Category Archives: Uncategorized

It was Thanksgiving week and we have a lot to be thankful for! The boys skipped school on Tuesday and we jumped in the car and headed to Galena, Illinois. We decided to break our drive to St. Louis in half, and Galena had a pool with a good waterslide. Last year, when Christine and I went to Dubuque for Abby’s baby shower, we also went to Galena, which has the best bakery in the whole world and a whole street of cute shops. I was very excited to return to such a cute town! We got to the hotel in the afternoon and immediately headed for the pool. We swam until dinner and then again until bedtime. On Wednesday, Nate and the boys went swimming all morning, and I went to the bakery and did a little bit of Christmas shopping.

We got back in the car and headed to Kara and Jud’s house in St. Louis, arriving just before dinnertime. The boys were SO excited to be able to play with their little cousin. We spent time crafting, playing, eating, drinking and enjoying being together. Grandma Renee had several fun crafts for the boys.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and Kara had the most gorgeous table, amazing food, and it was a great day! KT got to experience a traditional American Thanksgiving meal. Afterwards, we played the “dice game” and everyone got to open a gift. The boys were absolutely thrilled!

On Friday we went to the Transportation Museum and walked through old trains, saw model trains, and many other transportation related fun. Afterwards, we took some pictures in front of the Arch.

In the afternoon, we opened early Christmas presents which was a very fun kickoff to the holiday season! Everyone welcomed KT into the family and I think he was a little overwhelmed to be included. Based on some of his stories and things he’s said, I am getting the sense that his life in Japan is a bit more formal than our lives here. He asked me when the boys will stop getting Christmas presents (for him, it was 8). So he seemed genuinely touched to receive gifts and be part of everything. I really appreciated everyone including him and I am glad he was able to be with us for our trip.

Our trip was so great, but for me, my mom was the MVP of Thanksgiving. Not only did she stay at our house and watch the dogs, she also cleaned my house, even scrubbing the inside of my refrigerator. I was so grateful to be able to take a fun trip and not worry about the puppies, and also come home to a clean house!

The trip was much too short and drove home on Saturday. Xander was very sad that we don’t live closer to Baby Nell and complained for the first hour of the drive home. We powered through the entire 8.5 hours and even though it was a long day in the car, it wasn’t bad. The boys napped, watched movies and were mostly patient. Sunday has been a day of playing with Sam and Abby, a day for video games (KT is very patient with the boys and they all played together for over an hour this afternoon), a day for grocery shopping, laundry and snuggling puppies.

After a fun week, we’re back to regularly scheduled programming!

November arrived and brought with it THE SICK. Oddly enough, Nate was the first to go. He gets sick the least of all of us, so it was odd when he started coughing. Xander was next, followed by Augustus. I resisted for a full week, feeling superior while I downed multivitamins and echinacea, until yesterday, when I finally succumbed.

On Thursday of last week, school called at 11 to say that Xander was in the nurse’s office with a 102 degree fever. Yikes. Nate picked him up and he spent the day resting and then stayed home on Friday as well. He had a cough and a little bit of a runny nose, but didn’t have covid, the flu, strep or any of the big ones, but he was definitely miserable. We jumped into sprite, chicken noodle soup, snuggles, relaxing, reading, and baths.

On Saturday, Augustus and I headed to a very fun birthday party at Zero Gravity trampoline park. There was climbing and jumping and so many fun things to do. Augustus had a great time for about 45 minutes and then my incredibly social, incredibly active child snuggled onto my lap, complaining that his arms and legs hurt. UGH. We said “happy birthday”, collected a fun treat bag and headed home, missing both pizza and cupcakes. More naps, sprite, chicken soup, baths, snuggling, reading, relaxing…

KT spent last Saturday at his second debate tournament. Debate class has proven to be a challenge for KT. Part of the class is taking part in 2 debates. He was very nervous and not excited at all. But when I picked him up, he proudly held up his third place medal! I screamed with excitement! Japanese people tend to be pretty reserved and he’s not quite sure how to handle my enthusiasm. But it was only his second debate and he did so well!! I was even more excited when he said, “I wish you had been there at the award ceremony- no one was even taking pictures. You can take one when we get home!” This is a kid who does not get excited about about anything and doesn’t like having his photo taken- apparently it has only taken me 2 months to bring him over to my side! I was really proud of him and happy for him and he was in a really good mood.

