(our gardening clogs)

Saturday morning something transpired that has got me wondering if Millie has a future in botany.

Allow me to explain.

At 9:30 AM

I was outside weeding, Millie was in her room playing with “Sparkle Barbie-Q” (yes, as in BBQ) and “Sparkle Kevin”, Jan was home from basket ball and getting ready to head off to Home Depot and Clara lay dreaming (hopefully sweet dreams) in her crib.

At 10:00 AM

Millie decided to join me in my weeding endeavors. This was her first time weeding so I taught her the proper weeding technique, as in yoinking out those nasty suckers all the way down to the roots. Millie was a born weeder. She was awesome! So awesome that we made up a song that went something like this,

“I’ve got a daughter and she knows how to weed! She pulls ‘um by the roots, the roots the root’in, tooti’n roots.”

There were more verses and the tune changed every time, but you get the gist.  Millie was having a grand time.

Then she walked up to me and started to explain the horticulture which surrounded us.

Millie: Mom, do you see that (pointing to a weed) is is a “oblasis”. It is Italian. And you’ve got to be careful because it can really stick ya. It can stick ya in the knee, like a jelly fish, and then you wont be able to win the race. Or it can stick ya in the nose OR in the fingers and then you wont be able to wiggle them anymore.

Mom: Seriously? Wow! I’ll be careful. And from Italy, no less!

Millie: No from I-T-A-L-I-A-N.

(I explained to her that if something was Italian that meant it was from the country of Italy – “copy that”).

She then went on to explain to me that “if you don’t pick an oblasis  it will stay firm and then it will help the corn to grow and grow and grow!”

What the? I started to wonder if she’s been watching too much David Attenborough.

Later as I was hacking away at the rose bush on the side of our drive way Millie came up to me. She was carrying the “garden scnizzors” and she was using them to “sniz” the weeds.

Millie: Hey mom, do you know where any fleeps are?

Mom: I am not sure, what is a fleep?

Millie: (exasperated) You know! A FLEEP! I need to sniz some.

In case you have an inquiring mind, like mine, it turns out a fleep is a petal of dandelion.

So we found her some more of those and she got right to work, snizing them.

I carried on cutting back the rose bush which, by the way, I have NO idea what I am doing when it comes to this kind of thing, weeds sure, but anything else I don’t know what the heck to do with it! I mentioned to Millie that her Papa is a wonderful gardener.

Millie: Oh, yes? Like me?

Mom: Yes! He has beautiful flowers and yummy vegetables and when we go there to visit maybe you can ask him if you can pick some of his strawberries and raspberries. I bet he’d let you help him weed too.

Millie: Ooooohhhh! Does he also have peaches?

Mom: I think so. He is growing lots of trees but it takes a long time for them to grow and it is a lot of work.

Millie: Oh! Then he really needs my help – especially if it is hard and takes a long time.

Mom: No doubt!

At the end of our two hour garden tour of duty. We’d accomplished a fair amount.

Filled two garbage cans with: weeds, the remains of my hacked up rose bush, and grass that we dug up to make way for flower beds (BTW Jan when got back from Home Depot and helped out a TON!)

“What beds? I see no flower beds!” You say? This is a BEFORE shot..

Looky!

To the victor, the spoils!

Look at what our rosebush gave us…

We had enough roses to fill five small vases

in Millie's room

in Clara's room

in the entry way

And the  pièce de résistance is sitting pretty in the kitchen

Now our entire house smells like a Crabtree & Evelyn rose drawer liner – only a million times better!

If gardening was always this fun I swear, I’d be out there every day!

These invitations were sent to three little darling girls. The plan was to have a birthday tea in Millie’s honor. But last night the birthday girl came down with a temperature of 100.6, so I called all the mommies to let them know the party was off.

Millie was sad, but not heart broken (probably because we’d killed ourselves only two weeks earlier giving her a wop-dinger of a birthday! I am glad that counted for something.)

We told her if she was feeling better that we’d take her to the movies instead.

DEAL!

Well, she woke up without a smidge of temperature. So we tried to find a baby sitter, and couldn’t at such late notice. So I suggested that Jan and Millie have a daddy daughter date.

PERFECT!

Millie got herself ready.

