A Picture Update

It has been a busy week! I'm posting this late after being in my school's talent show. There were lots of fun kid acts, and I was part of a Spice Girls tribute group. Thanks to Mari for the use of the blue athletic pants! I rocked it as Sporty Spice.

The rest of the week was business as usual. Maya hung out with Boom and had downtown adventures.

We went on a family walk.

Callie's reading ability got me in trouble when she picked up my bottle of vitamins and said "Mom! You are not following the rules! You are supposed to keep this out of reach of children!"

Hanna sent me a beautiful picture of the sunset earlier this week.

And finally, Fowl Language Comics posted a particularly relevant comic earlier this week, seeing as our 6-year-old takes any and every opportunity to argue with me that she can. It's like we have lawyers in the family or something...

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I have to admit this day snuck up on me. I didn't buy new coordinating shirts like I usually do. Last night I dug out Callie's shirt from a couple years ago and found some green leggings for Maya. 

But it was important to wear green for Nana!

 🍀💚🍀

In the process of taking the above picture, I also took this one, which made me giggle a little:

And, for fun, some throwback Thursday pics:

 

An Amazing Story

My sisters and I got this email from our mom this morning.  She gave me permission to post it here.

It is too cool not to share.

Also, a warning: possible tears and maybe chills or goosebumps ahead.

Hi girls,

I just returned home from a walk along the Mississippi. On my way back home, I walked under the Hennepin Ave. Bridge and sitting on the wall looking out over the river was a homeless man with flowing white hair and a beard. As I walked past him I made eye contact and said “good morning.” 

He started talking to me about the eagles he was watching. So far he had seen three soaring through the sky. We started talking about the eagle nests around and he told me about eagle feathers and how holy they are. He said you have to “earn” the privilege of keeping an eagle feather. I told him he probably had earned one. That made him smile and we continued to talk about things…places he’s lived (Wisconsin, California and Hawaii), the buffalo…Native American wisdom. I asked him if he was Native American and he said he was part Cherokee. 

I finally introduced myself and told him my name. His response was:  “My name is Lee.” 

I told him about how my husband was named Lee and he died last year and I was having a hard time. He told me he believed in angels and that my husband was in a good place and the angels were with him. His sister was murdered when she was 21 and his mother died and they were both cremated and are buried next to each other at Lakewood Cemetery. I told him about you girls and how we’re working hard to help each other. We talked a bit more (mostly about my walking sticks since they intrigued him) and then I said “nice meeting you.” The last words he said to me were “Take care of your kids.”

So it goes….

I love you.

Mom

Tears, right?  Chills and goosebumps?  HIS NAME, out of all the millions of names, WAS LEE.

I loved the imagery of soaring eagles, so I googled it.  One of the images that came up was of a soaring eagle with a very applicable verse:

Thank you, Mom, for sharing your story.  What a remarkable reminder that Dad is with us.

Timehop Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!

First up: Callie eating ice cream.

Next: Toddlers in the spring.

Last: Toddlers and Mommy

Weekend Wrap-Up

These weeks are flying by.  It is hard to believe it is almost mid-March.

We had a nice weekend.  I went for a run (back to my usual sunray spotting spot) and then the girls and I spent time outside on Saturday morning.

Sunrays during a 5 mile run.

I spent most of the walk chasing them.

As you may remember from my blog post from yesterday, we had a birthday party for Kona at G-ma and Pa's house.  It was nice to spend time outside, have a delicious dinner and walk during a beautiful sunset.

Today I met my friend Amanda for coffee and FINALLY met her baby Peter!  He is almost 6 weeks old and adorable.

Then, since I *think* we are finally over all the sickness from the past few weeks, we were able to see some friends for lunch.  Jenna, Andy, Charlie, Mabel and Sylvia all came over for a long overdue play date.

Tonight my mom, sisters and I went to church, dinner and then Paint Nite for our monthly girls night out event!

The painting was titled "Andromeda Flower" and we all think they look better from afar.... ;)

Have a good week!

Happy Birthday Kona Hope!

THIS GIRL IS TEN YEARS OLD TODAY!

It was a beautiful day so she was able to bask in the sunshine- one of her favorite things to do.

That's like SEVENTY in dog years.

For fun, here are the itty bitty baby pictures of Kona from (almost) ten years ago.  They were taken by the breeder, and can be found in my Kona Hope scrapbook.

I. Can't. Even.  SO CUTE.

Almost every year on Kona's birthday we have had a birthday party for her that always includes DQ Ice Cream cake.  She doesn't get any, but it is a great excuse for us to get some.

Kona was an "only child" for 3 years.

And then her world was invaded by a little one.

And then that one got bigger and another little one arrived.

Now they are both big and Kona has a white face.

Kona now lives with G-ma and Pa full time, and has for most of the past year.  We are all very lucky that she gets so much love and care from them, and we can still see her often.

Callie recently wrote about Kona for an assignment at school.

There you go "CYOOT" Kona.  Happy Birthday!

A Picture Update

Happy Friday!

It feels like spring...but I don't fully trust it yet.  I'm hoping that we're done with the cold, but we have also gotten snow in past Mays, so who knows!

This has been quite the week.  Here are some pictures:

After getting home after bedtime on Sunday night, we had to do our usual rushed morning routine on Monday morning.  Thankfully, Callie didn't have school on Monday and Tuesday, so both girls got to go to Boom's house on those days.

A downtown adventure!

On Tuesday we went out to dinner with the girls...it was good to enjoy time just the four of us.

Contrary to Callie's big smiles, she was not feeling well earlier this week.  So I took her into the doctor on Wednesday morning.  She had strep, among other bodily function issues (that I won't go into now that she is 6...she is just too old for me to share all those details to the Internet now).

She was a CHAMP at the doctor, so we went to get an ice cream treat later in the afternoon.  Also, she was wearing ice cream jammies.

"Mom, do I have any ice cream on my face?"

The other thing I forgot to mention was that Chris was out of town for work Wednesday through today.

I stayed home with Callie the rest of the day on Wednesday, but she was feeling much better and was able to go to school on Thursday.  I picked the girls up and once we got home we spent most of the rest of the evening outside.

Hooray for sunshine!

On Thursday night, Callie attempted to read Maya a book.  As usual, Maya's attention span was about as long as a mosquito's.


IMG_3543 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Today was lovely.  Maya hung out with Boom and was, as usual, adorable.

After work the girls and I walked to the park, where we had a blast running around and they showed off their skills.

IMG_3576 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.


IMG_3565 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

And then Chris got home right in time for bedtime.

And then he and I ordered Chinese takeout and vegged out.

Perfect Friday night.