Tiny Tails. Under the Sea Adventures

We feted Baby Sister with a mermaid party last weekend. Only croissant crabs allowed.

It was quite possibly our most adorable party ever and it might take me a LONG post to tell you about it. Apologies in advance. If cute isn't your thing, look away now. But if you're in need of a quick and easy party, I'm your girl.

It was great luck that so much of this party came together the morning of the event. I'll never again plan to host people just hours after summer has begun. In the race to finish the school year and start to celebrate summer, there wasn't much party prep time. Really just time Big Brother and I logged getting ideas online. And most of that was spent mired in photos of cake wrecks. Nonetheless, I was determined that this -- being Baby Sister's first not just us birthday party -- would be full of fun and fanfare. And always - a theme!

But, I digress. (That might be the new name of this blog.)

Of course, at my house all the best parties start with a favor plan. The guests got sand buckets filled with bubbles and a super easy goldfish barrette/bow. So easy that I made extras for friends.

If you're going to whip up a last minute party, it pays to stockpile ribbon, clothes pins, google eyes and general art supplies. Keep your supplies separate from the kids' if you want to ever find them.

Goldfish hair bows: Loop medium-width orange grosgrain ribbon like you were making an advocacy bow. Tie that with a thinner ribbon behind the neck. Do fish have necks? The little opening makes the mouth. Hot glue a googley eye to the front and barrette in the back.

Blow a little air into a gift bag and tie with ribbon.

What if you have to make palm trees in a jif? Not to worry. Especially if you have lunch bags, pool noodles and tissue on hand. Just cut out the bottoms of the brown bags, crumple and thread them onto the noodles. Top with green tissue fronds. Three minutes max.

Of course, busy little mermaids will need to eat.

Croissant sannie platter dotted with bubble gum "pearls" - even if crabs don't make pearls. I cracked myself up seeing these guys staring at me in the frige all morning.

Nine-legged octopus (polypus?) veggie and dip platter and sea turtle fruit bowl. Fondant mermaid (thanks, Barbie for the bikini loan) as cake topper sitting on graham cracker sand. Goldfish and Swedish fish rounded out the lunch menu. 

We played lots of fishing games and had water balloons galore. The girls painted their own little clothes pin mermaids. We used q-tips as paint brushes. They LOVED this and spent lots of time with their creations.

I hot glued skeins of embroidery floss hairdos onto each clothes pin.

And what mermaid party would be complete without tails?

These were the cutest things EVER. And take less than 5 minutes each. I'm serious. Cute, quick and cheap? In addition to being my next band's name, those are things I strive for everyday.

Did I mention these are no sew? (Made extra important as our power went out the night before the party.) I took turquoise tea towels, attached layers of wide sparkle tulle ribbon with hemming/fabric tape and made a waistband with wide fabric headbands (sold in multipacks). The stretchy waistband also attached with fabric tape

Gather the base of the tail with ribbon and you've got a mermaid. Or two!

Invites were homemade with leftover ribbon and card stock. The vellum was a last minute addition (cut @ the bottom to look like waves) and what happenstance - it made it all look a little under water.

We had a great time and the guest of honor was even happier than the craft lady. Cheers!

Real Sports

Summer is near, friends!  Really, really near. As in we're serving Pimms and taking Pimms to go plates and pitchers along when we're invited to eat elsewhere. As both a tribute to our British life and a celebration. Of just about everything lately.

Today was the kids' Field Day at Our New School. Such fun was had by all and Baby Sister served as an excellent cheerleader.

I'm incredibly proud of the smalls this year. For building new friendships, adjusting to being back in America and just plain thriving.

I'm also (and here I'm sure I'm not alone) exceedingly glad that our summer has nearly arrived. They just go to school tomorrow morning for Mass and awards and to hug their teachers one last time. But as we've worn swimsuits more than school uniforms in the last few days, summer is upon us.

It isn't just that I'm glad the school year is coming to a close. In fact, any sort of next step is always bittersweet for me. But I'm so happy that they've not just endured but done really well this year. They have friends. They've learned so much (and not just the Pledge of Allegiance!) and they are happy and settling in Music City.

To say I'm grateful is both hugely repetitive and a giant understatement. We're here. We really like it. We're making lovely friends and in a great school. AND some of the luckiest of us are going to London before too long.

Good news. Good sports. Great cheer!

What a Difference

a school year makes.

