Coffee, snow, friends + love lights
- I've been sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee for 20 minutes or so before getting the kids up in the morning...such a better way to start the day vs frantically responding to emails, which is what I used to do. And this morning I woke up and thought I saw snow...and then I wasn't sure...but...sure enough...
- Zo's in a cycle of waking at 4 AM and getting into our bed for snuggles...I don't go back to sleep...I'm tired because of it but she needs this right now for whatever reason and I'm happy to be there for her...
- Love chatting with the kids on the drive to school...
- Hot Springs after school today...we're making it into a Wednesday afternoon ritual...and kids did the rock climbing wall for the first time...it's hard...they get an A+ for effort, they both tried over and over...
- Montessori is teaching the kids about their "love light," which I love. Like if you do something nice or say something nice to someone you make their love light shine brighter. Luke told me today that he told his teacher he really likes school, and she said that that made her love light shine. :)
- Lots of time with friends old and new this week...very much in need of it...it's been wonderful. :)
XO
Legos, fun projects + middle-of-the-night snuggles
- Zo coming down 2 AM last night with her stuffed pigs and polka dot blanket..."I can't sleep," she said and then curled up close to me and drifted off. Doesn't happen often. Sweet to get some middle-of-the-night snuggles...
- Good workday today with a really enjoyable project we're working on that had me interviewing some neat people AND, on a separate project, something finally delivered via an automated system I've been wrestling with...
- Some quick errands after school and then some playtime at home...kids built an epic lego fort...
- Our new neighbors with a preschooler in Luke and Zoey's class are just delightful...my kids love popping over to say hi...
- Feeling like fall with cold mornings and hot days...I love fall in Colorado so much...
XOXO
Rainbows, first snow, learning to read and Halloween plans
- Lots of rain and some beautiful rainbows this past week...
- And snow dusting the top of the mountain...or so I'm told, although I didn't actually see it...
- Walks with lots of bear poop on the trail...but thankfully no bear sightings
- Cooking lots...cooking was always such a giving-of-love thing my mom did for us...I always feel like such a good wife and mother when I'm cooking...
- Reading big stacks of library books...and the kids are starting to read with assistance, especially Luke...it's so thrilling
- Luke after a discussion of 9/11 coming up with a plan for a "bad guy scanner," which flashes red when it scans a bad guy and then holds the bad guy still until the police arrive...
- Listening to A Piece of Work back and forth to school (when I'm without kids because there's swearing)...love...
- I love this...
- This blog post with musings about being present and setting boundaries...
- I thought I'd have tons of time with the kids in school to do various things, but turns out the opposite is true as I have a "put-the-computer-away" policy in place now for whenever my family is home...whereas before I was up early working, up late working, working on the weekends when the kids were hanging out with Daddy and/or watching cartoons...work squoze into every nook and cranny and I think I was actually working a lot more than I thought I was...now that I've put some more strict parameters on when I work I'm struggling to get everything done...it's all good though...just figuring out the new flow of things...
- We're thinking porcupine and rainbow unicorn (or maybe Pinkie Pie) for Halloween...we love Halloween...and we're good at planning ahead...
Happy Monday!
XO
Baguettes, kindergarten, foxes and fires
A pretty special week with the start of Kindergarten! And also:
- Luke telling Grammy and Papa about his first days at school: "Well, I like it. Except lunch isn't long enough." (For those of you who don't know him, Luke takes absolutely forever to eat...)
- A beautiful red-and-white fox prancing around our circle during breakfast on the second day of school...and kids pretending to be arctic foxes later that day, building dens out of pillows, rubbing their heads on Mommy's arm in a show of affection, etc.
- Daddy doing the morning school run twice
- Hot springs with a super-friendly gray cat that charmed the heck out of the kids
- Intraplanet Janet is the bedtime song of choice these days...and Miraculous and Hot Wheels racing the screentime choices...and lots of library books on the couch...
