Day 1857 | Springtime Swing
/We’ll be trying to find lots of outdoor activities to keep us entertained and sane over the next few weeks. Fingers crossed we get some decent weather.
We’ll be trying to find lots of outdoor activities to keep us entertained and sane over the next few weeks. Fingers crossed we get some decent weather.
This week has been crazy. I’m sure it has been for you, too. Whew.
I’ve been running around like a maniac and, at the same time, have managed to take exactly zero photos. So, please accept this bonus photo from the piano recital last week. That works, right?
Snug as three bugs, actually. I really love these tiny humans.
The dream birthday party for our new six year old?!? Obviously a trampoline park. We hosted 11 kids (only six were kindergarteners) for three hours. It was exhausting and super fun. Robbe was living his best life and I loved seeing him in that environment. Also, FYI, kids get really sweaty when they are sprinting and jumping for 2+ hours.
Both boys are now performing pianists (see videos below)! It was so much fun watching them walk up on stage all confident and proud (and slightly nervous). Robbe played his song about twice as fast as he practiced it—it was adorable. And Chase managed to rock his piece after worrying me all week that he wasn’t going to pull it together.
All the hard work was worth it (or at least I think so!).
I feel like most people love the feeling of walking out of a hair salon with a new cut. I am not one of those people. I’m not picky about my hair—it’s not about that. It’s just that whenever I get my hair cut, they can’t style it wavy. I mean, they can add wave back in with an iron (or some other crazy contraption), but they can’t get my natural wave back. Something about all the combing it out for the cut itself. I usually end up loving the cut and have found a stylist I really like and will continue to go back to, but walking out of the salon with blow-dried, curled-under, straight hair always leaves me feeling like an imposter.
I look forward to tomorrow when I can see what my new do actually looks like. Stay tuned!
These two hard-working second graders are making a movie! The boys’ school hosts a film festival every year and students can submit their own films—the biggest rule is no help from parents! Chase hosted his friend and film partner this afternoon to make some progress. It’s such a fun project.
Look where I worked today! It’s feeling a bit sparse in there at the moment but it’s still an office—my office! I have a proper desk and everything. Can you tell I’m *a bit* excited? I’ll try to remember to post another photo when I’ve made progress in decorating it some more, but, let’s be honest, that might take me awhile. :)
It was a crazy busy day, but it was also pretty great. We had such a good time celebrating with our sweet six-year-old. We had blueberry muffins for breakfast. He had a great day at school and then we went to a thrift store for a treasure hunt. After that, a quick stop for a piano lesson before heading home for a birthday dinner of french toast. Plentiful presents and a delicious ultimate oreo ice cream cake rounded out the evening. Whew. We’re all tired.
The birthday boy wanted to go bowling on his big day but we just couldn’t figure out how to squeeze that into tomorrow. Instead, we extended the celebration and asked grandma and grandpa to join us for a couple of games today. I did terrible but the bday boy had two of his best games (and so did his dad!). I guess everyone can’t be a winner.
Robbe is more than a little excited about tomorrow. I love this age. I’m going to miss five-year-old Robbe.
My mom and I spent a good portion of the day painting my new office (which used to be my closet). I’ll be sure to post an after pic once everything is put back together but you can enjoy this “during” pic for now. Chase kept me company during the final coat by reading his book while I painted. Everyone was happy.
Special thanks to my mom for bringing most of the supplies and offering the extra boost of motivation I needed to tackle this project. I think I’ll actually start working in this space this week. So exciting!
My favorite amateur electrician (Chris) was at it again. This is the light in our entry way. Old one on the left. New one on the right. I’m digging it.
In case you’re keeping track, this one is only five years old for one more week. Whoa.
The temps have been warmer. The sunshine has been calling my name. Maybe we’ll make it through the winter after all.
Chase, a little friend of his, and I enjoyed a lively halftime show at my old high school last night. Our nieces rocked the floor. Always nice to see their smiling faces. I needed that yesterday.
Eventually real life sneaks back in. Chris was off yesterday so we were able to extend our birthday weekend of fun by one extra day. Everyone was back to school/work/real life today, though. I guess it had to happen eventually.
We’ll always have the memories.
It’s been an epic weekend. Even more epic than we had hoped. We’re still living the dream on the waning hours of Chris’s big day, but I’ll drop this quick breakdown of the weekend.
I made these delicious muffins.
We visited this local museum and enjoyed the little art exhibit.
We stopped at Saver’s for some treasure hunting…and came out with a couple of books, a couple of games, and even a little accessory for our bathroom shelf.
After a quick stop for lunch, we headed to the big outing for the day (none of those other ones were the big outings, FYI). We stopped at the Eau Claire Humane Association to visit the kitties. No, we didn’t adopt one. It was a just an opportunity to hang out with some furry friends. And all four of us met our purr-fect feline companions (Me: Neville, Chris: Floyd, Chase: Ella, Robbe: Amelia). It was a lot busier in that tiny cat room than I would have expected, but I guess that’s good.
We got home to play one round of our new board game before opening gifts and cards (thanks for spoiling me!).
The night rounded out with spending a ton of time with some of our favorite people eating way too much food and playing boardgames (Catan and Scattegories) as our little ones happily slept upstairs.
My birthday treat (which we ate at around 10:45pm) were these amazing brownie ice cream sandwiches.
We gathered the children and headed to Hardee’s for Chris’s favorite fast food breakfast. The kids weren’t quite as impressed.
Then present time for our favorite guy.
Onto the bowling alley for a quick game. The birthday boy won, don’t worry about him.
Home for some lunch and some down time before the boys and I headed to a 4-H meeting while Chris took a wintertime walk and joined some friends out on the town.
We got home just in time to pick Chris up and take him out to dinner at a hibachi grill. It was the boys’ first time at a restaurant like that and they loved it! Yay for new experiences.
We made it back home with just enough time to eat Chris’s birthday dessert of choice—dirt dessert—before putting the boys to bed and snuggling down for a movie.
See? Epic, right? Also, are you exhausted by reading all of this? Me too. Also full. Very full. Both with food/drinks and love. So much love crammed into one weekend. I’m feeling all sorts of lucky tonight.
Valentine’s Day 2020 was pretty great. I made some delicious cookies for Chris. The boys enjoyed being spoiled a bit. I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers. We even brought back our old [pre-kid] tradition of celebrating with pizza and video games.
When v-day is on a Friday, my birthday is on a Saturday, and Chris’s is on a Sunday ahead of a day off on Monday…you know it’s going to be epic. Woohoo!
Regina and I busted out for a night on the town to support a local group doing amazing things. We didn’t bring cash, but someone graciously borrowed us $2 so we could have this Polaroid taken. It’s nice to have a concrete reminder of a lovely evening.
Look how sweet they are. Yep. They’re totally like this all the time. [She says as she shakes her head.]
small city | BIG DAYS
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