The boys were under the weather, but I’ve been feeling good and have been so busy. It is end of the year giving time and for a professional fundraiser, it means I’ve been HUSTLING! Lots of calls, emails, work work work! And in every spare moment, I’ve been baking like it’s my job. Thanksgiving is a very popular holiday for me. By the time Thanksgiving comes, I will have baked, packed and sold 45 DOZEN macarons. That is a lot of cookies. I have a tiny St. Paul kitchen. I have a full time job, a husband, 2 dogs, 3 children… it’s a lot of cookies in my “spare” time.

On Tuesday, I celebrated one year at the YMCA. I emailed my boss to congratulate him on having such an awesome employee for a whole year. Then I shared this photo on social media because one of the first things I learned in my new work from home role was how to muffle background noise when I’m online. It was my third day when my boss said, “I’m hearing something like snoring really loudly in the background, do you know what that could be?” and I had to turn my computer and show him my co-workers. I’ve learned a bunch of other stuff since then as well. This year has been awesome. I LOVED my last job. I was really nervous I would never be happy at work again. But this new job is fantastic. I really enjoy the work I’m doing. I have an awesome boss and team. I love working from home with these monsters at my feet. I am so grateful to be in this role and happier than I ever could have imagined. I’m very very lucky!

Friday was Xander’s first fencing class after school. He’s been very excited for it and I was happy Nate got there early and could take some photos of him in action!

The weekend is here and the boys are feeling almost back to normal and finally, after almost 2 weeks of being healthy despite 2 sick boys and a sick husband, I have finally fallen… I thought I was going to avoid it. But no. I am coughing and sneezing and miserable. Saturday, the boys headed to Grandma Debbie’s house for a sleepover. I spent the entire day either napping or just sitting on the couch being miserable. Nate took good care of me bringing me ice cream and tea.

Sunday has been a day of rest. The boys were busy with Grandma this morning, but the rest of the day has been for snuggles and relaxing. We’re hitting the road for Thanksgiving and we all need to be healthy for our trip next week!

I hate when I don’t update for 2 weeks- there are so many photos to share this post. Like always, we have been BUSY.

Gussie was at Grandma Debbie’s house last Monday and when they were at the park, his tooth fell out! This is his second lost tooth and he was excited for the tooth fairy to come. She brought him a gold dollar coin and a tiny glass pig.

We had a pretty normal week- cookie orders for me, Nate went to a Timberwolves game, Augustus had his last swim lesson of the session (and swam all the way across the pool without stopping!), Xander has been obsessed with reading. The weather was pretty nice so we spent a lot of time after school playing outside with our friends.

Friday of last week was the Halloween party and costume parade at school. Xander was a scientist and Augustus was a character from the video game “Among Us”.

The PTA set up a very fun party in the gym. There were crafts, games, bingo, and a huge obstacle course that they got to play on. Each class got to come in for a half hour and it was fun to watch them play. Augustus spent the entire time on the obstacle course jumping off the giant mats over and over. At the end of the day, the whole lower school got to parade through school showing off their costumes. It was a fun kick off to several days of Halloween celebrating.

Saturday was day 2 of Halloween fun. We signed up to trick or treat at the businesses in Highland Park. The weather was warm and breezy and gorgeous. The kids had a blast. They collected a ton of candy and goodies. One of the candy locations was half price books, and we ended up stopping for some quick shopping. This ended up being a good move because when we decided to sit down to lunch for 12 and put all the kids on one end of the table, they quietly read and entertained each other for a good amount of time. Lunch out with 12 is literally my worst nightmare, but it actually went so smoothly, was fun and we spent the whole time laughing hysterically.

When we got home, it was a short rest and then down the block to our neighbor’s house for their annual Halloween party. Heather plans an amazing party with a costume contest, games, a seasonal cocktail, and so much fun. We started with a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood. Last year, Xander and I won, but this year, he wanted to be with Sam and Augustus, so I joined with Kelly and we tried to beat the children. Heather had a list of things around the neighborhood and we had to run and find each one and take a photo with it (for example- an animal skeleton, an orange flamingo, a pumpkin painted like cookie monster, etc). Kelly and I could NOT find that stupid cookie monster pumpkin and we ended up losing to our children!