- The kids have set up their new iPADs so they can FaceTime Papa anytime...
- Hot around here right now and fires raging around us, a lot of smoke in the air although we are not in any danger
- Bubs and Daddy working on the Jeep while Sis and I had a girls day at the farmer's market and "Smell That Bread" where we got one of the best baguettes ever...oh, that baking bread smell... And on the way in the warm sunshine there is a little creek and there were rainbow trout hanging out...they're so spotty and shimmery in the sun, and one of the bakers brought us over some bread so we could throw crumbs to the fish which had Sissy squealing with delight
- Thomas the Train toy that came home to us after 90 days in the hotel's lost and found...kids love it...
- Golden moon rising while putting Sis to sleep...love holding the kids' warm little bodies close and having that time together as their breathing slows and they drift off to sleep...
Love our life...
XOXO
Labor Day 2017
Got back from Telluride Monday to help transition the kids to school the next day...we went to the monkey park and Rex's for dinner and there's a fire not far from here which is turning everything smoky, so trippy.
Kids had such fun with their Daddy while I was gone. So grateful to have him in our lives.
XO
Telluride Film Festival
I was away over Labor Day on an incredible trip with my Dad...for years and years we've been doing "Father-Daughter" trips and that time is so precious to me. This year we were in Telluride for the film festival, which was amazing. Love Telluride. Love film festivals. Love my dad. In addition to movies we walked a lot and he beat me badly three times in a row at Scrabble and we had excellent Thai food one night but mostly ate at our cute little condo (bacon and eggs and applesauce and coffee my dad made for breakfast, takeout sushi for dinner).
The movies we saw, favorites first...all were totally worth seeing except the last two in my opinion:
- Wormwood
- Darkest Hour
- Long Shot
- Who's Who in Mycology (short)
- Loving Vincent
- The Shape of Water (we stood in line and could hear at the beginning pouring rain)
- Heroin(e)
- Hitler's Hollywood
- Downsizing (not terrible, just kind of an average Hollywood movie)
- Other student shorts (strongly disliked)
XO
Grace in small things: Squeezing all we can out of the end of summer edition
- We did another making-it-to-kindergarden test run this morning and we made it on time with—unlike yesterday—shoes on everybody and everything, lol...
- And then we went to Townies for the first time...such a cool place...for milks and coffee and a spirited game of Sorry...
- ...and then a trip to the library...the kids each have their own library card and I love how they check out their own books...
- ...and then the Botanic Gardens...
- ...and ice cream to top it off...
- Got my hair done late this afternoon, always feels so good...darker for fall...
- And Bubs ended the day with a fever and in bed early, my husband helping to take care of him, thank you Love! Luke woke me a number of times last night and I thought it was just adjusting to the craziness that is getting-out-of-the-house by 7:30 AM, but now I'm thinking he was starting to get sick...I had planned on the beach tomorrow but certainly we'll stay home and take it easy if he's not 100%...we'll just be practicing the home-from-school-sick routine, right?
Happy Tuesday!
Grace in small things: Kindergarten dry run edition
- Kindergarten doesn't start 'til next week but we're practicing the next few days with waking up and breakfast and getting everyone dressed and lunches packed and out the door etc. Today went pretty well...we were there 5 minutes early...although my son didn't have any shoes, lol...oh well...we'll try again tomorrow...
- We went to the hot springs after driving to school because there is no school yet...so fun...and then I got the kids hot chocolates for doing so well this morning...
- Lunch on the lawn...and I got Luke to eat more (and Zo too, although Luke's the one I'm always working on) by doing "ninja bites!" which involves me closing my eyes and then guessing what he took a bite of...
- Lots of good, focused time with the kids today...needing time with them always but especially as Kindergarten approaches...going to be such a big change to have them going out into the world without me every weekday...
- Warm this evening...not many warm days left, I know...and beautiful soft blues and pinks surrounding the Sleeping Giant as dusk fell...
Happy Monday!
XO