Spring 2019

We are off Facebook, and it's good to be free of it, but I still want to share pictures and stories with friends and family.

Gwen finished preschool and socially she really blossomed toward the end of the year. She now has a handful of friends and we have playdates. I didn't factor in managing my kids' social lives at the beginning of this parenting adventure, but I know this is a short and sweet phase and I'm trying to enjoy it though you can imagine, if you know me, managing the extra phone calls and emails is challenging for me.  Here's Gwen walking out of school hand in hand with her best friend.

We have been spending our time this spring going to the park, hiking, and getting ice cream. Juni has a very special sense of style, and picks out mulitple outfits to wear in a day... Some are better than others.

Gwen likes getting her picture taken again, most of the time, which makes me happy. Gwen likes clothes to match or look well together, and the final touch is usually her black boots- smart girl. 

I'm convinced we're going to spend more money on empty calories this year. Licks Unlimited in Excelsior has a lot of cool flavors and is a pretty quircky place. 

We try to go on a hike most weekends while the weather is nice. The most challenging hike was hiking up and down the bluffs at Frontenac Park in Red Wing, Minnesota. It was fun, but we carried our kids at least half the way. After 3 miles we were dead on our feet, but it was so much fun! I saw my first scarlet tanager, too, which if you don't know is a magical bright red bird, much more striking than a cardinal. 

We took the kids the UP Michigan, that's a 7.5 hour car ride. The trip there the kids were angels, but the last leg of our trek home was brutal. Still, we had a nice time.

Juni has to bring her Elephant everwhere.

Can't drive through all of Wisconsin without a cheese stop!

 Gwen just started swimming lessons and is going to begin soccer soon; we'll be sure to have updates this summer on this blog. 

Ok, here are some bonus pictures of cute children. Right now Juni is totally running the show. She's high-energy, talkative, and highly social. She's 18 months and has started potty training. Gwen is super interested in time and how fast things are and the big, big questions about good and evil, life and death.