Monday, June 24, 2013

Mama Morning: Contemporary Arts Center

"Come Follow Me" was our favorite exhibit.
Because I work for a company based in Seattle, we established "West Coast Wednesdays" and they're a total win-win.  On these days, I work from 11:30-7:30pm EST. So, I get the mornings with my girlies and my work peeps get me available later in PST work day.  It works out great.  The girls call them "Mama Mornings." Something about having even a few hours one day a week to really be intentional about planning time for the three of us makes each Wednesday super special. It's a great way to break up the work week for me - and a great way to break up 5 days of childcare for them.  So, when I write the book on "Achieving Work/Life Balance," you can bet that there will be a chapter on "West Coast Wednesdays."

To kick off a summer of Wednesdays, we tried something new on our first week of Josie's summer. (Up til now "Mama Mornings" have largely been spent with Bea at the zoo - her regular pick.) We headed to the Contemporary Art Center downtown. It had been years since we went to the CAC. It was SUPER fun and we can't wait to go back!!

Here are the highlights. We started with a romp through Fountain Square in the early morning. It was blissful. There were lots of conversations that started with "Mama, tell me about when this used to be our backyard."




Then it was time to get our modern art on!





Enthralled with a video about the 'paper airplane' installation behind them





Before we left, we made some of our own masterpieces.


One highlight of our trip was the "screaming room". Good clean fun! **Make sure you hover & click over the top left corner to turn on the audio.**



Now get your buns to the CAC!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Father's Day Fun



Lou rocks. There are no two ways about it. He's the dad that views every waking second that he's not at work as an opportunity to spend time with his family. He's the dad that organizes the school's community yard sale and spends weeks planning and executing it. He's the dad that gives full attention, listens empathetically, plays enthusiastically, and exudes love. And, he's the dad that wants to spend father's day just soaking up slow time with his daughters.  I could just about burst with joy & gratitude every time I stop to think about how fortunate my girls are to have this man as a father. I just love watching him be their papa.

Here are some pictures from our celebration of Father's Day - that started a couple weeks ago when Josie surprised Lou with a special gift from school and that ended with a trip to Deweys for Pizza & Graeters for Ice Cream and was filled in between with a full day of just hanging out together in our pajamas until 4pm painting, playing and being a family.

Making fruit filled french crepes like a boss:




Painting in pajamas on the porch:

Making a volcano with a yard sale score:

Guarding a trip through the washing machine for a whole bunch of very dirty bedtime cuddly-friends:

Enjoying the art of pizza at Dewey's:

Embracing our inner goddess after big bowls of ice cream:

 Here's Lou receiving his special portrait and "my dad" paper from school. It's adorable!

And, last but not least, I had to share Josie's edit on the father's day picture. How funny is this - "Queen Josie" - ah, the mind of the 5.75 year old.


Thanks to Sweet Lou for being the a super duper dad! 


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Little Moments, Big Memories

Maybe it's the writer in me. Maybe it's just an unhealthy tendency (obsession?) with trying to preserve every fleeting moment, because that's my "pause button" when it all feels like it's racing by at the speed of light. Whatever it is, as they say, perfection tends to be the enemy of good. So, with that, maybe it's more short posts of little moments with big memories captured inside. And maybe instead of trying to get all the details down there, I'll just leave the details "exposed to the elements" of time.

Here are some recent little moments with big memories stored inside. Because I started this post in April. And it's June. And there were 40 or so of those fleeting moments captured between there and here. And most of them speak for themselves.
































Bea's "self portrait"




Playdoh "DD"

"Playdoh Grandma"