Spring in February

Spring came on a weekend.

We went to a festival.

Actually, make that TWO festivals.  And the lake.  And an estate sale.  And the woods.

Can't trust us with nice weather and a free weekend, now can you?

Friday night:  A lovely dinner-and-hang-out night with our friends, culminating in this:

No words necessary...

Saturday-- the very definition of a blustery day.  Gusty winds blew in a burst of 70 degree sunshine.  Glorious. Intoxicating.  Amazing.

Inaugural backyard soccer game of 2016.  Following the inaugural yard-wide poop cleanup of 2016.

Maybe not the best for an Ice-Carving festival.  But we made the best of it!

The kids were invited to help judge the ice carving competition.  They were rapt during the entire 20 minute process.  Corydon enjoyed licking all the melting ice she could find...

The Brite Winter festival was in a new location this year, down in the Flats.  Worked well for it.  We went nice and early and avoided the rush.  As we were leaving, most of Cleveland seemed to be streaming in to enjoy the (high quality) beer truck and the giant disco ball suspended from a crane.  Looked to be quite the party. Oh to be young again.

But-- can't complain about the time we did spend there!

Giant arcade games are always fun...

 As are smores over a giant bonfire...

 And, of course, the eternal favorite:  Running around underneath a bridge...

view of the flats...

Ivy described this wall as "warm and snuggly."  yep.

Sunday:  Since we had nothing planned, we spent the morning at an Estate Sale and the lake, before dragging ourselves away to rush home and host 4 children for a playdate...
Somehow it still felt like a relaxing day, with plenty of time to cook for the week, walk in the woods, and even get schoolwork done.   Some weekends just have that magic about them, right?


Still wishing we could have had another day.  Too much of a good thing is wonderful, after all.


It was pure magic at the lake.  Surprisingly warm as we walked around on the mountains of sandy lake-ice.  The kids discovered the joys of slush, and exploring together in the "wilds" of Rocky river Beach.  I love them so intensely from a distance, watching them be out there in the world.  Two complete little humans embarking on their lives, making memories of their childhood.

 I hope they remember this.

 I will.

Ivy is making a "kindness potion".  Oh how I love her. 

 Playdate time!  Only managed to get them out into our woods for the last 10 minutes... but I think they're going to want to head there first, next time...

Took our two down to the creek for a while after their friends left.  Again, the magic of nature at work. Two peaceful siblings, fully engaged, no screens.

 We are so very ready for spring !  What a magical taste of it we had this weekend....


Preview:  Jack has finished (through much cajoling, nagging, and a bit of family teamwork) his first Science Fair project!  Stay tuned for photos of the official "Invention Convention"  later this week...

Ivy has been living vicariously through Jack, even coming up with her own "copycat" invention-- the double painter.  I'll have to post a pic of her prototype and her answers to the Invention Convention journal questions....

Love and Snowflakes...

Well. It's back to winter in the CLE.

We knew it was coming back, that all those warm sunshiney weekends were too good to last.

I was kind of in denial about that.

Ah well.

Silver lining?  Influx of snow = delicious surprise of a snow day yesterday!  Right on the heels of a 3 day weekend.

Snow days are my favorite thing, second only to three day weekends.   And yesterday did not disappoint.  I got the call just as I was pulling in to the J so I went ahead and stayed for yoga, then went to Starbucks to get some paperwork done.  Miracle of miracles, our kids still had school, and the roads in the Heights were fine--- so, date day for Nat and I!  A photo drive through Lakeview, time at the art museum, lunch at the new Pho restaurant on Coventry, antique shopping.

I could get used to this.

Plus, this current snow we have?  It's gorgeous.   A world in black and white, soft-edged.  Our house glows cozily among the drifts.  It's almost enough to make one enjoy winter.  Or maybe that's the snow day talking...

A little look back at February so far:

Finishing up Ivy's winter session of ballet.  The kids have chosen to do a school program that will be on Wednesday nights, so this is the last of ballet for a while. I will miss our Wednesday evenings, even if we always had to race maniacally through dinner just to be late anyways..

Ivy sure loves to dance.

