Weekend Wrap-Up

Hello.  It has been a very tense, strange, scary but lovely weekend.  All I can think about is the privilege we have.  We have SO MUCH PRIVILEGE.  All the awful things happening are near us but our neighborhood and home are quiet safe. 

The daytimes of this weekend have been lovely.  We spent time outside.  Privilege.

The nights of this weekend have been glued to the news, watching the destruction of our home town.   Watching from our beds.  Safe at home.  Privilege.

So.  It feels weird to even try to do a normal post, but I'm hoping that these pictures will be a small bright spot in your day, seeing as you chose to come visit this little ol' blog.  So I'll include our weekend pictures, as well as some from the past week as well.

Saturday- we met friends for a social distance hike.  We accidentally hiked up the back side of one of the ski hills (the kids took us up a little tiny path that ended up going STRAIGHT UP).  But the view from the top was worth it.

Last evening, Boom (& Iris), Auntie Yoda, Uncle Craigles, Lucy and Mila came over again.  My mom stayed with us last night, since downtown was pretty eventful on Friday night.  And I got to hold Mila (and washed by hands well!), which was such a balm for my soul.



This morning I went for a run.  It was beautiful. 

This afternoon we met up with G-ma, Pa, Auntie Cat, Uncle Dan, Auntie Hanna, Mitchell and the doggies. There was croquet and kickball and snacks. And then I got to hold Mitchell, another balm for my soul!







Here are some pictures from earlier in the week: 

Friday was the last day of school.  Both girls had a final Google Meet with their classes.

We celebrated with G-ma and Pa, and the new wine glass I got from G-ma.  It will be VERY applicable
this summer.

I’ll leave you with a few cute girls on summer vacation (not me, yet...).

This Week

I don't have my usual picture update for you today.  It just doesn't feel right. The events that took place in Minneapolis this week have been absolutely heartbreaking.

I don't know what to say about it or how to process it, besides completely acknowledging my own white privilege.  After nonstop scrolling of Facebook and Twitter, I found a couple resources/articles posted often and thought I'd share:

75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice

Don't Say Nothing

As usual, I process with music.  Sara Bareilles posted a video of her singing her song "Orpheus" today, and the lyrics are so very relevant for what is happening right now.

"We did not give up on love today
Don't stop trying to find me here amidst the chaos
Though I know it's blinding there's a way out
Say out loud: we will not give up on love now.

No fear
Don't you turn light Orpheus,
Just stay here
Hold me in the dark and when the day appears we'll say
WE DID NOT GIVE UP ON LOVE TODAY."

If you'd like to listen to the song, here is the link:



Speaking of love, these two girls are done with their 4th and 1st grade school years. Here are two pictures I will share today. It is really hard to believe how fast the year went and how much they have grown.






I stumbled through a conversation with them this morning about what is going on in our city.  They listened and asked a couple of questions and then moved on with their day. But tonight Callie asked some more questions and I answered as best as I could. I’ll keep doing that and will try to keep educating myself and the girls. 

Please take care of yourselves this weekend.

Timehop Tuesday

Sisters on the porch:

And cousins!

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Memorial Day Edition

Happy Monday!  In a long weekend that was way more sunny and lovely than expected, we spent a lot of time outside!

On Saturday morning I woke up with the burning desire to clean out our disgusting porch.  Maya, always the little helper, helped me with the task.  Callie helped a bit, but it was really Maya's baby.

Then we took a break because Chris made his weekly Eggs Benedict an then Auntie Cat, G-ma, and Pa came over in-between rain showers to hang out in our front yard (and stoop when it was pouring rain at first).



Later we set up the porch, and then I also ordered some things to make it cozier.  We have spent a lot of time in there this weekend!



On Saturday afternoon, Boom, Auntie Yoda, Uncle Craigles, Lucy and Mila came over to hang out in our back yard.  It almost felt normal!



On Sunday afternoon, we met G-ma, Pa, Auntie Cat, Uncle Dan, Auntie Hanna and Mitchell (and the doggies) for a hike and snack time at the Hyland area reserve.  It was BEAUTIFUL.  Almost felt like being up north!

Later, Chris taught the girls the life lesson of cleaning out sink drains, we blew up our new pool (brrrr!), and enjoyed dinner and Master Chef Junior on the porch.

Today I took a run in the rain and was able to go on a new path. It was lovely.

Then we just hung around this morning during the rain. Callie played some Cribbage with Pa over the iPad. And then late this afternoon when the sun came out, the pool came back out!

Have a great week!

A Picture Update

Happy Friday! The burnout is real.  The girls have one more week of school and I have two more weeks of work.  We'll make it!  And then it will be summer where we have NO PLANS because EVERYTHING IS CANCELLED.  But we'll be fine.  It'll be ok.  We won't go completely bananas.  RIGHT?!?!?!?!

Ok enough.  Here are some pictures:

Monday- Luna (& lilacs), Maya & the water table, and homemade chicken and vegetable curry!

Tuesday- it wasn't that warm, but they really wanted to wear their new swimsuits and then got COLD, it was a beautiful evening, and I started a Titanic puzzle.

Wednesday- a sunrise run, and a sunset walk (same lilacs)

Thursday- a virtual kids cooking class, which made me an exhausted sous chef

Friday- chalk time outside with G-ma and Pa

A few extras: I need this shirt because of what Maya sent me on Kids Messenger on Thursday

And some of Callie's assignments this week have been to caption funny animal pictures.  They made me giggle.



I'll leave you with this video of Maya reading a potty book!

Timehop Tuesday

First up: rainy May days...

And then Maya and Mila in a unicorn onesie:

And then the girls and Mitchell around 5 months old!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Hey Everybody!  Here's a glimpse of our weekend.

Saturday:

*A picnic with Boom, Auntie Yoda and Baby Mila

*A walk (run) with Luna, and a walk (just me) with Auntie Hanna and Baby Mitchell



*Corn-on-the-cob and a sleepy doggy

Whenever we eat corn, we think of Bops.  Last night Maya said "I wish Bops had his phone up in
heaven so we could send him stuff."  Me too, babe.  Me too.

Sunday:

*Peanuts for breakfast because #quarantine

*A very rainy day, some puzzles, and a 10-year-old channeling her father



*Making Boom's peanut butter bars...so delicious



Click here for a few silly videos.  Have a great week!

A Picture Update

Happy Friday!  It was a GORGEOUS day today, and for that I am grateful.  Here's a snapshot of our week.

Monday: Luna tried to help with my Zoom calls, we flew our new kite, and FaceTimed with Nana and Papa for Papa's birthday!

Tuesday: We celebrated Pa's birthday with an outdoor picnic!  Look at how STINKIN' CUTE Mitchell is.  I can't stand it.

Wednesday: lots of biking, Maya had a "meet up" with her class from her bed, she also agreed to snuggle with me, and we played Monopoly on the Switch and both girls ended up in jail AT THE SAME TIME.  Chris and I were very much amused.

Thursday: sister chats on the chairs, crazy time in the front yard, a family walk/bike in the evening, and crazy hair/crazy faces

Friday: we made homemade ice cream (vanilla chocolate chip) with another recipe we got from Great Aunt Mary!  It was SO good.

And then there's this one...she increasingly hates HATES doing her school work.  But part of her school work was a virtual "field day" doing fun stuff outside, so I don't have much sympathy...

Luna and I had some relaxing time this afternoon, and then we had some socially distant social interactions with friends.  It was weird to stand awkwardly far away, but good. And we got to meet the Held’s newest addition, HUGO the chihuahua!

Click here for some videos from the past week!

Have a great weekend!