Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday!

We had a pretty nice and relaxing weekend.  Lots of time spent at home playing, lots of time outside, and time with family as well.

First up, Friday night.  I went out to dinner and an orchestra concert with my mom and sisters.

On Saturday morning I took the girls out for our first winter walk of the weekend.

And I spent time playing with Maya while Chris took Callie to dance.

The top right picture was taken about 10am...Callie still in her PJs and Maya still just in a diaper.  That's why I
love Saturdays.

On Saturday afternoon I went over to have a girls' movie party with Mary, Nana, Cathleen, Hanna and my mom.  We ate delicious snacks, drank mimosas and watched "42nd Street."  It was great!

This morning I took the girls on winter walk #2.  This one had a purpose: to look for sunrays.  And boy did we find them.

Afterwards we played in Callie's room for awhile.  I got some video of her reading to Maya.  She is SUCH a good reader these days.  I love it!


IMG_2815 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Uncle Dan and Hanna took the girls for a couple of hours before nap time.  They had a blast at Edinborough, and Hanna sent me some pictures.

While they did that, Chris and I went out to lunch!  It was so calm and peaceful being at a restaurant with no children. :)

We spent some time playing in Maya's room later, and then swung by G-ma and Pa's house for a bit.

Hope you all had a great weekend.  I, for one, am very glad that January is over and we will be moving closer to spring.

Callie and Bops

These past nine months my 5-turned-6 year old has had to navigate the sudden and very confusing death of her Bops.

Lately, she has talked a lot about death. She jokes about "being dead." She uses the word "dead" a lot, actually.

I don't make a big deal about it. Partly because I think she is trying to get a reaction, and partly because I think she is really thinking about that word and trying to make sense of it in her brain. 

There are times when we are outside, that  Callie yells up to the sky, "BOPS!  CAN YOU HEAR ME?"  I tell her that he can, but he can't respond.  I remind her that he says hi to us with sunrays.

Earlier this week she asked me if kids ever die.

And my heart sank because I couldn't lie to my 6-year-old, but I didn't want her to worry unnecessarily. So I was honest (but brief) in my answer, and she quickly moved the conversation on to something else.

Yesterday she asked if you close your eyes when you are dead.  And when I said yes, she asked if you can see in heaven.  She said she thought that the sun and the clouds were really bright up there and that it was spring and summer all the time. And that she thought Bops probably helps God send down the snow to us.

She really thinks about things.  Deeply.

I was at the cemetery yesterday, and what I kept thinking about was how much my girls (and my sisters' future kids) will miss out on by not having my dad around.

It breaks my heart that they won't have that relationship with him.  I know how that feels, as my Grampy died when I was a toddler.  And growing up there were times that I was so sad that I never really knew him.

But as January comes to a close...this dark and cold month...I am trying really hard to work on that gratitude thing again.  And the SHINE BRIGHT thing again.

At bedtime each night, I ask Callie to tell me what her "bright shiny" moment of the day was.  Her responses are varied and adorable.  She finds the good in so many things.

I need to do a better job of asking myself to find "bright shiny" moments.  I really do feel lucky that I have so much to be grateful for.

And one thing, always, is how amazing it was to watch my dad be Bops.

January 2012

A Picture Update + Timehop Tuesday on a Friday

So...I'm annoyed.

I thought I had posted my Timehop Tuesday post on Tuesday, but did it from my phone and apparently it didn't post.

Anyway, here are the Timehops!

I'm using my new favorite picture of Maya today. Twice. First, a Baby Maya and Toddler Maya comparison:

And then, the usual Toddler Callie and Toddler Maya comparison:

I have a hard time seeing similarities. They both look so distinct to me. I think it is the eyes. And maybe the bangs vs. no bangs hair.

On to the other pictures from the week...

The girls hanging out with Boom.

The girls hanging out with G-ma and Pa.

Thursday sunrays:
Left- a picture Cat sent me that she got from her friend in China
Middle- Sunset near our house
Right- a picture my mom sent me from the cemetery

Left- our goofy kindergartner on "Mismatch Day" at school (though that outfit isn't too far from regular days)
Right- our smartie pants kindergartner loving playing with a calculator

I had the afternoon off today, so I decided to go to visit the cemetery.  I hadn't been there since Christmas eve, and my goal is to go once a month.  It was quiet and peaceful there.  And cold. But I still captured some sunrays.

I'm looking forward to being there in the spring.  It is hard not to feel hopeful in the spring.

Have a happy weekend!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday!

We had a nice weekend.  Yesterday started pretty low key- with jammies on most of the morning.

Me: Look at me and smile!
Them:

Gotta love footie jammies in January, though.

And then there was the sister manicure.

And dance class.


IMG_2623 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

And then hanging out at home. My dad bought Callie that pink "laptop" a few years ago, and now Maya loves it.  And I love that she loves it.

On the right: dance party moves

This morning was pretty chill.  Chris took the girls to Sunday School.  Then he took Callie out to brunch.  Then I took Callie to run errands with me (top priority: new running shoes!) and promised her a treat.  She chose Sour Patch Kids and her face was pretty funny once she realized how sour they actually were (she only ate a few of them).

I picked Dots- one of my dad's favorites.