The next game involved paper, rock scissors, jumping in circles, and running back and forth. While that game was going on, a group of adults was busy hiding candy all over the backyard. The kids got to run around and collect candy (like an easter egg hunt).

Xander came in first in the costume contest for kids. There were snacks, delicious seasonal cocktails, chatting, relaxing, and the weather was perfect.

Nate put the kids to bed at 8pm and I continued to drink seasonal cocktails. The sun went down and we switch to a campfire, which eventually progressed to tequila shots, which led to flip cup, and finally a 1am bedtime. I like to be in bed by 9pm and I rarely drink more than one drink at a time, but I didn’t feel as bad as I expected on Sunday. And when I think about Saturday, it was, start to finish, the most fun day I’ve had in a long time. It was the kinda day that when someone asks you how you would spend your last day on earth, I would describe THAT day. Friends, laughter, gorgeous weather, good food, fun… perfection.

Sunday was day 3 of Halloween fun. I was less productive than I’d planned to be, and the boys were moving slowly too. We spent most of the morning just hanging out. We’d been invited to a party by one of the friends we met at Family Camp. We’ve had a few play dates since the summer but we don’t know them super well and during our slow moving morning, we weren’t quite sure we would end up going. But we decided to at least go for a little while.

We got there and there were good snacks and lots of kids running around. Pretty soon, it was time for the pinata… ok, this party was getting more interesting… and then the host said, “we’re going on a quest! Everyone is required to participate.” You’ve got my attention.

She broke us into teams with kids and adults. We had to knock on the front door and the side door and ask for a secret pass. I had NO idea what was going on, but I was intrigued! I am usually the person who plans the fun- not the one who participates and I was so amused!

We ended up going into the house through the back door and down the basement steps. The lights were off and there were sheets hung up obscuring the view. There were twinkle lights to guide the way and spooky music. I was LOVING it. We wound our way through the basement, through a tunnel of sheets, until we go to the entrance, where we entered into the main part of the basement where a magician was waiting for us! A professional magician! And instead of saying, “hey, go to the basement for the magician”, she made it into an adventure! I loved every second!

It also turns out, I love magic! My children were super into it and I was trying to figure out how the tricks worked and I couldn’t, so I just gave up and agreed that he was doing real magic. It was amazing! I was not expecting that level of halloween party!

On Monday, the boys had the day off school and we were onto day 4 of Halloween fun, with actual Halloween. We had a low key day of playing, some crafting, carving pumpkins with Sam and Abby and then pizza skull dinner with the whole neighborhood. Last year was the first annual pizza skull dinner and it was back by popular demand! I made 54 pizza skulls and everyone in the neighborhood joined in the fun. Dinner went pretty fast as trick or treaters started showing up, so we hurried up and got costumes on and headed out. I tried to take some photos, but none of them captured the spectacle that is the block over, known as halloween street. Xander said, “this is like going to the state fair!” It was incredible and so fun. We didn’t even knock on any doors- everyone was just out in front of their houses and we walked by, collecting SO MUCH CANDY! Grandma Debbie and KT held it down at our house, handing out candy. KT was a funny teenager- too cool for halloween, but my mom made him help hand out candy. Then she told him he could go inside, but he stayed outside with her until they ran out of candy.

After 4 days of fun, I expected Tuesday to be a disaster, but the kids were in good moods. Kelly was taking family photos of Blake, Steph and Ashton, and all of the children joined in to help make the toddler smile. They also posed for a few test shots so she could get the lighting right. Wednesday afternoon is when the Halloween hangover finally hit and there were nonstop meltdowns and early bedtime for the kiddos. Nate and I did not have an early bedtime as our neighborhood happy hour was taking advantage of the amazing weather.

Thursday was KT’s jazz band concert. He plays the piano and is amazing. It was very fun to see the band perform and he was so good! The concert was 7:30-9, so the boys missed out, but I think they would have really enjoyed it, so hopefully the bands plays again at an earlier time.

