High Five for Friday

#1

My grandparents were in town for doctor appointments at Mayo this week, so we got to see them for a dinner out Monday night.  I am forever grateful that I grew up in close proximity (within 1.5 hours) of both sets of grandparents and that I got to see them every few months (if not more) throughout my life.

#2

I haven't blogged about this yet because I'm respecting the privacy of two very special people in my life, but I think the cat is out of the bag in the online world:  I'm going to be auntie to a new baby niece this summer!!!  My sister and Ross are expecting their first baby and they had their anatomy ultrasound this week to find out they're having a girl!  I am so excited for Bridge and Ross to embark on the journey of parenthood and to meet our new niece:)

#3

Wednesdays

I'm sure I've mentioned before that Wednesdays are my day off each week.  I love them for so many reasons and am SO grateful for the opportunity to work part time.  This week Nora and I spent the morning hanging with a friend and her kiddos, delivered Meals on Wheels at lunch, went swimming after school with Luke, and had a yummy, new-to-us crock pot meal for dinner with Daddy.  Even with all of this fun in one day, we had some time to relax together too.  I love Wednesdays!

Crock pot meal in case you're interested....super easy and tasty! (From this blog)

#4

My Man

Brent surprised us by coming home early today, actually beating the kids and I home, and had cleaned up the kitchen and gotten all ready for hosting our friends for dinner tonight.  Isn't he wonderful!  Love him:)

#5

Friends and Grillin'

It may have only been in the upper 30s today, but Brent was happy to grill burgers and chicken for dinner tonight.  And, dinner is always better when it's shared with great friends:)  I would be remiss if I did not mention Brent's singular High Five for the week: Michigan beating Tennessee tonight to advance to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

Happy final days of March friends...I'm anxiously awaiting April and more spring weather!

Recently Read: Anna Quindlen Gift Books

If you haven't noticed from posts of Facebook, this blog, and Shelfari, my new favorite author is Anna Quindlen.  After reading all of her fiction, I decided to check out her non-fiction books as well.  I recently read two of her short, "gift" books as I like to call them.  You can sit down a read them front to back in a half hour:) Check them out if you're intrigued by my favorite quotes below.

A Short Guide to a Happy Life

If you win the rat race, you're still the rat.

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.  John Lennon

Realize that life is glorious, and that you have no business taking it for granted.  Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around.

All of us want to do well.  But if we do not do good, too, then doing well will never be enough.

It is so easy to waste our lives: our days, our hours, our minutes.  It is so easy to exist instead of live.

Our biological clock is a murmur compared to the tolling of mortality.

Life is made up of moments, small pieces of glittering mica in a long stretch of gray cement.  It would be wonderful if they came to us unsummoned, but particularly in the lives as busy as the ones most of us lead now, that won't happen.  We have to teach ourselves how to make room for them, to love them, and to live, really live.

Being Perfect

Eventually being perfect became like carrying a backpack filled with bricks every single day.

What is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect an beginning the work of becoming yourself. More difficult because their is no template to follow, no mask to wear.  Terrifying, actually, because it requires you to set aside what your friends expect, what your family and your co-workers require, to set aside the messages this culture sends about how you should behave.

The president of Duke University commissioned a study on the status of women at the school, the results, released in 2003, were astonishing.  Female undergraduates talked of a culture at the college of "effortless perfection," in which they were expected to be attractive, well-dressed, in great shape, and academically able.  I was mesmerized by that phrase: effortless perfection.  Obviously it is an oxymoron.  Even the illusion of perfection requires an enormous amount of work.

"Perfection irritates as well as it attracts." Louis Auchincloss  But it torments, too, both those who are trying to attain it and those who feel they never can.  The perfect mother (the toughest of all the ideals to imagine) makes other women feel like failures simply by showing up and showing off.

Pursuing perfection makes you unforgiving of the faults of others.

George Eliot wrote, "It is never too late to be what you might have been."  It is never too early, either.

High Five for Friday

#1

Daylight Savings Time
Loving the extra light in the evenings!

#2

Spring!
I got outside for two runs this week!  I've also been very impressed with the amount of melting we're seeing already thanks to several sunny days, warmer temps, and a morning of rain.

