Lemonade Stand

I wasn't expecting too much out of our yard sale last week, so I was pleased to get about $100 out of it.  Elsa prepared for the sale about as much as I did.  She selected a few toys to sell, made necklaces and bracelets, made swirly "chameleon" crayons (with a crayola crayon melter), and made and sold lemonade.  Nora helped with advertisement and asked everyone who came to our driveway if they wanted any lemonade, and then directed them to the table, helping to get cups and napkins.  

They made $45.90!!!  

People would haggle me over quarters, and then walk over and give Elsa a $1 "tip"!  She decided to put most of her earnings in the bank (to save up to buy a chameleon, of course).

Lesson learned - cuteness sells better than lightly used, good quality housewares.

Simple summer

My mom reminds me that when I was little and we were living on a boat she would give me a simple bucket of water to play with.  Our girls have a bit larger space to play, but it is still just a few inches of water, sometimes accompanied by a "fountain" comprised a propped-up garden watering wand.  I haven't told them that this is actually a "baby pool," and they sit there together, pouring and splashing, as happy as can be!

Backyard camping

Elsa has been asking about camping for maybe a year now, so when Joel read to her about the "Great American Camp Out" in her Ranger Rick magazine, her reaction (a very emotional expression that THIS was IT!  It was time, FINALLY!) convinced us that we should give her the as much of a backyard camping experience as we could muster at this point.  It went really well!

We made a "campfire" in our grill:

We set up our play house "tent" in the very back or the yard, and Tabitha took it upon herself to inspect and guard it from any unwanted visitors:

Only Joel and Elsa actually slept out; Nora was happy to have a special night to sleep with mommy inside. She enjoyed helped them set up for their adventure and made sure Elsa had all the necessary items (pooh-bear, a big pile of books, flashlights and lantern, snacks, etc.):

They loved counting the stars as night fell, but interest in the stars was soon lost to the fun of roasting marshmallows:

This was their first experience with s'mores.  Once they understood why we called them s'mores they giggled like crazy every time they asked for "s'more, please!"

Elsa said she and daddy stayed up "past midnight" reading by flashlight.  She was so happy to try camping finally, even our makeshift-back-yard version!

Elsa's six!

With her current obsession with chameleons, the theme of Elsa's birthday party was a no-brainer.  Plus, we quickly realized that we could have a lot fun using mostly things we already had, like pipe-cleaners!  We saw how to make these little guys online, and Elsa and I had a really good time making them together over several afternoons (and then hiding them around the house and yard - they can be surprisingly hard to find!).

  

We decided on rice krispies instead of cake, with was a good choice for sculpting a lizard.

Elsa's invitation list was rather eccentric for a 6 year-old, and included several of her special adult friends, including "Mr. Nate" who introduced her to chameleons in the first place.

I've also discovered the best way to get a whole group of kids to smile at once - put Joel behind the photographer!

Many of the kids came dressed in monochrome to pretend to be chameleons with Elsa.  We had a chameleon hunt (for all the pipe-cleaner lizards hid by the grown-ups in around the back yard) and a chameleon "eating" contest with the party blowers.  We laid out stickers with the sticky side up that the kids had to "lick" up with their chameleon party blower "tongues."  It was so funny and the kids had a great time!

Elsa is one to savor things she likes, so opening presents took longer than I expected.  No ripping open of boxes here - she slowly and carefully opened each one in turn, and had be to goaded on to keep going because it was getting late in the evening!  Those familiar with Elsa or even just the photos on this blog will know she is a dramatic little girl, and her genuine delight with her presents was a joy to everyone there.

She loved all her gifts, but the best expressions caught on film (thanks to my friend, Kim, who had my camera so I could just sit and enjoy it all!) were for her beanie baby chameleon from mommy and daddy,

... a singing cat card from Mr. Nate,

... 9 rolls of scotch tape OF HER VERY OWN! (her craft endeavors have rapidly depleted my modest desk supply),

... and, joy of joys,

Her very own chameleon (hand puppet) from Aunt Naomi.  

Elsa is not the mothering type (Nora is our nurturer), but this chameleon gets carried around the house, gets taken on stroller rides to the farmers market, is put to bed and tucked in every night, and is frequently getting caught around the house perched or hanging on furniture with his prehensile tail.  

When Elsa is into something, she is very thorough, as you can see by her green "chameleon" fingernails shown with her new musical jewelry box from Aunt Emily, which has also become one of her most prized possessions. 

Her best present, though, was my mother, her "Oma," showing up as a complete surprise the morning of her party.  Even if I did have my camera ready her reaction was too ecstatic to have captured as more than a blur.   She jumped for about ten minutes at the surprise.  When she finally settled down she said (and I wish I could have captured this on film), "Oma, you're better than any birthday present!" 

I loved working with Elsa to prepare for her birthday.  I did not set out to plan a big event or anything, but we just had so much fun brain-storming together, planning the games, and making all the little chameleons, party-blowers, and rice-krispies.  Those afternoons together and then seeing her delight overflow have been the most pleasurable highlights of the last few months for me.

Chameleons

Elsa has become obsessed with chameleons.  Absolutely OBSESSED.   She is still passionate about butterflies, other bugs, and other lizards, but chameleons are the best.  We've been reading about them, watching them on you tube, drawing pages and pages of them, and, of course, pretending to BE them.  

"Mommy!  Can you find me?"

