In the shot above, you can see the hops is already doing quite well. In fact, these photos were taken a week ago and the vines have gone CRAZY. Nathan actually has already hung string for the vines to climb and cover more of the deck. Love it. And I love the beer Nathan makes from our crop.

The flower beds look sad, but I can guarantee they will full of color soon. I use “River Rocks” to separate the sections and found they make perfect pathways for me to walk on- especially when the seedlings appear and I will want to avoid all the cute baby plants.

So- the flower list is: Zinnias, Violets, Sunflowers, African Daisies, Mexican Sunflowers, Hollyhocks, and more Shasta Daisies. Now I only hope that the rabbits STAY OUT.

Every year I draw a diagram of my garden and note the days until the seeds germinate. I am obsessed with watching this little plot of land grow. Everytime I pass it, I whisper encouraging words to GROW. I know, I am a lunatic, but that’s part of “Spring Fever”, right?

We have raised beds in our side yard and 2 huge beds in our back. Our side garden is mainly lettuce, arugula, strawberries, and herbs. I like to call this my kitchen garden. Close enough for me grab things as I need them.

What’s the trellis for? We like to grow lettuce throughout the summer and Nathan found this creates good shade for the harsh months of the summer. I’m not sure I buy it, but you can’t blame him for being inventive.

I’ll share more shots of our backyard garden, but it really is quite unappealing in photos. Everything is pretty much small seedlings or seeds in the ground!

I love our yard so much. In the next year or so, we are looking to sell and I know our yard will be what I will miss most. It’s been an exciting project for Nathan and I to share…the kids are not as into it and I am fine with that, as long as they eat the broccoli!

Oh- and the fairy garden is doing well. I love how it is so whimsical. It’s fun to watch morning walkers smile as they pass our garden.

Mosaic Icon Project from Saint Joseph Orthodox Church on Vimeo.

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Nathan and I teach Sunday School at our Parish. A few weeks back, when our priest asked if we could lead an assembly on our mosaic we created 10 years ago…I had to remind myself we IN FACT DID MAKE ONE!

I’m so glad we made this video. During the time of the mosaic’s creation, this was pre-digital and pre-imovie. Unfortunately, over the years, photos have been lost or not returned so I am glad we have a nicely edited version of our big undertaking.

I thought it would be fun for those that are interested to view what we created…last night!

So last Friday, we took out the ceremonial cupcake…

brought out the birthday banner…

hung the “birthday dots”…

made a tasty cake with raspberries and chocolate buttercream…

skipped school and made a big breakfast feast, ’cause it’s not everyday that visiting cousins are in town for a birthday…(I love how Penelope is the only one illuminated in this shot!)

opened gifts…(“cha-ching”, says Penny)

took the obligatory “front steps photo”…

after a fun day with cousins, had a family birthday dinner featuring Penny’s favorite Penne Pasta…

another group photo with Nana and Papa…

AND finally, we ate cake!

I’ll be back tomorrow to share more birthday highlights- the poor birthday girl has been really sick these past few days and I need to tend to her!

Happy Birthday Si- may you have many years!

PS- Our Mac is dead (boo), so until my superhero husband can replace the capacitors…I am using a slower, older Mac. Consequently, my patience for posting is short!

But my key victim is Penelope Tess. She is willing to take my ideas/control and make it her own! I figure I have about 6 solid years still of Valentine making and I’m up for the challenge to come up with something every year!

Her problem? The concentration to create 30+ valentines. We have time! I can help! Hurrah for a crafter in the making!!

A challenge we had last week was that our refrigerator went out (Happy Bday to me!). At first, I was slightly excited because I have been yearning for a bigger fridge…what were we thinking 7 years ago? Oh yeah, one extra kid later and growing kids…you can’t really imagine what that means in so many ways.

ANYWAY, we shopped around and were stunned with how expensive they are and did not want to go in debt. With school tuition for our 3 kids still an issue we are stretched to say the least. Nathan checked out Craigslist- found a perfectly suitable and larger fridge and we paid cash…I admit, I moped. But, I’m not one to mope for long given that I am a pretty fortunate person to live where I do and have a healthy family…(Happy Birthday to me!). So, one of the lessons of “growing up” and “growing wiser” was to cancel our hotel reservations in Chicago so we could feel at peace with not going into further debt. So this post is to show that you can still have fun and get a new/used refrigerator at the same time!

We took the express train into the city and listened to one of my favorite programs on NPR. It was fun sitting side by side enjoying a great story sans kids. This story was what we thoroughly enjoyed and found relatively familiar!

We basically spent the day prioritizing food and art. Once we arrived, we took a cab to XOCO (Rick Bayless’ new place). We arrived just as they were closing for breakfast and only were serving coffee, cocoa and pastries. Hardly a problem. We sat in the cafe and enjoyed churros, coffee, and I had the Aztec Cocoa. We learned that they roast and process the cacao beans on site which gave the cocoa an extremely fruity and wonderful taste! I was in heaven, really.

