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 :)
 |
| 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!!
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment