Day 1659 | Goofing Around

We got to spend all afternoon and evening with these friends and we couldn’t be happier about it.  

Day 1658 | Pottery Class

My mom and I are taking a six-week pottery class (at this amazing place)! It’s been on our to-do list for a couple of years (ugh), but we’re finally doing it (yay).

Tonight we learned pottery wheel throwing and slab pottery techniques. I’m really excited about this. And we’ve got five more weeks to hone our craft! Stay tuned for finish product photos. 

Day 1657 | Color

When it’s raining (again) , what you really need is a bit of color in your life. Hope this brightens your day. 

Day 1656 | Demonstration Speech

Chase checked his annual 4-H demonstration speech off the list tonight. This year’s topic? How to make Mr. Mans. It was Chase’s choice and he did a great job brainstorming the outline of his speech, creating the poster, practicing, and then presenting it (at last). With the help of his trusty visual aid holder, he had no fear standing in front of the crowd. It was pretty awesome to witness. 

I won’t say he had the smoothest finished product but he was happy with it and that’s the important thing. A link to the speech is below for your enjoyment. I also included a second video where Chase shows exactly what Mr. Man is (it’s hard to see in the video).  

We’re very proud of our big guy tonight. :) 

Day 1655 | One Year

It’s been a full year since we said goodbye to Chris’s dad. Somehow it feels like much longer than that and not nearly that long simultaneously. We’ve been spending the weekend reminiscing and enjoying the quality time together. I’m so grateful for family. 

Day 1654 | Five Year Old Style

Robbe was really feeling his outfit today. I feel like you can see the confidence exuding from him in the photo. A seal on his t-shirt (he was excited it was a real photograph and not a graphic), a shark tooth necklace (or a velociraptor claw necklace, depending on who you ask), and secret spy sunglasses. 

It was pretty sweet.  

Day 1653 | A Visit from Summer

Summer arrived today...just for the day. To celebrate the boys had an underwear water gun fight. It was pretty epic. 

Day 1652 | Tree Climbing

You look away for one minute and your kid manages to scale a decent-size tree. I should probably have been a bit more worried. Instead, I was just super impressed. 

Day 1651 | Mr. Mans

The boys have been really into drawing Mr. Mans lately (the singular is Mr. Man). I won’t give too many of the details away here because they will be revealed soon. I know that the stress of not knowing is probably very extreme so text me if you don’t think you can wait a few days.  

Day 1650 | Celebrating Moms

Growing up, you have no idea the amount of sacrifices and energy and love that goes into raising kids. You’re so enveloped in your own world that the concept is not only unimaginable but unfathomable—as it should be, I guess. 

I’ve been a mom for seven years now and every single day I’m realizing what it means to be a mom. As much as I have to teach them, I have an equal amount—if not more—to learn from them. 

I love these boys. I love being a mom. And I’m beyond grateful to the two women pictured above (Chris’s mom on the left, my mom on the right) who raised their babies into the people who could raise our babies.

Day 1649 | Dragons

We’ve been waiting since February for the How to Train Your Dragons 3 movie to come to our neighborhood budget theater (movies for $5!) and our dream finally came true tonight. Toothless, the main dragon in that movie, might be one of my all-time favorite animated characters.  

In honor of the movie, I forced the boys to pose with the new dragon sculpture outside the movie theater. It was meant to be, right? 

Day 1648 | Homemade Bread

Is there anything better than homemade bread? Knowing exactly what the ingredients are, the smell of it baking, eating it warm…it’s all so good.

I checked out this book from the library, The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and it has inspired me. You make one batch of dough and it lasts in the fridge for two weeks. Then you take out 1/4 of it at a time and make a small-ish fresh loaf for dinner with just a few minutes worth of work. Genius, right? And the bread is really delicious, too. There are a bunch of different recipe variations that I haven’t explored yet, but I’m excited.

Day 1647 | The Value of Siblings

As witnessed tonight, brothers do come in handy sometimes. They might not always get along. They might not always see eye to eye on things. But they really are best friends. I’m just so glad they have each other. 

Day 1646 | Mommy and Me Selfie

Dance competition selfie from yesterday. Aren’t we cute?

Day 1645 | Dance Competition

We’re missing one of the girls in this photo and one of them pictured has a fake bruise on her face, but it’s the best we could do. These girls were crazy busy all afternoon and we couldn’t catch them for a better photo. We’re so proud of our girls for the work and effort that goes into these completions and love watching their passion come to life on stage. 

Day 1644 | Beautiful Saturday

Man, what a gorgeous day. I could handle a few more like this. 

Day 1643 | Five Year Old Workspace

Robbe and I set up this workspace for him today. I grabbed the typewriter (it weighs a ton, after all) and he took care of decorating his area with his favorite photo and his new drawing of his favorite birds.  

He did a lot of typing about blue-footed boobies. And some typing of friends’ names, too. It was a busy day.  

Day 1642 | Blue-Footed Boobies

Today Robbe asked me to find, print, and frame a photograph of [preferably dancing] ducks. He settled on this one of two blue-footed boobies. You know how google searches veer sometimes. He is so very proud of this photo. Can you tell?

Side note: I’m sorry I’ve been such a deadbeat on the blog lately. This past week has been one of the busiest in a long long while. I’m almost through the haze, though. Stick with me.  

Day 1641 | Cousins

I’ve been having a really hard time taking photos lately. We’ve been super busy and I guess I just haven’t been thinking about it in the moment. And then I get home and realize that I’m left without anything for the blog [again]. Sorry about that! 

I’m in the same predicament tonight so I’ve decided to go back into my camera roll and post this gem from Easter. It might not be today, but it is cute!  

Day 1640 | Being a Kid

This is what you want childhood to look like: rolling down a hill in a wagon with some good friends while your dad runs along side and protects you from hitting trees. I’m not sure the boys have ever been happier.