Weekend Update

Happy Sunday...it has been a BUSY weekend.  At least it was a busy Saturday.

The main event of this weekend was Mari's Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party.  Laura and I planned and executed a pretty kick-butt event, if I do say so myself.  We decided on a jungle theme because Mari has slept with a stuffed tiger for as long as I can remember, and has always loved tigers.

So, the theme came to us pretty easily: THE MARI SAFARI.

We held an afternoon shower with all of Mari's friends in the party room of her apartment building.

Laura got all the awesome jungle-themed decorations.
Mari's friend, Elyssa, made the adoraable banner.
Mari's stuffed animal, Tiger, was a guest of honor.

She was in the dark about the theme or anything going on until about 20 minutes until the party started.  She was a good sport and let us dress her up in a tiger onesie for the shower part of the event.  It was epic.

Callie and Maya's jungle animals helped set the mood, as well as a cardboard cutout of a tiger.

Laura, Mom, and I all wore tiger-themed clothes.  Mom was classic and tasteful, with a blue scarf with tiger prints on it.  Laura and I were obnoxious and gaudy, with giant tiger shirts.

We asked the guests to consider wearing animal prints or jungle colors, and everyone did an amazing job!  It was so fun to see all the different outfits. We ate some food, played a game, and Mari opened her presents.

And Jill made an AMAZING tiger cake that we demolished.

I mean, seriously, check out the inside of that cake!  BEAUTIFUL! And delicious.

All in all, the shower was a success!  We even got a group selfie with a selfie stick.

Once evening fell, the party shifted from briday shower to BACHELORETTE PARTY.  We let Mari change out of her tiger onesie and into a blue tiger shirt.  At 7:00 we were picked up by a big party bus, appropriately named the "Cocktail Safari."

We spent the evening being driven around to two different pre-determined locations downtown.  Each place had a section reserved for us, and we were treated to different cocktails and appetizers at each one.  It. Was. Awesome.

The second place we were at had a DJ so we did some dancing, which was so fun.  

I left the young 20-somethings out on the town and rode back on the party bus with one other party goer.  I think it is safe to say (based on numerous Facebook posts today) that everyone had a blast. And Laura and I had a great time planning it for Mari.  We really wanted it to be special, and I think it really was. :)

While I was at the MARI SAFARI last night, my little girls had a sleepover with G-ma, Pa and Auntie Cat!  Thank you for allowing me to sleep in a little this morning (and Chris too, since he had reserve duty until 2am!).

Callie wrote a letter to a local author, who also happens to write some of her favorite books!

I didn't sleep in that late, though, as I was out the door by 7:30am for a 7 mile run.  It was beautiful and cool and sunny.  I felt really strong, and had a good pace going.  Even though I stopped a number of times to take pictures of sunrays.

My 15K race is coming up in less than 2 weeks!

Today was beautiful all around, so we spent a lot of time outside with the girls.

My favorite part of the day was watching Chris teach the girls some golf swings.  Of course, I got some video of each one.

IMG_4108 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

(Maya stopped just before the curb, in case you were wondering. haha.)

IMG_4107 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

I'm on spring break, so this week will be pretty chill.  Callie will be at school, but Maya and I have things here and there. And I have arranged for some quality "Me" time as well.

A Picture Update

Happy Friday!

I am FINALLY on spring break. Until April 12th! 

Maya had more adventures with Boom this week:

She also rubbed grape Chapstick all over her face and thought it was hilarious:

She also wanted to carry Callie's backpack:

The girls enjoyed running and playing outside on Monday, before it got cold and rainy.

Mari and my mom both sent me sunray pictures:

These girls are just adorable:

We were notified by Callie's teacher that she was getting an "Independent Award" at their assembly today.  She was chosen by her teachers because she has shown independence in the classroom and around the school.  G-ma and I were both able to go and see her get it!


IMG_3983 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

I should tell you that she hates the assemblies and is TERRIFIED of the bear.  I was proud of her for walking right up there, past the bear, to stand up with all the other kids who got the award.

Tonight we had dinner with G-ma, Pa and Auntie Cat. Callie learned how to wash dishes like a pro!

Have a great weekend!

Callie QOTD

Yesterday Chris and Callie were working a little bit on her research project about the Canada Lynx. One of the questions she has to answer is if her animal is a mammal, reptile, insect, etc. Chris explained to Callie that Lynx are mammals because they have babies, so humans are mammals too because humans have babies.

Callie: Daddy you don't have babies, so you're not a mammal.

Chris: (looking at me, clearly trying to figure out whether or not he wants to try and explain the male's role in human reproduction...and whimps out) Yeah kiddo, I don't know what Daddy is.

Callie: Daddy is a reptile because he doesn't have any hair!

Me: Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Timehop Tuesday

First up: silly sisters.

Next up: Miss Maya.

Then: Miss Cal.

Lastly: Easter 2015 and Easter 2016.

Weekend Wrap-Up: The EASTER Edition

Happy Easter!

I'll be honest, Easter crept up on me this year just like St. Patrick's Day did.  Though if I'm honest with myself, I should probably admit that I was more just kind of avoiding thinking about it.  We didn't go Easter dress shopping until Friday night.  I didn't go Easter Bunny shopping until yesterday afternoon.  We didn't go see the Easter Bunny at the mall at all.

