The True Story of What Was

Making Memories

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Jenn

We’re having a great time so far this summer! I am working longer hours, but somehow it feels more relaxed as I am starting to work from home one day a week. R and M are really interested in the World Cup. I should say R is really interested in the world cup and M is really interested in R. They’ve been having quite the time bonding and watching. The weather has been beautiful and not overly hot. We’re making lots of memories over here and the summer has only just begun!

Posted in Blogging, Summer | Leave a comment

Summer Solstice

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Jenn

What a perfect summer solstice. Only thing missing was Daddy. He was gone today but he’ll back tomorrow for more summer fun. It’s been a great one so far, even if it’s only one day old.

We hit up a local farm and their amazing creamery. We saw a cow that was less than two hours old and trying to learn to nurse. M was cheering the little calf and the mama on. I’m a proud mama. I’m proud that my daughter knows all about nursing and vaginas and *now* what a placenta is. Well, not all about vaginas. (Speaking of, we’ve recently added this book to our kid library.) Back to the cow. I was cheering on that mama too and it made me feel slightly shell shocked remembering what it feels like to have a brand new baby that doesn’t know how to nurse.

My girls have a tough time together, but they are having more moments of love lately and it’s just filling me with love. I see a wonderful life full of adventures ahead of us. It’s not that I wish the baby years away, it’s just that the adventure years seem like they’re going to be pretty cool. You know the years when they are potty trained and old enough to remember adventures but young enough to still want to take adventures with their dorky parents.

Now that R is done with school and I have a job where I don’t have to rush around as much in the morning, we’ve been spending time together as a family of four cuddling in our bed every morning. Some mornings it’s all hair pulling and kicking, but today it was all cuddles and nice words. Love it! PERFECT summer day, just missing Daddy.

Posted in Miss M., Miss S., Summer | Leave a comment

19 :: June Kitchen Blog Hop and CSA Loot

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Jenn

Last week I started a new job. I went from working 26 hours a week (80% mom-schedule plus another 20% furlough) to working 40 hours a week. All of a sudden I went from being home at 3:30pm to being home at 5:30pm or later. I also haven’t been feeling 100%. I’ve been feeling dizzy/light headed for weeks without any real explanation. I know how very lucky I am to have my mom and dad here helping out. Every night last week my mom had dinner ready when I got home. I’m blessed beyond belief. Last week was also our first week with our new CSA. We enjoyed lots of salad! I used our rhubarb to make blueberry rhubarb muffins (which were eaten so fast I didn’t even snap a photo). I also hear that rhubarb freezes well, so I know what I’ll be doing with it if I get more. I had a ton of spinach so I made a quadruple recipe of spinach cake mini muffins. We also have an obscene amount of chives, green onions and mint!

My little helper working in her very own kitchen.

This post is part of Heather’s This Week in My Kitchen :: Blog Hop

It’s simple to join in:

On your blog, post photos taken in your kitchen throughout the week.
Words aren’t necessary, your photos will tell the the story. Some of us enjoy adding a few thoughts to accompany the images… the choice is yours.
Feel free to grab the brief description above, or add a few words of your own to explain the project.)
Link back to this post so your readers can visit This Week In My Kitchen and join in.
Come back here and link up your current post (not your main blog) so we can all visit your kitchen!
Join Heather every Thursday or the occasional Thursday if that works better for you.
Please be sure to only link up if you are participating in this series. Thank you!

Posted in Blogging, Cooking, CSA, Recipes, Whole Food Eating | 2 Comments

First Year of Preschool

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Jenn

M has just completed her first year of preschool. She’s attending a Montessori School three towns over from ours. While the commute isn’t always awesome and will be worse next year because I am not working near the school anymore, I am still glad we decided on this amazing school. Next year S will attend the toddler program and both girls will be in the same school! I will drop them both off in the mornings before work and R will now be in charge of picking them up on the way home from work each afternoon. It’s going to be an adjustment, but after spending a year with this amazing community, we just couldn’t imagine going anywhere else.

She’s had such a great year! She can count to 100 with just a little help. She can write and spell her full name. She has learned more than I could even begin to document. She amazes us daily with new things. Her teachers are thoughtful and caring.Summer will be nuts, but it will be nice to have life slow down a little bit without having to rush everyone out the door every morning (just me now). Look how much my big girl has changed in less than a year!

