My Little Barista

Today I was making myself and Rob both blended mocha's. After I got done making mine I sent Leeann out to ask daddy what flavor he wanted. He told her to choose, so she came back and told me that she wanted to choose gingerbread.

I asked her if she wanted to make daddy's mocha for him. She quickly washed up her hands and went to work!

She was excited to give it to him... that girl loves to serve others, and help in any way she can. Her first blended mocha turned out delightful according to Rob. This could be a good skill for her to learn!

Meanwhile, Titus spent way too much time perfecting his Lego Starwars skills. At one point he came outside and questioned why Leeann got to help in the yard but he didn't. He didn't stick around long enough to hear the answer or volunteer however... there are more characters to unlock!

So Leeann went to 'work' with her daddy and Titus continued his adventures of conquering... I'm not quite sure actually. I still don't know the Starwars plot. Is that awful?

Seven!

A few days ago my sweet, sweet baby girl turned seven. Seven!

She now stands just below my chin (which is a testament to both of our heights!). She's a beautiful, delightful, thoughtful little girl.

She loves polly pockets, princesses and Hannah Montana. Her best friend is her brother, and her favorite color, without a doubt is still purple.

She loves to watch movies, and is especially fond of the American Girl DVD's. She's really into crafty things, like painting, crocheting and creating other art projects out of anything that's available.

She honestly LOVES to help. She seems to feel most accomplished when she's helped someone with a task. She's always looking for ways to help someone around her. She even honestly loves to help with household chores... especially when we do them together. She regularly switches loads, empties the dishwasher and puts her laundry away.

She looks for opportunities to help those in need too. Especially those who are sad or hurt. The other day she looked up at me and said, "Mommy, you look quite sad today. Are you doing okay?" She's so insightful, and so sweet and caring.

Perhaps I should let her contribue to her updates from now on. Afterall, she is seven now!

An interview with a seven year old: (I'm typing this as I interview her)

What's your favorite:

Toy- "I like my special Leeann teddy bear. And I also like my best favorite toy is the one that I got from my mom and dad for Christmas. My purple puppy."

Movie- "The movie we just watched (Chrissa) because they were being bullies first but they ended up friends. Because Chrissa needed to tell the truth so the bullies would stop being mean so that they could be nice. Because being a bully is bad."

Place to go- "To Aunt Suzy's house, and Aunt Shelly's."

Song- "Hannah Montana. Pop it, lock it..."

Restaurant- "Red Robin. I like macaroni."

Color- "Purple."

Food- "I like macaroni and cheese. And I got two favorite desserts. Pudding, and ice cream... home made ice cream!"

People to play with- "Titus, Weston, Logan, Ashly, Amanda, KayLee, Josh. Even Landon."


What do you grow up:

What do you want to do- "A doctor. To care for people."

Do you want to get married- "Yeah. To a guy who loves Jesus."

How many kids do you want- "10."

Boys or girls- "5 of boys, 5 of girls."

Names- "I don't know yet."


At school:

Grade last year- "Kindergarten."

Favorite thing to do- "Play. I liked to play blocks."

Favorite friend- "Sam."

Favorite subject- "Reading."

What did you like about your teacher- "That she was nice and was telling us what to do so that we would know."


General:

What are you good at- "Taking care of people."

What's your favorite way to help around the house- "Mopping. Cause it's fun to do."

What else should people know about you- "That I'm a good friend. Cause I like to make friends and I like to be nice."

Move over Martha!

Leeann is having a Tea Party for her 7th Birthday which is on Thursday. Abby and I began preparing some of the yummy mini treats tonight. Move over Martha Stewart, we made baklava! And we made pecan scones (we'll make the maple topping tomorrow) and bite sized brownies that will be topped with home made salted caramel.

We will also make some orange mini muffins, mini cup cakes, french pastry puffs and chocolate covered strawberries tomorrow and/or Thursday. I know we'll have WAY too much food, but you just can't halve the recipes on some things. They're all cut into really cute tiny bite sized pieces.

And we'll serve fresh squeezed lemonade instead of actual tea. I decided not to make an actual Birthday cake for Leeann this year, which is a little bit hard for me because I love making her fancy cakes. But, it seemed unnecessary given the fact that we will have so many yummy sweet treats already.

I realized tonight that baking is so much more fun with someone else. It was nice to have Abby help me tonight, especially with the baklava. The phyllo dough used to make it is very tempermental and needed a lot of care and attention that was much easier with two of us!

We found out today that Abby will be going home Thursday. I'll be honest, I'm going to miss the girl! It's been fun having her around. I'm hopeful we'll keep in touch. Especially since she's having a baby boy in December and I certainly want to meet him!

I should be headed to bed, there's lots of baking and Birthday prep (and packing for Abby) ahead of us tomorrow!

OMSI

(Click on image to make it larger)

I'm so far behind on blogging that I'm not sure I'll ever catch up. I had once thought this would be a fairly relaxing summer. Ha!

In fact it's been so crazy that we were quick to steal one 'free' day a few weeks back and head to OMSI in Portland. That place is full of endless fun for kids of all ages-- you should have seen Rob in the vacuum ball room!

We really enjoyed time with each other and our kiddos and even headed to St. Helens for the night. We got to have lunch with Hope, Logan, Brent and my daddy. It was nice to see the kiddos, even if for only a short time. It's hard to believe that it's almost been a year since they lived with us! Hope is getting so tall and Logan's sporting a pink mo-hawk. They seem to be doing well and that's wonderful to see.

And now I'm one post closer to being caught up. Only 20 something more to go!

Mom-1, Dad-1, Titus-0

I felt a strange sense of satisfaction on Monday when Rob pulled Titus's glasses out of his pocket and they were snapped in half! Rob broke them while trying to tighten them.

At least I'm not the only one! I can't get over the fact that Titus has worn them all day, every day, for a year and a half and has yet to break them. That's extremely impressive for a 4 year-old! What's less impressive is the fact that his parents apparently aren't nearly as careful!

I thought he'd go several more weeks without his glasses again, but they had his frames in stock so we were able to replace them quickly this time.