We’ve been spending a lot of time over the last few months pushing the kids on the swings. We’ve tried to help Tenny learn how to pump his legs so we don’t have to push him but he didn’t seem very motivated to learn. Then the kids at school started swinging by themselves well and it’s like a light switch went on and all of a sudden he could do it! Now he doesn’t want to be pushed. He wants to show off how high he can swing on his own. Win win.
We built a box with netting around the fruit/veggy garden bed so the chipmunks, birds, and toddlers can’t get to the plants. Last year a critter or two ate all of our strawberries so I want to protect them this year.
Murphy has been talking more and more every day. It’s both so dang cute and also annoying when she yells “MOMMY! DADDY!” 8x each time she wants to tell us something.
I went to a great conference in NYC and Jojo was available to watch the kids in OR so I got to bring Lucas to NY and we celebrated our 10 year anniversary there. Details and all the photos here.
I was invited to speak on a panel at the creative ops conference and thanks to preparation, I wasn’t too nervous about it. The panel ended up going well and I got to meet some impressive women who are further along in their creative ops careers than me. I’m really glad I did it.
We had a few great family backyard dinners with friends.
Lucas bought a fleece lined bucket hat he’s really excited about.
Now that it is sprinkler season, I finally got around to installing the smart sprinkler system so I can run everything from my phone. The system tracks the weather and skips the sprinklers if the forecast calls for rain that day. Big fan.
The ranunculus in my garden finally bloomed! Much later than expected due to spring weather being so late. Still just as beautiful as I had hoped.
The weather has been so nice we’ve had almost every family meal outside on our deck. It is shaded by 3-4 pm so we have the perfect dinner time outdoor set up.
Lucas bought a flat top grill and has been cooking up a storm with it. That has also inspired a lot of the outdoor eating.
The school did a Friday morning treats party for Mother’s Day and handed out gifts the kids had made. On actual Mother’s Day we went on a family hike down the trail in our neighborhood and it was wonderful because all of the plants are especially lush right now.
The school sends home a folder every month or so of all the activities the kids do. We have SO many. I told Tennyson I was going to recycle them and he was really sad so we compromised and he got to pick his favorites to hang on his bedroom wall (like a toddler art gallery) and I recycled the rest. He loves having his artwork hanging on his wall.
We went to a Timbers game with friends. First time we had been to the arena in probably 6+ years. Expensive date but fun to watch sports live.
We went to the UFO festival in McMinnville with Michelle Reyna and her family. Apparently it’s the second largest UFO festival in the US!
❌ Pits
Lucas has been traveling for work a lot. It is hard being a solo working parent. I included a few pics where both kids are screaming just to remember those wonderful moments when I’m the only adult around, we’ve all had a long day, and 2 of the 3 of us are screaming.
Just general exhaustion from trying to balance parenting small kids, full time work, trying to do family adventures on the weekends. I wish we could do everything all the time but most days doing just the essentials takes all the energy we have.