Friday was also a day off school and so the boys went to my mom’s house. She took them swimming at the Shoreview Community Center and to the indoor play place. There was also a trip to McDonald’s, so basically a perfect day for 2 little boys.

On Saturday, Augustus and I started the day at Pinz Bowling alley for a birthday party. There was bowling, pizza, donuts, arcade games, running around with buddies and a goodie bag when we left- is there anything better?! While we were gone, Nat4e and Xander went to half price books to buy more Dog Man books. Xander has been obsessed with reading and when he found out Gussie was going to a party, he decided Nate should take him to buy books. This kid always has a plan!

The boys spent the rest of the day playing with Sam and Abby.

Today has been another busy day. We all went to our friends’ house to watch the Vikings game. The grown ups watched and ate snacks, the kids ate snacks and played. When the game ended, I met up with a few other host moms for coffee and chatting. Being a mom of any sort (mom of babies, mom of toddlers, mom of kids, host mom) is hard and I function best with a community around me. I was super happy to connect with other host moms to share our experiences 2 months into the school year. It was interesting to compare notes and I was surprised at how many similarities we shared. It made me feel validated and reassured.

November is here and we’ve got a full week ahead.

I’ve got 2 weeks of photos and there are a lot of them because we’ve been busy!

Last Monday, Nate moved into a very fancy new office. He and Jeremy shared an office when Nate first started at Edward Jones. Now EJ is piloting something new- offices with multiple FAs. The new office is really nice and I was excited to stop by as all the moving and setting up was going on.

The boys have been busy with school and Gussie is rocking swim lessons!

Last Saturday was a very busy day. First, I took the boys to get their ears pierced. Xander has been asking about it for months and then Augustus casually mentioned he wanted to do it too. Augustus hopped right up in the chair and got both ears pierced with barely a cry. Xander got nervous and decided he didn’t want to do it. We walked around and thought about it and he changed his mind several more times, but ultimately decided not to go through with it.

When we got back, it was the neighborhood bags tournament. Nate came close to winning a second year in a row, but he got second place this year.

Later in the day, I took Xander to get his hair cut (the first time in a year!).

Sunday was a fun day with Grandma Debbie.

This week was a busy baking week for me as I have some orders coming up. I got to do playground/lunchroom duty on Tuesday, which is always super fun. Another mom mentioned that her 4th grader was so mad that she was there. 4th grade!? I thought I had more time before my boys stop being excited.

Wednesday was Grandparents/Special Friends day at school. Grandma Debbie and Uncle Danny were honored guests. They got to spend the morning going to classes (Grandma was with Gussie, Danny was with Xander). They got to see the boys in gym classes, drama (Xander was the narrator of the play), Gussie got to decorate a pumpkin. It was a full morning!

The final part of the day was a performance, and on Tuesday night, Xander was singing me a preview of one of his songs. He told me, “parents can come too!” and since apparently I only have a few years left of boys wanting me there, I moved some things around so I could go to the performance.

It was a half day of school, so when the morning was over, my mom and I took the boys out to lunch and then they got to come home and play all afternoon!

Thursday was the first day of MEA break, and it was a full day of rest and relaxing. Nate golfed. I worked. The boys played with Sam and Abby, built a whole city with magnatiles and cardboard, spent some time drawing, and just hung out. I think a “boring” day every now and then is really good and the boys enjoyed being able to do whatever they wanted all day.

On Friday, we loaded up the van and headed up North. My aunt and uncle have a beautiful cabin just 45 minutes away and I was super grateful they let us use it for the weekend. The Nelson family joined us for a night and we had a blast!

The Nelson’s arrived shortly after we did on Friday, and we headed right to the nearby park which was awesome and had some super fast slides and a gliding swing. The weather was amazing. Christine managed to take the funniest photo of me I’ve ever seen- not flattering, but HILARIOUS. We had a crazy busy day of playing nonstop, fishing, throwing rocks and playing on the beach, playing games, water color painting, eating snacks, dinner, a campfire with s’mores, a movie night for the kids and game night for the adults (and KT). It was a literal perfect day!

