Eleven!

Not sure I'm ready for this. But those adventures, the ones I'm not quite ready for, are always my favorite.


Happy 11th Birthday to my beautiful girl! I love you.

Sharing My History

I was able to spend some time this past weekend with some people and places I haven't seen in a very long time.


Sharing this piece of my history with my husband and kids meant so much to me and having them with me as we said goodbye was so very comforting.

It's been a little crazy over here. Two weekends in a row spent out of town means insane laundry piles, a struggle to re-establish a family/homeschooling rhythm and that the Christmas decorations are just now coming down. I want to take some time to absorb all that was this past weekend, to remember those bits of my childhood and, with a birthday coming I'm in a mad rush to put this place back together again. I will be back here soon, there is just a little too much life happening right now.

Chicago

Good food, good beer, good friends.


It was our first weekend away without kids in a very, very long time and it was wonderful.


It helps to have some pretty terrific in-laws willing to entertain your kids while you're away.


So terrific in fact, that your kids, who you've missed terribly, even while having a blast, couldn't care less that you're there to pick them up and would in fact like to stay a little while longer please. (They did let me know they missed me when they asked to skip music class this morning because they hadn't seen me in like 3 whole days.)

In case you were wondering yes, those that wanted to did in fact skip class, spending some time to reconnect instead.

The Secret Agent Spy Kit

This handmade, or rather hand assembled gift was my favorite. For my niece, the one who loves handmade, and her little brother we put together a spy kit.


The kids and I had so much fun finding trench coats, hats and sunglasses at thrift stores, and Pop pop's closet. Then, while taking the youngest on an emergency potty stop at the back of one of the stores, we happened upon the most perfect old suitcase. It even had a secret compartment!


It wasn't priced and the nice lady working in the store gave it to us for under $3.00. A steal, and perfect for all the gear. We hid our own secret missions in that compartment along with some purchased spy gear from Target.


I made a couple of felt mustaches and we printed some badges from the FBI's website for kids, added the directions and parts needed to make their very own periscope and, finished it off with a book full of fun ideas for kids wanting to be experts in the spy business.


I've heard that the spy games are a new favorite at my sister's house and rumor has it, the secret agents have even started recruiting the youngest members of the family.