You guys. After a week of sickness (me and Maya) and now the events going on in the world, I don't have much left in the tank.
But I still have some sweet pictures to share. Because the world needs some sweetness right now.
One working on homework, and one who thinks she is working on homework.
Playtime with cousin Annelise.
Working hard on puzzles.
We had Callie's conference this week. She is excelling in all academic areas and doing great socially. I'm so stinking proud of her. This is one of her writing assessments. She had to draw a picture and write a sentence about it. She wrote this: "I see the peace sign."
That is ridiculously poignant on a day like today, where peace isn't necessarily a given.
I'll start by telling you that our 2-year-old didn't nap today. At all. She spent 2.5 hours rolling around, standing up, and playing in her crib.
I'm not sure how she wasn't exhausted, because she has a cold and hasn't slept well the past couple nights. But she was diligent in her efforts to keep herself awake.
Despite the sickness and no nap, this weekend was surprisingly pleasant. We went to the zoo yesterday morning. I tried to get a family selfie but no one in my family listens to me, husband included.
Me: Hey! Look here for a second. Hello? Can we get a quick family picture? Hello? Anyone?
Them: (completely ignoring everything I say)
We had a fun, if not a little chilly, morning.
Auntie Cat came over during nap time and introduced us to a fun new game- Quirkle.
Then Callie and Chris went to see the new Peanuts movie.
Maya was still pretty miserable, so we had a snuggle time watching Curious George on the iPad.
We kept it low key today and had some adorable sister moments. Starting with bath time.
Maya and I stayed home from Sunday school so as to not contaminate everyone, and spent most of the time playing in Callie's room.
I can only imagine that at least 1 more out of 4 will wake up with one in the morning (Callie, no doubt).
Wish us luck this weekend.
As for the pics of the week...here they are.
Maya got to see both Uncle Craig and Auntie Yoda at Boom's house this week.
It was weirdly warm in early November, so we took advantage.
Maya and Kona played in the leaves at G-ma and Pa's house.
I got to cuddle with the girls. Together. (A rare moment when they weren't melting down or going at each other).
Callie had "Timberwolves Day" at school and her teacher posted some cute pictures on the class Facebook page.
We went to a carnival at Callie's school tonight. The girls had fun playing games.
And lastly, a sunray picture. It was pretty cloudy all day today. But when I picked Maya up and we were getting ready to head home, the sun was almost blinding- peeking through the buildings downtown.
On Friday night, the girls and I met Boom for an early park play and dinner (at dusk...beautiful sunrays). Then Callie got to have a sleepover at Boom's house. They made pumpkin rice krispie bars, did some Halloween-themed coloring, and visited Elliott, among many other fun things.
Then there was Halloween.
Before all the festivities started, there was dance class. Callie is working on her tap skills...and it was pretty adorable in her Wonder Woman costume.
When it was finally time for trick-or-treating, the girls were raring to go. Boom, G-ma and Pa came over. I stayed home with wine and passed out candy.
Due to lack of sleep and too much sugar, there were tantrums today. And yesterday.
And that's all I'll say about that. :)
So then today. All Saints Day.
During nap time I took Mary out to the cemetery. We visited Dad's plaque first (she brought lovely flowers), and then drove around for a little bit. On the other side of the cemetery (it is HUGE), we came upon this tree. All of the other trees in the area were completely dead with no leaves left. But this one...it still had all it's leaves in beautiful and vibrant colors.
It kind of took my breath away a little bit. Another reminder of hope.
My mom, sisters, Craig and I went to a grief talk our church sponsored this afternoon. Then we went to the 5:00 church service, where Chris and the Suurmeyer family joined us.
We knew it would be tough, because they read the names of all those from our congregation who have died this year. Dad's name was in the middle of the list.
It was also special because Pastor Kris, who preached, read my blog post from Friday. And she reached out to me to ask if she could quote part of it in her sermon. She told me that it helped her message being able to share someone's genuine and real experience of grief and learning.
After the service she brought our group up to a room to show us a new piece of artwork. It was bought with the undesignated money people gave to the church in memory of my dad. The piece is titled "Celebration," and is colorful and vibrant. Then we all went back to the condo to have dinner together...and I had to get a picture of mom's centerpiece.
It was, all in all, a meaningful day and a hard day.
It's a new month on the calendar, and that is hard too. But life flows on.
I'll leave you with one of my go-to songs that is pretty appropriate for this day:
Somehow this year, Halloween is smack dab in the middle.
Maybe that's a good thing. Because, well, this:
While Maya has rocked the Minnie costume a couple different times this past week, she wasn't feeling it today.
So we pulled out the cow costume again, and she LOVES it.
Remember last year?
That face. Seriously.
Callie has gotten good use of her Wonder Woman costume. She had a party at school yesterday, and a Halloween dance class today.
But my favorite part of Halloween is looking back through the years.