On Saturday, the kids played nonstop, the boys went fishing again, the girls painted some more, Christine, KT and I worked on a very hard puzzle, more playing on the beach… it was so fun! In the afternoon, the Nelson’s headed home and we headed to the Taylor’s Falls Scenic Boat tours for a boat ride. The weather was warm and breezy. The colors were pretty. The boys got to climb on the rocks before and after the tour. It was so great. Afterwards, we went out to dinner and then headed back to the cabin for some relaxing and a slightly earlier bedtime than the night before.

Today we packed up and headed back home. We missed the puppies, but Nanny Shyanna had spent the weekend with them and I know they were well cared for. It was so much fun to get away for a few days and I’m so grateful the Nelson family could join us and that we had such amazing weather and that we could use the cabin.

Christine, KT and I didn’t finish the puzzle we started, so I carefully brought it home leaving as much of it assembled as I could. I started working on it this afternoon and then KT joined me and pretty soon, it was almost dinner time but we were SO close to being done. Grandma Debbie had come over for dinner and she was helping and then Augustus got into it too and then we were all committed to finishing it. Xander was NOT into it and said, “I am so hungry, I practically have tears coming out of my eyes!” which probably makes me a terrible mother that I was focused on a puzzle, instead of feeding my starving baby, but in my defense, it was 5:45, so dinner wasn’t THAT late.

We completed the puzzle (minus 6 pieces- beware of free puzzles!) and had dinner and no one starved to death in the process.

What a great weekend!!

October is here and we had a great week!

The boys were busy with school, video games, coloring, playing outside (we had a few nice days and a few cold days), our last tennis lesson, very fancy birthday lightsabers from Brad and Angela, and being excited for Xander’s birthday party.

Saturday the day finally arrived for Xander’s Roblox themed 7th birthday. I can’t believer our baby is 7! Roblox is an online video game that allows you to complete a variety of tasks and be in different worlds. I don’t totally understand it, but Xander and Augustus both enjoy it. We started our party crafting our own avatars- coloring, glueing, and decorating. From there we moved outside (luckily the weather cooperated) and did 10 different games. If you participated, you earned 1-2 “robux” which are the money in the game. I had made stickers and the kids were super into collecting them and sticking them on their scorecards. We did a variety of games including cone smash (smash the ice cream cone and then complete the challenge written on small paper inside), team keepy-uppy (keep a beach ball in the air for 10 hits- they didn’t even get close, but they still got their sticker), ring toss, bean bag toss, shoot a target with a nerf gun, egg in spoon (actually ping pong ball in spoon, and then a more challenging version where the spoon was in their mouth), balloon between their knees and then they had to pop it, cheeseballs onto Nate’s head, and dig the worm out of pudding (they had the option of using their face or holding a spoon in their teeth to dig it out that way- Gussie was the only one who did it face first).

We had robo-theme snacks half way through and once all the games were done, they got to use their robux to buy prizes. I wish I had remembered to take a photo of the prizes, but they were VERY excited to “buy” the best prizes! We had ice cream cake and then the kids ran around and played soccer and in the playroom until 3pm. We had some fun treat bags and then everyone headed home!

Success. My favorite picture from the day had a wall of parents photographing their children. I got several nice text messages after the party. …However… it’s never simple when it comes to kiddos… About 1.5 hours into a 3 hour party, Xander’s eye was all of a sudden really goopy. I knew instantly that it was pink eye (I was a camp director- I know stuff like this) but I was giving the universe the benefit of the doubt it was just junk in his eye. I cleaned it out and crossed my fingers. But a few minutes later, it was goopy again. Dang it. So as I’m leading the kids through the next game, I’m frantically weighing my options in my head. Do I tell all of the very excited kids that the rest of the games, the prizes, the cake, etc were done and party is over, or do I go on with the show?! Since they had already all been exposed and there wasn’t really any physical contact ahead, I decided to continue. I’m still crossing my fingers that no children end up with pink eye. Despite the communicable disease, Xander had a lot of fun.

The party ended and I was EXHAUSTED. But being a mom means that after entertaining kids for 3 hours, you are rewarded by making a special dinner for the birthday boy. And then after that, you get to take said birthday boy to after hours urgent care for drops. Once I handed him my phone, he was relatively calm about our evening field trip. We got the drops and headed home. What a Saturday!