#3

Sports Abyss
Brent finished city league basketball last week and Luke had his last Champion Basketball game on Saturday.  We are currently in a sports abyss, at least until soccer starts for Luke in April.  Of course the abyss does not apply to watching sports since it is March Madness for NCAA Men's Basketball:)  What does the sports abyss mean for us?  We have our evenings together to do what we wish rather than getting to practices and games:)

Luke and Cousin Ethan after their
last game together on the Bombers

 

#4

Helping at Gibbs
I haven't had the opportunity to volunteer at Gibbs (Luke's school) as much as I'd like this year, but I was able to help out at Spring Picture Day on Wednesday this week.  It's always fun to see the little faces in their school environment:)  I got to help "clean and primp" the kids before their pics (as in make sure their collar was straight, their hair not sticking up, etc):)  A funny job, I know, but I got to see several familiar faces and chat a little with most of the kids.  Always a day brightener:)

#5

Perspective & Priorities
I've felt myself stuck in a funk for a couple weeks, for various reasons, but this week after talking with Brent, others, and some self examination, I'm feeling a new sense of perspective and renewed priorities.  Special thanks to my husband for being level headed when I'm emotional:)  Here's to a fresh start!

Little Miss Reads-A-Lot

I've mentioned it before: Nora loves books!  But, I think her love has strengthened, which I didn't realize was possible:)

The first place she heads when we get home at the end of the day is to the bookshelf in her room to take out several books.  She doesn't need someone who actually reads to entertain her, rather she is content to "read" the stories aloud, sing along, and laugh along to the books she's perusing.  It's adorable and I can only hope that her love for books is a lifelong love:)

A few pictures of Nora reading recently:

Reading with Brother
(Even if someone is reading aloud,
she wants another book to "read" herself)

We let her take one book to bed with her and obviously
she enjoys it right up until her eyes close:)

Bedtime reading with Daddy and Luke
(Her toddler bed is more conducive to bedtime snuggles)

Reading to herself

About 45 seconds in, she says "All done. Again."

What a Difference Six Months Makes

It's been a long winter...

I've been noticing how the tree in the front of our house is looking more like a bush growing out of the snow than a tree since the snow is completely covering up the trunk.  Check out the comparison pictures from September 2013 when we landscaped around the tree to March 2014 (hopefully the end of winter).

September 2013

March 2014

I'm anxiously awaiting spring...

High Five for Friday

It's been awhile since I've High Fived Friday, but this week was the perfect opportunity to highlight my five favs of the week.

#1

Pampering
I treated myself to a massage on Monday night and had an appointment to get my hair highlighted on Tuesday night.  A lovely couple days of pampering for this lady!

#2

Wednesday
Wednesday is my day off each week, but it's rare that I spend much of the day at home.  (I'm a busy body, what can I say.)  But this week, Luke had a late start for school due to the weather so we ended up hanging at home all day except for one trip to Target and school drop off.  I love unexpected lazy days.

#3

Basketball
Brent's city league basketball team played in the championship this week to round out their season. Unfortunately they didn't win, but it's still one of my high fives because I love watching my man play.  I've known Brent since we were 14 years old and have been watching him play ever since.  It may be 18 years later, but he's still got it:)

#4

Chinese with my Kiddos
On the way to Brent's basketball game, the kids and I stopped at HyVee for a quick Chinese dinner.  There was nothing particularly stand out about this event, but the kids were super silly and funny and we shared lots of laughs together over dinner.  Special moments like these are the ones I hold dear to my heart:)

#5

Seeing Special People
The special people in our lives help make the every day special:)  Last weekend I was able to spend the afternoon with my cousin for lunch and to discuss her upcoming wedding details.  We also got to hang at Greg & Cally's for a day and a half to celebrate Mekhi's birthday.  I got to meet a friend's newest addition to their family while dropping them a hot meal.  I had lunch with my friend and former coworker today and we shared dinner with a friend and her son tonight at Mr Pizza North.

Though the week had bumps in addition to my High Fives, I choose to be grateful for the High Fives:)