 Here comes the snow.  That's my crazy-big boy who like to not wear coats...
And be adorable.  Isn't he adorable?

 Valentine's Day!  More love than we could handle.  Also more preparing of large meals, serving, and cleaning up than we could handle...

Meal 1-- special day breakfast with our little group.

Meal 2:  take-out brunch with Gram, Bec, and Joe.

Annual Valentine Cookie photo.  Somehow, we now make Valentine cookies every year.  It's a thing...

 Time out from cleaning to enjoy our little slice of woods across the street.  We had a great time watching a group of bucks wander through the forest.  And watching our happy, happy dog bound through the drifts...

Meal 3:  Second Sunday Soup!  On a Holiday!  Plus glitter!
 It was a hot mess and crazy as ever and totally great.

The playroom-turned-art-studio early in the evening, before children started to literally throw the glitter.  At this point, the valentine room still seemed like  a good idea...

So this happened just as everyone was starting to leave-- the 3 remaining big kids, sitting together and discussing, with great feeling and much evidential proof, exactly how the various Star Wars movies should be interpreted.  It was so cute!

President's Day sledding and game day with some friends.  New tradtion, anyone?  Next year-- president costumes!

  It's been a great week, hasn't it?  Stay warm, everyone.

Love and Light

We had the pleasure of attending a really beautiful wedding on Saturday. A good friend of mine, from college and from West Shore Chorale, married the love of his life in a hip, artsy space, in the company of well-dressed friends.  The food was terrific, the Dj was solid, the dance moves were spectacular.

We clean up well, don't we?  ** See story below about Ivy and the dressing up...

I do love weddings.  All that joy!  Anticipation!  The promise and potential, the pretty words in the ceremony, the looks on everyone's faces as they take it all in.  The way all the people in attendance come together around these two people they all share in common.  I love watching the kids come out on the dance floor, and then the older relatives, letting loose.  I love all the love.

This one, though?  Better than most.  And not just because of the delicious cupcakes.  Jason and Chuck have been together 13 years and have been waiting for this day for almost that long.  Yesterday they were able to marry, LEGALLY, in their home city and state.
About time!

So, multiply the feelings of love and joy and anticipation and togetherness by about 5 million, and you'll have some idea of how it felt to be at this wedding.

It was a perfect.

As if Jason's wedding wasn't enough-- this weekend treated us to glorious weather, again!   I am so grateful.  This morning's view:

A wonderful hour at the beach, kids discovering hidden icicles on the pier, making couches and desks and whole dramas from the crazy piles of sand.  It was a terrific morning for sea glass, too.  Terrific morning for just about anything, actually, with the bit of sun-warmth on our skin and the lake so calm it was hypnotic.  We could have stayed all day, but for the need to feed our children.  Which we did, on the way home, at the Chinese buffet.

So yeah, it's been a pretty good weekend...

** Aforementioned story:  Just wanted to capture a bit of what life is  like with my Ivy-girl around.  

Saturday afternoon Jack was dying to go ice skating. Ivy, not so much, so we did the divide-and-conquer thing and Ivy stayed home with me while Nat took Jack to Wade Oval.  Decided to get a jump on the getting ready, since I am notoriously indecisive about clothing for formal events.  Ivy was SO excited to help me pick out an outfit and get ready.  Before our shower we laid out a few choices and she was so careful to be sure she understood it all ("So, mom-- THESE shoes are the ones with this dress and those boots go over there with that one?") and so effusive with praise over the fluffy skirts on the dresses.  I tried on each choice and she carefully took a photo of me, which we then reviewed.  She was completely heartbroken when I did not go with her choice of THE most fancy ensemble--"mom!  Those skirts twirl out!  This one has a skirt too tight!  You won't be able to move your legs that way and this way to dance!" -- but managed to cope with her sadness in time to go get dressed up, herself.  She had to assemble exactly 3 choices, same as me, so we went to the playroom to pretend to buy a few more fluffy dresses.  Then she tried them on and I took her picture and she was pleased to choose THE fanciest ensemble, of course.  I'm not sure where this girly-girl came from--but I do so enjoy her!