Ten on Tuesday.

1. Funny how it's only the third full week of summer, meaning that Alla hasn't even been out of school a full three weeks, and yet it seems that school thing is but a memory.

2. So I think we must be living right.

3. I am not a fan of the pins I see on Pinterest which list "14 ways to boost your child's reading!" or "150 ways to enjoy the summer!" or "35 summer recipes" because, let's face it, I only need one good idea from each of those subject. So I just don't click on those.

4. The Olympics fun has started - swimming trials this week!

5. We hit up the library today and Alla read everything in the library bag at quiet time. Just goes to remind me that we are not done with picture books yet at her age, there are many more great ones to read before she decides she's too old, only now she reads most of them herself. Two great ones from today: Kate DiCamillo's Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken and House Held Up By Trees.

6. Those kids were wiped out after soccer tonight. Asleep in minutes.

7. I am completely hooked on root veggie chips, and when Costco has them it is heaven for me!

8. Fisher is hooked on the Magic Tree House books. We are up to number 8.

9. Super excited about taking the kids to Duluth next week.

10. This weekend...The BLOCK Party!!

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Where is the summer going? It's the third week of June!

2. Today we spent quiet time at the beach. BIG mistake. My kids will never again miss quiet time.

3. BUT. The beach was so so lovely, and the time spent there was just splendid - breezy, hot, cool water, and Fisher said, "That was fun!" so matter-of-factly on the way back to our blanket that it was worth it. Until we got to just before dinner time and kid number one just started the descent.

4. We are on the last episode of Breaking Bad, Season Three.

5. I am immensely enjoying By the Iowa Sea, in the same manner that I enjoy Gary D. Schmidt's books.

6. I'm pretty sure that Ron had a nice Father's Day. I'm definitely sure that Alla had a nice Father's Day.

 7. And Fisher, too.

8. Does anyone else need about two more hours in the day?

9. Thank you, Pinterest, for the crockpot rotisserie chicken recipe. Gobble, gobble.

10. My lovely neighbor friend went to the farmer's market this evening and won a whole basket of goodness, after, of course, they had already bought bags and bags of produce! Since she is so kind and generous, she brought over tons of stuff for me to choose from. I had to restrain myself, I didn't want it to go bad! I felt very blessed, since it was way too hot for me to drag the kids through the farmer's market myself this afternoon. Thank you, Kerry!

First/Last Day: Alla.

Alla's turn. Thankfully, I don't see too much difference between September and June. Three more teeth lost. A very determined effort to grow out her short haircut from last summer.

That girl is a reader. She would stay up for hours each night with her nose in a book if we let her. And she doesn't get tired! She doesn't wake up hours later with the book on her face, like her mama.

Hard to believe in three short months she'll be a second grader.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. First full week of summer!

2. First trip to the library for the summer, and the shelves are nearly bare. Looks like I'll be requesting.

3. The last four books I read were memoirs, and I've just started another one. Today at the library, despite the slim pickings, there sat a book I'd had on my to-read list for awhile, and I realized how much I've missed juvenile fiction. Summer is the perfect time for lots of it.

4. Alla recently read a fairy book about a girl names Phoebe, which she insists is pronounced "foh-bee."

5. Last week we had our first cherries of the summer. Since they are on sale for $2.49 a pound this week, I'm longing for more.

6. This week one of my favorite flowers around the neighborhood, the peony, is almost done. Too bad. I will miss Fisher calling them the "punies."

7. Summer seems to come at the perfect time. I was very ready to have Alla home everyday. Summer is sweet.

8. In a few weeks we are taking the kids overnight to Duluth, and I am just giddy thinking about how Fisher will just love to watch the boats and the bridge and Alla will weigh our car down with as many smooth rocks as she can carry. Four and seven are fun.

9. Fisher is so excited to show his big sister to all of his preschool friends at the park tomorrow morning. The cutest thing around might be hearing a four-year-old make formal introductions.

10. That little boy amused the heck out of his family last night, watching him play soccer. First official game is next Monday. I simply cannot wait!

First/Last Day: Fisher.

First Day of the first year of preschool, age three and almost a half.

Last day of the first year of preschool, age four and a few months.

Alright, I've been waiting all day for this, so you don't have to say it: picture one, Baby. Picture two, Big Boy. Bummer.

He was not altogether happy about the last day, said he was so sad. I have a feeling the summer joys will soon take away the blues. And besides, we'll be meeting all of his classmates on Wednesdays, so that should help, too.

I told Alla I was going to do this, post the two pictures together, and she seemed skeptical about seeing any changes. But she will be home from school soon, and I'll be sure to show her. How can one little boy change so much in nine months?

Feels like a new season.

It's the end of the school year around here - Fisher's last day is tomorrow, and Alla has her last day next week. I feel it just as keenly as they do, school careening to a close, a definite celebratory halt, and can see the gentle roll of summer pick up slowly thereafter. I can hardly believe that tomorrow I'll be snapping away at my little boy's last day of his first year of preschool, or that next week my daughter can say she's already finished two years of the long educational journey.

Tonight, though, I am thinking of summer. Of ways to learn, games to play, new ideas to explore, books to read, art to make. Summer is time for all the stored-up things, all the rainy-day ideas, all the grandiose ideas we don't have time for those other months. I can't wait, I am so lucky, to share the summer with my little loves.

Tonight, though, I am thinking of summer. Of ways to learn, games to play, new ideas to explore, books to read, art to make. Summer is time for all the stored-up things, all the rainy-day ideas, all the grandiose ideas we don't have time for those other months. I can't wait, I am so lucky, to share the summer with my little loves.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Took Fisher to the Mississippi River yesterday after dropping off Big Sister. A favorite pastime of ours, for sure, especially when we actually get to see a large barge go through the lock!

2. Today we're at the Minnesota Zoo with the entire first grade from Alla's school for their field trip. I have told Fisher that it is quite a privilege for the two of us to be able to tag along, since we aren't in the first grade, and am hoping that this will inspire angelic-like behavior.

3. Today is also Ron's birthday! Happy Birthday Dear Sweet, Thoughtful, Handsome, Wonderful Husband. Can't wait to have chocolate birthday cupcakes with you later. (After I recover from a day at the zoo with the first grade, that is.)

4. I am in the middle of Katherine's wonderful book and savoring every page.

5. Two weeks from Thursday is the last day of school!

6. The weather is just beautiful here lately, and Memorial Day weekend is shaping up to be just stunning too - hot, but perfect. Grilling, water balloons, popsicles, sprinklers.

7. Last night's dinner: Lettuce Cups, Corn-Quinoa with Lemon Honey Butter dressing, and watermelon. (See above.)

8. For breakfast we tried the no-flour banana oatmeal muffins, and they might be my favorite find ever. To be fair, though, the oats are basically being pummeled into oat flour, but, yes, it is a protein-rich flour instead of your usual stale-after-one-day gluten-free mix. If you make them, we only used 1/2 cup sugar (because I generally think you can always use less than the recipe calls for, and because we eat them for breakfast and don't like our breakfast to taste like dessert, but these are just my opinions).

9. I miss the beach. Like the real beach with an ocean.

10. TV shows are almost over. Looks like another summer of lots and lots of books:)

Watermelon season.

Once it's here, it is almost always in our fridge. It's a perfect side for every meal, or, sometimes, enough of it makes a whole meal for me! Sometimes I find a little personal one that is much too much but oh so cute, and these two can dive in and share it. I'm thinking they share my obsession.

Two reasons.

 There are a million reasons I love this boy, but here are two photographic ones.

His toes, dangling. And his need to grab the (pink) guitar when a song moves him to sing and play along.

Love you, Buddy.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Get this kid some Legos of his own, right!

2. Alla had her seventh birthday well-kiddo doctor visit on Saturday and is 50 inches and 52 pounds. I'm glad no one is blogging about my inches and pounds.

