In the last few days Baby Anne and I have been walloped by a stomach virus that included a high fever for both of us. Just as I thought we were done with it, she began vomiting again yesterday but seems to have stopped again. Now I am eyeing everyone in my family suspiciously, wondering who will be the next victim, but so far no signs of illness.

During this time we have done a few things. We made a cake for Pentecost. The shape of the cake is a butterfly because we happened to have a butterfly pan. The drawing on top is supposed to be a dove to represent the Holy Spirit.

Meg sang Happy Birthday to the Church and enjoyed the cake. Clare, unfortunately, did not get to enjoy the cake because she decided to go to her room and paint her arms and legs blue. Oh, she also decided her bedroom floor should be blue and began painting that. We scrubbed her legs and arms, but she still looks like a smurf. The floor cleaned up much better than she did. I am all about encouraging her artistic expression, but there are limits.

I've also spent this time of illness reading children's chapter books. Now that the girls are slowly moving from picture books to chapter books for bedtime reading, I wanted to expand my knowledge of what was out there. While I loved books as a child and had some great favorites, there were a lot of wonderful children's books I just never read or never even heard about. After all, at that time we couldn't google "top 25 children's books your 8-year-old should read." If my parents, teachers or librarian didn't recommend it, I probably didn't know of its existence.

So this past weekend I finished the last Penderwick novel (which, of course, wasn't around when I was a child) and read Elizabeth Enright's The Saturdays (which was written long before I was born but I only recently heard about it). The Saturdays is an absolutely charming book about siblings who live in an old New York brownstone and decide to pool their allowances so they can each take a Saturday to go on an extraordinary adventure. How did I miss this book as a child! No matter how old you are everyone must go read this book right now.

I have a stack of children's books to read, but I've also found a few books intended for my own age which I should probably throw into the mix. Summer is meant for reading. Even Meg and Clare agree. They've been practicing their own reading with an unusual enthusiasm and excitedly signed up for the summer reading program at the Arlington County Library yesterday. Expect a few book reviews in the coming weeks.

Did I ever drop the ball this week. We had one of those fantastic kid moments and I couldn't find my camera. Still, I can tell you about it.

Meg and Clare decided they wanted to head back to Green Springs Garden--the site of our recent Peter Rabbit birthday party. Clare packed her art supplies in her backpack and we headed to the garden. The girls had a plan. When we arrived, they walked the paths until they found the perfect spot. In this spot, there were comfortable benches and flowers all around us. While I sat on one bench with Baby Anne (who was fussy at this point and ready for a nap), Meg and Clare unloaded their art supplies on another bench. They had paper, colored pencils and watercolors. Taking in the inspiration all around them, they began to paint. So, there we were in a beautiful garden. I was rocking a baby and the girls were painting. It all felt very Victorian. It felt like a Mary Cassatt painting.

I was disappointed not to have my phone or camera with me to capture the moment, but in a way, that would have ruined it. What was so amazing about this moment was how we slowed down and were truly in the moment. We were not distracted by the constant stream of information always available on the phone. We were not distracted by anything. I do have Meg and Clare's artwork to remember this moment.

As you can see, Meg is currently purely a watercolorist.

Clare, on the other hand, blends watercolors and colored pencils.

What a lovely, quiet moment in our week. I am looking forward to taking the girls to the Cassatt/Degas exhibit currently at the National Gallery of Art. Mary Cassatt is one of the girls' favorite artists, which is not unexpected since she painted sisters, redheads and wonderful family scenes. Degas is another favorite because he painted ballerinas. The girls will love their artwork. I will love it too, but not as much as I love the paintings above.