Timehop Tuesday

Not only is it Tuesday, but it is (finally) ELECTION DAY! I voted early- yesterday afternoon- and waited about 90 minutes. 

 

It will be a very interesting day...

On to Timehop. Last week was all about Maya, so this week is all about Cal!

From baby swing to monkey bars:

 

The weather in November:

 

Those cheeks:

 

Weekend Wrap-Up

First up, yesterday was Nana's birthday!!!! Ten of us Gosselin women got together for lunch to celebrate!

 

We love you Nana!

Before lunch, Cat, Mary, Hanna and I soaked in a little sun at a beautiful little park.

 

I got some fun one-on-one time with my big girl in the afternoon. Also? It was 70 degrees outside.

 

We went to see the Trolls movie yesterday! It was great and the girls loved it.

 

Maya developed a nasty cold yesterday that got worse overnight. Fun times for us. Can't wait for it to spread to all of us. 

Today after church we went over to Boom's house. Thankfully Maya napped so Boom, and and I went and wandered around near her condo.

 

The girls were NUTS tonight. Daylight savings mania perhaps? But they were pretty cute in the bathtub.

 

Not sure how it is already November, but this year is flying by. Holy moly. 

Have a good week! It's a big one- election week. Go vote!!!

A Picture Update

Happy Friday! Longest. Week. Ever. Halloween seems like months ago, but it was Monday.

We had a fun one, though! Nate, Kaela, and Caleb were in town, with new baby Adalay!

 

Maya had fun, as usual, during the week with grandparent day care.

 

The weather has been so nice- we soaked in some sunrays yesterday.

 

The Held's came over for our annual Halloween get-together.

 

Callie got an award. And the other award winner, Marqual, is one of her favorite friends in class.

 

 And Auntie Cat came over tonight and brought us dinner and smoothies!

 

Have a great weekend.

Timehop Tuesday

Happy Tuesday! Here are the Timehops that are all about Ms. Maya.

 

 

 

Happy Halloween!

We went trick-or-treating with the girls' friend Caleb!

 

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Grief Update Edition

Today is October 30th, 2016, which means we have lived 18 months without my dad. A year and a half. That first year, all of the month anniversaries on the 30th hit hard. Those have eased, but today this half year anniversary is hitting me.

I went to the cemetery this morning. The leaves near his spot were dull and brown, so I brought in 18 bright shiny leaves from a few trees down to add some light.

 

I looked back at my post a year ago, six months after, and thought I'd link to it.

Here.

There are times that I think about everything, think back to a year ago, and wonder how the heck we have made it this far with all we went through. 

I guess a year and a half later I can say that the grief is less intense more often. There is joy and laughter and silliness and so much gratitude. 

There is a lot of all that, a lot of the time. 

But there are times that it still hits me -surprises me- with the same intensity as a year ago. 

The passage of time gets me every once in awhile, too,  especially when I remember that Callie was just 5 and Maya was just 21 months when he died. They are so much bigger now. So much smarter. So much goofier. Gosh he would have had a blast with them.

I still pay attention to sunrays, though the camera roll on my phone isn't as filled with them, like a year ago:

 

  

It is now all the girls, all the time.

 

So that's where I'm at. Thanks for reading all that to get to the weekend wrap-up.

Yesterday was pretty chill. Callie had her annual Halloween costume dance class.

 

And she continues to stun the world with her outfit creations.

We had playtime and dinner over at G-ma and Pa's house. The highlight was a scavenger hunt that led to playing a new dice game!

 

 

Today we went to Boom's condo after church. Auntie Yoda and Auntie Mari came over, and we did some crafting.

 

 

The girls did some crafting too.

 

We tried out a new park today too. It was a little chilly, but we love us some parks!

 

And now tomorrow is Halloween. On a Monday. Godspeed to all the teachers and parents out there. It is going to be a long week full of crazy sugar highs and crabby sugar crashes. Good luck to you all.

A Picture Update

Happy Friday!

This week was super busy, and Chris and I both agreed it kicked our butts a little bit. But we made it to Friday. And it is 70 degrees at the end of October. So that's awesome.

Maya hung out with Boom on Monday. She got cinnamon ice cream for their weekly trip to Izzy's.

 

Both girls enjoyed learning activities- bath spelling and reading.

 

They both wanted to wear bibs at G-ma's house.

 

Callie created her own acrostic poem- totally on her own. And I love it.

 Crazy. Amazing. Loved. Loyal. Independent. Ethical.

Callie's first grade class had a fall party today, where they could wear costumes. Her teacher posted this picture and it is adorable (I edited it to focus on her).

 

Any ideas what she is?!?

We have been fairly obsessed with the trailer to the new movie "Trolls" that comes out soon. So Callie chose to be Poppy!

 

I think she nailed it. The $20 wig from Amazon helps. 

 

Maya also is a troll. Named Branch. The  $5 troll hair headband I ordered for her doesn't have the same pinache, but she's ok with it. 

 

 

Tonight we went to Lund's for their Halloween festival!

 

Have a great weekend!