3. Fisher is all fired up about the Vehicle Fair this Saturday.

4. Every single school morning, I am waking the kids up at 8:00 (next year we are getting a reliable alarm clock), but, miraculously, today when Alla had to be at the dentist at 8:30, both kids were out of bed at twenty to seven. I feel a nap coming on for the little one.

5. Currently Fisher is into every single video in the Little Mammoth Media series. Today, The Big Space Shuttle.

6. After one of our marathon dandelion weed-pounding sessions, Fisher asked me, "Mama, why does it have the word lion in it?"

7. He and I started planting the garden at the end of last week. We planted seeds of peas, lettuce and broccoli, plus some wildflowers and gladiola bulbs. It should be an interesting and experimental year, as we are loosely attempting square foot gardening. I don't know why I didn't try it out sooner. The whole concept of individual squares is completely appealing to my organized/planner personality.

8. Unless we pick them out, our garden is likely to be growing lots of maple trees, as the helicopters have been flying this week. Fisher wondered yesterday if those helicopters would grow into the real ones, with one rotor or two.

9. I feel the school year coming to a close. I love summer, but I also love the anticipation of it, because once it is here, I feel time speed by too quickly.

10. This Mother's Day looks to be a very lovely sunny one! Hope yours is lovely and relaxing!

Seven.

I can't help but wonder if one of these days, I'll glance at post titles before checking dates and wonder which kid I was talking about who turned seven. Thankfully, this is only my first time around at seven; I've one yet to come through that gate. It all happens so fast, I'm reminded every year.

The birthday girl got lots of fun phone calls from people who love her. I think it's hilarious to always have to remind her to put the phone to her ear. Kids these days!

 Nana and Pappi picked out a few custom items for her with her own artwork on them - what a compliment!

 Right in the middle of it all, just smiles and family and gifts.

Cake of choice: chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. We're still picking up sprinkles from the cracks between floorboards!

Last but not least, the 6:37 shots. I set a reminder so I wouldn't forget, as I always seem to do with Fisher (poor second child). I love to do these, partly to show how she's grown from this exact time each year, but also to distract me from reminiscing too much about what I was doing seven years ago on this day (waiting for that first cry) and how my life was instantly so completely changed. We love you, Alla Balla. Happy Birthday!

Any May a Beautiful Change.

I got my copy of Any Day a Beautiful Change in the mail on my daughter's birthday last week, and since then it's been celebration, a date with my husband, and then taking care of that daughter when she was sick for 36 hours. And now, I think I might be hoarding it. Either way, I want to participate in this lovely kick-off because I am so proud of you, Katherine, for the words I will soon read.

In this season of motherhood, I am reflecting on the beginnings of becoming a mother, on that beautiful change I felt in my life. For me there are so many moments that pointed out motherhood as a change from what life had been before I became a mom. Many of those are the wow moments, of bliss, of amazement, of fullness. Gazing at my newborn asleep in my arms, running my fingers through all of that newborn hair, calling for Ron to get the camera because my newborn must be hugging me. But on Friday, April 29, 2005, when I hobbled through the door of our beach apartment late in the afternoon with my newborn girl in my arms, I felt change. We were fresh from the hospital, eager to get home, and what I saw as I crossed the threshhold was sun streaming over dust, grown from a week of labor and cesearean. What I felt was hungry; we'd left the hospital right before our celebratory dinner. What I heard was my new child crying, hungry, wet, out of sorts, in no place familiar.

In that first moment in our apartment with our new girl, the light of day smoothing everything over as the nighttime cannot, I saw that motherhood was not just holding and rocking and changing and feeding and reading and singing and pushing a stroller; it was everything. In that moment I saw that my life had become more, and that I had to be more. I saw that I would be changing and feeding and dressing and working out and preparing meals and reading and dancing and singing every day now. I saw life, not that different from life now, seven years later (although the concept is no longer new), all of its parts, all ready for me to do at once.

Ten on Tuesday: Wednesday Edition.

1. We are in the middle of birthday week, also this first half of the week has been warm and lovely so we're soaking it up before cooler temperatures arrive in time for the birthday.

