Sell, Baby, Sell

For years now, I've honestly felt like I was swimming in space. It was sometimes nice and totally the American dream to own all the crap and have the big fat house to store it all in. But it was always way more than we needed. And when Andrew died, it was way more than I ever wanted. I felt like the space was mocking me.

I truly don't know what people do with larger houses. The basement has remained mostly empty for our 6+ years in this 2,640 square feet + 1,320 square feet house. Basements are a funny thing. People literally buy houses with basements here with the sole priority being to store crap they never use in it. It's incredibly perplexing to someone like me who grew up in small houses in Los Angeles (because that's what people do there). Our 1,320 square foot basement is literally bigger than most houses I grew up in. And yes, houses. Because renting in Los Angeles is totally normal. Almost none of my friends have Christmas at their childhood home they lived in from birth. It's a transient lifestyle, all made well by the incredible weather and killer outdoor scene.

Quaint, they say. Cute, they say. Reality is more like it. In Los Angeles, two to three bedrooms is standard and alllllll the peoples share a single bathroom. With a single sink. GASP. I know. I know. Share. a. sink. I seriously remember invading my brother's space while he was showering so I could pee. Because that one bathroom? Also housed the only toilet in the whole house.

This house we own currently? There are FOUR. There is nothing quaint about this living space. It's large.

When we left the kiddos with my mom for 2 days to hop on a plane (and then another because, connections and expensive flights!), we expected to find ourselves a decent-sized house that will hold all of our crap in Reno. I was thinking 2,000 square feet. And we found it over and over again, but I wasn't feeling the vibe in any of those entirely.

Well, the house that we found to be the best fit for us that felt like home was an 1,800 square foot ranch house. Crazy. It's only a rental and if we don't like it, fine. We can just move. But that's unrealistic unless we're moving states again, because moving is expensive and timely and we would have to pay for it ourselves. (GASP again.) So we kind of wanted to like the place for a hot second.

Which meant for me, a fenced-in backyard that is nice. Reno is 300 sunshine days a year, and so I want to spend those lovely days outside. We have a massive deck at our Chicago house and we spend most of our time outside when the weather is nice.

I'm kind of excited to live in a ranch house again. No pile of crap at the bottom of the stairs to transport back on your next trip to the upper level. No schlepping the (better) vacuum up and down stairs. And NO cleaning stairs! Can I get an amen to that?

With the downsize in space means a downsize in crap. Because us Wilsons, we actually do like parking in the 2-car garage (though a 3-car would've solved all of our space issues...). The closets in this joint will be packed to the gills, but at least we love the layout, school district (though one year left to use it), neighborhood, proximity to skiing (14.8 miles!!!) and overall feel. And the backyard is KILLER. It's hard to beat our current backyard, so we're pretty excited to have one that just might.

The left is the sliding glass door (from the living room/kitchen area) and this covered lanai thing is a great shade without blocking all of the sunshine. And that cute patch of grass over there (high end astroturf, brilliant, selling our mower!) is perfect for a playhouse. Which I am totally buying. I refused to buy one for our current house because we have trails that run through our neighborhood and almost no one has a fence. I didn't like the "trail appeal" it had and we really had nowhere to put it since our deck spans the majority of our backyard useable space. Anyone have a playhouse for their kiddos?

I was thinking this one from Amazon. They have red and tan. I want something affordable but also cute and I love the little flag holder. My kids are kind of obsessed with flags. And ever-so-fitting, we are moving in July 4! Kinda feels like that's the winner.

We will transport our current patio chaise loungers and leave the awesome picnic table that works so well for our current deck behind. It's going to be hard though, because I love that table.

So that's the backyard. The rest is super nice, adorable and totally our style. And the shower? It has a pebble rock floor. I'm kinda stoked about it. And did I mention only 2 toilets to clean instead of my current four?

I've been selling like a mad woman on all the apps and used garage sale sites you can imagine. So. much. stuff. And we have way less than most people. But still, it's stuff. If we buy again in a few years (or 10), we will buy all those home project items again, but at least we won't have to schlep them from house to house in the interim. Every sale I do makes me feel lighter and lighter.

