mommy favorites

a few of kara's favorite mommy things.

1.  Lunch Punch sandwich cutters from pottery barn kids. http://bit.ly/IgvmJA

nothing like grill cheese or toast as planes, trains or automobiles.

choo choo cheese

made of FDA food safe plastic

2.  This cheap amazing Room Essentials clock from Target.  http://bit.ly/JBhkkP    I paid $3 for the thing. It has been pulled apart and dropped and it keeps on ticking.  At one point Jude took all the arms off and this clock snapped back together and still works!

jude's clock

3.  Stroller IPhone holder.  The Brica phone pod from babiesrus.  http://bit.ly/JBhUPE
This clamps onto the handlebar of both our strollers. I can read headlines or listen to itunes without having to hold the phone or takeover the cup holder.

Have your own list of favorites? let us know.

what bugs us

this spring brings sadness to the miller house.  

jude is sad because a giant tree that stood faithfully shading parts of his backyard is now gone.

here is the green ash on an unfortunate cloudy day before its demise.

little boy blue

the white dot near jude is the dreaded mark from the village that a tree is coming down.  jude is sad because the white paint is out of control in our area.  its all because of a tiny bug. so far the emerald ash borer has claimed five trees that we can see from our windows.  

as is usually the case, sadness is short lived for jude. turns out the tree stump is fun to climb on.  

our former tree

the rings in the stump tell the tale.  our green ash was 35 years old.  oak park foresters say almost 600 ash trees in the village have met the chainsaw since last fall.

rings of the past

while we are sad to see the tree go, parts of my gardening are blossoming with new found rays of sun.  the lilac by the front door made a particularly pleasant showing, spilling right onto the steps.  what a nice sight to come home to this spring.

purplelicious

speaking of blossoming, harry is now quite an accomplished army crawler. and his tiny smile has four teeth now.

baby love

celebrating easter

the easter bunny and jesus made it quite a weekend for the oak park millers.  we batted a thousand this morning, getting both boys up, finding eggs, surviving jude's chocolate high, getting everyone to church, teaching the 3 year old class, and managing to get the boys posed for a few photos before crashing for their naps.  what a nice easter morning to celebrate. and how fun to hear and see the amazing story of jesus, through the eyes of three and four year olds in the class today.

easter 2012  harry 8 months, jude 3.5

the child models were done for the day by the time kara sat down apparently

the chickens who lay those plastic eggs were busy in barrington.  they had to supply 3500 eggs for the giant easter egg hunt at kara's aunt's church.  jude had hunting after finding about 15 of the yellow ones.  so nice to see the mixter family at the festivities.

on the hunt for yellow eggs                                                                                          

harry and great aunt jan

jude is fascinated by girls in general, but especially his cousins.  our trip to visit cousins andrea and meredith got totaled with the car crash.  so we made it a point to see the mixter girls when they were in town.  jude had a blast learning about the computer games of teenagers.

mallory, hannah and jude

perhaps the best unexpected part of yesterday's visit was...the hill!  that is tiny jude at the top.

 the church apparently has a staff person who hangs out up there to greet the kids, but also help send them back down when mom and dad call.  love it!

big plans

little with big dreams

Jude decided his potty break was a good time to lay out his future for mom recently.

"When I grow up i want to be a fire engine, a fireman, a mechanic, a fixer man and a race car racer."

We hope it all happens little man, whatever you and God decide is the best deal for you.