Today was Baby Sister's last day of school. For comparison, here's the gang on her first day of school.

I might spend the rest of the week going back and forth between those pictures. If only to judge whose legs got longer quicker.

Do you know what I see most in the photo from today? It is real comfort. A sort of peace that wasn't there in August. In August, we were doing our best. Which, at times, meant faking it a bit.

We're not faking it anymore and we feel at home here. Those victories have been hard fought and aren't lost on me. In fact today, moments after this photo, Big Sister took a terrible spill which bloodied both knees (and kept her from kneeling at Mass!). Would you know she, all bandaged up and really weepy, went straight to the loving arms of her teacher? Her wonderful teacher who has loved her all through the year. Taken my little British school girl and made her a-okay in Music City. I could say the same for all of their teachers, their friends, the families we've befriended. We are so grateful this year. We see providence in our everyday.

It has all simultaneously gone too quickly and been such hard work that it is gratefully and finally over. It does seem a bit like we're mice on a wheel, having not really taken a proper (even a British/six week) summer since 2012. That was the Olympic summer for a point of reference.

But no matter how we feel about it, the school year for us all is quickly coming to a close. I cannot tell you how many of our prayers have been answered here. By having friends, loving our school and feeling at home.

My baby will soon go to Kindergarten and my oldest is "so excited!" about 7th grade. So while that may be bittersweet for Your Girl Friday, it is also so rich in goodness (and good news) that I cannot possibly complain. I wish you could meet our friends and see our school (and hooray for those of you who already have and will soon!). You'd see just what we mean about that sense of peace.

It's been a long year. But I can see now that it was also all meant to be. We're living it. We're here. And really happily so. Even tho I'm awfully weepy of late.

xo

Baby Sister Likes Me

She must -- look how fancy she thinks I am! Ours is a mutual admiration society. When I woke her this morning I complimented how lovely she was as she'd fallen asleep wearing a favorite dress (the Big Sister version of her "John Lewis dress" which was effectively her uniform about this time last year. We've just unearthed it from our summer clothes). But I digress. I told her, "You look so pretty in your dress" to which she sleepily replied, "you look so comfy in your pajamas!"

Baby Sister is my shadow and likes to dress alike, too. Apologies for my flash face, but check us out in our matching capes, tank tops and jeans! Sometimes we can even pull off matching jammies.

She's at an age when the every day is exciting. Just this week she held her little fingers up to my ear and proudly demonstrated that she knows how to snap!

It was very sweet to be fussed over at her class' "Muffins with Moms" celebration last week. I got a special pedicure, toured their art gallery (would you believe they painted in the style of Michelangelo on their backs with paper attached underneath a table?) and was served a lovely breakfast.

I've already framed her Momma portrait and cannot wait to get my hands on this huge Jackson Pollack-style piece. I think it is going to hang in the front hallway.

We're in the waning days of having a pre-schooler in our house and that's really okay. There's so much to celebrate and she's going to be a super Kindergartener. And we've got a whole summer stretching out before us. Maybe she'll be our art instructor.

Fore! Also, Four.

This is what my girl wore to play a little round of backyard golf yesterday. Purple high heels, wristlet, gold lame belt and her sister's top made into a dress.

I hear you thinking up a joke about her being "in the weeds." Ha! She requested that particular hairdo, too. 

She's such a character. I envy her style. Her sass and swagger. And I usually feel a bit underdressed (but always greatly entertained) in her company. Next year she'll be in a uniform all day so she's due lots of dressing up and prancing around while she can. 

more soon!
xo

Painting the Town

Biggest Brother's 12th birthday party was all about fanfare and fun! He invited his brother and some buddies to go paint balling. Is that a verb?

You may think that 12 is too old for a themed cake, favors and decorations. Do you know me? Or Big Brother for that matter? I'm happy to report that my kids are equally as crazed for themed birthdays as I am. But I kept this one simple and pre-teen boy approved.

I suggested Jackson Pollack books (get it? All those splatters?!) for favors, but Biggest Brother preferred even more simple. Gum balls and silly string in spray cans. Paint and balls both captured. Done.

I'm only showing you this sadly bare table (sans pizza and fruit and veg) to demonstrate that the table cloth was NOT polka dot, but rather indicative of paint balls. Right?

Deferring to the Birthday Boy, simple cupcakes with tiny rainbow sprinkles and bigger gum balls. In a rainbow of colors.

I really wish I'd taken pictures of the boys (and the Mister!) after all their paint balling. As it happened, the girls were off attending a party of their own, so by dinnertime it was just me and a houseful of amped up boys (big and small) excited from a day's shooting paint at each other. Eating pizza, telling their war stories and laughing contentedly. Showing off big paint splatters and bigger bruises.

There is so much about this party that I loved.

Starting with Biggest Brother having made really nice friends here. That's no small affair when you're The New Kid in the sixth grade. You'd really like his friends. They're nice to Big Brother and the girls and just genuinely great to have around. Biggest Brother is such a nice guy that I shouldn't be surprised that he's found nice friends, but I'm still really grateful for them (and their equally nice parents).

Also that the Mister took the gang off for the bulk of the adventure. And that Biggest Brother was genuinely worried about his buddies (especially his little brother) and their injuries after they'd all gone home.

And that I have nearly a whole year before an actual teenager lives here.

xo

Happy, happy day

This guy turned 12 a few days ago. I see his baby face in this photo. In his twinkly-eyed laugh. He has always been sweet and musical. Kind and funny. Easy to know and like. Somethings I suppose (I hope!) never change.

He has a wide circle of friends and an array of talents. It would be tough to find a nicer guy on the planet. Even if he's trying out a bit of preteen swagger on me.

To celebrate his big day, he helped his team win another soccer game and took a fantastic group of guys (Big Brother and the Mister included) to paintball. He's going to continue celebrating by seeing a London friend this weekend. Hard to imagine that this time next year those boys will be actual teenagers. But still. He's seemed like a little man for a very long time. We used to joke that it was just a formality that the Mister and I would be home with him. That joke didn't last long enough. 

We're so blessed to call him ours. He's always the captain of our team and the leader of an admiring brood. He defines First Born. He's super and even though he thinks it's funny when I say so, I really like him a lot. 

He has earned his stripes this year and then some. Cheering him for his bday. And always!

Big Apple Chronicles

We've had a bit of a tumultuous relationship with New York City this year. There were about 48 hours last spring when we were moving there after London. And very happily so. The Mister and I'd been conspiring to get a NYC posting for years. Don't get me wrong, Nashville is fantastic and was surely meant to be for us now. But that abrupt change of course meant there was a long time when I wasn't at all keen to see the Mister drink anything from his Brooklyn Brewery pint glasses. Not being city - not being New Yorkers - stung for a while. 

So a year ago I would have been shocked if you'd told me how thrilled we'd all be to spend our Spring Break in the Big Apple. I probably would have said something completely unintelligible as I was weeping into a red bandana over a coffee on the Marylebone High Street. It took several days of red-ringed eyes, wearing sunglasses on overcast school runs and much, much cheer from my London girlfriends (who pledged to wear "neckerchiefs" when they arrived in Nashville) to remind me that we don't always know what's next for us.

But we took Manhattan by storm a few weeks ago and loved every minute (Even if I locked my jaws a few times instead of responding to the Smalls cheerful questioning of "Why didn't we move HERE?!"). We were thrilled that they love New York like we do. Biggest Sister, she of few words sometimes, kept exclaiming things like, "I LOVE New York!"

Not unlike taking the kids to Paris, our goal was for them to see enough of the city that they'd love it and be eager for a return trip. It helped significantly that our first stop was dinner at a Pret and then for a stroll through Rockefeller Center and Times Square at night.

Day One found us at the World Trade Center memorial site. It is hard to believe that we were expecting Biggest Brother when the towers came down and what seems like not that much later we were there with four little children. The museum opens next month and it promises to be a profound experience.

The ferry ride to Liberty Island reminded me of ferrying them across the English Channel. Maybe it was Baby Sister's fantastic hat.

And all my French friends should know how happy we were to be reminded of this treasured gift.

Farmer's Market in Greenwich Village and a research trip for inspiration for our own budding shop.

 

A tour of Teddy Roosevelt's boyhood home. My favorite part of that was discovering his quote: "For unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison." And how!

The Empire State Building. Cold and really windy made us feel like we were back in Chicago.

The Plaza, FAO Schwarz and Tiffany. 

And I cannot believe I didn't get a photo of another great stop. We stumbled into a super new restaurant for a perfectly simple dinner. Hot dogs are their speciality but we enjoyed it all. I'll think of it and report back.

Until next time, New York.