Flowers and Fawns

Last week I was getting all cocky about my orchid lasting so long: nearly six months since the first bloom, I thought for sure I must be amateur Queen of the Orchids. And then in one day, four blooms wilted, leaving four. Redeeming my status, however, is the fact that my orchid is putting out another flower spike!

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Our cul-de-sac has been all abuzz about this little guy that's been hanging around since at least Saturday. Drew spooked him out of hiding underneath the girls' sand table; Ruth across the street reported the fawn camped out on her front porch Sunday morning; and various other sightings from other neighbors. Yesterday afternoon, he was keeping cool under Gary's decking (above).

Second Try

Some ladies at church like to pass out cord rosary making kits for the kids to make, so a couple months ago, G and BB each brought one home. I half expected that BB's wasn't going to turn out even with help, and G ended up with six decades! But above all, I couldn't figure out how to finish them given the printed directions included with the kit – one of the ladies told me they would finish them if I brought them back. Fast forward to this past Sunday and another two rosary kits, I was determined to finish this, so I looked for better directions on the internet, and success!

Serb Fest

It must be unofficial heritage month here in KC, there are so many festivals going on. Last week it was the Serbians (see below); this weekend it's the Slavs and the Filipinos; next weekend is the Greeks; and I believe the Chinese are having something at the end of the month.

We arrived at an off-time: too late for a late lunch, too early for dinner, but the crowds were just right. Drew had the cevapcici (Serbian sausage) in a lepinje (flat bread) with the cucumber tomato red bell pepper salad, which both Z and M loved. I had the pljeskavica (Serbian hamburger) also in a lepinje with the rice pilaf. Both the sausage and the hamburger were served with this spicy roasted bell pepper sauce-paste, which was divine. And the girls had their phyllo pitas: burek (meat), gibanica (cheese) and spinach. We had to wolf things down a bit in order to make the once-an-hour church tour.

Inside there was a fantastically ornate wooden altar piece, which you can kind of see behind the choir, that they had ordered away to Serbia for. The priest initially gave some history on the schism between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic, and then took questions, mostly about the different customs between them. I learned, for example, that EO priests can celebrate mass only once per day, and that once baptised, children don't have to wait until they're older to receive communion.

Afterward, we bought a selection of their desserts – there were so many to choose from!!! – and had to be away to pick up our raw milk order. We got a cherry strudel; crescent shaped pecan cookies (gurabije?); povitica; a pohance (rosette) cookie; Serbian tea cake; a masna torte; a lenja pita. I don't know which was which, but the one that tasted like Christmas was my favorite, and the pohance ran a close second.

On Her Way

This child desperately needs a more sturdy, full-time transport module, she's so ready to walk.

Mexican Jar Lantern

I made this jar lantern (from this tutorial): love how it turned out! It's meant to look Moroccan, but Drew jokes it would be better suited to a Mexican restaurant. Can't wait to empty another jar to make another.

What a Difference a Year Makes

We attended daily mass (First Friday) and got a blessing for the birthday girl; and afterward went to the park, which was perfect because it wasn't blazing hot yet. At home we rode bicycles for a bit and then I got started on the birthday cake.

The BG got to lick the bowl, of course, and afterward, G and BB worked on their (homemade) presents for Z.

After lunch, I remembered that it was National Donut Day, so I packed the girls up in a rush – less than two minutes!!! – and hurried over to LaMar's. The internet said they were open until 2pm, but when we arrived at 1:37pm, we were totally bummed to find that they closed at 1pm.

A birthday card, which could be converted into a birthday crown, arrived in the mail from Uncle Mark and family. (There was also one for M: a week early.)

G and BB both composed storybooks for Z. Where BB's was a mish-mash of all the different princess stories (sans text), G copied a non-Disney version of the Little Mermaid, i.e. the original sad ending, word for word, including carefully drawn pictures. She quite literally spent hours on it, even going so far as to rush us home from the playground because she still had to put the finishing touches on the book. Included in her gift bag to Z were a number of re-gifted items, e.g. a lolly pop and a Littlest Pet Shop coloring book. 

But the star present was the shopping cart that Drew and I got her. After G and BB rolled it out (from hiding) and Z realized it was for her, she jumped up and immediately took it for a spin – about two dozen times around the house. When she wasn't concentrating on negotiating a turn, she had this happy grin on her face. And look at how perfectly her baby doll sits in it.

Then we sang and had cake.

She just loved her cake, which was excellent with raspberries, not so much with the blueberries.

And as a special treat, the girls got to carpet camp. I've been promising for weeks – aren't you proud, I put that tent together all by myself – and boy were they excited, they couldn't sleep at first. Or maybe it was the coffee in the cake.

Family Time

I'm a bit late on this one:

We had a busy Memorial Day weekend, which kicked off with a visit with the Bs (above, with the two older boys Joseph and Eli at a water pump: I don't know why the girls are fascinated with those things) at Deanna Rose Farmstead. I've tried to take the girls to DRF several times in the past few years and this is the first time we've made it inside.

The girls took a spin on the John Deere tractor-tricycles;

and we stopped at the Indian encampment, where we learned that the daily job of the 4-year-old was to grind the corn (but our 6-year-old wouldn't let her). A guide also told us that it was usual for four children to share these impossibly narrow-looking beds with nothing more than a blanket or buffalo hide between them and the wood.

Checking out one of the peripheral teepees for stability.

All the morning, the temps had been turning cooler and cooler, so we took refuge in the dairy barn and to use the restroom there. The girls all tried their hand at "milking" the cow, which squirted water.

While leaving the barn to find a place to have a snack, the PA system crackled with the announcement that the county was under a lightning advisory and that the farmstead was now closed – so we ended up saying a premature farewell to the Bs, and having our snack in the car, watching families stampede out of the parking lot in the rain.

Happily, the weather was sufficiently clear by the afternoon to celebrate Emily's birthday in the backyard. (Elizabeth is missing from the picture because she'd gone to the airport to pick up a friend, who ended up being delayed by the weather; BB is standing next to me.)

Which Eliza returned in time to dig into the extra frosting from the Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.

And later M had a dig into Eliza's purse.

The next day, Z played with some bubbles in the sink, her new favorite activity.

On Monday, Drew saw Of Gods and Men with Mark and Shaw; and called me afterwards to say the family was getting together to celebrate Memorial Day with a pizza picnic in the park. The only disappointment was the wind, which every moment threatened to blow our picnic into the lake or to the geese.

Which the girls got to feed the geese moldy bread that someone remembered to bring. We kept having to call them back from the edge, lest a gust of wind should topple them in with the bread.

After dinner, we played on the nearby play gym – and G figured out how to pump the swing!

Artwork

M discovered a pen on the floor – you can probably guess the rest.

While My Back Was Turned

Too Old

Hard to believe, Z's physical therapist (through First Steps) has been coming to the house for almost two years – and yesterday was our very last visit! Z ages out of FS this month, so we're no longer eligible to receive ridiculously affordable therapy. But that's not the end of the story: in the fall, I'm going to have her evaluated to see if she can get into the school district's Great Beginnings early education program.