Totally ready to have the rest of those boxes stacked to the ceiling and minimal storage in favor of a killer outdoor living space and weekend trips to the mountains instead of house work. Moving out this week. Reno or bust.

Westward Movement

Currently, I'm sitting on a flight to Reno, our new home state. We both have middle seats, but I can't complain, because this is my first flight without a kid on my lap in 4.5 years and it. is. magical.

Life is so thrilling right now and I'm feeling so crazy grateful that we are all healthy and able to see and live in parts of the country we haven't been before. 

As most of my readers know, Chicago was never my first choice in places to live, but when we made the decision to move there, we were elated. We had been married just a year before taking off on our month-long road trip that took us to countless national parks, many states, up through Canada and ultimately to our new state where we would create a beautiful life together, buy our first home, populate it with adorably pasty white babies and live happily ever after. Nothing could stop us. Not even those terrible winters.

And some of that happened. We made fantastic friends. We did. We bought the beautiful house and populated it with babies and also went through the worst heartbreak of our lives in that home. The ups and downs of home ownership were weathered together and the husband successfully became president of his company before choosing to leave for another opportunity at the start of 2016. 

There has been some soul searching and lots of family togetherness and building some new dreams and even newer dreams now that are leading us west. 

Before ultimately accepting the position in Reno as the west coast director of distribution for a Fortune 500 company (LinkedIn stalking might be necessary for some of you, though title won't be officially changed until start date of July 5). There were decisions to be made for our family which led to the final decision which wasn't the sexiest company (compared to others he interviewed with and turned down) but a solidly great one. Many interviews with the coolest and most well known companies on the planet (of which YOU use everyday) occurred and offers were extended (in Silicon Valley, which happens to be the most expensive place to live in the entire west). You guys, I married a really, really smart guy. Decisions were both hard and easy, but we knew that no matter where we were headed, we were up for new scenery and a new adventure. And so, Reno is our new stomping ground. For now.

And selling our house for easy (rental) living in favor of weekends in Lake Tahoe instead is basically fireworks status exciting. The home sale process and all that jazz is coming at you soon. I am ever-so-elated to take back family time and forego home projects for the easy life. 

Reno is almost definitely not going to be our final stop of adventure living. Oddly, leaving his position late last year in Chicago made us both feel like we have a new lease on life and we are pretty excited to see which way the wind blows and takes us (which is also the metaphor I shall assume when keeping the blog domain the same... but changing the header to one that includes our new backyard view.) Spoiler: mountains. YOU GUYS. Mountains!!!!

Until then, we left the kids in our mostly barren and meticulously clean going-on-the-market-very-soon home with their Gawbee to seek out a landing place for when we head west at the end of this month with the two munchkins (and Andrew in the cup holder. Too dark? Honest.) on our westward movement road trip. Wish us luck. The requests have been solidly made for a pink and orange bedroom for each of them. #stylishkids #whatcanisay

Piñata Creating. Mayo es, ¿verdad?

So I'm a little late.

The day before Cinco de Mayo, I saw a picture of a friend making a pinata with her daughter and it occurred to me that we didn't have a thing to do that afternoon. Paper mache is easy to manage and the kids would love it. I texted my neighbor for her leftover newspaper (she receives, we don't) and grabbed those up before mixing up a batch of flour and water for the afternoon indoor fun activity (since it appears it may never get warm in the Midwest ever).

Jumped on the bandwagon and the kids mostly enjoyed he process. Claire wasn't a fan of the mess (though typically she's ALL GOOD with coloring herself in full arm sleeve tattoos with marker). Benjamin kinda took the bull by the horns and jumped right in. I ended up finishing it, like almost all projects, because attention span was lacking after 30+ minutes. I'd say Benjamin tackled 60% of the paper mache solo, so I consider it a success.

It wasn't dry in time for a Cinco de Mayo celebration smash, so we had it laying on the deck in the sunshine to bake for some days. And finally, on May 16th, we decorated with pieces of colorful tissue paper and the hot glue gun. I stuck some twine in the sides and we popped popcorn on the stove to add to the inside as confetti/treat. The kids stuffed it before we hung it. Benjamin received some fairly negative marks from his teacher via email that day, so there was no chance I was putting anything sugary in there.

