sculptures: one in greens, one in browns and…

I made a dress for Claire – the Playtime Tunic pattern from Oliver + S. I added some hand stitching around the colar and the hem. My silly girl is so used to wearing sleeveless dresses (all winter) she said “is it a nightie?”  The problem with the clothes I tend to sew for Claire is…