A Picture Update

I'm doing my picture update a day early because I am leaving tomorrow morning for a weekend girls trip to visit my Grammy (who I haven't seen it 3+ years), Uncle John and Aunts Jen and Margie.  I'm looking forward to spending quality time with family.

We had another busy week.  Callie had "Dinosaur Discovery" camp in the mornings, so I got a lot of one-on-one time with the crazy 2-year-old.

My runs have gotten better since Monday, thank goodness.  It helped that I had some beautiful sunrays, a little one motivating me with her blossoming vocabulary ("Mommy big booty") and even a deer sighting.

As I mentioned, Callie has dinosaur camp.  Yesterday we had a picnic at the school after she was done.  Every morning when Maya and I drop her off, Maya insists on doing two flights of stairs by herself.  It is a time commitment.  Luckily it is still summer vacation and we haven't had many morning plans.

Charlie, Mabel, Baby Sylvia and Jenna came over one afternoon to play, and later we met up with Josh, Alison, Avery and Baby Eli at a park.

We spent time swimming at my dad's country club (first time being to the pool since he died) and had a really lovely time in the water and eating dinner. 

Our 2-year-old is hilarious.  Or at least I think she is, and she thinks she is too.  Here are a couple more videos to show it.


IMG_9555 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.



IMG_9556 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

And just for fun, I found a 2-year-old Callie video to bring back Throwback Thursday this week.  It is clear that Maya has a goofball for a teacher...it is also clear that 2-year-old Callie watched way more iPad than 2-year-old Maya.  Maya is lucky if she gets to watch Mickey Mouse for 10 minutes because her sister still hogs it...


MVI_7218 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

A Dad-tervention

This is gonna sound weird, but I'm pretty sure my dad spoke to me through a Katy Perry song this morning...

If I told that to him, he'd say, "Who?" 

Let me back up.

These last weeks have been hard- exhausting physically and emotionally. My half-marathon training is at it's peak and instead of feeling stronger, it just feels harder and harder. The same thing can be said about the grief stuff too. 

I had a terrible 10K run over the weekend. So I wasn't jumping out of bed this morning to get out there again. But I did (about an hour later than usual) and during the first part of my run I planned a blog post titled "Running on Empty." 

Doesn't that sound like a riveting read?

Anyway, my music was on a random shuffle (not that I was really paying much attention to it) and I was composing the post in my head. All of a sudden I hear these lyrics pumping through my headphones:

"Do you ever feel like a plastic bag,

Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?

Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin

Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?"

Oh my gosh. Yes, Katy. Yes I do.

"Do you ever feel already buried deep six feet under,

Screams but no one seems to hear a thing?"

And then all of a sudden I thought *maybe* this might be a message from Dad.

"Do you know that there's still a chance for you

'Cause there's a spark in you?

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine

Just own the night like the 4th of July."

A reminder about light. I need to look up more.

And then the chorus. About fireworks. I should explain that the only time I have seen fireworks in the past 6 years was our New Years Eve in Aruba this past January. With my Dad.

"'Cause baby you're a firework

Come on show them what you're worth

Make 'em go 'oh, oh, oh!'

As you shoot across the sky-y-y."

Aruban fireworks

So that got my butt in gear and I kicked my run up a notch.  I was towards the end of it, and "Firework" is a really good running song. 

And then, just in case he thought I wasn't paying attention or doubting him, the song that ended my run was "Chasing the Sun."  I have a history of LOVING that song.  Because of lyrics like this:

"You said remember that life is not meant to be wasted,
We can always be chasing the sun...

All we can do is try
And live like we're still alive...

And the gift of my heartbeat sounds like a symphony..."

So I may have been crying, but I ended my run much stronger than I started.  And I credit that to my dad.  And am thankful for the reminder to keep looking for the light.

 

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday.  I'm too lazy to open the laptop so I am blogging from my phone. Sorry if the formatting is weird.

Our weekend started Friday night with the arrival of our friend Nate, his wife Kaela and their 18-month-old son Caleb. More college friends came over, so our house was full with 8 adults and 8 kids/babies under six! 

G-ma and Pa took the girls to a county fair on Saturday. They got to see animals, ride rides, and even meet a dairy princess!

Chris and I were able to get some things accomplished and also had some relaxation time. Both of us were tired from staying up too late the night before, so...there was a little iPad watching before bedtime. Their level of energy at 6:30pm far outmatched ours.

This morning the whole fam went to our church at the bandshell.

And the girls, Chris and I went with Boom to the Lynx game. We made it

Three quarters with Maya sitting court side. I'd call that a feat.

Have a great week.

A Picture Update

It's crazy how fast the last few weeks of summer are going.  I only have 3 more weeks off.  Wow.

Here are some pictures and videos from the week:

We didn't have anything planned on Monday, so we did errands (and got matching $5 shoes at Target) and played outside a lot.  See videos at the end of this post for more craziness on Monday.

On Tuesday I had an all day workshop so the girls went to Boom's house.  Then we had
our last swimming lessons of the summer. 

On Wednesday morning we went over to see Emily, Vera and Hattie.  Then we met G-ma and Pa for a picnic dinner
and duck feeding.

We love our neighborhood parks!

My weekly sunrays.

Yesterday was our anniversary, so I decided that since it was our 10th, it might be a good one to get my wedding
dress out of the box for the first time since our wedding.  It was FUN! Thanks to Auntie Cat for taking pictures for us.

I tried it on first.  (There is a reason the picture does not show the back...the zipper didn't zip up very far. :) )
Then Callie wanted to so...why not?  And then we had to let Maya try too.  They loved it!

Here's a little Flashback Friday for ya...10 years later, a little squishier, with a much fuller heart.

Chris and I were able to go out for a nice dinner and fro-yo after bedtime.  Thanks for babysitting G-ma!

And here are a bunch of videos.  I took a few on Monday when we were outside and I couldn't decide which one to post, so I thought I'd post all of them.


IMG 9330 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

IMG 9332 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

IMG 9333 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

IMG 9334 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

And then another funny one of Maya, because she loves to take "selfie" videos so she can see herself being goofy.


IMG 9457 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.
Have a good weekend!

Ten Years

It is hard to believe, but Chris and I were married ten years ago today.  That's a decade.  Pretty crazy when you still feel like you're in your mid 20s.  Ha.

A lot has happened in ten years.  So much good, and a share of bad.  But that's what the vows are for, right? 

In ten years we have had two beautiful daughters, lived in two different houses, gone through job changes, had the opportunity to do a lot of traveling, and have been blessed by great relationships with wonderful family and friends.

We have also gone through a couple of significant challenges- Chris' car accident in 2011 and my dad passing away suddenly earlier this year. 

And as much as our two girls have been an incredible blessing, parenting them has also been a big challenge and learning experience.

Through it all we always know that we are in this life together...forever.

I got out our wedding album to look through this morning.  Because we got married just at the cusp of the digital age, none of our professional wedding pictures are digital.  The only copies we have are the ones in my scrapbook.  So I went through and took pictures of the pictures to share today.  They are obviously not the best quality, but I think they will convey the happiness of that beautiful day ten years ago.

The ceremony

The church

The wedding party

Our families

The reception

This day is obviously bittersweet as it is another milestone where my dad is not here.  But I have a couple of stories about him from our wedding that I'd like to share.  Right before I was about to walk down the aisle I was totally freaked out.  Not by the fact that I was getting married, but just by the sheer magnitude of the moment.  My dad had to push me down the hallway to the spot by the door into the church.  And right before the doors were going to swing open, he gave me a hug.  And as he was giving me a hug, something on his arm got caught on my veil and it came right off.  This is RIGHT before we were about to enter the church.  I don't remember much, but I think I kind of giggled and shoved it back in my hair, hoping that it looked okay.  It did. :)

My other memory about my dad from our wedding was his speech at the reception.  If you know him well, you know that he relished in embarrassing his girls.  A little back story- I slept at my parents the night before the wedding, and I slept with (and still do!) a blankie.  It was well worn and well loved.  I guess I had forgotten to pack up my blankie when I left the morning of the wedding.  So of course, he found it and used it as a visual during his speech.

I am so thankful for him and my mom and their example of what a good marriage is.  I'm so thankful for Bob and Mary and their example of what a good marriage is.  Now that I think about it, I could keep going with a list of other friends and family we know.  We are lucky to have so many amazing examples of what a good marriage is.

I hope our girls can say the same thing about us one day.

The Last DuNord Post

Whew!  I hope you have enjoyed all of the camp posts so far.  I think we have come to the end of my pictures. 

One of my favorite things about camp was just watching the girls running around...wild and free.

Maya especially loved wandering around the north woods.


IMG 8803 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

IMG 8804 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

I think it's safe to say the girls had a pretty fantastic time.

Towards the end of the trip, Pa made a "bananagram" to summarize our week.

On the last night we were hanging out by the beach and throwing rocks in the water.  It was kind of rainy and kind of sunny.

And wouldn't ya know, someone sent us a rainbow.

Thanks to G-ma, Pa, Auntie Cat, Uncle Dan, and Hanna for a fantastic week.  It was truly special, and a time that was very much needed.

DuNord- Birthday Style!

Maya's 2nd birthday was on Thursday, July 23rd.  As I think I mentioned in a previous post, she managed to do a major faceplant on Wednesday...just in time for her to have a big goose egg on her forehead for her birthday.  But by the time she woke up on Thursday morning she didn't seem to mind.  Auntie Cat brought some decorations so we spruced the place up.

She opened up a couple presents in the morning before heading to age group.

After age group, lunch and nap time (yes, birthday girls still need naps), we had cupcakes and she opened the rest of her presents.  She wasn't too sure about the birthday song at the time, but now it is her most requested bedtime song.  Ha.


IMG 8847 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

She got so many great gifts, but one of the ones we played with right away on the deck was the bubble machine she got from Uncle Dan and Hanna.  It was awesome!

The last part of the birthday celebration was at the dining hall before dinner.  The staff knew it was Maya's birthday, so we got to go up to the front and Maya got sung to again.  She was still a little unsure of the whole situation.

All in all it was a wonderful day...and I can't believe we have a 2-year-old!