Our new adventure

As most of our friends & family already know, we took on a huge new adventure last month with the purchase of an herb company that we have admired and been affiliated with for years. I am now working full-time, operating as the president and Andy, of course, is assisting me with many aspects of the business, particularly the financial side. It is a dream opportunity in many, many ways. The company is very unique and very home-grown. It is big in some ways, with a national shelf presence in the natural products industry, but it is small and will remain rather small because our number one commitment is to quality & safety, concerns that are often compromised as a company gets too large.

My hours are flexible, I'm my own boss and I can continue to be very present in the girls lives. I don't have to worry about explaining to a boss when I need a few hours off to attend a school function or just take an afternoon off to go to a park. We've been lucky to have support from our family & friends, near and far, as we've embarked on this new adventure. It seems that every time we go through a challenge or change in our lives, the same people step up for us with support. I loved that I was processing orders from friends & family in the first few weeks of owning the business, I loved getting calls and text messages asking where friends & family could buy the products. We know who you are and we are grateful. We hope we can return the favor some day.

The sweetest girl

While I was upstairs getting ready, she dragged Oscar's bed into the kitchen and put her animals to sleep on it and then covered herself and the animals with napkins. Two is tough but moments like these make it worth it.

Harper's message to Monsanto

We are getting ready to go the rally in downtown Chicago tomorrow.

Another day at the water stand!

You know, I told Harper, along with all of the visitors to the water stand that they don't need to pay. However, when I'm not around (which was for about 15 minutes while I went in to make dinner and watched her through the window), she started collecting money. She told me (very sweetly and innocently), "One boy dumped his whole piggy bank out for me!" Little boys spending all of their money on my daughter?? Already?

 I've seen my future and I don't like it! Not one bit!

Scooting to the playground.

Her curls are back!

The humidity has brought Reid's (and Harper's) curls back in full-force. Love them, I hope they stick around for a long time.

Cousin Eli is the cutest!

Just had to share the photo Aunt Amy sent us. Eli playing with his bean table, that has been converted into a turtle habitat for the summer. Aunt Amy is such a clever mom!!

Mom and Dad on the run!

Andy and I each ran half-marathons this weekend, across the country from each other. I really hope the girls inherited Andy's lung capacity. He's ridiculous!

Reid's quote of the day

While we were driving home last night:

Reid: "I want to have a lemonade stand."
Me: "It's too cold! It's only 55 degrees out."
Reid: "Maybe we have warm lemonade?"

Reid's interview about mom

ROFL. I don't think I've ever used that expression before. What a goofy girl she is. She did this at school and since she only goes on Mondays and Tuesdays, they gave it to me today. 

Harper's quote of the day

Harper: "Mom, do you have a picture of broccoli that I can bring into class for show and tell? I want to tell my class that it's full of vitamins and fiber."

We love her so much.

Unfortunately, the last part of the video, when she throws the rocks on the ground and screams, "Abra-cadabra" was cut off.

First water stand of the year

Yesterday was our first officially "hot" day of the year and naturally, Harper wanted to have a lemonade stand. We didn't have any lemonade but that didn't stop Harper, she decided we should have a water stand. She had quite a few customers, which was nice, I figured I would have to act out different incarnations of customers. Most of her customers came in the form of the neighborhood "big boys" (probably 8-10 years old) who were playing cops & robbers. One time, after a quick stop at the stand, the boys were acting wild and Harper turned to me and said, "Mom, I think my customers are crazy." She cracks me up!

 Their trusty assistant helps make the sale.

I offered her a folding table but she brought the chair from her activity table out and that's what she wanted to use.