To the grocery store and back

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I’m sitting here finishing off a jar of peanut butter, resting my legs, and laughing (kind of incredulously) at myself and how I thought strollering my baby over five miles and across town to the grocery store and back while Ava rides her little bike alongside us was a good idea. Not my smartest move there. I guess I got carried away with all this good weather! Now I know. Sometimes being cooped up all winter makes you think you can do crazy things when the weather is nice. I’ve got the tan lines and pink cheeks to prove it. 😂😬🙈

About a quarter of a mile to the store, Ava said that her legs were tired and she wanted a break. I thought, “Oh man, we are not going to make it all the way there,” so I told her we should turn around and go back home. To which she replied, “I can do it mom, I know I can!” For this girl who lies sprawled out on the floor explaining that she’s too tired to walk upstairs to bed, this was a pretty big statement. And she stuck to it! A few times along the way I told her, “Maybe we should go back, are you sure you can go all that way?” Then Ava would say, “Mom we can make it! We can do this!”

And we did. ☺️

…ALSO as you can probably tell from the pictures… I joined snapchat. 😁 my username is tamaraelises (I think). It’s a strange kind of thing. I feel so awkward at it and the swiping is so confusing to me. But it’s kind of fun to just post random unpolished moments.

This walk just happened to be the first thing I posted about and I just laugh thinking how foolish I must seem! We’ll see if I can keep up this thing.

31 Hours

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A few weeks ago we decided it would be really great to see our families. It had been three and a half months since we saw them, but with winter it just seemed A LOT longer. And we missed them! So we packed up the car on a Thursday, spent three days PACKED with beautiful family time and packed up again for a LONG ride back to ND–for a total of 31 hours in the car!

And it was so worth it! Sometimes family time just is.

Now we’re over here cooking up eggs and really wishing we were cooking up eggs at Grandma and Grandpa’s or playing with the kitties at Grammy and Grampy’s (Hyrum especially. He LOVES cats. He follows them around squealing “puppy!”) Somehow both kids ended up with the stomach flu on separate days while we were there (somehow that always happens) but it was STILL an awesome trip.

We had a beautiful drive through Utah, Idaho, and Montana, and we made sure to stop and “run through a field,” “stand in the snow,” and “sit by a river” (Ava’s relentless requests.)

Feel the Summer!

2016-03-20

We went on a walk today. Hyrum sat squished in the stroller with his puffy orange coat while I pushed him along with my dry-skinned, cold stiffened fingers and my aching ears. Meanwhile, our bright eyed four year old pedaled behind with her gold sequined boots and her freshly pumped tires yelling, “Feel the summer!”

Clearly while I was thinking about the relentless cold seeping through my clothes, she was rejoicing in the kiss of the sun on our backs and the clear sky above.

Thank you Ava, for reminding me to feel the summer in the midst of the cold. The sun is always there, even when we may not feel it.

*On that note… Jake and I have been watching the series “Human Planet” on Netflix and I never want it to end. It is FASCINATING. I could go on, but let’s just leave it as “highly recommended.” Anyway, in one of the episodes, it shows the way people live at high altitudes in the mountains. This one older lady lived blind for a few years, fetching her water barefoot along the cliffs of her village (along with all her other daily duties.) She received the gift of her sight after a charitable doctor performed a cataract surgery. Upon removing her bandages and walking the many miles back to her humble home she remarked, “This is the end of my problems.” I was impressed by her comment. I don’t think she was naive in her optimism, I think she was simply grateful, simply focusing on her great blessing. I’m sure life was still hard, but to her anything else that could be considered problem material was nothing more than daily living. She was feeling the summer regardless of any cold, and I thought that was really neat.

#mamanotes

Welcoming Spring

2016-03-08

kids being kids -- playing with water on the kitchen floor.

Happy “feels like spring even though it’s not really supposed to be spring yet” weather! It hit 70 the other day. Hooray!

Ava put on her bathing suit today. (That’s how we welcomed spring in Texas.) I think it’s so funny how she views the cold here. She ran around the house in her bathing suit well into December, couldn’t understand why I was making her wear a big puffy jacket, and the days it hit 40 degrees or more, she ran outside in shorts and a t-shirt only to have me to call her back inside for some layers.

She spent most of her life in Texas, so I totally get it. I’m all up for celebrating North Dakota spring in early march too!

(Except for the bugs.) Ava spotted a little lady bug the other day and named it Nina (and I’m totally ok with that.) But it’s been months since I have seen any sign of creepy crawly life, and with the little spider crawling across the floor and the buzzing fly running into my living room light bulb over and over yesterday, I think I’m a little more grateful for the really chilly days.

But not enough to discourage spring! We are warmly welcoming it with walks and parks and snacks on the back porch and apparently, bathing suits.

(These pictures are from when Ava made her own spring–back in November. Some of these pictures still make me cringe a little. Once it’s done you might as well have fun, right!? At least I had fun watching them…and resisting the urge to clean it all up. :))

Spring Dreams

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Tonight when I tucked Ava into bed she said to me, “Mom, tonight I’m going to dream about flowers and rainbows and bunnies.”

“Sounds like spring to me. I’d like to dream about spring too.”

“I’ll tell you all about it in the morning,” she reassured me. I look forward to that.

It seems we had a little taste of spring today. The high was 43 degrees. I opened a few windows to clear the smell of bacon from the air as Jake has now come down with the bug, and the thick smell of bacon is no friend to nausea.

I think we all enjoyed the chilly fresh air. We even sat outside on the back porch in just our long sleeved shirts, petting the gold striped neighborhood cat while Hyrum squealed in excitement at his new surroundings (and his furry friend.) He’s been begging to go outside for days. Perhaps we all have. #mamanotes