28 Feb
Things by which Olivia has been upset, in the last three days alone:
27 Feb
Over the past few nights, the moon, Jupiter and Venus have aligned in the same “binocular field.” It’s a rather amazing site, visible as soon as darkness falls. Last night, Bryan set up the telescope, and we found we could see all four of Jupiter’s main moons.
The view of our moon was pretty spectacular, too. Here’s an image Bryan captured through the scope with his iPhone camera.
23 Feb
As I walked past the calendar earlier this week, I noticed someone had added an item for next Monday…
Ava’s classroom earned their “Happy People” award, which I believe entails adding something to a jar every time a class member does…something happy? I need to figure out the details, but the bottom line is that the class voted for a “bring your parents to school” day for their collective reward. The teacher quickly noted a 20-30 minute visit would be sufficient. And here I was looking so forward to PE class…
13 Feb
Ava: “I am going to start a new morning routine. I’m going to get up when you and Dad get up. I’m going to get dressed really fast. Then, I’m going to work out for a bit, have some breakfast and then read the paper. Maybe have a cup of decaf coffee. We do have decaf, right?”
9 Feb
About once a month (or, occasionally, a bit more frequently…), a group of my girlfriends hold a “Girls’ Night Out.” Last week, I hosted a Valentine’s Day-themed “Girls’ Night In.” About 25 women came together for conversation, cake-tinis, cupcakes and other sweets, and I was left feeling pretty darn fortunate to be surrounded by such amazing people.
Here are a few photos (and recipes) from the night.
Glasses awaiting pink cake-tinis…
Dawn and Terri:
Chocolate covered pretzels with candy sprinkles, and a few other treats:
Red wine lollipops:
Jen, Elspeth, Monica, Erin, Tami and Jill:
Carly and Molly:
Made especially for Monica–Dark chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel filling and topped with fleur de sel:
Jill, Sarah and Jen:
Mini almond frangipane pies:
Michelle, Jill, Tami, Jen and Erin:
7 Feb
Bryan made mention of “his son” last night, and I noted we’d have all kinds of new phrases to throw around after this baby’s born. I told him that I still remembered how remarkable it was the first time I said, “I’m Ava’s mom,” as I walked into the NICU the day after she was born.
Bryan responded, “I remember the first time I said that as well.”
For a moment, I thought he meant the first time he said, “I’m Ava’s dad,” but then I recalled this conversation from last week, held shortly after Bryan dropped Ava off at a classmate’s birthday party:
Bec: “How did the drop off go? Did you meet Sophie’s mom?”
Bry: “Yeah. I introduced myself as ‘Ava’s mom.'”
Bec (laughing hysterically): “What!? Did you correct yourself?”
Bry: “No…”
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