When going on a date, is it possible to “over accessorize”? Not in Millie’s universe.

Clara was convinced that she was on the right track, fashion speaking.

Just look at her face! Complete and total adoration. “WORK IT, girl!”

In Millie’s purple polka-dot purse I placed a dollar bill – which will buy her about 1/3 of a bag of M&Ms at the cinema – but I know her date pretty well, and he’ll foot the rest. He is a true gentleman.

Off they go!

Have fun, you two cuties!

(For their viewing pleasure, you may be wondering? They went to see “UP!” -& I can’t wait to hear what they think of it!)

Just as I finished this post there was a knock on the door.

Sisckel and Ebert had returned and gave it “TWO THUMBS UP!”

Dang, I love those two!

May 17th – the most anticipated day since Charles and Dianna’s wedding – came! After weeks and weeks of asking and hoping for it to arrive, IT FINALLY DID!

And it came bright and early.

5:55 AM to be precise.

No sweat! Mom and Dad were ON IT! Much evening preparation had taken place the night before, involving building, wrapping, stirring, baking and so forth.

In case you’re curious breakfast was a symphony in pink!

Pink milk, muffins with pink frosting, and pink fruit (in the form of a strawberry) vanilla yogurt (white is also an approved color) with a pink candle on top

The little girl who loved to bring her mom and dad cold scrambled eggs on cookie sheet draped in a tea-towel grew up to be a mommy who couldn’t wait to bring her daughter a birthday breakfast in bed!

Who do you think was the most excited? (It’s a toss up, says I!)

Make that wish!

Don’t mind if I do

Only a few nibbles and sips took place before the pull of presents was so strong that it could no longer be RESISTED!

The Birthday Girl was not disappointed.

Her favorites?

After church we came home and got ready for Millie’s “Family Party” which, by all accounts, t’was tremendous!

The Bench family arrived, Jack carrying the gift and Drew holding these flowers behind his back (a tricky thing when you consider that they were about half his height). Drew always reminds me that chivalry is not dead.

Then Hudson, Braxton and Porter arrived – Hudson was keen to get the presents opened and Millie was only too happy to oblige him

from Drew – his favorite thing in the universe, a painting book. Thanks, Drewby!

and black ballet slippers to match with her birthday tutu, thank you, Amanda!

a home-made card from the Rich brothers (aka a TREASURE!)

Hudson and his mommy must have been on the same wave length as me – as only a few days earlier Millie and I had picked out these SAME goggles for her. She was confused and wanted to keep the ones we’d already purchased. (Note to the mother: must work with your four year old child on party etiquette namely receiving gifts graciously!!)

Candles + Cake = TIME TO GET YOUR GRUB ON!

Then all children pictured above were banished the the basement bellow to watch a movie

But the party was just getting started…Millie’s UNCLE/AUNTS and cousin little John arrived!

Check out Millie’s reaction to their arrival

HOOORAAAYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After our wonderful friends said “adieu” our family stayed a little longer for some serious “cousin time” – it ROCKED!

John reminds me of George Emerson a top his tree in A Room w/ a View. TRUTH! LOVE!

BEAUTY! says Clara.  She loves that book too, John-o.

Khali must have got the memo, or perhaps just felt the cousin vibe b/c she called Millie to sing her, “happy birthday!” and followed it up with a video chat.  So we ended up having all the cousins together! We also got a call from both sets of Grandparents and a wonderful email from Granny complete with photos of cows they had seen that afternoon a video of a duck who refused to quack!

It was a “GLORIOUS day, Honeychurch!”

When it was all over, the girls in bed, the dishes washed, the house back in relative order– all was quiet. Jan and I flopped down on the sofa to enjoy our Sunday tradition of nachos for dinner. As we bowed our heads to pray Jan paused, and then proceed to pour his heart out in gratitude for the blessing of Millie, for the bounty of wonderful friends and cherished family, for all that is true and good in our lives.  (Those nachos didn’t know what had hit them!)

His prayer made my heart sing.

The perfect ending to a perfect day.

On Weds the 13th celebrations for Millie’s birthday commenced.

Each kid in her pre-school class is invited to bring a birthday treat to share with their class mates in honor of their special day.