2. I'm not lying when I say that my husband is taking me to an Air Force dinner at a country club on Saturday.

3. One small kitchen cupboard has been overrun by mason jars! Must find a use for them all.

4. Our pond has twelve ducklings! That mama duck must be busy!

5. Fisher and I got the garden tilled yesterday. Now to decide what to plant.

6. Because of this lovely weather we've been biking to Alla's school. Today I had to take Fisher to school, but we'll surprise Alla later when she sees that we already dropped off her bike for a nice ride home.

7. Ron will tell you that it's been non-stop new Okee Dokee Brothers around here.

8. I am loving The Fault in Our Stars. This was a highly anticipated book for me.

9. Alla has requested balck bean soup for her birthday dinner.

10. Today is the last day of SIX.

Spring activity #1.

Weed pounding. Those dandelions that pop up are just calling to be weed-pounded. And then put into a jar, says my daughter.
In case you have a weed pounder of your own, make sure you check for wormies in the roots of the week before you just chuck the whole business in the bucket. And then proceed to transport those wormies to the garden, a much better home.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Ron and I are super fond of watching This Old House.

2. Fisher has been waiting for this day for sometime. It's playdate with Rowan day! And Okee Dokee day!

3. Speaking of The Okee Dokee Brothers - if you are local, mark your calendars for May 19th! The Okee Dokees are celebrating their new CD with a release party at Father Hennepin Bluffs Park, right next to the Stone Arch Bridge. Be there!

4. One more Okee Dokee mention - we picked up a pre-release of the new CD at the show this morning and it's good. Really, really good.

5. In the middle of Where Things Come Back, and thoroughly enjoying myself.

6. Doesn't it amaze you how some people just love a book and then other reviewers just hate it? I don't get how far apart those reviews are.

7. This Friday is the last of the movies for the season at Daddy's work. This week it's The Muppets, and since we all know the soundtrack by heart, we're clearly excited to see it again.

8. Sunday starts the birthday celebrations for Miss Alla. She's opted for the Mall of America this year, maybe a few kiddie rides, maybe some lunch (if we can find some Fisher-safe food there), maybe some mini-golf, and definitely a new outfit for Lily.

9. Just got an email from Amazon that my book will arrive next week! Katherine, I cannot wait.

10. Glad to have this pasta salad back on the menu!

Easter.

We spent Easter at Nana and Pappi's, so the day before, the kids got busy coloring eggs with Nana. That night, Ron and I went out for some dessert while the kids got settled into bed by Dear Nana, and what we saw the next morning was my favorite memory of Easter:
Alla realized after bath that she had Fisher's jammies, 3T - last year's Christmas jammies, as in, when he was 2. Well, I said, she washes all her laundry, folds it all, and puts it all away. And she also packed her own clothes for our overnight to Nana's. So...you get what you get! It was hilarious. Luckily she prefers knee-high socks.
We got busy with the hunt, because the kiddos were already spying out the windows to see where The EB had left all the eggs.Easter was an early wakeup - 6:43am to be exact, and we don't do 6:43 am at our house. Seven o'clock has always been the rule, and in fact I usually have to wake them at eight on school days, so it continues to baffle me that on the weekends, and especially a holiday, those monsters are up with the sun.

Good thing about early wakeups is that by twelve-thirty, we were all ready for a snuggly nap. Alla and I laid in bed and read books until I could not keep my eyes open and then she kept on reading while I slept. When we got up refreshed, we headed to the park where the super wind was blowing, perfect for the little kite from her Easter basket!
That kite is tiny but it sure does fly!
It's always those windy days that yield the prettiest skies.

Twelve on the 12th: April.

It's the 12th here in Minnesota, and I'm enjoying seeing the seasons through this project. Alla asked me today when it will be 12-12-12, and after we figured that out together, I realized that will be the end of this project; we will have come full circle.

On this twelfth...

Typical day, kids still asleep at eight, Alla has the craziest bedhead on this planet.

Great egret, my favorite
Sunbutter crackers and moo moos for lunch
My sneakers at the park, afternoon quiet time overruled for beautiful skies

Fisher: straight, bend, repeat.
Our maple tree: spring.
Ron: home.
After dinner: Yahtzee.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Enjoying my afternoon green tea.

