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Thursday, June 22, 2017

(63 Months) - 5;3




June brought us a 5 year + 3 month old, and some other big news, too. Posted below are the quotes, anecdotes and photos from May 20 to June 19, 2017:


Me to Francie, on the regular: "I love you too much."


Also me to Francie, on the regular: "You're my best."
To which she replies: "You're my best person, and Mila's my best friend."


Alex: I like asparagus
Francie: Me too
Alex: But it's not your favorite?
Francie: No.
Alex: What is your---
Francie: Mac and cheese.  And honey, is my favorite.


I was feeling particularly frustrated/crabby (and maybe a touch PMS-y about housework) and texted Alex to politely “remind” him that I really appreciate when he washes the giant cutting board he uses in the morning when making breakfast, and to read that article/comic I sent him about women/mothers and the “mental load.” After hitting “send” on my text to Alex, Francie literally says to me: "I used the last napkin." So I get the kitchen laundry basket and put it in front of the basement door to remind me to bring it downstairs to wash. Then she says, "speaking of washing, you should wash the dishes before Charlie and Iris come over." A combination of amused and annoyed, I question her, "why, do you think housework is MY job?" She says, coolly, "no, it's just the nice thing to do, when you have guests."


Officially learning/riding her pedal bike!!! She developed some serious resistance to the pedal bike, and wasn’t buying into positive encouragement, so I drew on bribery and lollipops, just for “trying.” By the end of the day she was riding up the hill from April Hill Park. I felt proud of her, and wanted to know, and reinforce, a sense of pride in her own bravery, her practice and work ethic, and her success/progress.
Me: “I’m so proud of you! I can’t believe how good you are on the pedal bike now! You worked SO hard! Do YOU feel proud?”
Francie: “Yes!”
Me: “What does it feel like?”
Francie: “Like being happy.”
Me: “What does it feel like in your body?”
Francie: “Like, happiness. Joy.”
Me, to Francie: “I wonder about a time when Daddy felt proud.” To alex: “When was the last time you were proud of yourself? For Unity Day?”
Alex: “Yeah, a week ago, I guess.”
Me: “I felt really proud of myself yesterday, actually. It felt like, uh, a sense of fullness, in my chest. Warm, but not hot. Like I was filled up.”
A couple more minutes of biking, then breaking, Francie says about pride: “It feels like a (bike) pedal, with something like cookie dough all over, but warm, in my chest. In my heart, actually.”


To Alex during dinner, me not so hungry: “The reason mama might not want to eat a lot of dinner is because she's thinking about having a baby.”


“When you sweat it's like your face is CRYING.”


“You know what I came over here to tell you? That I love you the most. And that I'll wipe your butt when you're old.”


Me: “What do you think about the name Quinn for a baby?”
F: “I like it, but I prefer Rose.”
Me: “What about for a boy?”
F: “Bob. Or maybe John.”


F: “I slept in today. Until almost 9!”
Me: "How'd you know it was almost 9?”
F: "The short, fat hand was almost looking at the 9."


New obsession with the headscarf/hijab ...
F: “Look I'm Asian.”
Alex: "What do you mean?"
Francie points to her headscarf. “I wear one of those things. I'm Asian.”


Women's Retreat 2017, Suncadia, WA

Family pool day

Much needed Vitamin D. And snacks.

Pool towel picnic.

Silly girls.

Maui hook necklace from Mimi and Papa from Hawaii.

Rawr. Killer tiger suit, thanks to Erika.

Wonder Woman visits Mr. Close at WLHS.

Teacher's pet.

Gawd, high schoolers seem like such kids.

Cinderella, is that you? So Logan is the charmiest of princes ...

I love how much her art has changed in one year's time! Family portrait 2016 versus 2017.

Alex's WL United students made a shirt for our Bean, too.

Pool playdate with Charlie and Iris.

Hammock "cocoon" in the lazy summers days with my best girl.

Playdate at the Children's Museum with Mila. Girl power!


Best Mama Day at Baker and Spice.

Miss Finley turns 1!

Fin rocking her crown like a queen.

Neighborhood walks/bike rides.

And the there were four?!?

My first trimester sentiments ...

Mr. Close's students are funny.

Not that she can actually read, but I love that she's even interested in chapter books with few pictures, and feigns reading like a grown-up!

Oh queso, how you appear so infrequently but with such commitment to certain times in my life. You, too, salami.

PreK graduation!

Francine and Teacher Joann.

Flamily couch cuddles.

Father's Day at the Rose Garden.

Lazy summer Sunday feels.

"Let's take a selfie."

My favorite little lady.

Happy Father's Day, to these two super-dads.

One of her headscarf inspirations.

The sweetest of emails from a former Southridge student of Alex's. My heart swells to think of how many other kids have felt this way about him, too.




Tuesday, June 6, 2017

(Just Pics) - WR 2017: Suncadia



For this year's Women's Retreat - an annual reunion with four of my closest college girlfriends and, this year, their families - we met in Suncadia, Washington, just outside Cle Elum and Roslyn, Washington. We heard it was "the Sunriver of Washington," and with Gretch not too far away in Yakima, she scoped it out for us and got us booked with a huge house just minutes from the playground. We had a wonderful long weekend all together - 5 Logger Ladies, each of our husbands, and a total of 10 kids in tow. We came together this year from Yakima, Big Sky, Denver, Eugene, and Portland. There was lots of scooting and biking, many trips to the playground, golfing, mountain biking, coffee drinking, walking and running, an afternoon at the pool, cooking, napping, singing Moana, matching shirts, and, of course, photos.




























































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