Home, Sweet Home

January 2019

Would you believe that we were really happy to be back two days early from that trip that, while fun, just persisted in replanning and replanning and replanning due to weather, holidays, government, etc?

SOOOOOOO HAPPY!!!!

We were able to go to our Home Depot workshop before going to Dan's Air Force promotion ceremony...where we tried to be fully happy and supportive and not remotely emotional or bitter. At least no one asked Shad when he's going to join like they have at every other event of Dan's we've gone to. 

Beautiful clouds!

When you're going to the bathroom and your three-year-old comes to talk to you, then grabs the Perler bead smiley and says, "Take a picture of me with this for Shad!" You know, because he still calls us by our first names.

Katie and I finally finished the purse we started for Lindsey, her American Girl doll. She sewed the snaps on herself.

We had a tea party (sans poetry this time) just for the sake of using the tea set we bought in New Orleans. Complete with chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast!

{Dancy, Samson, Thora, Tommy, Katie}

"Mom, Mom, Mom! The mountains are PINK!"

-Katie

At the ERC, Katie found this painting card and got all excited because we were listening to Anne of Green Gables and this looked like the scene where Anne, Diana, Jane, and Ruby were acting out one of Anne's stories and the boat sank under her.

Dancy wanted to do some yoga.

Shad and I needed a break for us after being with the kids constantly for 2 weeks. We went to a salsa rueda class...not my cup of tea having someone tell me what to do and when to do it. Also frustrating: when one of the instructors would chide me for doing the dance move wrong, but I was doing it the way they showed and had us practice several times. Also frustrating: they said we could watch videos of this dance style on YouTube...and none of those videos showed what we were doing. So...??? AND THEN they finished the night with free dancing, advertised as swing dancing, "which can be done to any kind of music--country, hip hop, rock, etc." Well, any kind of music meant not a drop of actual swing music. How do you claim to teach and host swing dancing and not play ANY swing music whatsoever? Overall, we had a good time, but I definitely had moments of Resting Bitch Face and I'm not sure if I could handle going again or not.

Regardless of the music, I was able to teach Shad some swing moves and dance for the first time in 10 years. We watched clips from Swing Kids to relearn what I'd forgotten.

Since the dance class was at the Downtown Y, we ended with crepes for a late night dinner. Paris Crepes is right around the corner.

We had enough snow for this much of a snowman...

Katie wanted to make overalls for her bear, so she did. 100% on her own!

I called my kids home for lunch from playing in the field across from our house. This dog followed them into our garage. I invited her in and checked her tag, then put her in the backyard and called the number.

The kids were excited to have a pet dog for a little bit, and disappointed when the distressed owner came to collect her within half an hour.

By our movie theater. Really? 8.2 mph speed limit?