I hung it from a tree in the backyard and Benjamin took some major whacks to it and eventually we gave up on our incredibly sturdy construction and dumped the popcorn in bags and snacked away.

Sometimes it really is all about the process, as the product lay there, somewhat forgotten for ten days before we picked it back up and continued on (when I was just ready to send it out for trash pickup instead). Believe it or not, the breaking was rather anticlimactic.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that every single Easter while growing up, my adorable husband and his equally adorable family would make these very same balloon pinatas and break them open as an Easter celebration activity with the cousins. The tradition lives on.

Easter Recap + Barbie Reaction

Didn't want to leave you all hanging with that Barbie post. My iPhone conveniently shot me that "sorry you idiot, but pictures are full and sucks to be you because now you can't take pictures of your cute kids doing hilarious things" right as I was about to snap the Barbie reaction. But have no fear, backup camera to the rescue.

Grandparents were in town, so that meant we got a real date night in during the Easter weekend. On a whim, we drove to Oak Park and toured Frank Lloyd Wright's first home. We walked through the neighborhood and checked out more of his designs, hit up a few thrift stores (for more Easter basket fillers the kids didn't need) and booked an Open Table for our favorite restaurant.

In addition to Easter service on Sunday, we decorated eggs, searched for baskets, enjoyed countless treats and fun with grandparents, made cupcakes, two pies, ate tons of delicious food, tried a new restaurant together, went out for donuts (because, more sugar obvi), played at the park, visited the children's museum, pool time, had a fun spa treatment with my MIL and had a great time.

It's always serious detox when grandparents come and leave. The few days after are hard on everyone, but the days with everyone together is oh-so-sweet.

Now the baskets. I probably filled the baskets too much. But I have this gift closet I hoard gifts the kids aren't developmentally ready for (that they received as gifts), I got for crazy cheap, or got for free somehow. I stuck a few of those in there along with thrift store book scores for $.25-$.59 each, a $3 and $5 Barbie (one for each), lacrosse sticks I got for $3.50 on clearance and some chocolate from their Aunt Mansa. It totals less than $20/per kid. Next year, they're just getting books. Or maybe a pat on the back and a high five. #spoiled

whose is whose?

Before church, the kids opened a gift from the Easter Bunny (Mickey Mouse waffle maker for breakfast). I could've stopped there, because at 2 and 4, they still haven't connected that Easter also means baskets. But since they are entitled, spoiled little chickens, they got more. Not to mention the variety of gifts brought by grandparents, box sent from their Aunt Mansa and box sent from their other set of grandparents. Really, no shortage of love here. Or candy.

Baskets, spotted!

Barbie time. Here's that reaction...

That used $.35 copy of Cinderella was actually the biggest hit. We have the movie, but he never watches it. But the book, new fave. He's also a huge fan of that Harold and the Purple Crayon book, another $.59 thrift purchase that looks brand new! I love used books for the price and the green purchase (reduce, reuse!). And the book is so age appropriate.

And naturally, the hair on the Barbie doll is all ratty now (didn't last 24 hours) and they are infrequently played with. But that was a given, right? Surprisingly, Claire is the one who requests hers to sleep with, but she's nurturing and says the same for her other babies.

Other things to note: Professor Wiseman in Curious George was a male back in Curious George and the Rocket and in more recent books, Professor Wiseman is a female. Fun fact. Also, in the Barbie, I Can Be President book, Barbie does indeed become class president (spoiler alert! HAH!) and she meets the President of the United States who is a female!

Luxur --- ious.

If you can just sing that title to the tune of "Notorious" by Notorious B.I.G., that would be ideal. If only the title would just sing it to you.

We drove to a farther YMCA this morning so the kids could have a little variety by playing at a new kid's area, but mostly for me. I usually use one hour of childcare, giving myself an hour workout and then leaving myself sweaty, smelly and unkept the rest of the day. I get my shower when they go to bed at night.

This time, I indulged in using 1 hour and 35 minutes of kid care so I could run a quick 5k on the treadmill and then relax in the sauna, steam room and hot tub, followed by a shower where I could shave my legs, wash and dry my hair and apply makeup. Just because.

I've been looking forward to this morning all week, and it was totally appropriate it took place on a Friday to cap off the week well.