Today the boys ran around and played with Sam and Abby for most of the day. Nate and the boys went to Harvey’s house to watch football for a few hours and I organized and baked. When the boys got home, we decorated the front of our house for Halloween (yes, I did find bulldog skeletons, thank you very much) and then it was more playing outside with Sam and Abby.

We’ve got an average week ahead and I am so glad!

It was the last week of September and it was a fantastic week! The boys had tennis lessons, Gussie had swim lessons, we had conferences for all 3 boys (all of them went SUPER well!), we spent a lot of time playing outside after school, and after a few weeks off, I got back to baking (Halloween macaron boxes coming soon!).

This was the second to last week of tennis lessons. All 4 boys seem to have a ton of fun while they are there, but all 4 complain before the have to go and claim they hate tennis. None of the parents can figure it out. Next week is the last lesson and I’m thinking we won’t repeat tennis again. Gussie is ROCKING swim lessons and he is actually swimming! He is doing so well and I am proud of him.

The boys are both obsessed with Roblox and luckily have a teenager who can help them when they get stuck, because I don’t have any idea how these games work.

1st grade is way more serious than kindergarten and Xander has to read out loud every night- he is doing SO well and we can see progress even since the beginning of the school year. It is amazing to watch him grow before our eyes!

Today was both the Twin Cities 10 mile and also Xander’s 7th birthday! When Xander found out I was running on his birthday, he said, “so the race is like a tribute to me!” So today we referred to it as “the Xander tribute Twin Cities 10 mile race”. 10 years ago, for Heather’s bachelorette party, we ran the TC10 mile. I wasn’t much of a runner then, and I had to train hard for the race. I don’t remember it being THAT hard though. For their 10 year anniversary, we decided to run it again. I have been running way more, but it wasn’t easy! I didn’t have a goal for a certain finish time- I am proud of myself for running 10 miles at 40 years old. It wasn’t easy, but it was a fun day and I was happy to see Nate and the boys at the finish. Also, I was just happy to see the finish line!

After the race, we had birthday brunch and Xander opened his gift from Danny and Heather. The weather was GLORIOUS today and it was a great start to the day!

This afternoon, Gussie and I headed to Phoebe’s 5th birthday party. It was held at a gymnastics gym and it was SUCH a fun party. They showed the kids how to use all of the areas and then let them run free to jump, bounce, roll, and flip around. He was in heaven!

When we got home from the birthday party, Grandma Debbie was at our house for Xander’s birthday dinner and chocolate mousse dessert. Next week is his birthday party, so today was pretty low key as far as birthdays go.

And now it’s October. I am crossing my fingers the weather holds out another week, but it might be getting cold soon.

It was a great week! School, tennis, swim lessons- everything went well.

On Wednesday, I got to volunteer at school for playground/lunchroom duty. Once my duties were done, I got to have lunch with both boys (I switched back and forth between them). It was fun to see them with their friends. It was super fun to see the lunch room in action. And the boys are still at the age where it is exciting to see me, not yet embarassing.

On Friday, Augustus was home with me, which is always a fun balancing act between entertaining a 5 year old and getting all my work done, but he’s a chill dude, so it was a great day. We went to the Y, the Dollar Tree for Halloween decorations, and Trader Joes. Gussie likes to add things to the cart, but then he says things like, “we should get 2 of these because they are your favorite Mommy”. On the way home, he said he wanted a corn dog for lunch. There happened to be a corn dog stand in the parking lot of a nearby church, so we made a quick detour. It was drizzling, so we ate our corn dogs in the car before heading home. On Friday night, we had family game night and taught KT how to play yahzee (beginners luck- he won!).

Saturday morning, I slept in until 8am until Xander said, “can you get up? I miss you and also, I’m hungry. You said you’d make crepes.” I couldn’t argue with that!

On Saturday night, all of the neighbors came to our yard for a potluck BBQ. I should have taken a photo of the table- there was SO much food piled high. Everyone was telling KT to try different things and he said, “this is overwhelming!” but he was smiling and I think he was enjoying himself! Everyone ate and ate and then the kids ran around playing while the grown ups hung out and relaxed. Once it was dark enough, we got all of the kids snuggled under blankets, buckets of popcorn in their laps. I bought a giant screen last Amazon prime day and it was a great purchase! The kids were content and the adults got to relax and hang out. After the movie, we all paused to put kids to bed (ours went right to sleep without a peep!) and then returned to our yard to sit around a campfire. It was such a wonderful magical night.