I wanted to send Millie in with something other than cupcakes (because everyone does cupcakes) but Jan was out to town, I had three hours of sleep the night before and I was exhausted. Cup cakes it was.

Millie chose the sprinkles and put them on herself

We picked out a special dress for her to wear to school

Armed with her cupcakes she was ready to PAR-TY!!

At school she was issued the standard birthday crown.

I think she really thought she was royalty

She loved it and wore it all day long. Even in the park running around. At one point the wind blew it right off her head – but Jack and Drew ran after it and rescued it. What chivalry! Their gallant deeds made that cardboard crown all the more regal.

Millie also requested that whenever she was wearing it that I refer to her as “The Birthday Girl.”

Your wish is my command.

When I was a teenager I once said, “Everything British is better.”  I still believe that to this day. Especially in the husband department. When Jan is around everything is better. He happens to currently not be around but luckily he will be back tomorrow evening. Kansas will be the poorer but we here in Madison, NJ will be the richer.

When I miss him most is at bed time. When you’re flying solo by the end of the day you don’t have much left to give. And the whole bedtime thing feels so daunting. Millie knows it far too well for me to skip anything. So there isn’t much that can be done except to just DO IT.

Our evening routine with Millie involves all the usual suspects:

Without fail there is a trip to the potty, a brushing of the teeth, a laying out of the jammies, and reading a verse from the scriptures.

When Jan is at the helm he adds an extra step and makes sure that the first thing Millie does is choose stuffed animal to sleep with. The night before he left for Kansas Millie chose Zebree. While Millie trotted off the the loo Jan did this…

He likes to set up the little critters as if they are waiting for Millie. So sweet!

When Millie returns from the bathroom, she gets to pick a book.

Then prayers

A drink of water

And to bed

That is a tired little face. I love to kiss it good night.

I know Jan does too, so if you are reading this from your hotel room know that we did all the same things tonight but… it wasn’t the same without you. oxoxox, Lize

If I could, I would fill my house with flowers. Every room. All the time. Perpetual flowers.(Kind of like the tulip explosion that happened at Amanda’s this past Sunday – wink, wink).

I just love flowers. Millie does too. So whenever she says to me, “Mom, can we get some flowers?” the answer is almost always, okay, it is always, “YES!”

When Millie and I were out doing our grocery shopping last week I just couldn’t resist these pale pink tulips. Millie picked the white flowers.

Aren’t the so sweet, and delicate? Don’t you wish your cheeks were this hue.

And whenever we get flowers we always get a little bouquet for Millie’s room.

I think that flowers are a manifestation of God’s profound love for us.  Seriously, I do.  They are with us at our happiest moments – weddings, baby blessings, holiday gatherings — and are equally welcome at the times when we feel our most profound grief – funerals, next to our sick bed etc.

And wonder of wonders, on any ordinary day, we can put them on our kitchen counters or on our little girl’s night stand.

All that beauty, all that creativity, all that goodness – a little handful of heaven for us to enjoy on earth. Now that is what I call LOVE!

1st good deed: Reading to my child. I am reading a book to Millie called “Totto-Chan, The little Girl at the Window”.  A true story of a  Japanese girl who gets thrown out of her school (a mere kindergartner) and her mother finds her this fabulous alternative school with truly enlightened teachers. I wish I could do the same for Millie.

Anyway we were talking about food – b/c in the book the kids have to bring “something from the ocean and something from the hills” every day in their lunch. Totto-chan brings something called denbu which is the flesh of a fish scraped off the bones, then mashed up, and cooked. Sound tasty? You learn something new every day.

2nd good deed: Cooking with my child. We decided that we would make something too. Um, NOT denbu. Instead we made cousin-in-law Lindsay’s sour-cream cherry muffins. (Lindsay, you really are a domestic goddess – these muffins ROCK!) We had a swell time cooking together.  Millie discovered that she loves cherries and not just as a decorative pattern on her apron.

3rd good deed: We decided to take the muffins to our next door neighbors. Millie’s idea!

4th good deed: Here are three clues to what lead to the 4th good deed.

1. April 30th (last day of the month)

2.

this good sister's name came up twice on my caller ID

3. Guilt

Yes, visiting teaching had not been completed for the month of April. But there were still a few hours left in the month of April and it struck me that I could take a few muffins to the ladies I visit.

