Well, summer has truly arrived. I feel like we went from a chilly stretch of weather straight into a heat wave and the days are zooming by like a roller coaster – a fun roller coaster – not a scary one. 

This week we've had a heatwave and I finished another window restoration. This is a window from Claire's room and I started it in the middle of April. I'm feeling a bit more confident with the steps. I've been doing a bit less of that kind of procrastination that comes from fear of screwing it…

Last weekend we went for a drive – we do that lately because Bea wants to get her required driving practice hours in. We drove to Glacial Park in Northern Illinois and then went for a little hike. What a pleasant surprise to see a hill! A hill with green prairie all around it. Isn't…

Last week I went yarn shopping with a couple friends. We went to an amazingly large yarn store that is about an hour's drive away. I got carried away taking photos of the beautiful bright yarns. I had the same feeling I get when I see beautiful flowers and I just must take a picture……

I came across this photo of my mom and Claire. The photo was taken when my mom came to stay with our girls while Brian and I went off to Paris and Barcelona to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. That was not an easy task. She cared for two little scamps for several days in…

I've packed my last school lunch for a while – yay!

I've been feeling so thankful for my garden lately. I find myself putting aside all the things I should be doing in the house to wander outside and tend to my plant friends. The rose petals have been falling onto the lambs ear and it looks so pretty. In the past, my greatest joy in…

This month has flown by. Here's Bea and her friend Mabel coming out of school. The girls have less than two weeks of school left. They are ready to be done for a while but at the same time it all slips away so quickly.  We got to take a tour of the school building where…

We had our house painted last week. The painters took off the shutters to paint them. I've always wondered what the house would look like without it's shutters – they bother me because they are not real shutters. In fact fake shutters really, really annoy me. They are everywhere you look and they take a…