We have since then learned in our research that chameleons don't actually change color for camouflage (but rather to express dominance or anger or other emotions) and are not always monochrome, but we decided it was OK to pretend that way for fun.  So, no, chameleons don't really turn all blue, but Nora didn't care about that and was just happy to be included in the fun!

Frozen

I am not a big fan of Disney, and especially not of "Disney princesses."  Our girls know what they are, and even have some "Disney princess" stuff, but we talk with them a lot about what we like and don't like and they've done well accepting our restrictions on how much they have been exposed to it all.  

But, when every little girl on the playground suddenly looks shocked and in awe when they realize that Elsa's name really is Elsa, and dear Elsa, completely perplexed by their reaction, keeps asking me why they are acting so strange, we thought we'd better check out the new movie.  We wanted to at least give her some cultural context for why everyone was fawning over her name.  Seriously, I have overheard little girls run back to their mother or grandmother just to exclaim "Her name is REALLY Elsa!"  I even had a mom ask me, "Oh, did you name her after the movie?" (um, no, she's almost six years old, she's had this name for six years...  Usually when asked about her name I explain that "Elsa" means "consecrated to God" - but I was so taken aback by the question I think I just politely said "No, we just liked the name.")

So Joel and I read a bunch of reviews and discussions online and previewed the movie.  Overall we liked it, and decided to let Elsa watch it with us.  After the movie we had a wonderful conversation with her (for over an hour!) about what happened in the movie and we liked and didn't like and why, what we wished had been different in the story, etc.  (I am not going to write a full, in-depth review here, but am happy to talk about it with anyone who wants.)  We've continued talking about since our movie night and she's had some great questions.  I've loved using it as a spring board for talking about all sorts of issues, from sisterly love to telling the truth and listening to advice from family and friends.  

Elsa loves to "play Frozen" now with Nora, who has not seen the movie but is happy to pretend to be Princess Elsa's sister, Princess Anna.  We usually have to keep reminding Elsa to let Nora play the girl sometimes (and not be forced to play Robin Hood or Peter Pan) so this is a nice change.  I'm just glad we decided against naming Nora "Anya" four years ago.  That would have made the playground girls go completely crazy.  

So, at a local festival this year Elsa requested a Frozen crown.

Here's Queen Elsa, for real!

Easter

I had planned to do something in our home for Lent this year, but when Ash Wednesday came around I just couldn't.  So maybe we'll do something for Lent next year, but maybe not for several years.  In my head I know and believe the glory of Christ's resurrection far, far exceeds beyond description my pain and grief, but pain and grief were my primary feelings all throughout the Lenten season.  Last year Holy Week began with Oliver's birthday, followed the next day with news of his advanced kidney failure, and ended with his gentle bodily death.  He was at peace and we were in shock.  This year was complicated by the anticipation of the anniversary day, the shallows of everyday life, and the depths of memories, but it lacked the shock protecting us from the full force of it all.  I felt guilty and ashamed for not even wanting to celebrate the pinnacle of the Christian year.  Eventually, thankfully, instead of forcing tradition or expectation I felt a freedom from God to just wait and watch for something from him that would help me make make sense of it all, at least for this season, for now.

And I watched, and I waited.

When Palm Sunday came around I decided I still wanted to do something, especially for the girls, to walk through Holy Week, so I came up with little table decorations of vintage robin cutouts with nests and eggs.  I love the robin song that wakes me early in the morning - so cheery and welcoming of the new day.  The greenery and eggs reminded me of the parts of the traditional Passover meal of the bitter greens of remembering and the egg representing new life.  

The nests started empty but I added eggs each morning throughout the week as a surprise for the girls.  (On a side note, the girls were at first completely astonished when I popped one of the little eggs in my mouth - they thought the eggs were plastic but were delighted to discover that they were malted candy eggs!  We also tried some egg dying just for fun too.)

Even with these activities it all felt somewhat hollow, so I kept waiting and watching.  Good Friday and that Saturday were very dark days for both Joel and I.  We grieved hard and deep.  We talked with the girls about what we were feeling and thinking - the mixture of grief and joy.  They responded with as much understanding as they have - Elsa drew a card of me happily holding Oliver without any wires or sensors attached and inside a big heart, and Nora offered us her special blanket and pooh-bear for comfort.  

Finally, finally, on Saturday afternoon I was reading, having given up on finding an understanding of Easter this year, and there was this quote from George MacDonald in the liner of my book:

The Son of God suffered unto the death,
not that men might not suffer, but that their
sufferings might be like His. (Unspoken Sermons, First Series) 

Suddenly Easter shifted from feeling like a hollow celebration to being a rich reminder of Christ's presence and purpose in my pain.  Instead of trying to convince me out of my suffering Jesus sits with me right there in it, weeps with me, and then through his tears offers me the same hope of resurrection and redemption that he embodied on Easter morning.  And in that context I could celebrate Easter this year.

So Easter morning went OK for us this year, perhaps especially because we had it all out the day before.  We were blessed by so many people saying that they were remembering Oliver too, and could actually enjoyed the Easter brunch potluck at our church.  Mostly I was thankful for Goerge MacDonald's quote that acted as a healing salve to my soul.  It came in the nick of time.

God is never early, and he is never late.  He is always right on time.  And when he tells me to wait I don't like it and I doubt him but he proves his trustworthiness again and again.