This Moment

A moment from our week, from our suddenly very busy kitchen. Happy first day of Autumn!

Iron, Wood, Candy

Though we've been together for 12 years, yesterday Chris and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Seems a trifling number - 6 - doesn't it? Especially in the grand scheme of things. We've been together a long time, we have. I was a 23-year-old young gal when we met, he a mere 21.

Three days prior to our anniversary I desperately googled "6th anniversary traditional gifts" - I got iron, wood, and candy. I was at a loss for iron, knew I would immediately eat any candy I purchased for him, and toyed with the idea of buying him a block of wood he could carve into an old fashioned fishing lure - except that he already has half a dozen little wooden fishies lying around the house already. No. I had nothing. No time, no inspiration, no creativity.

And then, on a visit to my Grandma's, we stopped by our very first auction: the estate sale of a recently-deceased but long-time-collector local man. On the block, so to speak? Light bulbs, old tools, rifles, antique books, tractors, tires, shelving, display cases, safes, and all manner of craziness. We were unprepared, naive, out of place. I admitted to the woman handing out buyers' numbers that I had never done this. She told me the basics, said she knew my dad, graduated high school with my aunt, wished me luck, and sent me on my way.

The auction starts at 9:30am

The man collected all manner of stuff: farm tools, old invoices, glass bottles of all shape and size...

Bela and Mae find a spot to sit on a cleared-out auction table.

And it was incredibly fun. We stayed 5 hours, taking turns checking on the girls, entertaining them, feeding them. I turned out to be a fairly conservative but still very assertive bidder. For under $135 we walked away with a full size bow and a complete set of antique arrows; moose antlers; an antique pulley; a drill and a scroll saw; an antique tool box; an old department of transportation map of Illinois; two children's desks; an antique dresser/secretary; an old toy bin; an antique brownie camera, and a few other odds and ends.

When all was said and done, we walked the girls across the street to the only ATM in town - it happened to be located at the Sweet Shop (remember the candy shop we visited on the fourth of July?). As I withdrew money to cover our fun but ridiculous purchases, the girls picked out candy for themselves, for me, and for their dad.

And as we loaded up our little car and opened our packs of sour patch kids and lollipops, I realized that we had done it. We had celebrated our anniversary in a style perfectly fitting us: a small town estate sale auction where we managed to get our hands on some iron, some wood, and some candy.

one of the desks - destined for some refinishing; old tool box

Camera, pulley, tools, apple corer/peeler

Bow, arrows, toy chest, an owl picture we actually picked up at my grandma's church

Happy Anniversary Chris. I love you.

This Moment

Heh heh... I'm liking this email to blog thing from my phone. Enjoy a special Mae Mae moment from our week. And have a great weekend!

Hiatus

This is the first time I'm blogging from my phone so we'll see how it works out. Or doesn't work out.

I've been on a bit of a hiatus from blog world, which only means of course I have so many things to blog about I can't find a chance to fit it all in.

In my last post I shared a photo of Bela's first day of school. Today, enjoy a picture of her last day.

At least her last day of public school. For now. And that's all I can say for the moment.

We are in the car, headed to my Grandma's cozy abode. On the agenda? Estate sale, bike riding, Apple picking and anniversary celebrating.

We'll talk soon, folks.

School

Bela's first day

This week has been momentous in our household. Bela started first grade, and Mae had her first day back at preschool. Dropping Mae off yesterday was a comforting effort - the familiar play yard, the beautiful classrooms filled with natural toys and soft colors and warm corners. When you walk into that school you feel like you're walking into a really great story, one that doesn't try too hard but always ends up inspiring and easing you along its winding paths.

Mae's first day

She gave her beloved teacher an enormous hug and received one back in return. She quickly sat down, removed her shoes, put on her slippers, and got down to the business of looking for changes in her old classroom. There is a wall missing now, so the teachers can see out into the play area while making the morning snack. There is a glorious tree sculpted around what used to be just a pipe running the vertical span of the wall. There are new "woolies" (sheepskins) scattered on the floor, an extra wool rug, and lots of crazy little kids to fill her old familiar space.

Dropping Bela off this week has been quite different. I won't lie....there have been tears, and it wasn't Bela who was crying. I won't embarrass him by admitting that Chris cried too, I will only say that most of the tears have been from me myself.

On the one hand, this has been very exciting for her, and she has taken on this new can-do, grown-up attitude that causes Chris and I to share secret glances of  wonder and humor. She talks older, she dresses older, and when she comes home from school she fixes a snack for her and Mae. Yesterday? Blueberries, roasted almonds, peach and graham crackers dipped in milk.

She loves to sit down and do her homework with me after dinner. We read books and record them in her log; we play number games, work on flash cards (words she "should have learned in kindergarten") and just sort of sit in wonder at how fast she is growing.

On the other hand, the extreme institutionalism of her new school is entirely opposite of what she is used to. She has a uniform (which we are trying our best to conform to, with a few exceptions for handmade sweaters that aren't quite navy blue). She has a large packet of homework to complete every week. They start their day with two hours of seated reading time, and then move on to math. Gym class, art, and those other "special but not terribly important" classes will be offered later, once a week each. There doesn't seem to be time for recess but her teacher found time to show them The Lion King in its entirety on the second day of class.

Bela wants to work hard. She loves making friends. She loves being the "good girl." She earned a golden ticket for good behavior yesterday and you would have thought she won a trip to Willy Wonka's factory. But she complains of feeling sleepy, of wanting to put her head down on her table and rest because it is so much hard work. And as I sit and listen to her recount her day I try to hide my public school anxiety.

This will be ok. I know we will make it work. The worst thing I could do right now would be to share my fears with my daughter, so I will keep them to myself and just.... wait and see. In the meantime, we will continue to race after her as she rides her bike the three blocks to school every morning, and we will be there to pick her up and do her homework with her when she comes home at the end of the day.

When in the world did I become old enough to have a first grader?

This Moment

A moment from our week we don't want to forget. What's yours? Have a wonderful, well-deserved long weekend.

Bela

This is Bela, the most social 6 year old child you may ever meet. She has no fear of strangers. She loves everyone. She can put together an impromptu musical parade at Wicker Park, a cut-throat (but fair) game of tag at the public pool, and befriend every child under 12 in my father's small hometown of Toluca, IL.

This is Bela on our front porch, waiting for her dad to finish his photo shoot and pull up to the front curb. As she waits, she chats up the neighbors, she talks to the dog walkers, she shows them that she lost her second tooth.

I came out to the front porch with a watering can to give our poor mums and geraniums a drink - they're suffering in this awful heat. I overheard her tell a complete stranger with a very beautiful dog that her cousin Elaina (from Portland) ALSO just lost a tooth and that when she pulled her own out this afternoon there was a lot of blood.

And my heart melted. This girl. Waiting for her daddy on the front porch, her tooth in a jar and her hand-sewn (by her!) tooth fairy owl pillow on the concrete next to her.

I just love this girl.