Friday Recap 1/18/19- Dad's Birthday, Choo choo to Booked, Snow fun, Oatmeal S'mores Cookie Recipe, "You Should Actually Send That Thank You Note",

Happy Friday! Winter storm warning here this afternoon through 12noon tomorrow! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray for snow!

1. Dad's Birthday

My Dad turned 84 (or 48 if you ask him) last week & we celebrated on Sunday evening. It was a fun, chaotic, loud and delightful party for Dad/Bump! It seems impossible that my Dad is 84, there are so many moments when he seems so much younger to me. I love getting together to celebrate these life events - its fun for me - but also teaches Lulu the importance of celebrating other people's big days!

2. Choo Choo to Booked

Lulu & I rode the CTA to go to one of our favorite book stores, Booked, yesterday to enjoy their kiddo music. The store is just delightful, with a wonderful selection of kiddo books (plus some grown up ones too) and a cozy atmosphere. The owner is warm and welcoming every time we visit & is more than happy to order books we want that she doesn't have in stock.

Lulu enjoyed the music for approximately 5 minutes before she demanded "out" :(

This week I was placing an order for some books for Lulu specifically about birds - she's been really into look for ducks & birds when we walk on a bridge near our house. I would love to know more about birds and thankfully my wonderful friend & college roommate, Amber, is into birding already! She also happens to be a mom to 2 beautiful littles, so I figured she'd have some insight into little kid bird books. Of course she did not disappoint! In case you want to know what I ordered, the books are: "Birds" by Kevin Henkes & Laura Dronzek, "Charley Harper's Count The Birds" by Zoe Burke & Charley Harper and "Mama Built a Little Next" by Jennifer Ward & Steve Jenkins

As I so often do, I got sidetracked by books when I thought I was going to be writing about Lulu's love of trains :) But it is worth noting that for the bargin price of $2.50 you can bring your train loving little on the CTA to geek out!! Double bonus if you only stay at your destination for less than 2 hours.....you can go home for the price of a transfer.......a whopping $0.25! Lulu still talks about seeing Santa on the choo choo (when we rode the CTA Holiday Train back in December) I'm guessing she's a touch disappointed each time I tell her that, no, Santa is unlikely to be on this choo choo :)

3. Snow Fun

Man. I love the snow. It didn't matter that we didn't get a ton last weekend, it mattered that we got some!!

We went sledding with friends (& had pizza delivered here afterward) and went cross country skiing the next day.

We also went sledding with some of Lulu's cousins - so much fun all the way around :)

Pure & simple - wintry bliss!! Have you & yours had any snow lately? What's your favorite snowy day activity? I should mention that after we play in the snow, we typically retreat inside, light a fire, drink hot drinks & read. Lest you think we are outside & active all winter :)

4. Chocolate Oatmeal S'mores Cookies

I will be more careful with the marshmallows next time....these do not look very pretty :)

I don't remember where I came across this recipe.....Pinterest? Instagram? Did one of you lovelies send it to me? I have not a clue - such is life with mom brain ;) Either way - I had some downtime during Lulu's naps this weekend, so I made this cookie dough. I baked some of the cookies & brought them to my parents' house for my Dad's birthday party. They were really good. Sort of scary good. I made them open faced - it seemed honestly like too much to have 2 full sized cookies, nutella & a marshmallow be 1 serving......I am not judging if you would like to have 2 of these - but 1 cookie per serving felt much more reasonable!

What are you baking during this winter season? I love to try out long, lazy recipes on these cold, sometimes dark days. Would love to know what's making your house smell like heaven!!

5. "You Should Actually Send That Thank You Note"

Gratitude is sort of a buzz word at the moment, would you agree? I don't mind - in my most humble opinion we could all benefit from expressing (& receiving) more gratitude. Science seems to bear out the benefits of gratitude - I know I've shared articles to this end in the past - but these things bear repeating! 

This article is not talking about the thank you notes we write for gifts given - the random gift card thank you note that is obligatory is not what was studied here. The researchers studied the "big" thank you notes where the writer expresses big feelings & deep appreciation for the recipient's actions/help. Thank you for supporting me when I was going through a tough time. Thank you for being with me during a time of grief/loss. Thank you for your guidance as I navigated a career or job change. The big things. Sometimes we all feel these big feelings for small things, it is worth writing the big thank you notes anytime you feel the big feels. The researchers found they were not met with the awkward feelings the writers anticipated. Quite the opposite - receiving these big thank you notes made the recipients feel so good they rated the feeling at a 4 out of 5 on the happiness scale they were given in the study. 

If you could, by investing a few minutes & a postage stamp, make a friend or family member feel the 4 out of 5 feels.......wouldn't you do it???? I know I would :) I guess I do already - but I can always write more of these notes. I like to tell my people how important they are to me. Most days I couldn't get through the day without my tribe of family and friends. We are social animals - there is no denying it. We require the closeness of others. Its high time we start acknowledging the great import these people play in our lives. 