Today's big event was a winter walk with Boom, G-ma, Pa, Auntie Yoda and Auntie Mari.

Then we went to see some things in the nature center and had dinner at Auntie Mari's place.

Another busy week starts tomorrow.  My exercise program has been going strong despite the busy weeks in January, and I'm down almost 5 pounds.  I'm feeling stronger and hoping that once I start my running training again in a few weeks it will be easy(ish) to get back into.

Have a great week!

30-Months-Old!

Here is my new favorite picture of my favorite 30-month-old:

Thanks for the picture, Boom!

I can't even stand how adorable she is. Doesn't she look like a little 2-year-old model?

This girl.

I looked back at Callie's 30-month-old post, and have to say I feel much more relaxed about Maya being 30-months than when Callie was.  If you want to read about her at 30 months, click here.

We sometimes have nap battles, but not really like that.  If she throws tantrums, we all just kind of giggle and wait it out.

We don't go to a few of places we used to take Callie a lot.  I don't know that Maya has ever been to the Children's Museum.  Or ridden rides at MOA.  I feel bad about that sometimes.  But she has an older sister that Callie didn't, and I think that makes up for a lot.

Except when they argue with each other or when Callie is mean.  But, then later Maya will want to "wrestle" and totally gets revenge.

So I try not to feel too guilty.  Sorry 2nd baby...

The thing that still throws me sometimes is how clingy Maya is to me.  I don't remember that from Callie as much.  Don't get me wrong, I do love it sometimes, but other times it is exhausting!  Silly silly 2.5 year old.

And here are my two babies at 30-months-old.

I don't think they look alike.  At all.  But I can clearly see their two sweet personalities, and feel so very grateful for two awesome girls.

Now we're getting closer to having a 3-year-old...uffda.  Time to start thinking about potty training and preschool.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

A Picture Update

It was another crazy busy week, and I don't have much for you. 

Miss Maya, as usual.

Come back tomorrow to see one of my all time favorite pictures of Maya that my mom took today. 

Chris was out of town Wednesday through tonight, so on Wednesday night the girls and I went to the library.

I had a full workday on Thursday as well as a spaghetti dinner event at work that night. I got almost 20,000 steps in (from running around like crazy) and dealt with lots of bags of noodles. :) Thank you to G-ma, Pa and Auntie Cat for taking care of the girls!

We met Boom for dinner tonight. Ice cream was involved, obviously.

And I got a little taste of sunshine after work today.

January has felt pretty cold and dark and hard. I'm ready for more sun!

Timehop Wednesday

Oops. Yesterday was Tuesday and I totally missed it. I had Monday off and that has totally thrown me off this week! Anyway, here we go.

Sisters:

Me and my girl #1:

Selfies with toddlers:

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday.

Early Saturday morning was crabby.  And we ran errands.  And I took this picture.

I don't even know.

I spent the rest of Saturday morning at the condo with my mom and sisters.  We went through my parents' storage closet.  It was filled with a lot of my dad's stuff- TONS of electronics, records, childhood mementos, etc.  Needless to say it was emotional.

I honestly don't even really know what went on the rest of the day, and there is no picture evidence.  Thanks to G-ma and Pa for helping with the girls during the day.

This morning I had some much needed Maya snuggling.  With Baby Elliott, of course.

In case you were wondering, YES.
Baby Elliott was named after Kitty Elliott.

This afternoon we had some fun playing around with the slo-mo feature on my phone.  I happened to catch an awesome wipeout by Maya.



IMG_2496 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Don't worry, she was okay. :)

I also took this picture this afternoon.

Which looks almost like a picture that showed up on my Timehop yesterday. So I had to put them together.

Tonight we had G-ma, Pa, Aunite Cat, Hanna, and Uncle Dan over for a little birthday celebration for G-ma.  Callie let the crew in a couple of games- Simon Says and Telephone.  She also enjoyed being the waitress and taking everyone's cupcake orders.

The girls showed off their crazy time before bed.  As you can see, Maya usually has the upper hand:

Kona came too! Our first baby.

Have a great week.

A Picture Update

I don't have much for you tonight. Callie and I were both slammed with bad head colds on Wednesday and have been miserable ever since. It hasn't been too fun around our house...

But I have a few usual Maya pics:

And some bath time pics. Baths can either go well or very very badly, depending on the mood of these two. Tuesday's bath happened to go well.

And finally, a reading from the grief book I read each night. This particular one spoke to me:

It reminds me of my 2016 words "Shine Bright", and as always, gratitude.

Have a great weekend.

Timehop Tuesday: Happy Birthday G-ma!!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMMA! We love you!

I have to start the Timehop part of the post today with 2.5-year-old Callie in the play house.  I was reading through May 2012 posts on the blog to remind myself of what Callie was doing at Maya's current age.  And I came to this video:



Which then reminded me of a playhouse video I took of Maya this fall:


IMG 9929 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

And then my brain exploded a little bit thinking about how fast they get big.

Anyhow, here are more Timehops:

Kona and the girls- Callie on top, Maya on bottom

And today Maya is wearing a mid-80s jumper that me and Auntie Yoda both wore. Thanks to Boom for finding the photographic evidence!

Kati, Laura, Maya