Nathan was a good diabetic and ordered a lovely salad. I was the birthday girl and ordered whatever I wanted without a care…

Check out this torta… Chicken, pepper jack cheese, pickled jalapenos, and cilantro crema.

I was sad once lunch was over. We hustled to Michigan Ave. and paid homage to the Apple store and dreamt of an iPhone and Nano. We checked out The Gap and were blown away with the sales. I bought 2 skirts (I’m good, but not that good) for about $6 a piece…man alive! Nathan and I both agreed we are terrible shoppers and bore easily.

It was time to head on over to the Art Institute and visit the Modern Wing. We couldn’t resist an obligatory “couple shot” with the river behind. And, what are we looking at? A nice passerby asking if we want her to take the photo. We let her, but like this shot best! Can you believe we have known each other over half our life? We were 18 and now- ahem.

The Modern Wing is GORGEOUS. So different from the older part of the Art Institute and basically all windows. They have a great area of studios for families and it’s free- you don’t even have to pay admission to create art. I love that and it’s totally accessible for all.

We decided to eat early and good thing. The place we went to was on the previous night’s news and quickly filled up once we were seated. The food was so GOOD and we will go back for sure (shaved brussel sprouts with pecorino, salted/roasted beats with goat cheese and pistachios, milk braised pork shoulder, chicken kebobs with tzatziki and a great bottle of wine…Happy Bday to me).

After dinner, we dashed to a cab and we were off to the train station making an earlier train. It was lovely to arrive home with no kids to have to tuck in (sure, we missed them) and watch a movie and be totally “Nathan and Carol” and not “Poppy and Mama”.

Thanks for reading a pretty long winded account of my birthday. Should I mention that on my actual birthday my sister had a nice lunch for me at work (I share a bday with another cook, and do you know how many other people are born on the 15th? A LOT) and my mom and sister hosted a wonderful dinner…we grilled burgers in the dead of winter. LOVED IT.

So- yep, I had a nice time and we saved some money…imagine!

The whole process was easy:
1. Ask your husband to use his photo shop skills.

2. Give him description of what you want.

3. Reject a few of his samples.

4. Agree on the 5th sample.

5. Print it out onto iron-on paper.

5. Sew, stuff, sew some more, and “glitterize”.

Did I mention my sister and I cranked out lots of cookies this season? A LOT. I took these shots (there are more) and plan to make ornaments similar to our family ornament we gave out this year. I think they would be well received at her shop- who doesn’t like a reminder of their favorite cookie?

I love hosting Christmas dinner. I spend a lot of my time while working, coming up with lists in my head (big surprise) and the month of December is occupied with Christmas dinner. This year, Nathan made mole’ from scratch, my bro.-in-law smoked a pork shoulder, I made cilantro lime rice and cowboy beans…it was heavenly. Oh- I made con queso too and totally burned my nose with serrano pepper juice/seeds…brilliant.

The week after Christmas we had PERFECT WINTER WEATHER.

A huge snow storm+warmish weather= sledding and we did a lot of it!

I guess it’s nice to live somewhere that gets snow.

And now we are caught up! What should I post next? I got to get my groove back.

Oh, and you didn’t think I would be the only adult dressed up on Halloween in this house did you? Mr. Shack. was lured in with his very own blue jay mask!

So, if you don’t mind I will be charging up the engines again here at “kidding around”. Maybe I will change the layout (needed for sure), maybe this will motivate me to get my craft on (although it really hasn’t stopped), for sure I will share meals that my family loves and whether you like it or not…photos of the everyday which includes my kids, dog, and the infamous corner of my dining room where all lighting is perfect.

Let’s catch up on things since September (this will be a 4 part series, lordy I could have included a lot more photographs).

Penelope began Kindergarten and created this adorable self-portrait of herself. This kid loves to make stuff!!

I co-hosted an anniversary party for my sister and her husband. They celebrated 10 years of business this past September. The party was a blast. All staff were invited and were asked to bring snacks and dessert. The easiest and tastiest party ever!

I began making a foot quilt using vintage sheets. What’s a foot quilt you ask? You know, a quilt at the end of your bed for your feet, of course! Still working on it…

We continued to enjoy Lake Michigan through September. Last visit was to celebrate my niece’s 3rd birthday. I am counting the days to go back!

I chaperoned a middle school field trip with Ellie’s class. We took a walking tour of Chicago’s famous sculptures. I loved it and actually have an album posted in Facebook if you are interested in going on the tour.

Saw old friends in October…anticipating their first child’s birth this month! So nice to re-connect with people you care for…

Simon began soccer this Fall. We had an extremely wet season with many games cancelled, but he had a blast and I THINK Nathan had fun too.

And of course, fairy wings were created…

See you tomorrow!