Today the boys were busy with Grandma Debbie and Nate and I got lots done around the house. Another fun week ahead.

The last 2 weeks have flown by. We’re adjusting to the new school year, but September is sort of a difficult month. The boys are working hard at school- new schedules, new friends, lots to learn, and it’s exhausting! They are enjoying school, but they are also very tired. I know that by October, we will have less meltdowns and exhaustion, so we’re all just being patient with each other as we get into the routine.

The boys are busy with tennis lessons, and Augustus started the next session of swim lessons.

After Unglued camp, I always come home with new recipes and this year was no different. I’ve been experimenting a bit and have added a few new things to our menu. I’ve also been playing around with watercolor painting, which was one of the classes I took. I DO NOT NEED ANOTHER HOBBY! I keep repeating that to myself, but every time I finish a painting, I want to try it again.

Gussie is enjoying Pre-K, Xander is working hard on his daily reading chart and KT is busy with lots of homework. We took the pool down last weekend which felt like an official goodbye to summer. I can’t wait to put it back up next year!

This week was homecoming, so there was lots of fun for the week. There were different dress up days for KT in upper school. There was all school spirit day on Friday. KT is in the jazz band and when I found out they were playing at the pepfest, I cleared my calendar so I could go watch (and take photos and video!). It was so fun to see the whole school together. There were silly games and lots of cheering. Xander got chosen to represent 1st grade in one of the games and he was SO proud of himself. I was an obnoxious mom who got right up close to the band so I could take pictures, but KT’s mom was happy to see them, so that won’t be the last time I do that.

On Friday, Augustus went to Camp St. Croix for the day (he doesn’t go to pre-K on Fridays). They have a program every other Friday and he spent the day on the farm. They picked raspberries, made beautiful bouquets and he came home tired, dirty and happy.

On Friday night, there was an Upper School barbecue and KT was not excited to go (he was pretty crabby about it actually). Nate and I said he had to go to that and the dance on Saturday. He has to meet people and experience all that school has to offer. I was nervous he was going to be miserable, but he was absolutely bouncing when he got home. Major teen-parenting win on our part! He also seemed to enjoy the dance on Saturday night.

Friday night we had a last minute slumber party with Olive and Emmett which was super fun! We had dinner, set the kids up in the basement with a movie, they played and then everyone was in bed by 9! On Saturday morning, we had a chocolate chip pancake party and then they got picked up. It was so fun to have them over! On Saturday, Nate came in first place in a golf tournament, I ran 8 miles, the boys played an excessive amount of Roblox (unlimited screen time when mom is busy running), and everyone relaxed.

Today the boys spent the morning with Grandma Debbie and then we had family photos in a park. Augustus cried literally the entire time, so we’ll see how the photos turn out. Luckily we have a super awesome photographer who wasn’t thrown off by a crying child.

We’ve got a normal week ahead!

Week 2 of school was a success! We are still easing in as it was only a 4 day week. All the boys are enjoying their classes, making friends, and get in the van at the end of the day talking nonstop.

On Monday night, our neighbors were at a nearby hotel for the night and invited us for swimming and pizza. I was a little nervous that the boys would be too tired after a full day of school, but they love swimming and we had an absolute blast!

Tuesday was a regular day of school and afterwards, they had their first tennis lesson. Sam and Harvey, the buddies they were in soccer and tee ball with were also there, so it was nice for all of us parents to be able to hang out again.

There was an ice cream social after school on Thursday, and then lots of playing with the neighbors because the weather was fantastic. KT and the boys continue to get more and more comfortable together and have been bonding over video games and computer games.

On Friday, the boys had the day off from school and I headed out of town, so to kick off boys’ weekend, Nate took them to Can Can Wonderland to play arcade games. The weekend was a nice balance of fun and hanging out, with a few park trips, video games, and plenty of times to relax. On Sunday, the boys went to Fort Snelling with Grandma Debbie and then spent the night at her house. They went for a midnight swim (not quite midnight, but it was after dinner so that was exciting).