Posted in Miss M., Montessori, Preschool | Leave a comment

28 :: May

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Jenn

The last couple weeks have been tough and exciting at the same time. I had some kidney stones, made a few trips to the ER and eventually had surgery to get them removed. I wrote about it a little bit here. All the while, R graduated with his Doctorate of Musical Arts which he started 10 years ago! Since starting, we’ve gotten married, adopted a dog, had two kids and he’s started teaching full time. He’ll be happy to finally have a real summer this year! Also during this time, I have been interviewing for a new job. Lots of changes around here! Last week I was still feeling badly from some pain meds – dizzy and a bit light headed. That seems to FINALLY be gone and I feel like a real person again just in time to start my new job in a week and a half. We had an absolutely lovely long weekend this weekend. On Saturday, we drove to New York to celebrate my cousin Sarah’s 30th birthday and meet her new daughter Olivia. M, my mom and I went and left S home with R. It was a “big girls’ road trip” and we had a great time.

On Sunday morning, we got the last little bit of our garden planted. We have flowers, beans, brussell sprouts, tomatoes, basil, strawberries and cantaloupe. Sunday afternoon we went to a friend’s house for a cookout and play date. The kids all did great together and the adults had a great time too.

On Monday, the rain stopped just in time for our town’s Memorial Day parade. It was small, but just perfect for the kids. We walked to the edge of downtown and both girls enjoyed clapping and waving their flags. M’s favorite part was the horses. What a great long weekend that felt like a nice sneak peek of summer!

Posted in Family, Miss M., Miss S., Sisters, Summer | Leave a comment

23 :: May

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Jenn

Just a few fun photos from my camera!

My cousin brought this when she came to visit for R’s graduation!

It seems like the fighting might be slowing down just a little bit and the loving moments might be happening just a little more often. Please don’t hold me to that. Love these girls and hope one day they’ll really adore each other too :)

Posted in Family, Miss M., Miss S., Sisters | Leave a comment

Graduation Day!

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Jenn

R has been working on his doctorate on and off for about ten years and I’m so proud to say that he’s finally completed it! When he started we weren’t married, didn’t own a house, didn’t have a dog, didn’t have M, he wasn’t working full time, we didn’t have S . . . he’s continued to work hard on his degree through many changes in our life together. I can’t even begin to say how happy I am for him and how proud I am of him. He completed his thesis around Christmas time and ended up having his diploma dated for the end of January, but it was so nice to have closure and get to celebrate as he walked across that stage yesterday. Then we celebrated with our friends and family! His brothers and mom and dad were all here, along with two aunts, an uncle and a cousin. My cousin came from Boston and lots of friends were here to celebrate too! We had a backyard fish fry, of which I took absolutely no photos! What a great day! Congrats baby – you earned this and we are all so proud of you!

Posted in Family, Friends | 2 Comments

Special Persons’ Day

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Jenn

Last Friday, M’s school celebrated Special Persons’ Day. Each child was given the chance to invite someone into their classroom for a lesson and a snack. We gave M the option and she chose her buddy Grandpa. She calls him Grampy these days, just because she thinks it’s silly. She gave him a lesson on Brown Stair Work and then they had a snack together. I just love her school.

Posted in Miss M., Montessori | Leave a comment

13 :: May

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Jenn

These girls.

Posted in Sisters | Leave a comment

12 :: May

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Jenn

It’s been a heck of a couple of weeks. Heck, it’s been a heck of a month. I’ll tell you about it sometime soon. In addition to a bunch of stuff going on with me, R has been working nights for the last two weeks in a row. I’ve had lots of help from my parents, which is SO nice, but I’ve also been putting both kids to bed most nights for the last two weeks. Good thing S usually goes right down. M and I have been enjoying some nice quality time, watching a George on the couch and then snuggling up in my bed to tell princess stories under the covers. She’s been super sweet. I mean these are the moments I pictured – cuddled on the couch, cuddled in my bed. But she’s also been super hard – saying NO a lot, trying to negotiate a lot and even hitting me and twice spitting right in my face (and not in the cute ‘I’m blowing raspberries’ kind of way). It’s a good thing we’ve had so many tender moments lately too. I’ve been trying to use each bad moment as a learning experience for both of us. You really do have to have a thick skin to be a mama. I hope she invites me to her birthday party after all.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment