Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm going to go "old school" in this wrap-up and actually post full pictures...no collages.  I think I took some nice ones, so I figure I'll display the big versions.  That, or I'm lazy.  You decide.

Saturday

Snuggling with the big one during baby nap time

Dance Class

Grilling in the garage (darn rain!) with Pa

Playing at G-ma and G-pa's house

Sunday

The increasingly pickier eater

Baby in the sunlight

My running buddy

An after dinner stroll

Having a treat in Gi-Gi's rocking chair

Playing with the handles on Gi-Gi's desk- she was entertained for MINUTES,
which is a long time in 1-year-old world

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.  This week is going to be busy on the blog, with the 22nd and 23rd coming the next two days, a recap of the memorial services, and the usual posts.

If you'd like to read Grandma's obituary, you can click here.

FTPDF

As I mentioned yesterday, this has been a hard and sad week with the loss of my Grandma on Wednesday.  It has been a roller coaster ride of emotions since Sunday evening, when she really started the process of leaving this world.

My sisters, parents and I were able to all spend time with her on Sunday night.  We thought that was going to be it.  Then she rallied a little bit on Monday.  I was thankful to have had the day off so Maya and I could go and spend time with her and my parents that day.

Favorite Thing #1: Grandma was able to watch Maya play.  I hope it gave her
some comfort and entertainment, even though she was so tired and uncomfortable.

I was in regular contact with my parents throughout the day on Tuesday and we knew that it wouldn't be long.  I was able to be distracted at work, and then we distracted ourselves in the evening as well.

Favorite Thing #2: Even though I was struggling emotionally, the girls were
able to cheer me up with their adorableness and excitement about pet store animals.

I got the call early Wednesday morning.  I took yet another day off of work, sent the girls to G-ma's house, and spent the day with my parents and sisters.  We spent time in Grandma's apartment, went out to lunch, my sisters and I got manicures (with purple polish- my Grandma's signature color!), and we enjoyed being together as our original family of 5.  But I was very happy to see my girls when I got home from a very bittersweet day.

Favorite Thing #3: Enjoying the view from Grandma's apartment.
Enjoying a goofy face at the end of the day.

The girls' routines did not change this week.  They were lucky enough to be able to still hang out with Pa, G-ma, and Boom.  I told Callie that Gi-Gi went up to heaven, but she doesn't really get it (obviously).  Her first question was, "Was she 100?"  And when I told her that Gi-Gi was 91, she responded, "I thought you died when you were 100."  I said something like "No, some people die before that." And then she asked me to get her breakfast.  I wonder how much she'll remember about her great-grandma.

Favorite Thing #4: The comfort of normal routines and family support.

When I knew my grandma wasn't doing well on Tuesday, I shared about it a little bit with my friend Amanda.  We ended up talking a little about Callie's butterfly artwork and then about how butterflies are a sign of transcendence and new life.  She sent me a link about butterfly symbolism, and the first thing it said was this:

"According to Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, by Lafcadio Hearn, a butterfly was seen in Japan as the personification of a person's soul; whether they be living, dying, or already dead. One Japanese superstition says that if a butterfly enters your guestroom and perches behind the bamboo screen, the person whom you most love is coming to see you."

So imagine my surprise and delight when, as we were looking through Grandma's jewelry on Wednesday (after she passed away), I came across two butterfly pins.  And then on our walk tonight, I took some pictures of the beautiful sunset.  And when I came home to look at the pictures on the computer, it appeared to me like the line of the trees was the bottom of a butterfly.

Favorite Thing #5: Butterflies.
The sunset butterfly may be all in my head, but when I sketched it out, it looked
enough like a butterfly for me to be happy.

We will be spending this weekend preparing for the celebration of her life that will be taking place on Tuesday.  Thank you for all the thoughts, prayers and condolences.  They really mean a lot to me and my family.

TBT: Remembering Gi-Gi

It has been a very hard week for our family.  After a long and difficult few days, my grandma passed away early yesterday morning.

Miriam
March 18, 1923-September 17, 2014

She was a spunky, witty and inspiring woman who will be greatly missed.

My throwback pictures this week are all related to my Grandma, or Gi-Gi as she liked the girls to call her.

She never felt old enough to be called "Grandma" or "Great-Grandma", but she
did love all the little baby girls she got later in her life (after having 3 boys of her own).

 

Grandma was a piano player and teacher for years.  I have played her piano
many times through the years at their home, and after she moved to Minneapolis
last year, we were fortunate enough to get her piano in our home.



I feel blessed to have gotten a few 4th generation pictures with
her, my dad, and my girls.



We love you, Grandma, and will miss you very much.

FTPDF

Happy Friday!!!!!!!!

It has been a long week and I'm exhausted.  We're looking forward to a nice low-key weekend.

Callie is loving preschool this year (cue the big sigh of relief).  We spent most of last year having her tell us she didn't want to go.  She always had a good time when she actually went, but getting her to go willingly was a struggle.  So far this year she has done great.  There is a boy in her afternoon class that she really likes (Henrick- he is 3).  It sounds like she mostly enjoys bossing him around, which seems to work okay for both of them. 

