Our Neighbors

Hello Girls!

It was a busy week in our neighborhood. On one side of us, they were cutting a big tree down.


Two guys cut the whole thing down; it took over a week, but now it's just a stump. I think maybe in the winter it might have caused problems, being so big. It might have gotten full of snow over the winter and so heavy it could have fallen down onto the house next to it, so the people cut it down.


We have a cemetery behind us, right in our backyard, but it's not scary. It's actually kinda pretty. And on the other side of us, our neighbors have chickens. You can hear them clucking in the background:


At night here all you can hear is crickets, tons of them chirping away. And it's so dark sometimes it's hard to see the sidewalk when we're walking home from downtown after shopping or from the bus stop after work. But I like it because I can see lots of stars.

XO Tia Emily

Sept. 2011: Tri-County Fair

Hi Elizabeth and Isabel!

I wanted to show you guys some pictures of the fair we went to the weekend we moved here.




(it's not deserted, this is just what "busy" looks like in the country.)

I don't know if you guys have ever gone to a fair in the city, but fairs are places to go in the summer where there are rides and games and food and lots of people to watch.



And country fairs love farm equipment and giving ribbons to food:






I took this video of some of the people:


(can you spot Kae?)


There we played some games (I won Kae a stuffed elephant and pig by popping balloons with metal darts).




(pig not pictured)


And we ate some food (I killed an elephant ear, here they just call it fried dough. Kae ate some nachos).


(vegetables in the background not for eating)


(she ate all the cheese, but not all the chips)


Here's a pictures of braids and butts:



There were butts everywhere.



But this was probably my favorite one:




Then there was a demolition derby. A demolition derby is where Nascar fans get to live out their dreams of driving drunk and not getting arrested for it:






As it was getting dark we decided we wanted to go on one of the rides. To go on the rides, you had to buy tickets.



We decided to go on the ferris wheel.






We had a really good time. Maybe next year you guys can come visit and go with us!


xo Tia Emily

Happy Birthday Isabel

Dear Isabel,

Tomorrow you turn three years old. I remember the day you were born; I went to the hospital and you mom was cradling you in the crook of her leg on the hospital bed. Your dad was sitting in a chair next to you guys. I sat down on the end of the bed and watched you breathe. You were sleeping, no doubt you were exhausted.

Now you are turning three, and you and your sister are two of my favorite people. You are a special little girl, Isabel. You make faces even if no one is watching.





You win arguments like girls more than twice your age: you throw a steely glare.



You and your sister are just alike, two goofballs.



Your sister taught you how to draw people, heads really, and she starts by drawing a heart.



That's where all art comes from, Isabel, the heart. Your mother would spend all night sometimes drawing hearts for you to practice the eyes and nose and mouth, but they were never good enough--you always wanted another heart. I think one heart isn't big enough for you. You have too much love, or art, or beauty, or personality for just one heart. That's ok--because you have all ours: your mom, your dad, gramma and grandpa, your sister and your tias and tio, you have all our hearts.

Before I moved away to the other side of the country, you and your mom and your sister rode the train to go see the Glee movie with me. You three stood on the train platform at Roosevelt on a beautiful clear August day and your sister looked at the sky and said, "Mom, why does Tia Emily want to leave? It's so beautiful here." And she's right, Chicago is beautiful--I want to share with you the place in Chicago I think is most beautiful:




Part of my heart is on that beach, little pieces I left behind and buried so I could come back someday and still find I was a part of this city. I love you girls and that place, your mom and Chicago, but sometimes you have to leave parts of yourself behind to go find other, undiscovered parts.

I hope you travel all over the world, and meet lots of interesting people as you grow up. But right now, for your third birthday, I hope most that you feel loved, that all the hearts you draw come back to you in different ways over your lifetime, that you recognize all the love that comes your way as a part of yourself, and that you give it back, and never get too scared to give love out or let love in.

xo, Tia Emily