Friday Round Up 7/13/18 - 1st Strawberry, Edible Gardens Bounty, Cousin Pool Time, WOW Walk, Bestie's New Home, Outdoor Concert, Blueberries, Old Friends

Happy Summery Friday everyone! The summer goodness just keeps on coming!

1. Our 1st Garden Strawberry

Yippee!! Our one little strawberry plant finally gave us our first strawberry! 

Lulu wore her strawberry outfit in honor of our first strawberry!

 I say "finallly"....this gives you some indication of my inexperience with gardening in general & strawberries specifically....I am so impatient! Reason #654 that gardening is a good hobby for me - there is no such thing as instant gratification in a garden! Slow, steady, lots of waiting & work before the rewards come. 

The only bummer about letting Lulu eat the 1st strawberry?

As most people likely are, I am a work in progress - this is an area that I constantly work on - slowing down to appreciate what's right in front of me, rather than worrying about & rushing toward the next thing, whatever that may be.

I'm not sure how it tasted!

2. Bounty & Beauty in the Edible Gardens

The sunflowers are getting so darn big!

My 2 times per month volunteering in the Edible Gardens at the Lincoln Park Zoo is, in many ways, self serving. 

One of our garden managers, David, shows off a freshly harvested head of garlic

I get to work alongside professional gardeners, master gardeners & home gardeners too. There is so much for a garden newbie like me to learn - the Edible Gardens are a great place for me to do it!

The flowers are nearly as exciting as the edible plants

The combination of time outside with time to myself is a good one. Obviously I'm surrounded by other volunteers, staff & zoo guests, but to exist as just me & not exclusively as Lulu's Mom, is necessary for me to feel like me. Almost essential really.

Yellow squash is almost ready to harvest

Again with the flowers!!!

Purple peppers never cease to amaze me

3. Cousin Pool Time

Anne keeping Lulu in line during a safety break

 For all the same reasons that Chris & I don't see our friends enough, I feel like we don't see our family enough either! Life gets in the way, schedules are hectic, summer is busy, etc, etc. Which is why having some serious cousin pool time for Lulu on Monday was such a treat! My sister in law invited Lulu & me to join her & her 4 kiddos for a late afternoon dip. It was delightful & a welcome relief from the heat of the day! My nephews & niece love being with Lulu, I love being with my sister in law & our tiniest little niece who is only 7 weeks old. What a great afternoon we had!

Kane's face in this photo is simply amazing.
The rest of the kiddos are adorable too :)
Baby Mary was getting changed, so didn't make this photo op!

4. WOW Walk

I host a weekly walk as part of Evanston's WOW program. I had no idea what to expect - I figured maybe I would meet some new people and at the very least, get outside with Lulu for an hour each week throughout the summer. As it turns out, the weekly walk has turned into a standing date with one of my friends from the Mom's Group I started! Emily is the only person who ever turned up for the walk (with her sweet daughter) and we have a lovey time enjoying the lakefront and catching up each week that we are in town. 

Stuck in the "fish bowl"

There was some police activity on the route we usually take (turned out to be a misunderstanding where someone mistook theater props as actual weapons in a parking garage) so we headed a different way. I love when lemons turn into lemonade - we stopped at a playground I'd never gone to before & the girls got to play a bit. We also carried Emily's stroller over a sandy hill in the hopes of continuing our walk - only to get caught in a fishbowl of boulders & more sand. Adventures 

abounded! 

At least we were stuck in a pretty place :)

5. Bestie's New Home

So Chris & I have been in our home for over 2 years, but I continue to be delighted by the place we live. That said, I can remember the excitement of those first few days & weeks - so much positive energy & planning alongside the dreaded unpacking! It was perfectly wonderful to get a tour of my best friend's new condo that she & her boyfriend recently bought together. It is ridiculously beautiful. The building is immaculately maintained. The unit is GINORMOUS. So many interesting details and features that make it unique. I was incredibly impressed by how moved in they were after living in their home for only 1 week. I obsessed over their awesome private patio. I had so much fun talking through some ideas for re-purposing some of their furniture for their new space. Oh man. Just perfect. What a wonderful Sunday morning it was to see my best friend so truly happy. 

Happiest best friend around!

 And then brunch. The new place is quite near this delightful neighborhood spot. It is tiny, it feels like you are being hosted in someone's home (a feeling fostered by its garden level location in an apartment/condo building combined with the cozy decor and tiny size). You are greeted by a florist shop type display of fresh flowers and the fun continues. The menu warns patrons to be patient as there is only one cook. The food was worth the wait FOR SURE. Delicious French press coffee, awesome iced coffee, baked goods looked great, though we forgot to get one to try! Can't wait to go back again soon. 

Seriously. The flowers!!!

6. Outdoor Concert in our Neighborhood

Fun to watch so many people dance!

