Relay For Life

We participated in the local Relay For Life event this weekend with our wonderful Mom's group. It was great fun and we were able to raise a bit of cash for the American Cancer Society.


It was rainy, so not as many people attended the actual event on Saturday night, but we had a good time. Our group, Moms On A Mission, endured the wet weather and enjoyed some yummy Wayside chicken and barbecue. Each of us signed up to walk an hour or two-hour shift (the goal was to have people walk 24 hours) so JillyBean accompanied me on my trek. She did great - walked the whole hour and even ran two laps around the track (more than I can do without stopping).

Afterward the kids ran around and played in the rain, danced, attended a magic show and, well, acted like kids. This is one of my all-time fave pictures of Jilly and her friends. I can't believe that I was able to get four three-year-olds to stand together, look at the camera and smile at the same time.
One part of the event that we did not stay around for (thanks to the wet weather and an exhausted child) was the lighting of the luminarias that people purchase in honor of or in memory of someone impacted by cancer. We made a luminaria for Aunt Evelyn who died last year. Jilly had a fun time decorating the paper bag that event organizers filled with sand and a candle to light. We are sure that Aunt Evelyn looked down with pride.

Oh to be three....

...and get away with wearing pink sparkly shoes with bright pink flowers.
JillyBean and I went to Richmond on Saturday to get some new shoes for her. She is good for summer with sandals, church shoes and tennis shoes, but really need a pair of closed-toed play shoes. We go to Saxon twice a year to get shoes for her - once in the fall and again in the spring. I adore the store and its selection of kids shoes. They typically carry higher end shoes, but they do such a great job fitting her that I don't mind paying a little extra since they seem to fit the entire season. The people who work there really know how to work with kids and know what to look for in the way of fit. I haven't really felt all that confident at the stores in town.

It was the sweetest thing, shoe shopping with her. She looked carefully at the choices I gave her and I was not surprised that these would be her favorite. She wore them out the store and got so many compliments from the other mall shoppers that you could see the pride bursting from her face. On the way home I was looking at her in my rear-view mirror and she was raising up her feet and smiling at her new shoes. Then she said, "Thank you so much for my new shoes, mommy. I really, really love them."

Mother's Day

I was so happy with Mother's Day this year. It was low-key and we were able to be together as a family. I came downstairs to this lovely arrangement on the kitchen table:
Not sure Beanie Daddy paid attention or if he was just lucky, but the color of the daisies are the exact color as the spring tea towels and a few other spring decor items I have in the kitchen right now. They coordinate perfectly.

We went to church and afterward had a lovely picnic at Cardinal Point Winery where moms got free appetizers with their tasting. We got a bottle of wine and had lunch on the lawn. It was a perfect afternoon, with the exception of a bit of wind. We came home and grilled steaks, which were super yummy. It was a great day.

Jilly Jam

We are so lucky to live down the road from a wonderful orchard that not only provides scrumptious peaches in the summer but also strawberries. Jilly and I met a friend last Friday to pick a few and were generously rewarded. Last year we had to hunt and pick through several bushes to find perfect berries, but this year, we were able to pull off multiple berries from the same bush and didn't have to move much beyond one small section.

JillyBean had a lot of fun this year, too. Last year she wouldn't pick the strawberries and only wanted to carry the basket around with her. This year she didn't want to stop.
She even ate a few, which was something new. When she was a year old she loved strawberries but I haven't been able to get her to try one since. She loves strawberry ice cream, cake, smoothies, lollipops, etc., but would never eat the actual fruit. She wouldn't stop this time.

We brought home our load and used some to make fruit pops and some to make strawberry jam. I had never made jam before but it was actually so simple that I think we will do more. Jilly had the important task of mashing up the berries and she did a wonderful job.
We made 9 half pints of jam, but two didn't seal properly. We kept one and gave the other to a friend who said they would be able to eat it right away. Jilly has assigned "homes" to the remaining 7 jars so, if you're lucky, a jar of Jilly Jam will be coming your way soon.