The Graduates

Congrats to Sean, Susie, and Courtney (Sean's sister)! They all graduated from Northwestern this weekend - speech pathology for Courtney and business school for Susie and Sean. We all went to dinner last night to celebrate. Don't they look cute?

The Q

This weekend was all about Susie (also known as the "The Q" among her college friends). I'm still recovering from the festivities, so will just upload a few pictures from the shower and bachelorette party. If you can't tell, it was fun, fun, fun. Sus is such a special person and wonderful sister -- I'm so happy this weekend was a success and even happier she's marrying Sean in just a few weeks!

Sus opening gifts at the shower. Molly was in charge of clearing all the trash -- she loved having a task

Molly got a gift too. Here she is playing with her new Minnie Mouse "camera" from Sean's mom, Marlene

Betsy and I trying our best to be hot moms

Me and Sus at the bachelorette dinner

The Q having fun in the limo

Blogger's block

I finally have some time to devote to the blog. Molly is in bed. I don't have to work tonight. But I can't seem to come up with anything to say!

This has happened before. Usually I just post a few pictures of Molly and call it a day. But I only have 1 new pic on my phone and I've already texted it to half of my friends and family.

What's a girl to do? Shall I just post a quick list of our latest news and call it a day? Here's what's been happening:

• My parents finally made it up to Evanston for the summer. They were delayed a few weeks after my dad was caught in a grill explosion and suffered pretty severe burns on his lower legs. Poor Dad! He's recovering slowly, but I think is feeling well enough to go fishing with his friends this weekend, so that is a good sign
• Speaking of Evanston...Betsy and Archie (and James) found a house!! It's right by the stadium, just about a mile from our house. I took a little jog there and back last weekend and was so happy while I was running, just thinking about all the good times we're going to have these next few years as neighbors. Sigh. Life is good
• Unfortunately, when one sister moves in, the other will move on. Sniff sniff. Susie is graduating business school in a couple of weeks, getting married a few weeks after that, and then moving back to the city to enjoy the rest of her 20s in style. Oh, and did I mention she'll also be starting a new job? Big changes underfoot
• Jason has been as busy as a bee these last few weeks. He's got a whole screen printing operation set up in our basement and has been drawing, layering, and printing most nights in preparation for the Evanston Art Fest in July. I'm his assistant, which means I'm fairly busy too, handing him new pieces of paper and then laying the freshly printed sheets in careful rows to dry
• Molly is Molly. She's a singing, dancing, building, whining, babbling, laughing, crying, running ball of almost-3-year-old energy
• Our Blackhawks playoffs party was cancelled due to a severe weather warning, but the game is still ON and going to overtime. When I started writing this post, we were down 3-1 and I was only half paying attention to the game. And then we were down 3-2 and I was only half paying attention to what I was writing. And now it's 3-3 and time for me to cut this blog post short. Go Hawks!!!!

"Why you telling a story about me?"

A couple of nights ago, after Molly threw a tantrum, I through it might be good timing to try to teach her a lesson. I made up a story about a girl who chose to be bad. She cried and stomped in her room and then had to go to bed without reading any books. Molly was clearly agitated after hearing this story. She looked at me and said, "Why you telling a story about me? Why you talking about me?" Clearly, she got the point. Let's hope it sinks in!

If you haven't noticed, Molly is no longer a toddler. She's a little girl. A girl who wants to wear dresses every day. A girl who knows how to color in the lines and who can build tall towers out of Legos. A girl who might also be learning how to share. Here are a few pics from the weekend:

New skill -- coloring in the lines

New favorite pastime -- building with Legos (this is a bed)

Singing away, "I am the derry-o!" (Molly's take on "The Farmer in the Dell")

Cousin James -- hanging out with Molly's Duckie

My green thumb

Well, I'm hoping I have a green thumb! So far, I think I'm off to a decent start. I learned the basics at my container gardening class and also spent time yesterday talking with one of the gardeners at the local farmers' market. We'll see if I can keep this stuff alive through the summer. Wish me luck.

My new "Wandering Jew" hanging baskets

The results from my container gardening class -- pretty flowers and good-smelling herbs

Starting from seeds! Here, I attempt to grow watermelon, pumpkin, nasturtium, marigold, and moss rose  plants