Pink. With Sprinkles on Top

We're all jumbled again, telling you about our last week while enjoying this one. All part of a mixed up summer schedule, right?!

Our summer schedule - or lack of one - means that today, Big Sister drowsily emerged from her room more than an hour after we would have left the flat on a school morning. And don't get me started on bedtimes. The Olympic excitement makes it too hard. At least the Mister and I've stopped waiting up for John McEnroe's antics on the BBC's end of day show - ripe for a SNL skit. 

Anyhow. We drew "bake" one morning last week and our assignment languished a bit while we bounced on Stonehenge, checked in at the library, went to a birthday party, and took advantage of other adventures. Then a cool morning presented itself and baking popped back up on our itinerary. Also that the kids were chanting "when are we going to BAKE?!" whenever there were two quiet moments strung together. I do love that they enjoy something I like so much. It also justifies my bringing 4 boxes of cookie cutters abroad. One day we'll bake more and more complex things again. I find myself into quick and easy baking of late. 

Quick, easy, delicious and these smiley faces in the kitchen?!  What could be better?

It became sort of a team event. The girls made pink lemonade cookies (thank you, Kappa Prep!) and the boys whipped up iced brownies. Big Brother apparently feeling like Isaac Washington in the kitchen.

Baking always makes for a great maths lesson and usually results in a some conversions, too.

The desserts were just as pretty as they were delicious. The Mister was asked to judge. I believe he declared a tie. He is a diplomat, our guy.

I never did get to take a picture of the platter. We gobbled up the goodies all too soon.  

Yesterday we watched the Triathlon in Hyde Park, had lunch at Kensington Palace, and toured the new exhibits in the reopened palace, too. We should someday be experts on royal lineage. My camera battery died just as we followed this big crowd to watch the swimming. Biggest Brother helped me take palace pictures on my phone and hopefully he can also advise me how to download them, too. 

How super is it that a pair of brothers was on the medal stand at the triathlon?  How sweet it is, this summer!

And another thing, since we are talking pink sweetness. Apologies for discussing both the medical and the edible, but I have to confess that still reigning over our summer is my bothersome eyes. I will not go into the extreme yuck of it all, but will say that I am beginning my own campaign against the darling sounding "pink eye" (what's next? Polka dot mumps? Glittered gangrene?) when what I've been slogging through is bright red, zombie movie, swollen, teary peepers. That are now sensitive to light. I may be the only one who was squinting in the shadowed darkness of Kensington Palace. Don't get me started on having missed an already overdue hair appointment and going 3 weeks in glasses and no makeup because of my eyes. Vanity was my first symptom. 

So thus far, our summer: very sweet, but definitely not pretty. Now, who saved me a brownie?!

Baby Sister is a BIG Fibber

Do not be fooled by her sweet countenance. Or the giant innocent eyes. There's really no nice way to say this, but Baby Sister is a bit of a liar. Maybe it is a stage. We can only hope. She is so very creative and enduring in her ability to create complete falsifications. I confess to forgetting some things about the other smalls, but I really don't remember this amount of creativity of excuses.

Maybe it is also that she is given a much broader circumference than the others. Less supervision, if you will. That is surely true, but that's somewhat because she sashays about here like she's 14.

Most commonly heard is this exchange, or a variation of the following:

ME: What are you doing?

BABY SISTER: I don't know.

Let me translate.

ME: It is WAY too quiet. I've had squirrelly 3 year olds before. I can be glad for a moment's peace to finish this coffee/section of the paper/online gobbledygook/something that will require Spanx at my next outing, but I'm fairly sure it comes with a price. So what ARE you up to? And how big is the mess, really?

BABY SISTER: Huh!  So you noticed!?  I'm hard at work at something I clearly shouldn't be doing but am not of the mind to confess to you right now. Also, I love you, Momma!  What are YOU doing?

The Mister and I love to talk about who and what they'll be when they're bigger. For this one, I'm thinking fiction writer. Given her cliched status already as youngest child/class clown, perhaps comedic fiction is best.

Baby Sister Turns Three. Twice

This lovely bit of summer deliciousness turned three last week in Spain. Her siblings can be forgiven for thinking that it is now our norm to celebrate birthdays by exploring a foreign country.

Despite all the fanfare in London, we escaped the rainy, chilly city just after Our Sweet School's Jubilee tea party for the kids' half-term break. A week on a Spanish beach. Sun, sand, books, football, chiringuito. Repeat times seven. Add a side trip or two to Portugal, lots of local ham, Cruzcampo and sand buckets and you have a sense of our week.

