Timehop Tuesday

Today is Mari and Josh’s wedding anniversary! 

Here is one of my favorite pictures from the wedding.

Mental Health Monday

I don’t know if this will actually be a regular thing, but May is Mental Health Awareness month and Mental Health Monday is good alliteration, even for just one Monday in May.

Most of the students I work with struggle with mental health in some way: depression, anxiety, suicide ideation, self-harm, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, OCD, etc. 

One of the things my job continues to remind me is to practice gratitude. I have not dealt with too many mental health issues in myself of others close to me, and I have seen first had the struggles of parents and students who do deal with those challenges on a daily basis. 

So I thought I’d share this beautiful visual by Mari Andrew I came across a couple weeks ago. It is a reminder that gratitude is something that needs to be practiced, not something that just happens.

This time of year is hard for teachers (and students too, for sure). So to model the practice of gratitude, here are some things I’m grateful for:

*Happy, healthy, and exuberant children 

*A spouse and partner who is the best dad ever 

*Family and friends who are truly amazing and supportive rockstars 

*A job with incredibly supportive administrators and coworkers who are also my dear friends 

*Students who are hilarious teenaagers that make me laugh on a daily basis

*The fact that it is nearly the end of May and SUMMER IS COMING (12 school days left, but who’s counting?)

*Wine- specifically Rosè during this time of year. The bubblier the better

So that’s my gratitude list. What is yours?

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday!

Yesterday morning I took each girl on a short run, and they did great! I’m excited to get them out to do more running together as they get older.

Saturday afternoon we went to Mabel’s birthday party! We went shopping at Target to buy presents for a children in need, and then had dinner at Panera.

This morning we took Luna on a rainy walk.

And then after church we went to Boom’s house. The girls love to play in the box, Lucy loves to push the vacuum button so her hair blows, and Callie loves to create “arcade games” out of recycled materials.

The girls had to clean their rooms when we got home, which occasionally results in Maya finding interesting things to wear. Then we had a movie night. Because RAIN.

Have a great week!

A Picture Update

Happy Friday everybody!

I don’t have too many pictures this week. But one of my favorites is my new key chain. Callie had made it for me for Mother’s Day but couldn’t find it in her backpack until Monday. 

Feeling pretty great that I’m the best mom EVER and that she decided to include my love of wine to a project made at school... ;)

There were some beautiful days this week that we took advantage of. Also Maya thought it was hilarious to wear a third eye on her forehead for awhile.

We even got the sprinkler out!  Click here!

And I’m soaking in the sights and smells of our beautifully bloomed tree. It won’t last for much longer.

The lilacs are ALMOST bloomed.

Leaving school on a Friday afternoon!

A little before 6pm tonight the sky turned gray but the girls were having so much fun playing with the neighbor boys and I got a creepy picture through the glass of our front door. Ha!

After school Maya told me that her friend Amal’s last day at school was today. She is spending the summer in Africa. Amal has consistently been one of the friends Maya has talked about this year. Their teacher posted some sweet pictures of the girls and other classmates today!

I’ll leave you with sunrise and sunset on Wednesday.

Have a great weekend!

Timehop Tuesday

First up: Cousins!

Then, me and my girls (with goofy faced Maya).

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Happy Birthday Pa and Happy Mother’s Day Edition!

Holy moly! It was been quite the big weekend...It was Papa’s birthday yesterday, Pa’s birthday (Iris’ too!) today, AND Mother’s Day! 

First off, yesterday we spent some time in the hammock and had dance pictures. 

And then later we went to the library.  Callie got this book about RBG, and now when she doesn’t like or agree with something, her new favorite phrase is “I DISSENT!”

This morning I was given some cards and a gift that goes nicely with the rest of the things on my dresser! And Callie made me a mug muffin.

We went to church this morning to help with a Flying Pancake Breakfast! Check out the video later for some flying pancakes in action.

Then we went to Boom’s and grilled a Mother’s Day and birthday lunch with Boom, G-ma, Pa, Auntie Cat, Uncle Dan and Auntie Hanna.

We played a super fun drawing game called Telestrations (more on the video later).

And then took some group pics, of course.

Later, the Lindsay’s came over and we FaceTimed Mari.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!  Here are some funny videos!

A Picture Update

Happy Friday!

I don’t have too many pictures from this week, but here’s what I got:

Maya went to the zoo on a field trip!

Luna got some snuggles.

And we had corn for Bops!

Tonight we spent some time outside. I’m hoping my Mothers Day gift this weekend will be a fully bloomed tree! It’s so close.

I’ll leave you with some clips of our dance party fromlast night. Click here!