Today my Easter attitude started out pretty sour as I went for a 4 mile run that I struggled through.  I wanted to see the sunrise so badly but it was too cloudy.  I was thinking about my dad, and all the fun our family had last Easter at our house, and how none of us could have predicted what would happen in the days/months/year following last Easter.

At the very last (uphill) stretch of my run, I got a text from my mom:

HE IS RISEN! I LOVE YOU.

I finished the run and cried and called her and got my mind right.  Because that's the thing.  This day is the day that makes all of our hope possible.  Often when I don't know what to say, or need some validation of what I'm feeling, I will google "grief quotes" and see what comes up.  Today I googled "Easter quotes" and found this:

"Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, 'Christ is risen,' but 'I shall rise.'"
-Phillips Brooks

That about sums it up for me.  And as my mom said to me this morning on the phone, "Dad is having the most glorious Easter this year."

And that's all I can say about that, as the one year mark quickly approaches.

So before I recap our Easter, I must share pictures from our family zoo trip yesterday.  Callie has an animal "research project" for school due in a couple of weeks.  She has to research and present on the Canada Lynx (not to be confused with our dear Minnesota Lynx), so we went to the zoo to gather some information and get some pictures.  It was a fun family outing.

Research project subjects: top left

Stay tuned as we begin the research project process.  The instructions clearly say "LET YOUR CHILD DO THE PROJECT", so Chris and I will need to be careful not to get too controlling.  Ok, that is probably just going to be my problem.  Anyway, we need to let Callie do what she wants to do and be okay with however it turns out.

Back to Easter.

The Easter Bunny came and Callie was up EARLY because she was so psyched.

Maya ended up sleeping late (when does that EVER happen? NEVER. Except Easter apparently) so we had to wake her up.  She was a little bit bamboozled and clearly had some bedhead issues going on.

She came around quickly.  Then they got dressed and I bribed them with jelly beans to take a picture, like the first one I posted.  Here are some outtakes.

They weren't too bad this time.  Jelly beans helped.

We headed to G-ma and Pa's house for our first Easter celebration.  The girls went on a hunt for the Easter baskets, we had a delicious brunch, and the girls went on another hunt to find Easter eggs! Also, Chris and I had a nap.

From there we went to the condo for Easter celebration #2.  Boom made the girls a scavenger hunt with 20 clues, that ultimately led the girls to find their presents in her car!

The clues were cute and they rhymed.  For example:


IMG_3907 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

"Maya, from diapers will soon be free,
She'll go to this place when she needs to pee!"

After a delicious linner (we ate around 3:30), we went to 5:00 church.  It was a small service and very different from the normal Easter services we were used to. That was a good thing, I think.  Callie did a great job following along.  She wanted to "do what the grownups do", so I had to sneak a picture.

We got home and Maya had bathtime and Callie watched basketball with Chris.  I noticed lots of light reflecting around our front door (we face west), and opened the door and walked down the street to see that the sun was FINALLY out.  And shining brighter than I have seen for awhile.

He is Risen.  He is Risen Indeed.  Happy Easter.

A Picture Update

I figure I'd start with sharing the video I tried to share on Sunday.  It is of Rachel Platten singing "Fight Song," which has been my jam this year.  And it has been particularly relevant the past few weeks, as I have needed some motivation to keep up with adulting (aka being a functional human).


IMG_3779 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Callie was on spring break this week, so she and Mays got to hang out with Boom, G-ma, Pa, Auntie Cat, and Auntie Yoda! They were busy girls! I still have another week of work until my spring break.

On to the pictures...

On Monday and Tuesday the girls had downtown adventures with Boom.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the girls had fun adventures with G-ma, Pa, and Auntie Cat (who was also on spring break). At Como Conservatory, they found namesake plants (Maya palm and Calliandra). Maya also had an epic closed eye picture moment.

On Friday, the girls and Boom went to the library and to visit Auntie Yoda's office downtown.

Other than that, Callie spent the week wearing two different shoes.

And tonight we went shopping for Easter dresses, and the girls rocked sunglasses.

I'll leave you with the awesomeness that is Maya trying to tell knock-knock jokes and other funny things.  Happy Friday!


IMG_3823 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

32-Months-Old!

Holy moly I think this is day #9 in a row of blogging!

Is is the 23rd and we are inching oh so much closer to the big THREE.

This girl, and her big dark blue eyes, are my lifeline some days.  She dishes out the "Love you Mama"s like a champ, and cuddling her is one of my favorite things.  Also baths.  Baths are a major favorite thing (unlike her sister who HATES wet hair).  She loves playing like a big girl (like her sister) and her vocabulary is ridiculous.

That is the view outside our front window today.  SO. MUCH. STUPID. SNOW.

One of my other favorite things about her is the fact that she now requests pigtails in her hair.  And one of her favorite things to eat are "SWAMWICHES".


IMG_3799 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Also, she still shakes like a little leaf whenever she is excited.  There is so much joy in that little body sometimes, that she just doesn't know how to handle it.  It comes out by shaking all her appendages in the MOST adorable way.


IMG_3806 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

She is truly my little LOVE BUG.