2. I'm completely baffled by having to wake my children every school day at 8:00 (because otherwise how long would they sleep?), yet Easter morning they were shouting at us at 6:43 am, "It's Easter time!"

3. That early wake-up, however, did result in a lovely nap for me and the children by 12:30 that afternoon.

4. I'm also baffled at explaining the Easter Bunny. His "rules" don't appear as clear for me.

5. Saw the allergy doctor this morning for a full testing, and it turns out I'm allergic to all six trees they test for, outdoor molds, weeds, and dust mites. Awesome. I seem to be the perfect candidate for allergy shots. I had no idea shots are a 3-5 year time committment, though!

6. Alla is very affected by the Nie Nie story, which was brought up after seeing her happy family on the cover of Parade this weekend. She keeps asking questions, she keeps praying for her.

7. Alla completed all of her reading goals for the school year, so yesterday she came bounding out of school saying that 'no more prizes for me,' and nearly jumping up and down at the McDonald's certificate she got for completing her goal. The certificate says it's for a hamburger, fries, and a small soft drink. Ron read the certificate and told her what it said she could get, she said she wants her usual chicken fingers (well I think they're nuggets at the golden arches), and if they didn't have that, she could get a corndog. Ron was very happy with this conversation, as it clearly pointed out that our daughter has no idea what's on the menu at McDonald's.

8. She's decided on a family birthday celebration outing to the Mall of America where she can go on a few mild rides and then get Lily a new outfit.

9. I am very happy with our library for deciding to purchase Kelle Hampton's memoir, Bloom.

10. I have also requested they purchase Stephanie Nielson's book, so let's hope they get on that.

Celebrating four.

I am in an allergy fog, so while I could really just take a break from all non-necessities until about June the first, Alla's birthday is coming up at the end of the month, so we should probably finish up with Fisher's first.

We celebrated his birthday again once we were home from Pennsylvania, and had Nana and Pappi to join us. That kid was delighted at each and every gift he received. And Alla, she just loved sitting by her little brother and experiencing the surprises with him.This is generally the face he made, each and every time he opened something.

After awhile, this got Alla to cracking up, a pure joy I am happy I have captured for forever. They happily played aircraft carrier together. I love birthdays, especially these little kid birthdays, when they hardly remember the goodness of the last birthday, so it's all new, all so exciting to look forward to. I love how special they feel, I love for them to have a day that's just about them. It's wonderful. Happy Birthday my son.

The Great Pennsylvania Post.

We spent our spring break in Pennsylvania, where we got to sit around and enjoy quality time with our family. The kids had the best time, and were not pleased when it was time to go, although Fisher was easily consoled with the idea of getting on another airplane. Seeing aunts and uncles and Grandma and celebrating Fisher's birthday were all of the reasons we went, but if I had to give the real reason, Baby Keila would be the answer, hands down. The kids were smitten.Two days after we arrived was Fisher's fourth birthday and with the great weather we headed to the park for some before-lunch birthday fun.

This one's my favorite. Fisher makes any number of goofy faces, but this one shows his fun, goofy, happy spirit, too.
Fisher got to celebrate along with Aunt Renee (also a March birthday) and big sister Alla, since all the family won't be here next month for her special day.
For his gift to Alla, Uncle Will threw Alla in the fish pond.
Just kidding. Aunt Renee would never let him do that to her Alla.
The next day we took the kids to Hershey's Chocolate World, which they loved for the ride, and I loved for the gorgeous forsythia as a backdrop.
Here are the Killins siblings - Renee, Ronna, and Ron - with Alla, Baby Keila, and Fisher.
We rounded out the trip with a visit to Great Grandma where Alla indulged in chicken fingers and rolls.
And, just to prove that I went on the trip, too! Me and my niece and mother-in-law, who put up with all of us for six sleeps! These are some lucky kids to have her for a grandma. Baths around here are practically punishment after the bubbles and jets in Grandma's tub!