We first discovered these additional amenities and really fancy locker room when we visited their pool for family swim last weekend and I vowed I'd be back.

We're not planning to keep this membership over the summer, as our main priority in joining was strictly to use the pool with the kids on the cold winter weekends of boredom. That, and we wanted to keep them comfortable in the pool since swim lessons would be an epic disaster with either of them. When spring arrives, we'll switch to our outdoor pool and I'll just run outside. Until then, I'm living it up. Because man... I could totally get used to that sort of morning full of relaxation.

$10 IKEA Art Transformed

I'm a sucker for the As-Is section at IKEA. I see low tags and great potential. Sometimes it totally pays off, like when we scored that single panel Werna curtain for our bedroom re-do for $10 instead of having to buy the pair at $50. Or the castle tent (BEBOELIG) for $10 from being a floor model. Or the toddler bed (with mattress) that was also a floor model for $60 out the door. Or even the kid's kitchen that retails for $80 that we bought for $30.

We kinda sorta love scoring deals. But you guys knew that. It's just plain fun. 

This was one of the flops though. I saw potential, but this art piece sat in the basement closet for years. In an effort to declutter and sell a bunch of stuff (which was a success!), I uncovered this old piece of framed art. The goal was to take out the old art and replace it. The frame alone was totally worth $10, being quite large. I didn't want the art, though I have nothing personally against seeing the female anatomy. I just don't really want this woman hanging on our walls. 

Benjamin's been begging for projects lately, and I'm trying to use this enthusiasm from my typically art-hating kid to cultivate some learning experiences around here. Plus, it makes for a more exciting week when the kids are engaged and not tearing up the house for no good reason. Winter, hurry the heck up and turn into spring already. 

Before and after of the naked lady transformation right here and now. (Which was super fun googling to find the image because I forgot to take a "before" picture, but then it occurred to me to just look on the back of the frame for the correct IKEA name to put into the google searchbar. Um, right.)

The picture is raised, but stuck to the matting. The white matting is just stapled on the back, so really it's a frame without the backing... not as valuable of a frame. Claire and I picked up two bottles of cheap acrylic paint at Michael's for $.79 each when we went to score that grab bag a couple weeks ago. I chose teal and she chose a wine color. We had the mustard color from a year ago when Benjamin was Daniel Tiger for Halloween and I made him a DT watch to match his outfit.

We have (what seems like an endless supply of) a collection of cheap dollar store painter's tape that I don't recommend ever using to paint a room. Frog tape ALL the way and worth the cost. But for art projects? Yeah, sure. Super easy to peel off because they barely stick anyway. I painted two layers of white acrylic paint over the lovely lady and her black background and then taped away, intentionally creating a heart because I'm always thinking of Andrew and hearts make me think of how much I love him and simultaneously how much I love his brother and sister. The heart was also strategic to cover up the actual heart (and um, breasts) of the former art behind it. My next step was using plastic wrap to cover the matting because I didn't want that ruined during the kid painting session.

We started out organized and while I knew they would probably mix paint, I didn't realize it would become a goal. Dip one, two, three and then paint the art. Okay. So kids always find a way to make it more interesting. I helped a little, but mostly just participating and not trying to improve. B spent the majority of time on the heart and I spent time focusing on mustard because they didn't use much for some reason. 

We replaced some art in our formal living room (turned bounce house/playroom) after selling the furniture in there (should be a post in itself, stay tuned!) to make it a more purposeful and fun space for the kiddos. We even took the mountain goat art from our entryway and shifted art a bit elsewhere to make the spaces work better. 

bounce house deflated, but not the action this room gets... anymore! Boring to BOMB.

Cape May Vaca(tion)

Most of the time, we come home from a vacation saying, "Yeah, it was great but we're glad to be home in our own beds."

Not this one. I could've slept in the bed at that beach house for the duration of my life. Family, beach, great food, lots of dates (and an overnight!) with the husband, exploring, a lantern release for our loves, morning jogs with Aunt Mansa, geocaching, seeing my kids giddy with excitement each day...

