Donor Celebration

Tonight, E and L joined Andy and me downtown at the Field Museum's Annual Donor Celebration. B opted to go out with friends. The night got off to a rocky start with a special event/free concert happening at Soldier Field, resulting in a $30 parking fee. Normally, it would cost $19 for up to four hours of parking.

One of the highlights of the night was getting to see the Cubs' World Series trophy. (We'll have access to the photos tomorrow). They had the trophy on the second floor and when we tried to go up the east stairs, we were stopped and told we couldn't go up there. Well, how are we supposed to get up since we can't fly? The security guard finally figured out that we can go upstairs and directed us to the west stairs. When we got to the second floor, the security guard there told us we had to enter from the east stairs. We told them they need to communicate that to the staff on the first floor. Needless to say, we weren't happy after climbing the east stairs again to see a trophy that, frankly, I, as a St. Louis Cardinals fan, could care less about.

After posing for our picture with the trophy, we went outside for the BBQ. The weather was perfect and the food was good - barbecued beef (or pork, I couldn't really tell) and chicken, tomato salad, pasta salad, fries and corn muffins. Dessert was coconut ice cream - no thanks.

Me and my girls.

As we were leaving the museum, we were ushered past a table of freebies. We got some little backpacks, beach balls, sunglasses and two books. It did make up a little for the parking fee and the clueless security guard.

Pet me

Kind of difficult to get caught up on my scrapbooking when August demands attention.

Belated B-day lunch

L took this selfie during her belated birthday lunch at Red Robin this afternoon.

My girl is home

L is home! Can't wait to hear all her stories.

These are two pictures her group leaders posted last night. At the end of the mission trip, the sponsoring organization does a foot washing/blessing for each of the kids. Since they were on Lake Michigan, that's where they went:

Mission trip Day 3

One of the group's adult leaders posted these pictures last night of Day 3 of painting the house in Benton Harbor, Mich.

At the end of the day, they went shopping and got ice cream. Two of L's favorite things! She looks happy though I'm not sure what she's doing in this picture. I imagine she'll have lots of stories to tell when she arrives home tomorrow.

Funny girls

I went out for dinner and drinks last night with two friends from church. Their daughters are on the mission trip, too, so we sent them a picture of ourselves at the restaurant. They imitated us, and sent this back:

Funny girls - in the same order as we are and holding drinks.

And this is how L spent her birthday yesterday - back for Day 2 of painting the house in Benton Harbor.

When their work was done, we were told they took a tour of St. Joseph where they're staying. This is the whole group, eight kids and four adult leaders.

And back at their home base for the week, the organization hosting them presented L with a birthday cake! I was told she shared with the others, but she had a really big piece for herself.

Mission work

It's L's 15th birthday today! She's celebrating with her youth group on their mission trip to St. Joseph/Benton Harbor, Mich. These are pictures one of the adult leaders took yesterday of the group L was working with. They were continuing the painting today.

The suits were to protect them from possible lead paint. I think they look like Hazmat suits, or Ghostbusters.

The pink ponytail makes her easy to spot!

New asphalt

This has been going on for at least a week. I hope they're done soon.

L leaves on a mission trip

L certainly made the most of her last day home before leaving on the church's mission trip today. After some of her friends left her party this morning, she walked with two others to Lake Street. Then they decided to go to the pool, and followed that with a trip to the grocery store. She didn't get home till after and she must have been up late packing - I found her sound asleep this morning on the sofa with all her luggage nearby and her checklist marked up.

Somehow, I managed to get all three kids ready to be at church at 9 a.m. to pack the vans for the mission trip. Here's L and her friend, R, waiting around after loading the van.

At church, the kids were blessed for their trip ...

and each one received a goody bag:

After church, there was a potluck honoring our youth minister's five years of working with the youth. Her name is Gloria and each kid read from a letter of her name and it was pretty funny. One girl said Gloria "makes church tolerable." We joked that should be the youth group's new motto.

My potluck contribution was this BLT roller recipe from Kraft (I doubled it, but left the cream cheese at 4 ounces as some of the reviews suggested). They're messy, but they taste good. Would make a good party appetizer.

4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. mayonnaise
8 slices cooked bacon, crumbles
1/2 c. chopped tomato
1/2 c. shredded romaine lettuce
Flour tortillas

Mix cream cheese and mayo in medium bowl until blended. Add bacon and tomatoes; mix well. Spread onto tortillas; top with lettuce. Roll up tightly and slice.

I tried to get a picture of the whole group before they left for the mission trip, but the people in the other van - four kids and two adult leaders - were already in the van and ready to go before I could get my camera out of my purse. I was able to get a picture of L and the people she'll be riding with to Michigan. (B drove L home during church to get the Care Bear).

Since B was with me at church, I couldn't let pass up the opportunity to take him shopping for college before taking him home. I think he's pretty much ready. He travels light.

Money plant

I clipped some stems of the money plant the other day and harvested the seeds by peeling off the two outer husks of the seed pod, revealing the silver "coins." I didn't expect the seed pods to dry out so early in the year; I thought they'd wait till fall. Doing a little research online I learned that it's also known as the honesty plant and lunaria (which means "moon-like" in Latin and refers to the decorative seedpods) and that it blooms every other year. I just remember my grandma had some of these plants in her front yard. I plan to plant the seeds next spring after the last frost and we'll see what happens.

Totoro cake, pizza and girls

L and her friend, T, started this Totoro birthday cake project yesterday. They used two boxes of cake mix, two boxes of fondant and lots of food coloring. E supervised and, I must say, was quite helpful. Originally, the plan was to make one big Totoro, but the cakes didn't bake quite as planned. So they moved on to Plan B, then Plan C. The finished cake is probably in the Plan G to J range. At least the girls are adaptable.

Blue fondant in place ...

Totoros are sculpted and ready to go on the cake ...

Voila! The finished cake. I'm amazed it looks so good. T even painted eyes on some of the black soot balls from the movie.

They ate through a stadium-sized cheese and pepperoni pizza in no time.

It's hard to see, but L put a candle in the blue Totoro's head. Her friends had a good time singing "Happy Birthday" to her:

And after all of that, she actually cut into the cake and served it - not before taking lots of pictures though.

Wave petunias

These looked pretty sad when we got back from Staunton a couple weeks ago, but they've come back and they just keep blooming.

And the yellow wildflowers bloomed.

Quilt in progress

E purchased a gray flat sheet to use as the backing on the quilt she's making. August decided the quilt top needed a little cat fur.

Today she's been sewing it all together. Should be done in no time.

Lawyers at a conference

Andy has been in Austin on "business" since Friday. He golfed Saturday, and he golfed Sunday, and he golfed Monday. Today, his group outing was kayaking. (Yes, he could have chosen golf.) Last night he went out for a social event - a party on a rooftop bar in downtown Austin - that started at 10 p.m. He must have really been "working" hard; he said he got back to the hotel at 1 a.m.

Tonight, he sent me this photo of his team for the Tex Mex iron skillet competition. (C'mon, it's work.) They had to make salsa guacamole and a margarita. His team didn't win, but they did get 5 out 5 from the judges on presentation.

One more day of "working" this conference and he'll be home.

Our July garden

The bees and butterflies are enjoying our garden this year.

I'm glad the neighbors' daisies have been spreading into our yard.

This is the first year our milkweed have bloomed. I'm still waiting to get a picture of a monarch on a milkweed.

Phlox along our sidewalk.

So far, this is what has grown from the wildflower seeds I planted this spring. Not sure what any of them are. Along with the white ones, there is a yellow flower and a red flower getting ready to bloom.