Go, Go, Goers!

Happy Birthday to me! I turned 45 this week...yay! It doesn't feel any different than 44, but I'm very grateful that I successfully made another trip around the sun.  A final day as 44... I went to bed on Wednesday night reflecting on what a wonderful birthday I had. I took the day off of work, so I was able to run to our county's recycling zone early in the day (they aren't open at times that are useful for working people) so it felt really good to purge some items in a responsible manner from our house. After that, I picked up some Caribou Coffee for me and the kids (and also picked up an early Mother's Day gift for me...a really cute Mama Bear mug that matches the Little Bear mug that G got for Christmas a few years ago.) And then we went to the Valley Diner for lunch, where the kids asked a lot of questions about 50's icons and enjoyed some shakes and sundaes. Later in the day, Scott and I went out for a quick happy hour and then went back home to enjoy a ni...

Our exciting news this week is that Ava will be going on her school's 8th grade trip to Washington DC next March. One of her good friends will also be traveling, and they've already made plans to be roomies while there. I let her know that if something happens, and Abby isn't able to make it, she still needs to go and have FUN! Listening to the itinerary of the four days while they're there brought me back to my 8th grade trip to DC. It was so much fun and a great start to managing independence away from the family. I trust her 100% to make good choices, and also know that they will have chaperones/medical staff/hired security to watch the kids during the trip...so they shouldn't have too many opportunities to get into trouble. Other than that...it was a normal and slightly boring week. Baton class for Ava on Tuesday night, and then Taekwondo for both kiddos on Thursday night. The middle and high schools have decided to go back to school, in person, four days/week s...

Things are starting to pick up again, as spring always brings about fun, new activities (except last year...a global pandemic does NOT count as a fun, new activity.)  We had a lovely Easter on Sunday...the kids did an Easter Egg hunt around the house, and the Easter Bunny made a visit so they both received more goodies and some useful, non-edible items. For breakfast, I made Nordic cinnamon buns from scratch, and they turned out SO good. It was a gorgeous day, as well as the beautiful meaning behind the day, so we even ended up spending some time outside in the sun. It was a perfect way to end the weekend! Ava actually had her first day back IN the middle school on Wednesday. But, that was a one-day deal, for standardized testing only. I like that they had the distance learners come to school on the one day when all other students are studying at home. She took the bus to school and was the ONLY kid on it for the entire ride. Funny! She powered through both sets of test (reading an...

As I've mentioned a few times here, we get monthly Raddish kids cooking boxes. These themed boxes contain recipes, fun facts, and a kitchen tool...all designed to help the kids get interested in cooking, and learn some good skills. Lately it's been mostly me, and sometimes Ava, doing the cooking/baking. Through the Raddish Facebook group, I learned that a recent shortbread recipe was a disaster for many people, so I put off trying to make it. But, late last Saturday night, I decided it was time. I am SO happy that we have the KitchenAid stand mixer...I was able to cream the butter and sugar for an extra long time (there might have been a wild poof of powdered sugar that went everywhere when I first brought the beater down in the bowl...did you know that powdered sugar isn't easy to remove off of black leggings? Me either! Fun stuff!) But, I also used the tips and tricks by the FB group members for this recipe, and I had great success. The cookies held their shape and they t...

We're free, we're free! Ava and I are FINALLY done with the 10 days isolation + 14 days in quarantine...and we stayed negative for COVID during that entire time. I am so excited to get out to stores again...that was a really, really long 24 days. I would prefer not to go through that again, so if everyone could just stay healthy and safe, that would be great, m'kay? The kids had a great spring break. Mostly (ok, really only) hanging out here at home, with the exception of the two trips that G and I took to Central Park. The first was to just take a walk on the trails and play at the park for a bit, and the second was to take part in the storywalk around the trail. It featured a sweet story by a Minnesota author: "Isle of You" The weather was sunny and a bit brisk as we walked along the trail and read the pages to each other. It was a special time that G and I spent together, and I treasured every minute of it. I loved this comparison...what a difference a few year...

Ah, spring is officially here! The snow is gone (for now), the days are getting longer, and spring break starts on Monday for the kiddos. Plus, we have a fresh coat of paint on most of our walls (only two bathrooms and the guest room are left with the builders paint.) Having those fresh and clean walls makes the biggest difference to feeling like it's a clean start...before we put things back, we're taking the time to wipe everything down and do a deep cleaning on things. Plus, it might be time to re-think what we have out on our shelves. It's a good time for a fresh start...it's spring! Both kids are excited at not having school for the next week...I've heard Ava say that she really just wants to do a couple of builds (she likes to build really neat houses in Roblox) and G will find a million different things to do around here. I'm excited that we only have one week left of our quarantine...next Friday we're going to do a fun community activity at Central P...

It's been one year of everything changing in our (literal) world. One year ago that we were told that we'd be working from home; one year ago that we were told the kids would be moving to a distance learning model; one year ago that toilet paper became one of the hottest commodities around. ONE YEAR! Can you believe it?!? And I find it ironic that we managed to figure out the WFH thing, and we managed to successfully tackle distance learning (both the crisis and the organized models), and we even managed to keep our supply of TP from falling to a scary level, but...now after a year, our family had COVID sneak its way into our home. G is doing great...he never showed any symptoms, but Scott is still coughing a bit and his voice is still shot. I think he's on the mend, but I'm keeping my eye on him. They're both out of their official isolation, and G was SO happy to snuggle with me as soon as he could. We were definitely missing those cuddle times. There was also a de...