We planned this trip for a number of reasons. Elliot's grandma from NY would be able to meet Claire for the first time and see Benjamin again (since she last saw him at 4 months old!), Elliot's uncle and aunt who live in Maine would come down to meet the kids as well, and the rest of the family would be able to make it for a portion of time. E's grandma who lives in Maryland, E's parents and his sister along with her boyfriend would all be able to make the 3-hour drive. And let's not forget beach house vacation for all!

We took the 1.5 hour flight from Chicago to New York and drove three hours to Cape May. The kids were perfect and it was all good as long as I kept handing over the snacks (aka the only foods Benjamin consistently eats). On the way home, Claire was graded a marginal C-, but Benjamin rocked it. The sweet age of flight is about 2.5, so little sister has a ways to go; just in time for us to shell out the cash for four seats. (We're squeezing in two more flights before that happens, thankfully.)

We had a date night out of town as well, but I'll save that for my next post. Without further adieu... let the photo bombardment begin!

It was a two-two seater, so B sat next to a stranger for the first time! 

We explored Wildwood one afternoon. Beach naps. Sand play.

Blanket forts with Gramie & Great Gramie, ocean play, Gramie rainbow ball love and some baby snuggles on the beach.

Aunt Mansa and Ben are besties.

Jumping to Grandpa from the ottoman never got old. Jumping into sand pits. Aunt Mansa reading up on marathon training (her first Savannah this November! Gramie and granddaughter.

Grandma Wilson with her son, grandson + me, great granddaughter and great grandson. Uncle Sam, Aunt Fran and her sister Mary + pool time!

Great Gramie play. First flowers gifted from Grandpa who bought them from a corner flower stand.

We visited Sunset Beach, the lighthouse and a WWII lookout (that was closed for the day). We collected these pebbles from the beach as part of a geocache.

Some precious moments between Ben and Grandpa. Grandpa turned 63, so Benjamin and Claire helped decorate a cake for him. Then Benajmin proceeded to scold Grandpa on his choice of  books, deeming the book on Japanese culture the "mean" book. He expressed great displeasure that Grandpa would read such a book (and later made me read SIX pages of it to him).

During one of Claire's naps, we took B on a trolley ride around the town. This was part of Claire's silly behavior on our plane ride back.

Great Gramie signed the guest book at our cottage. 

The week was divine and one we're not likely to stop daydreaming about for quite awhile.

Sky Love Lanterns for Papa & Andrew

We'd been looking forward to our family vacation at Cape May, New Jersey beach for over half a year now. When we booked our flights and the beach cottage rental, we were on total countdown mode.

In the midst of this planning, we said goodbye to my husband's incredible, sensitive and amazing grandfather, Papa. We hoped he would be there to celebrate family and life with us in the flesh, but he was surely with us in spirit.

In order to remember him and hold him in our presence, I wanted to bring him there to the beach with us, just as we planned. Papa's favorite color is red (so much that he asked Gramie to wear a red dress when he returned home from the war!). I'd been wanting to send a Japanese lantern to the sky for Andrew for years now. My parents had sent one to him last year, but I had yet to experience it myself. Sending a red one up for Papa just seemed like the right thing for the occasion and the perfect opportunity to send one for Andrew. We were at the beach and the landscape would be beautiful.

On the evening of our lantern release, it began to rain during dinner. I had given up hope that we would be lighting them that evening, until the rain stopped as soon as it started. We made the effort to write a few notes to our beloveds and loaded them into the car. Benjamin and Claire had their hands traced on the thin paper while the rest of us (Samantha, Kay, Steve, Ray, Gramie, Benjamin, Claire and I) wrote notes of love.

As we were all piling into our cars to make the approximately 5 mile trip to the Cape May Lighthouse, we saw a full rainbow in the sky. It was present when we arrived, too.

Papa and Andrew were there with us. We could really feel it.

We walked halfway down the beach as Gramie and Kay waited and watched up on more even ground as we lit the lanterns. At first, they weren't catching fire quickly as we'd hoped... but eventually... a minute or so later... Papa's red lantern was ready to take flight. Andrew's lantern followed and there was a glimmer of red and blue in the sky on the beach at sunset on that Thursday evening, July 30, 2015.

Papa's lantern taking flight.

Family of five.

Andrew's lantern taking flight.

Both lanterns here are visible. Papa's is almost exactly center and Andrew's more visible to the right.

