Dear Loly...

Thanks to my own mother -- and my neurotic tendencies -- I appreciate the importance of thank you notes. Thanks to the realities of life with two small children and a more than full time job, they don't always happen on time. But they do eventually happen.

Lily got quite a care package from my aunt Lois Anne, AKA Loly to all those who know and love her so, when she broke her arm last fall. The thank you note was delayed a tad due to the backlog of birthday thank you notes. When writing those, she recited out loud to Noah or me what she wanted to say; we wrote that down on a piece of paper; and then she copied the note on to her card. I figured Loly's thank you note would go something like that too.

But it didn't.

Just as we were sitting down to write that one, I had to break to answer a phone call. When I returned to the dining room table, little Miss Lily had gone right ahead, sounding out the words and writing them down phonetically.


Translation if needed...

RIGHT SIDE:
Dear Loly,
Thank you for all my treats when I hurt my arm. They made me happy. I love you.
Love,
Lily

LEFT SIDE:
You are my super star
(and note the picture of an eye + heart + you in the upper left hand corner... I ♥ U)

Melted my heart and made me smile. Now I understand why my mother saved so many of our notes, paintings, class reports and letters home from camp!

Got love?

Who would have thought that a trip to Michael's for Valentine's Day party supplies for Lily's kindergarten class party, the weekend before Valentine's Day, would have unearthed TONS of Easter decorations...but not one red heart to be found?



Who would have thought that a preschool class, comprised of 10 two year olds who cannot yet read OR really understand the meaning of the holiday, would have required a red shirt + jeans combo for their party that a trip to Target would fail to supply?



Who would have thought that this stretched-too-thin working mother would have pulled a great Valentine's Day off, in spite of herself, at the very last minute?



The day started off with heart shaped waffles topped with berries and whipped cream...and ended with two devilish darling girls, decked in the requisite red and white, giggling their hearts out having had a wonderful day.


Happy Valentine's Day from Lily and Anna!

Color us happy

The sad news is that Noah's sister, Sara, and her new hubbie, Leon, have jumped the pond and taken up residence in jolly old England. London to be specific. The great news is that we got some nice QT, in the form of a visit, before Sara had to leave for good. (The silver lining is, of course, that we now have a great excuse to visit -- and a place to stay!)

We took full advantage of having an extra adult in the house during Sara's stay, and we decided to tackle a DIY house project...painting.

For those of you who know me well, you might be scratching your head. Moi + painting? Say it ain't so! After painting our living room in the house we tore down, Noah and I swore that we'd never do it again. Painting would be a thing we'd outsource from here on out. Like hauling heavy boxes when moving from address A to address B. Or scrubbing toilets.

But I've recently become addicted to the design/DIY blog Young House Love. (WARNING -- it's highly addictive, so please don't say I didn't warn you!) And these guys, who recently moved and are redoing a whole new house, make painting look so easy and fun. So I decided to give it another chance.

And... it was easy and fun! And the transformation was so major and immediate. I love it!

I started nice and small with the kitchen island. And while I don't have before pictures, you can paint one in your mind. Because until this color went up, our ENTIRE house was "moon mist", an ever-so-slightly-yellowish-tinted white.

Benjamin Moore's "kingsport gray"

Then we tackled Lily's room. Before = none other than "moon mist." After = Benjamin Moore's "freesia." The exact same color as her cousin, Camilla's, room. Because, you know, at age 6 imitation really is the most sincere form of flattery. That and the fact that these girls are two halves of the same person...separated at birth (and by about 15 months).

BEFORE

Taped, furniture moved to the center, and ready to go!

The colors we were deciding between -- purple, purple and purple. Guess what won? Purple!

AFTER





And while we have decided to leave the big/hard spaces to the painting pros, Noah and I are up to the challenge of bedrooms. Next up... Anna's!

Color us happy, indeed!

Random Act of Kindness

Noah and I went back and forth, back and forth about the "ideal age difference" to have between our kids. There seemed to be pros and cons to both spacing them closely together as well as farther apart. I knew that I could not have done two in diapers, so 3 1/2 years seemed like the happy medium. But some told us that even that was too far apart... the kids may, but may not, become playmates.

The jury was out until recently. But I'm happy to say that not only have they started playing -- I mean really playing -- together, but watching their relationship blossom is nothing short of beauty. Of course they have their hair-pulling, name-calling, toy-grabbing moments too, but all in all they're becoming the best of buds.


There is enough of an age difference that they have their distinct personalities and roles. Lily is just enough older that she feels slightly maternal to Anna...but not so much older that she thinks she's a little mama. Anna is now old enough to hold her own...but still young enough that she likes it when Lily babies her.

Lily, who just recently started earning an allowance, journeyed out to a toy store a few weeks ago with a pretty heavy piggy bank in tow. Not only did she buy a something for herself, but she insisted that she buy Anna something too. With her own money; no parental contributions were accepted. And she bought a baby, because that's what Anna loves best.


A random act of kindness that made this mama very proud.