Maya is so ridiculously fun.  My favorite thing that she does these days is call BOTH Callie and Kona "Di-Der" (sister).  Kona stayed with G-ma and G-pa last week, so she wasn't around when Maya started really saying "sister" to or about Callie.  But when Kona came home, the first thing Maya said was "Di-Der!" and was SO happy.  It is pretty adorable.  She doesn't really say "No-Na" (Kona) anymore.  She seems to consider Kona her sister.

I organized the pictures this week by day.  Here they are.

Favorite Things about Monday:
*A tie-dye onesie
*A fun time at Boom's house for Maya
*A beautiful day

Favorite Things about Tuesday:
*Chris and the girls came to school so the 4th graders could practice their
questioning skills- my favorite question Chris got was, "So you live in a
house full of GIRLS?"
*Playtime in the tunnel
*A wagon to watch little kids play soccer



Favorite Things about Wednesday:
*Adorable baby smiles
*Hanging out with G-ma
*Wrestling with Daddy

Favorite Things about Thursday:
*Playtime outside
*Boom's birthday dinner- it was Lobster night!
*Watching Callie try and figure out why and how Boom was eating lobster,
often saying "That is so gross!"

Favorite Things about Friday:
*Playtime at Boom's house
*Going to the MA Arena Sale
*Taking a jammy wagon ride (with coats and hats)

Have a great weekend!

TBT- Happy Birthday Boom!!!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOOM!!!!!  We love you!  Our first throwback today is, of course, a Boom throwback.

Then we have a dance class throwback.  The first picture is me with my first dance class (I'm the timid one in the back).  Then there is Callie with her class.  She was surprisingly not shy.  But it is pretty obvious now where she gets some of her personality from.

And lastly, a 1-year-old birthday throwback with me, Chris and Maya.

It was fun to do some different throwbacks this week.  Hope you enjoyed them!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday!  The weather this weekend was ridiculously beautiful and we tried to play outside as much as possible.  I can't even begin to describe how fun it is now that Maya is bigger and can (sort of) play with Callie.  They are two peas in a pod, and never want to be too far away from each other. 
I love it.

Saturday

Besides Callie's first ballet class, (I posted about it after 11pm last night, so I'm not sure if it made it in time for the post to be emailed out. Click on the link if you missed it, it is adorable.) we didn't do a whole lot.  We did errands in the morning, played outside, and went to the park before bed.  It is fun watching Callie play with other kids.  She is becoming more talkative and will actually respond to them when they ask her questions.  And she does a lot of giggling, which is great to hear.

Sunday

Callie and Chris had their first Sunday School class of the year and Maya and I continued our napping tradition.  Then we headed over to visit Gi-Gi with Boom and Bops.

This afternoon/evening we spent more time outside and it was lovely.

And future Callie, if you are reading this some day, the reason that we have SO many more pictures of your sister is because when I ask you to look at me and smile, you ignore me.  Kind of like the picture above.  Maybe your sister will do the same thing when she is 4-going-on-5 and totally sick of me putting the camera in her face, but right now she is a ham.  So there you have it.

Speaking of Maya, she is doing so many things now.  Like:

1) Almost walking


IMG 2039 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

2) Ignoring us (in a totally adorable way)


IMG 2044 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

3) And lots and lots of waving (to anyone) and talking


IMG 2049 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

So fun.  So So fun.

On a final note- I did a good job with my Cincuenta September goal this week.  I ran 4 times and knocked out 14 miles.  It feels pretty good. 

Have a great week!

I'm a Dance Mom

Today was Callie's first ballet class.  If you remember, a couple weeks ago I took her for registration at the studio that I took dance at for 14 years.  I started there TWENTY-EIGHT years ago with Ms. Connie and spent the following FOURTEEN years taking weekly lessons from her.  I was also an assistant teacher for a couple of years, helping out younger classes.

Pre-K ballet in 1986....Senior recital in 2000

So needless to say I was very excited for Callie to start her lessons.

It was so adorable- just what I was expecting.  They did some stretching and Connie went over the "Mouser-cize" warm-up (a Mickey Mouse version of jazzercise) that they were going to do (the same one that I remember from when I was 4).  It was a lot of marching and skipping and bouncing and wiggling.

I took a short video of the marching, but then as you'll see, Callie noticed that I was taking video and stopped marching. 


IMG 1982 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Then there was time at the barre- plies and releves.

I mean...I couldn't handle how adorable it was.


IMG 1989 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

They got to do mat time at the end and work on somersaults and cartwheels, but I didn't take pictures for fear Callie wouldn't participate.  She did participate and did great.  I was very proud of her.

At the end of class she got a gummy bear and gave Connie a kiss on the cheek.  When we got home she was SO excited about ballet that she was jumping around the yard.

It is going to be a fun year in dance class!