Dear Evan, Happy 1st Birthday!!!

If my toddler had social media...

Round 2 (or 3??) of some Declan photography!

" I love Grandma Sue and Grandpa!  Get to see these two this weekend. "  #arewethereyet?

"Reading my book!  How dare she?"

"Cousin Addy over to visit" #imissher #wheresherdaycareagain?   (I toured her daycare this week for prep and ideas and Declan has been asking me all about her daycare!)

"MMMM.. my breakfast" #ormaybeitwasdaddys

Selfie #prepformyfuturesnapaccount #learnedfromthebestauntie

"I love leapfrog"  #obsessedwithletters #letterfactory  #wherestheremote?    (There were over 50 photos of this show!)

"Momma and my bro" #lovethemwhentheyarenttakingmytoysaway 

(Excited to find these two pics! Just told Andy today getting ready for printing pics there weren't many of Evan and me except bad self taken ones!) 

"When is Grandma Connie gonna babysit me again?"  #imissher  #whydidntshesleepover  #imissher

"Daddy finger, daddy finger, where are you?"  #ilovethissong  (#MOMDESPISESTHISSONG)

Dearest Declan, You're 3 Years Old!

Dearest Declan,

You have a new favorite number!!!  "Can I throw 3 pepperonis to Croix?"  "Three more carrots please"  and of course, "I WILL DO IT MYSELF!" (three more times)  And you are one loved and lucky guy with 3 birthday celebrations this year.  We had fun in Chisago for family dinner at the new Pizza Pub!  You get to go the the Dell's with Daddy and your grandparents and uncles!  Then a little combined party with Evan!  

But I look at "time" and as always don't know how we got here so fast!  You are such a fun little guy to be around and I love our conversations, cuddles at night, telling you Nalced stories!

(Though I can't say I am a fan of you sneaking in our bed at some point last night and kicking me wide awake since 3 am!)

Auntie B is done being your rockstar nanny and after you get back from the Dell's, Mommy's daycare will be open!  I know it will be an adjustment the most on you to share me, our spaces and toys but you also keep talking about our new friends and I know you will be so excited to have playmates.  (I can say I am  fan of that!!) 

You love life, quality time with anyone, learning, Evan, dog park walks, cooking, rollercoaster bike rides, parks (especially Castle Elementary!), reading, golfing, bowling, painting your nails, pretty much the whole world as every 3 year should!

Happy Birthday buddy!

I love you through and through,

Mommy

Goodbye HLWW... but mourning thru golf helped

 I definitely cried more in the last 3 weeks saying goodbye to school than I did in the stress of moving and saying goodbye to Hutch and our dear friends there.  I almost felt guilty about that, but when I thought about it longer, I was so newborn sleep deprived but semi-relaxed on maternity leave.  And, I have had a longer "relationship" with HLWW than any one house, school/college, even most near-in-distance friendships except Andy.  10 years were spent here and I truly loved my job, my students and definitely my coworkers.

  My students had a tearing up tally count on the last day and I hit 13.... A fellow coworker who is moving to a district closer to her family came up with the idea to write a two-voice poem saying farewell.  And then leaving this room for the final walk to my car cemented the waterworks at just 6 times on our final workday.

Luckily, I was heading to our end of the year golf outing... so the mourning was complete. Game face on.

Not the winning team... but they still had fun:

 Also, not the winning team... but they had fun too:

You guessed it... they didn't win, but had a great time:

AND THE WINNERS... at -3 under!!   Plus we had a blast:

The Hecklers may have had the most fun though... 

The successful stole golf carts from all of us and hid them "well":

They totally made it over that stump successfully...

A few of us played another nine and instead of just chasing golf balls, they may have chased a gosling... But no fear, it returned to its mother... I was worried!

Most of the group (a couple had to leave right away)!   Thank you HLWW for all the memories!  I'll be back to visit!

Memorial Weekend

Croix turned 6!

Park Lovers!

Date Night at Zac Brown Band!

Matching brothers!  They really love each other and love to already fight!  Evan holds his own against Declan! I'm so proud ;) 

The only thing I enjoyed about commuting....

Podcasts!

I will try to continue to listen to some of my favorites during naptime/cleaning time in a couple weeks to have some adult voices in my life, but I did enjoy discovering the world of Podcasts during my almost 3 daily hours in the car these last 5 months!  I am not going to miss anything else about commuting, but these made the time pass better!

You can search for any of the podcast in Itunes or your podcast player.  I was a Soundcloud user as I had that originally to listen to our old churches sermons...Enjoyed connecting with Faith Lutheran weekly as still church browsing here in the cities.

Here are a few of my favorites you could check out:
Gimlet Media was were I randomly started listening via an Atlantic article about the 50 best podcasts.  First 5 listed are all from Gimlet:

StartUp: Season 1 was all about them starting their podcast company.  The show was interesting for me and could connect in small ways to opening my daycare.

Reply All: A show about the internet was the first and still favorite podcast of mine.

Sampler:  Became a favorite to find more podcasts!  The host Brittany always plays clips from other shows.

Surprisingly Awesome: Takes simple things, like Broccoli, Mattresses, Boredom and Free Throws and always enlightens me!

Mystery Show: The host Starlet solves mystery's with great stories she investigates!  Belt Buckle was my favorite.

I did listen to both seasons of Serial.

Radiotopia has lots of great shows too.  Criminal, Millenial, The Truth, Moritfied and Radio Diaries!

Longest Shortest Time:  The parenting podcast for everyone.
 You definitely do not have to be a parent to enjoy many of these episodes.  The Accidental Gay Parents series was first series I listened to a few weeks back after a recommendation on another podcast and then I've been hooked ever since.

Unruffled/ Respectful Parenting by Janet Lansbury   Her blog, her books and this podcast have been such an important part of this season of my life with infants and toddlers.  If you have young children, please please add her podcast or blog to your list or follow her on facebook.    The clear way she helps parents understand perceptions we have and perceptions our toddlers have WILL make parenting easier and children respected.


What other podcasts are a must listen too?  I got 45 more hours to check out a few more :)

Nalced Stories

Really enjoying telling stories of a boy name Nalced to Declan every night!

He only likes the Time traveling box back to dinosaur time, Nalced and the Wormies and Nalced and the Green Crayon.  Hopefully Declan will let me make up more soon but just as he likes about 3 Daniel the Tiger episodes and his 5 favorite books... he knows what he likes right now and doesn't want change.