Done!

Gavin picked out a puzzle to give to Jack on his 8th birthday in late July. Jack opened it on his birthday in August, and we started it a week or so later. This puzzle has been sitting on our playroom table for months, as it quickly became clear that this 500 piece puzzle was trickier than most. It got partially taken apart during numerous occasions when little ones were in the house. It became clear that the kids were done with it, but I couldn't let it go. So I kept putting back the destroyed parts and working on it bit by bit. Sometimes weeks went by and no puzzle work was done. But I found it to be a fun, relaxing activity that I really enjoyed. Yesterday I finished it, and felt a celebratory photo was in store.

Hello, Domesticity

I am the proud new owner of my very first apron. Once upon a time I honestly didn't see the purpose of one. Now I have decided that having both olive oil stains and holes over my belly button in every shirt (where it rubs against the countertops) is not the best way to make a wardrobe persevere. With that conclusion, I ordered some gorgeous fabric and paid a local seamstress to make an apron for me. I haven't had a chance to take it for a test-drive yet, but I LOVE it (and it's reversibility) so far!

Two mother blessings in two weeks

Makes for a very feel good month. The one today ended in beautiful henna artwork for my friend Jenny, expecting her third baby in a couple weeks.

Friends

I've had some great times spent with friends this month. I  most enjoyed a trip to St. Joe for a visit and blessing way with my dear friend Bridget, eagerly awaiting daughter #2. It was so good to spend time with friends I've had for more than two decades.

Isn't she gorgeous?

The Meal Swap group from my old neighborhood got together for a mini-reunion this past week. No one lives in the old neighborhood anymore, which is slightly bittersweet for us. Ann Marie couldn't make it to dinner because she had her fifth baby (and first girl) an hour beforehand! And Jeriann was too tired, which we'll cut her some slack for since she does have to report the weather each morning at 5am :)  

Halloween 2014

Three Ninja Turtles and a Shredder went trick-or-treating together. We love that Uncle Adam and Jenna come from Omaha for beggar's night each year. It wouldn't be the same without them!

Gavin's Dynamic Dogs Halloween Parade at St. Timothy's Preschool

Enjoying the beauty of fall

It has dawned on me that this is my last year at home with kids. It's been so laid  back and enjoyable since Gavin is an easy-going guy, and one kid is certainly simpler than three when it comes to all-day entertainment. We've been spending our wonderful afternoons at parks, on walks, at the library, and generally making the most of this time together. Next year he'll get on the school bus with his brothers and head to all day kindergarten, and I'll be headed off to do who-knows-what. So I do all I can to savor every moment right now and in the months ahead.....

Preschool field trip to the Iowa Orchard

Iowa Orchard 2014. I love this photo because it's taken at the same orchard as the one where we took this next photo years ago:

Iowa Orchard Fall 2010

My baby is 5

Yikes, my baby is 5? I'm not even sure how this is true. He had a nice, long, extended birthday this week. A special birthday outing with my parents to Howell's pumpkin patch, a picnic and cupcake shabang at our house with his preschool buddies, and a sushi date with Mike and I on his actual birthday. He's my special little man, and I love him to bits.

It's a proud parenting moment for me when a child of mine requests sushi for his birthday lunch.

It's perhaps an even prouder moment when he eats it with abandon

I think the staff at Haiku was excited to have a 5-yr-old celebrate his birthday with them. They brought him a dessert with candles (and we've been back since then, and they remember him and always bring him free dessert!)

After lunch, Mike went back to work while Gavin and I crossed the street into Drake's campus and strolled through the grounds, finding bulldog statues, the painted street, and the sun dial where Mike and I were married twelve and a half years ago. 

The spot where his parents were married over a decade ago. 

Happy 5th Birthday to my little Gav Man.

And we have lift off!

Exactly 2 weeks after our little monarch chrysalis came to our house and got put in a mason jar for childlike viewing pleasure, we noticed that it had changed dramatically:

And then about an hour later, we noticed this:

So we transferred the little beauty outside and placed her/him here. The next morning she/he was gone, so I consider this a metamorphic success!

Monarch tales

On a trip around the pond the other day, we noticed some swamp milkweed plants growing out of the rocks around the drainage pipes to our pond. Upon further inspection, Gavin, Mike & I discovered dozens of monarch caterpillars eating the leaves. It was so cool to see. Gavin and I went back yesterday to check on them, and some were hanging upside down, ready for chrysalis formation. Today Mike and Gavin did another check and discovered a crhysalis. They brought it home so we can watch the progress in a mason jar, and release it after it emerges. Nothing like a little home science to peak all of our interest in nature!

I didn't actually get a photo of Gavin with a monarch caterpillar, for whatever reason. But I did take this one of him with a fuzzy yellow one. 

Monarch chrysalis

Friends

I've been thinking so very much lately about how grateful and lucky I am to have so many valued friendships. In all of our lives, there are things we wish we could do better, or had more time for.  Achieving life balance is this never-ending journey that is always a struggle. I sometimes step back and take stock of where I'm at, and make mental lists of what areas of my life need more attention, and which areas I can currently rock. It changes ALL the time, of course. But one area of my life that has felt solid for quite some time, and which I'm eternally blessed with, is a community of very good women friends who I know I can turn to at any time. I have a lot of different circles of friends that fill so many different needs, from the distant past, to the nearer past, to the present. I am thankful every day for the many amazing women that inspire me, support me, and make me laugh. 

Some of my oldest friendships remain the strongest, 25ish years later. Bridget and Kelly at Centro during a recent weekend visit. 

I'm so grateful for the many new friendships I've come to enjoy over the past couple years. My "new" book club friends, Emily, Erin, and Susan.