It was great to get away and we lost track of time most days. As evidence, we feted Baby Sister on Thursday - two cakes, gifts, candles, pink balloons, lots of singing and good cheer. The whole nine yards. Then Friday, I checked my cell phone and noticed that was actually her birthday!  Even though Biggest Brother is eager to tell his friends that "my mom forgot my sister's birthday" we really celebrated her twice!  Better early than late, but to be sure, not something that would happen to Baby Number One.

Still. I can be forgiven for getting my days mixed up when it doesn't seem like many days ago that the boys and Big Sister were huddled over a bassinet in Illinois.

"Do you like hawses? Do you like dina seurs?" Big Sister asked, already so interested in this little creature about to become her best girlfriend. Not surprisingly, Baby Sister slept (and sometimes stared) through the rapid-fire questioning.  She still stares, wide-eyed at her beloved Big Sister.

I wish Biggest Brother and Big Sister could see even for a moment what the Mister and I so often do. Especially that Big Brother and Baby Sister often stare with long gazes at their big buddies with obvious, heartbreaking, devotion. It is like they are taking a very, very long mental snapshot of what it is like to be Big. The youngest of 4 myself, and a little sister to a fancy Big Sister, I completely relate. I still want to know what is in my Big Sister's purse. I very much get it.

Maybe that it why I was extra touched that when we celebrated a sibling last, Big Sister appeared mid-way through Biggest Brother's sleepover in her Chips The Fish costume. And why I was so grateful that Biggest Brother and Big Brother were very kind to her obvious plea to be noticed. To be included. Hooray, and unending thanks to all you Big people who look out for the rest of us!

Happy Birthday, Baby Sister. It was well worth slogging through the mountains of Jubilee newspapers in pajamas this morning and trudging to the Jubilee souvenir exhibit while dodging raindrops this afternoon to celebrate you on the beaches of Spain.

You're a super little girl and we're all terribly in love. You'll always be our baby. We're doubly glad you're ours.

London. According to Baby Sister

After Big Brother's Tree Planting ceremony, somehow Baby Sister ended up with the camera. You can imagine my surprise at discovering this when downloading pictures.

What resulted was a fantastic streetscape as seen from our buggy. It is a 2 year old's photo essay to be sure. So, without further ado, I present to you the streets of mid-day central London as seen by Baby Sister. I've taken the liberty of adding captions on her behalf.

London is:

Tall buildings. But aren't they all when you stand about 18 inches off the ground yourself?

Bikes. Whether they're Boris Bikes or otherwise, the city is teeming with cycles. Baby Sister asks to take her (really Big Brother's old) Radio Flyer trike to the park all the time. It is a bit of a hassle. She has a sure case of bike envy.

People in love. Keep yer Paris. We've got plenty of amore in this city.

Road closures and construction. Always. Ours is a city under perpetual renovation. You think that wouldn't be as much of an issue for pedestrians, but sometimes it troubles our travels, too. I can't help but thinking, though that "hurry up! Company's coming! Put all the construction stuff away!"

Hey, wait!  Isn't that the guy who just had his arm around that woman? Where'd she go so fast?!

Layers. And dressing for all sorts of weather. Tights usually good. A jacket a must and a scarf and "brolly" a clear plus. I'm willing to bet this wasn't an errant tiny thumb, but rather Baby Sister's attempt to point this all out to us.

People on phones. Talking, texting, gaming, reading. Doesn't anyone just look around anymore? Are you reading this on your phone right now?!

Shopping! And this was before we even hit Oxford Street. When shopping in London, my suggestion (I stole this one from the Mister) would be to not to do the dollars to pounds conversion. It is too depressing. Especially if it something you really need. And really, what else are you going to do? Have it sent from the States and pay exorbitant Customs fees? When in doubt, just window shop.

Close proximity to others. Not unlike any urban area, I'm sure, but it is true that you give up some personal space when moving to the city. But in our case (and Baby Sister's, too) the close proximity is a bonding experience among our little brood.

In summary, London is GREAT!

Jubilee Collection Goes Public

Some things make me this happy.

In a very late outing for ice cream in Hyde Park, Baby Sister managed to get most of her treat all down her dress last night. Not one to call it a day over sartorial issues, I pulled together a spare outfit with her cardigan as a top and Big Sister's cardigan as a skirt! Glee ensued.

I am grinning a bit like that today myself even though it means my sideboards are positively forlorn, almost barren.  Wait 'til you hear why!

I may have told you that I'm excited about the Queen's Jubilee. So you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon this article requesting loans of royal memorabilia for a Queen's Jubilee exhibit. What? There might be a life for my goodies beyond my sideboard? People might appreciate them more than our dazed school friends who come over for play dates, munching their snacks in silence while staring at dozens of images of their Queen? I'm in!

I sent an email saying just that. Happily, the curator wrote back and said, "hooray! We'd like to borrow your things." Well, I'm not sure he actually said "hooray" (that was me at this end) but thus began an exchange to coordinate delivery.

And because I could give lessons on how to make a complete boob of yourself and I was VERY excited about my Queen collection being part of the official celebration, I zipped off a goofy email to my beloved (even signing it "Crazy Cat Lady in the Making."). I sort of suspect that people who amass oddball collections like I have might also be inclined to amass felines.  Which is really mean to all the nice people who like and own dozens of cats. They are probably out there sending snippy emails about kooks like me who breed four small people!  But anyway, just as I hit "send" on my silly note to the Mister, I watched it flash thru the World Wide Web to...the curator. Not to the Mister. So within minutes of telling this professional artist and exhibit curator that I'd be happy to share my things, I went from looking like a potentially interesting American collector of British antiques (albeit not as quirky as Jubilade), to a complete nut.

I am nothing if not myself.

When I recovered from the red-faced shame (and how I wish I could send this to "Young Miss" magazine's "Was My Face Red" column (remember that!?)), I managed to haul Baby Sister and my loot to drop off my goods.

And today I was interviewed about it!  Baby Sister and I met with an Oral Historian (and here I have to pause and say that I've met exactly three people through the exhibition project and they all have amazingly interesting sounding jobs!  When I've queried them about whether they enjoyed them as much as it might sound, delightfully, they said they sure did!  How nice is that?!) and chatted for about 20 minutes on tape.  It will be interesting to see (and now hear) how everyone's contributions get folded together. I cannot overstate how tickled I am already to have played even the tiniest part of the Jubilee celebration.

As with most conversations, I did walk away from my interview reflecting on even more things I might have said. My collecting has its roots in a desire to create a home filled with meaning and even more, souvenirs of our travels. But now that I have a chance to share the collection makes me even happier. I think of it as a very tiny way of giving back to the British. We've been absolutely embraced by Londoners. That I can do something little to help them celebrate something so monumental makes my day. And then some.

Wanna go with me to see the exhibit? It will give me another excuse to go! I'll do my best not to embarrass us terribly. If you can't make the show (which runs through June 24) you can be sure I'll tell you all about it.

And again, apologies to crazy cat ladies everywhere!

Also, many thanks to Baby Sister for being such a great little girl on a long, hot bus ride in mid-day London traffic, sitting through my interview coloring, and being all around super company. She doesn't (at this moment) share my enthusiasm for the project but she's been a real sweetheart to tag along on my outings for it so cheerfully. She got a few sweets out of the deal, but her favorite part was getting to experience the public art just outside my interview.

Wouldn't You Like To Be Her Neighbor?

I was worried that Baby Sister would be sad that the kids were going back to school today.  I tried to start the day with cheer by parking the pig on the dining room table.  He was wearing a party hat in school colors. What isn't funny about a giant pretend pig in a hat? How many kids found that at their breakfast table? I got a few smiles demonstrating how hard it must have been for him to hoist himself up with his chubby little legs while we slept.

I knew Baby Sister would miss the constant hum of exciting games, dress up, pretend, and ever present pals.  Even before she was dressed, she snuggled up next to Biggest Brother on the couch, maybe hoping he was in his school uniform for fun.  But ever steady, she marched out the door with them and insisted on carrying her own (empty) lunchbox.  She was cheerful.  Even when Big Sister was so happy to see her teacher again that she forgot to kiss Baby Sister goodbye.

The rest of our morning included meeting a friend for coffee and running the errands we didn't want to do as a pack of 6.  So off we went to the post office, library, dry cleaners, news stand, and our whole itinerary of Sesame Street-like stops.  We were moving at a leisurely pace. It was sweet it was to hold her chubby little hand and really hear her chatter.  We gathered sticks and stomped in a few puddles. Getting closer to home, I reflected on how so many of our local storekeepers have become our friends and neighbors.  I probably didn't imagine that when moving to a big city. We ducked our heads into more than a few shops and waved through windows at even more to wish our friends a happy new year.

I didn't need to worry about Baby Sister.  Our neighbors took great care of her this morning.  Not knowing she was missing her best buddies, they all brought her (and me, too) such cheer.  The Metropolitan Policemen guarding a certain former Prime Minister's home near us fussed over her more than usual.  At our news stand, the kind husband and wife surprised her with a little pencil case filled with school supplies.  A few doors away, a dress shop owner waved as we went by, then opened the door to chat.  Then she gave Baby Sister a pretty leaf she was using to decorate her store window and a tiny jewelry bag, too!  (What will Big Sister say about all this bounty?)

We walked along to the cleaners and to visit our building's porters.  Neighbors all.  Waiting on the building porch was our neighbor from across the hall. He announced that Americans are all friendly.  I'm so tickled he thinks so.  I'm grateful for the friendliness of our new neighbors who made Baby Sister feel so busy and special on her first day home alone.