Day 259

Friday, May 19, 2017

Places/Activities: I finished teaching my online class - YAY! I enjoy online teaching, but I'm always so relieved when it's finished for the semester. It's amazing how much more time I have now! We've been keeping busy - though not as many sight-seeing type activities lately. Squeak had her dance recital and also her final school Spring concert. I got to check out Squeaker's new school at a Kindergarten meeting - such exiting times ahead! Back at Christmas, one of the requests Squeaker had was a volcano. I had set the volcano aside and kind of forgot about it, but then brought it out this week for she and I to do together. She really enjoys painting. We set it aside to dry and will likely do the "lava" part very soon! We've also been enjoying the lovely weather and spend most of our afternoons soaking up the sun on the deck. The kids really like the water table. I know they will be even more excited to play in the pool this year than they were last year!

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Reading: I'm currently reading The Industries of the Future by Alec Ross. I figure if he's running for Governor, I should probably learn a little bit more about who he is and what he's about. It's rather informative so far. He seems like an extremely well educated guy with lots of interesting ideas. That has to get him some points.


Random Thoughts: When I was young, I remember my mom and I spending time visiting my great aunts and uncles quite frequently. It might not seem like "fun" for a little kid to spend most of a Saturday sitting on a couch "visiting," but it was good for me. An opportunity to learn more about my family, to be appreciative of the things we had, and to be respectful to my elders. So many of my great aunts and uncles never had children of their own. To some this translated to not liking children much at all, and to others, it meant that I would receive an outpouring of affection when I walked through the door. All of them had one thing in common - cats and/or dogs. In fact, I always looked forward to visiting my Aunt Irma in particular, because I knew she would have a crazy cat story to tell me. She pronounced "meow" as "mow" and called me Dan-elle - putting a pause between the Dan and the Elle and leaving out the "i" (ee sound) altogether. She was sweet in her own way. There are many stories to tell here from those days, but I only share this snippet for one reason. The seemingly endless days I spent visiting with my family as I grew up taught me that there doesn't need to be a special occasion to drop in and say hi to a friend. Just walking through the door or picking up the phone to check in on someone might just be the bright spot to their day, their week, or even their month. Today we paid a random visit to a friend we haven't seen in a while, and I'm so glad we did. Hopefully my littles will see that the random phone call, message, or visit can really go a long way in someone's day, month, or year.

It takes approximately 3.5 min. for the room to go from clean to this...

Day 245

Friday, May 5, 2017

Sleeping on the stroll.

Places/Activities: I've been terrible about blogging and about my drawing a day. At this rate I'm hoping I can reach 200 drawings for the year and finish out my year as a stay at home mom with just 1 blog a week! On Sunday we took the kids to our favorite Farmer's Market and walked around listening to music and looking at the various herbs and things that were for sale. I even bought a four pack of mead (which is SO good). You can learn more about Charm City Meadworks here. We had a berry coconut that was SO good. I checked, but they aren't even advertising it on their website it's so new. So if you want some, you'll have to go direct to the market or meadworks!

After the market, we went to Fort McHenry and walked around. It was an overcast day, but the kids were excited to get out and run around. I can't remember most of what went on this week, just that we were busy. I have also been doing grading for the class I've been teaching, so that has taken a large chunk of my time. Wednesday we had our backsplash installed as well as the hall painted and I'm super thrilled with how everything turned out. I couldn't be happier. It was a little tough because we couldn't really be on the first floor while they were working, so the twins and I went out to the park and ran a couple of errands just to get out. They are getting pretty good at navigating around places, which is awesome and makes life so much easier. Although I did end up carrying both of them back to the van afterward because it takes forever to hold their hands and have them walk. They are very distractable and Bear likes to cut in front of me, so it was just easier to toss one on each hip and walk. Let me tell you - I STILL have yet to master the art of doing this gracefully. Thankfully they are both extremely tolerant of me and my clumsy/ungraceful ways.

I don't know about you, but this does NOT look comfortable to me!

Squeak had her dance pictures this week. It took a while, but I think I've mastered the "art of the bun." I mean, with some help from Remington's Perfect Bun (affiliate link). That thing was a miracle worker for me! I know that librarians are stereotyped as having glasses on a chain and a bun (I have neither) but I had no idea such an invention existed. Squeak was super excited with her bun and to have her pictures taken. Personally, I'm glad to see dance coming to a close for the year. I'm tired of the weekly runs to dance class (though I love the library trips the twins and I take while Squeak is in class). Yesterday we took a nice long walk on the trail (both toddlers fell asleep) and I got most of the cleaning accomplished. I feel completely drained this week and yet it doesn't seem like I did all that much. I've been doing a little bit of writing and I'd like to continue that in the coming weeks and through the summer. Maybe one day something will come of it!

They are always pretty happy... especially when up to no good!

Reading: I haven't started on any new books since bookclub last Saturday night. As soon as this grad class is finished, I'll have more time for books and drawing (I hope).

Final inspection. LOL.

Random Thoughts: On our visit to Ft. McHenry, we didn't take the stroller out and instead let all three kids walk the paved path. I was a little nervous just because the twins like to run and the seawall doesn't have a railing or anything up, so it's VERY easy to fall in the water there. Pop used to take me there all the time when I was little. It was one of his favorite places.  I'll never forget how he would hop over the seawall to pick up a piece of debris off the rocks that he found of interest. Or how we would both hop over and go exploring to the nearby nature area. We did get in trouble from a ranger once or twice. He told me stories about how when he was a kid, all of the items on display in Ft. McHenry were still authentic (not replicas) and how the cannons were the originals and weren't filled in with concrete. He and his friends used to play there all the time and he said there were a number of occasions when a kid would get stuck in the cannons and the fire department had to be called to have the kid pulled out.  Even after I grew up, I still frequently went to Fort McHenry - sometimes with Pop, sometimes without. Sometimes we would run into each other there - not knowing that the other was planning a visit on the same day. It's coming up on his death date and his birthday soon, and even though he's always on my mind, I find that May brings in thoughts of all things related to Pop. Sometimes when my kids make a face, or sit quietly to look at a book, they make me think of him. I wish he could have met them. I know he would have loved them just as much as he loved me - maybe even more.