The lanterns were incredibly beautiful and so peaceful. We set them off not only near a lighthouse during sunset with a full rainbow in the sky, but about 500 feet from a World War II bunker on the beach. Papa served in WWII and it was just an added piece of warmth to tie into the moment. May Papa and Andrew always feel the love we have for them, deep in our hearts.

Visit From Gawbee

June brought Gawbee on an airplane, and also a date night for us! As always, it's so nice to have family in town to love on the kids and spend our time with.

Gawbee treated Benjamin to a movie date. He was thrilled. Especially since she actually put quarters in the arcade games.

Arboretum exploring and dinner in cute little chairs in the children's garden.

We even took Gawbee on a geocaching adventure in the woods and spotted 3 deer and hundreds of frogs. One of those frogs still lives under our deck.

First Geocache

A few weekends ago, we were knee deep in house projects and were bummed about some neighbors making rude comments. Side story: We cut down two trees in our yard (one was dead) and they expressed disappointment in the form of the words, "We're sorry for your loss." When you've actually, really lost a child or anyone important to you, talking about trees with those same words is offensive. Those neighbors are forever on my list.

The weekend was full of hardware store trips and I needed to change this. We had to do something as a family. I'd been insanely jealous of my friend Renel adventuring with her family and had geocaching on my list for a few years now. I wanted in. I didn't want to schlep babies out to find caches and wanted it to be a family affair (though I could totally geek out on this all alone!). I had to wait until they were a bit older.

With a 1yo and 3yo and a weekend of mundane yardwork, I told the husband we were going on a geocaching adventure.

He rolled his eyes.

I knew he'd enjoy it once we'd started. He's just as --if not more-- adventuresome as me. Without telling me, he put in for a lottery to hike Mt. Whitney in 2007 (I was pissed!). We got it. We hiked for 16 straight hours and over 26 miles. It was probably the coolest experience of my entire life. All thanks to the pushy (and amazing) husband.

The cache was hidden .3 miles from our home in what looked to be the parking lot of a nearby parish. Problem was, it was on and off raining the whole day. Benjamin insisted on the single red stroller, so Claire went on my back in the Ergo. It wasn't raining when we started, but about halfway, it began to downpour. We took shelter under a tree.

My husband turned to me and said something about just aborting the mission. I was having none of that. So it was raining. So we were drenched. What else did we have to do anyway? And rain doesn't hurt anyone! Claire was surprisingly loving it. I told him he could head home, but I was going to keep going.

About 100 feet from us, there were 5 guys playing a drinking game with washers and old coffee cans. I told the husband that I would just ask these guys if they could get me a Ziploc so our phones would stay dry. He didn't like the idea (read: male), but I explained to him that these guys would probably give me the shoes they were wearing if I asked. Because, female. I assumed they would have to run in the house and grab me one. I asked, and one of the guys randomly whipped a Ziploc out of his pocket and handed it to me.

Phones dry, we trekked on. After searching around the bushes in the parking lot for about 10 minutes with Benjamin whining about going home and Claire becoming increasingly more drenched and dirty from gleefully sitting and splashing in a mud puddle, we found it.

Scratch. The husband found it. The stars in his eyes shined brightly and he recommended we upgrade our membership that evening.

We're Going on a Treasure Hunt

My son doesn't like getting his hands dirty. He'll play in the dirt, fully enjoying himself, until he realizes it's dirt and then it's all over. "Mom, I'm dirty. Clean me, please."

This past weekend, we headed out after naptime on geocaching adventures like we have the last few weekends. We tell him we're finding treasures. We are. Some of them, we even get to keep (for a trade). One of them had us through some woodsy ungroomed area and required we trek about 30 feet into the sticks. And branches. And rose bush thorns. We assumed he wouldn't, so we headed in. He insisted he wanted to go in. And when he cut himself on the rose bush thorns in two places, he had a mini issue, but gave himself a spit bandaid and moved on. Progress. When he found the chicken-shaped, totally adorable geocache "treasure," he was even more excited. He trekked back out of the woods and then insisted he put it back himself. He was owning that adventure. We were bursting with pride.

As I type this, we've found 19. Only on weekends and only together.

