An unexpected day

Our plan for yesterday was to head to Poulsbo for a visit with the boys' cousins, Trenton & Tea. We were surprised to wake up and find 3" of snow in our yard and quickly realized we'd need to rethink the day. I declared a Snow Day and, despite the fact that the snow had melted by about 10:30am, the boys and I cozied up for a day of indoor fun. Here's a peek at what we did:

Made honey-spice bread:

Washed all our bed sheets. Max learned to do a load of laundry and seemed to get a big kick out of it. Gus just wanted to roll around in the laundry bin:

Stayed in our jammies 'til lunchtime (or all day if you're Max) and made forts:

Made chocolate chip cookies:

Gus was adamant that he do everything, from the measuring to the mixing to putting them on the baking sheet:
Lots of waiting:
The (really flat) finished product. These were Gus' through and through and he was so proud of them:
A good quiet day at home. Disappointing not to see family, but a much-needed slow down for us all.

A Day With Sofie

For my niece Sofie's 6th birthday, I gave her a day with Auntie. We headed to Redmond Town Center where she got to pick a place for lunch. We enjoyed cheese pizza & soda at Pizza Schmeeza. Then she got to pick a treat--cotton candy ice cream with marshmallows mixed in from Cold Stone Creamery. Then off to the main event, a play at the 2nd Story Reperatory. We saw Little Red Riding Hood, which was really cute. They did a great job. Sofie was a bit wary of the Wolf at first, but she eventually realized if she looked away every time he was on stage she'd pretty much miss the whole show. After the show the actors came into the lobby & Sofie got to meet them all. Well, all except that Wolf. Smart girl.

Here's Sofie outside the theatre:


Holding up her ticket:

With Little Red Riding Hood:

Kaetzels in Space

Shot From Behind

One of my favorite things to do on family outings is stay a few steps behind the boys and capture them with their Dad. These are from our recent trip to the Museum of Flight.

Matriarch

We surround her,

not because she can't get up,

but rather because she draws us in,

pulls us to her

as she's done for so many years,

in so many lives.

Age has entered her tiny body,

with all its pain and cloudy confusion

and yet she remains proud,

a matriarch,

holding us all together.

Even now, she's teaching us

...to be kinder

...to be more content

...to listen

Fragility has never looked so strong.