Whala!

The muffins were placed in lovely little boxes and delivered to my visiting teach-ets.

So shall it be written, so shall it be done!

*RE: 2nd Clue – I want to give a shout out to my girl, Sister Van Uiert. She is the most dilligent VT coordinator I have ever known.  She calls and calls until she gets the data, and that is not a fun and easy task. Even though I have never met her face to face I love her. And by golly, she has got my vote!

Jan’s brother Kai was handsome, intelligent, charming, he loved a good debate, enjoyed acting, mastered a unicycle and lived life to the fullest.

I never knew him. When he was 21 he died in a tragic accident not long after this picture was taken.

A few months ago Jan told Millie all about Kai. She listened very carefully to the story of his life and ever since that moment, when she discovered she had a “new uncle”, some kind of a connection was forged between them.

She talks about him all the time. She wants to know about him. Out of the blue she will say to me, “You know what, Mom? I love Uncle Kai.” When we called her grandma Gitte today she whispered to me, “Mom, can I ask Granny about Kai?”  In February on the anniversary of his death I spoke to her about what a hard time it was for her Granny & Pappa and for her Daddy. She was concerned that they would be sad and wanted to understand why. When I told her it was because they were missing Kai. This is the exchange we had. 

Sunday came. That morning  Jan went over her talk with her. She knew it by heart.

When she stood at the podium she became nervous and she looked at me with a little fear in her eyes. I whispered the story in her ear and she repeated an account of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. But when the moment came for her to talk about Kai something shifted.

We’d brought a picture of Kai with us so that she could show all her primary buddies her uncle. I handed her his picture and all of the sudden she was completely confident and at ease. She spoke from her heart,  no promptings from mom. Just a heartfelt expression of the love she feels for her uncle Kai. And her testimony that she will see him again.

When she finished several people had tears in their eyes.

I wonder if this is what Robert George meant when he said, “the truth is luminous”.

As many of you will know it was Opening Day at the new Yankee Stadium on the 16th of April.

Jan and Ian can tell you all about it.

If you want to know what un-diluted, pure happiness looks like – just check out their faces. (And this was despite the score Indians 10, Yanks 2)

Well here in our quaint town of Madison, NJ we celebrated opening day for our little league.

It was stink’n awesome.

The boys and girls paraded through our main street. It was the only parade I have been to where the people in the parade who throw the candy are also the ones who grab up the candy. Riddle me that one, if you can.

We had great, curb side seats (as in right on the curb) where we cheered on some of Madison’s finest sons, Porter and Braxton Rich. Their lovely mother, Emily, is seated beside me, in her lap is my future son-in-law, Hudson Jack Rich. (He likes the middle name mentioned, thankyouverymuch.)

Afterwords we headed home to play a little ball of our own.

Clara was more of a spectator.

Millie took time out from playing to give the camera some “attitude”

Eno, does this one slay you as much as it does me?! Check out that sisterly affection while wearing the world’s greatest baseball team logo.

Jan doesn’t need any sons to fulfill his baseball needs…

And yes, I was there too

That is my little horn and yes, I am going to “toot” it. So if you want to skip me congratulating myself for being a rock star mom don’t read on.

You’ve been warned.

Every once and awhile I just have to take a step back and say, “Way to go, champ!” And this was one of those times.

Millie was needing a new something to do. I think she’d already taken two baths, watched a show and played with her toys. Invariably the next thing that comes is the question, “what else is there to do mom?”

And then it hit me! Months ago I had bought a book and hid it on top of my wardrobe (a long with a few other goodies that I had forgotten about – hello, can someone say birthday presents!)

It was one of those Klutz books that had these awesome body crayons.

Behold!

In case you are wondering that is a chicken. You’re seeing it now, right?

A classic. Thumb and index finger make the perfect mouth, would you agree?

Here we have Bellybutton lady. I think she’s got attitude.

Millie wanted a piggy on her right knee and a cow on her left.

And it all washed off in the bath tub. No scrubbing required. But something went horribly wrong with Millie’s eyes…

3rd bath is the charm, they say.

P.S.

Jan

said

this

one

was

too

saucy

for our flickr page….

I was in rock star mode after all, and you know how rock stars can be.

wink, wink!