Five years now living here, we're sort of stuck in the there's nothing to see rut. But there is. And there are adventures to be had. I desperately want my kid, who could easily sit in front of Disney movies all day without breathing air outside, to seek adventure. To go outside and explore the unknown and expose himself to what may not be comfortable.

He may not be into nature and hiking and traveling quite as much as his parents, but we would be foolish not to at least give him that exposure. If you've never been introduced, how can you fall in love?

Last weekend, we parked our car and walked within about a two-mile radius just searching for geocaches a few miles from our house. We were digging under bridges and finding our way 300 feet into the sticks in the name of adventure. We stopped at a park we discovered halfway through our adventuring and then headed out for the next treasure hunt. We finished the evening with pizza, ice cream and talking of our awesome finds.

I started a treasure jar that both kids have dug through with excitement over the last few days. There's a 10-sided dice, friendship bracelet, plastic dino, trackable zebra, a nickel, a penny, and an "astronaut," which is actually a transformer robot-looking creature. But to Benjamin, it's an astronaut. To his parents, it's a memory of us getting out as a family and enjoying being together and outside in nature to cultivate the spark of curiosity that is born in every child. And with any luck, the spark can be made into a fire and continue to burn into adulthood.

We're all hooked.
(Except maybe Claire who has no freaking idea what is going on, but loves to find things and open packages and dig through that treasure jar just like the rest of us. She's good for an adventure as long as she has 1. snacks-- girl can eat and 2. allowed to touch some of those treasures without brother snatching them up.)

Mother's Day Necklaces

I like celebrating the grandmas. It takes some of the pressure off how I'm feeling about the whole loaded day. I like to channel my energy into celebrating the grandmas. Yes, I feel very grateful I have two extremely needy children to hug. I also appreciate what most moms appreciate on that day; peace and quiet. The irony. But oh man. Will it ever feel right knowing Andrew will never be involved in the whole celebratory bit? Meh.

Ever since Benjamin's first year, I've made photobooks for each month of the previous year, including places we've gone and family we've seen. They also have a book from Andrew's pregnancy and birth. The grandmas love these, so I use them as a gift (which is totally the best gift I can think of!). Considering Mother's Day always takes place in May, it also lights a fire under me to get the photobook made. It takes me a solid 1.5 months to complete these books, averaging about an hour each day. It takes forever!

With that said, I love creating them because I get to review all the great times we had that year and knock out three birds with one stone. The two grandmas receive them as gifts and I have two additional printed for Benjamin and Claire. They'll have one for each year of their childhood.

The photobook is great, but it's the same gift each year. I also like to think up something creative and kid-friendly that the kids can do to celebrate their grandmas at this young age. This year, I used this tutorial to make heart fingerprint necklaces for the grandmas.

Other than my perfectionist nature not liking how my kids were not perfectly paying attention and cooperative with the exact angle of their prints (ha!), I think they turned out quite cute.

We had enough clay to make quite a few. Benjamin made his own and painted it... what else... pink.

Jesus. Bunnies. Babies. Family.

Easter was nearly a month ago, but I wanted to get some pictures up before we head off to our next adventure this week...

We had a few egg hunts, visited the beautiful Cantigny Park, had a visit with Mr. Easter Bunny and apparently he has a wife (who we also visited, to Claire's dismay). We ate good food, enjoyed the company of Grandpa and Gramie and even got out for a little date night while they were here.

We also colored eggs. That's an activity I have since learned from after Benjamin dumped the entire cup of pink coloring on the floor, which quickly transitioned into the next activity, cleaning. We will either be skipping that fun event in years to come or doing it outside.

Claire was overall confused with the hoopla surrounding the holiday, but had no problem finding eggs and popping crackers into her mouth like a boss. Benjamin fully enjoyed the egg finding (except when he found eggs with coins inside them. Clearly one gummy bear trumps a quarter to a 3yo). He was an expert at finding all the pink eggs at the park we visited and at home, found every one and ate the treat as he found them. Next year might be a little different when he has competition in the form of a 2yo little sister who will know better than to sit around watching him take all the treats!

Jesus. Eggs. Sugar-filled kids. Bunnies who bring gifts (and also make toddlers cry). Grandparents and lots of love. Easter 2015 down on the books.