 Summer is meant for outdoor music. It is just the best when the outdoor music is offered steps from our house!

Peekaboo!

Lounging

Several friends & neighbors also came to check out the free salsa concert - it was just great. Lulu made a giant mess of our picnic.........toddlers & picnics are a tough combo......her little feet just have a way of finding themselves into all of the food!! That being said, the night was pretty near perfect & I can't wait for the next Starlight Concert next week.

Pretty thrilled that it is summertime

7. Blueberry Explosion

I may have purchased a 10 pound box  of blueberries from a stranger on Facebook. She's in a mom's group I'm in.......she lives in my town...........what could go wrong? Nothing as it turns out. Everything could go right though!!

blueberry jam + 1st batch of blueberry muffins

Emily (pictured above) was nice enough to pick up my box since I was too busy at cousin pool time to get them!

10 pounds of beautiful blueberries!

Lulu & I biked down to Emily's to pick them up & I've been eating them like crazy & cooking with them too! Yippee for a HUGE box of blueberries - like a fun game of choose your own adventure :)

Lulu wasn't so much into waiting to sample them :)

8. Old Friends + Our Babies

Samson chillaxing in the pool with Lulu

It is such a huge delight to introduce Lulu to my old friends and see her get to know them & their babies. We had Dasi (one of my college friends) & her little man, Samson, over for a pool party Friday morning. The two of them crack me up - Lulu was rocking some hilarious swimsuit issue style poses in the pool - the likes of which I had not seen before, nor have I seen since!

Look Tim! A choo choo train!! ~Lulu

Then on Sunday evening we grilled out with high school friends Tim & Terry (& their beautiful brides Katie & Libby). Terry & Libby's Desmond is a "big kid" in Lulu's eyes and she really enjoyed watching the Metra trains roll by with him! It also made me happy that Lulu allowed Tim to pick her up to watch the trains for a minute. We continue to be in the thick of separation anxiety - so every time another adult can successfully hold Lulu, even if for a minute or two, it feels like a major win!

Granted you can't see her face - but she's NOT screaming or crying!
Whoop! Major win!

Christmas 2016 & a request for advice

Lizzard Loves Christmas. 

Time with family, the lights, the tree, fires in the fireplace, the snow, cozy days wrapping gifts, Chris' crazy Christmas suit,decorating the house, drinking hot chocolate, ice skating on GR & Tara's rink and the Ribbon at Maggie Daley Park, skiing, celebrating with friends, trains running around our tree, shopping for stocking stuffers, cooking, cooking cooking, and baking zillions of cookies, Owenn's Christmas sweater, homemade eggnog Chris makes, homemade treats of all stripes that everyone else makes, Lynn's cookie exchange party, the Evanston Christmas tree lighting, lots of Belle Plaine Bread, Mom reading this out loud to us on Christmas night, beautiful Christmas Eve mass at the church I grew up attending, Carols at the Bean downtown, ZooLights, Winter Wonderland Express at the Botanic Gardens, so many delicious meals made by my Mom, decorating cookies, visits from old friends, the whole kit & caboodle.

Some photos of this year's Christmastime fun, in no particular order:

Christmas Carols at the Bean (IN THE SNOW!!)

Chris' man cave Christmas tree

Helping with the decorations at GR & Tara's house

No time to cut down our own tree this year, to Anton's we went (just like when I was a kid!)

First floor decorations are up!

Inside view of our main tree

Members Only Night at ZooLights with Chris, Tara & the kids

Fuzzy ZooLights selfie

Lynn's Cookie Exchange

Evanston Christmas Tree Lighting

It is SNOWING!!!!

Owenn's first snowy walk

This dog LOVES the snow :) Its a good thing since we do too!

Skating on the Ribbon

Owenn's first cross country ski

Biscotti bonanza

Elfing :)

The boys enjoying their eggnog

O-man's Christmas sweater 

Peppermint hot chocolate with homemade marshmallow

Cookie baking with the cookie monster herself!

Skating at GR & Tara's rink #cousinlove

Christmas night fondue

Christmas Eve dressed up for church & dinner

So all of those wonderful, warm, fuzzy things said...........I'm looking for advice on this post though. It seems like I average approximately 1.5 meltdowns/ annual Christmas season. Full fledged, stress driven, crying mess meltdowns. (My poor, patient husband). As much as I love Christmas time, it always seems too short, too busy, too much. And the expectations- I dread the high expectations that I can't seem to keep in check. Meltdown could be why our Christmas cards went out after we rung in 2017......#sorryaboutthateveryone

 My ask here is this - do you have ways to handle your pre-holiday/during the holidays stress? How do you manage it all & enjoy yourself too? I do pretty ok for 90% of the season - but its a whopper of a 10% that puts a crimp in my Christmas enjoyment! 

Any/all thoughts/jokes/tips on this are most appreciated  - I have almost a full year to prepare for the next Christmas season & I need all the help I can get!!