I spent the weekend at Unglued Summer Camp. It is my third year and absolutely a highlight for me. From the moment you arrive and they hand you a shot of champagne, it’s nonstop fun. I took 4 different craft or cooking classes, there was a camp battle (team pink came in 3rd), a themed dance party (the theme was “campy carnival”), amazing food, open bar, and time with my dear camp friends. It was SO SO fun. I missed my men, but I had the best weekend.

This morning, Nate picked the boys up from Grandma’s house and headed to a brand new park for a playdate with our buddy Shiloh who we met at Family Camp. I had a personal training appointment and then met up with them with a picnic lunch. When we got home, the boys went right outside to play and they were very creative. They were excited when Sam and Abby returned home from the cabin and continued to play and invent things.

We’ve got another 4 day week ahead. I am exhausted from a busy weekend and looking forward to a normal, quiet, routine week ahead!

This week was all about back to school week! School didn’t start until Wednesday, but Monday was back to school afternoon/evening. At 3pm, I brought Xander and Augustus to drop off their school supplies and meet their teachers. When we were done with that, there was a family fun festival on the lawn. Inflatables, food truck handing out free freezies, games, photos, etc. Nate came later with KT (upper school back to school wasn’t until 4:45). At that point, the boys ditched us to hang out with some friends on the playground, and we went with KT to drop supplies in his locker and meet his homeroom teacher. Then Nate took the boys home and I went to “new upper school parent” orientation. All 3 boys enjoyed back to school night and were excited for school to begin on Wednesday.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty lazy days for us. The boys spent a lot of time playing with the neighbors, relaxing, resting, and enjoying their last 2 days of freedom.

And then it was Wednesday and the first day of school for everyone! Gussie- pre-K, Xander- 1st grade, KT- 10th grade. Everyone was in a pretty good mood and we made it to school with plenty of time to walk everyone to their classrooms. I think it is going to be a great year!

When I picked the boys up on Wednesday afternoon, I expected them to all be exhausted and that it would be a quiet ride home. Nope. All three of them were talking nonstop, interrupting each other- they all had a lot to say. Xander and Augustus immediately ran down to Sam and Abby’s house as soon as they got home and didn’t seem to be tired at all. They were ready to play!

KT found out that the jazz band class he is signed up for actually requires a tryout. There are 4 kids trying out for 2 spots. He is an EXCEPTIONAL piano player, but he was really nervous. I am feeling surprisingly maternal to a kid I’ve known for 2 weeks, and I assured him we would find a piano for him to practice on for the weekend. Luckily, our neighborhood is amazing, and our neighbor Sean came through right away and lent us a keyboard.

Thursday and Friday were great days too. Gussie only goes to pre-K Tuesday-Thursday, so he and I spent Friday hanging out together. I managed to balance working, a few meetings, and hanging out, and he was ready for a quiet day at home. KT has some tough classes, and he was a little overwhelmed the first few days, but he is so smart and he is used to spending a lot of time studying, so I am confident that once he has a few more days to adjust, he will be comfortable and successful. Xander is in class with his bestie from last year and he likes his new teacher, so we’re off to a good start. He thrives on routine and schedule, and as soon as school started, he was happier and more talkative than he’s been all summer.

Friday night was a fantastic neighborhood happy hour. We introduced KT to the game of bags, which he ended up really enjoying. We hung out until it was dark outside.

On Saturday we headed to the State Fair!! It was overcast and not hot- it rained later in the day, but not while we were there. The lines were short and we didn’t spend much time waiting for anything. It was basically an ideal fair day! We ate lots of good food, went down the giant slide, saw lots of things, and had a great day. Augustus wanted to ride the sky ride and Xander wanted a caricature done. KT was a really good sport and tried lots of new foods. He did make a comment that the fair was “VERY American” and wasn’t really his type of thing, but he tried everything. Both he and Augustus fell asleep on the bus ride home. When we got home, it started raining, so all 3 boys took some time to rest and relax after a very busy day.

Sunday has been a day of rest. I went to brunch with my friend Becky. Nate got some house projects done. Lots of playing with the neighbors. KT practiced his piece for jazz band tryouts. It was a nice day to relax and get ready for the week ahead! Bring on the second week of school!