\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n
History Storytime<\/a> is a fun new podcast we discovered that shares 10 minute stories and they are delightful and very kid-friendly. The girls enjoy them on car rides.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n I feel it’s possible we are finally hitting our stride with math. Singapore Primary US version is working well for us all. We are still using Horizons workbooks here and there and was just sent Beast Academy text and workbooks to check out which totally through me off because I did not know they are in comic book form. I plan to play around with these and report back.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n I decided we need more writing in our days. I’m trying to choose between buying a Bravewriter Dart or Boomerang<\/a> to do or IEW Fables, Myths, and Fairytales writing lessons<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n The more I’m off social media, the happier I am. That pains me to say because I love the ease of connecting on Instagram<\/a> and the friends I have on the app, but sometimes it just feels like a lot of noise and I sometimes wonder what I’m contributing to the space besides just more noise… and dinner pictures \ud83d\ude0b<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n I also sometimes get too sucked into my phone and out of my real life. I’m forever trying to find the right balance of living life and sharing it. No answers here; just an observation.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n I bought this butterfly kit<\/a> and am really impressed with it. Unlike ant farms we’ve had in the past, the caterpillars are shipped right to you with the kit. Ours are growing quickly and we are having such a fun time with them. The girls have named them all.<\/p>\r\n We also planted our seeds (in this awesome seed starting set<\/a>) and are crossing our fingers they sprout! <\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n We have been busy bees around the house. We’ve ordered new lighting fixtures for the kitchen, dining room, and entry way. I prepped the garden and we cleaned the dock and set up fake snakes to keep the geese from “visiting” there. So far, it seems to be working.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n David took down the girls’ old playset (they cared not at all) and we spent hours shoveling gravel under the back deck, part of which will serve as the girls’ official Nature Girl Headquarters. Nature Girls is their favorite outside game to play and involved making magic potions and saving worms. <\/em><\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n We are also soon undergoing a big project to take off all the siding on our house and replace it with hardie board. We’ll be adding some stone, doing new lights, and a new front door, too. It’s exciting!<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n I don’t know if I’ll ever want to write about my grief. It surprises me because it’s so present in my life and writing is a way I work through things, but I still can’t make sense of it and certainly don’t have any eloquent words to say about it. Some moments I’m totally fine but in others it almost feels like the earth opens up beneath my feet and I fall into a pit of realization that my life, and Mom and Kris’ lives, will never be the same. I worry that admitting that may sound dramatic and it makes me feel super vulnerable and that’s how I know I’m not ready to talk about it. I’m not ready for outside input on this personal process.<\/p>\r\n But at least now that the constant rain has given way to more sunny days, my mental health is so much better. I never believed I had seasonal affective disorder, but maybe I have a touch of it?<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n My mom, brother, and I are planning my dad’s celebration of life ceremony this weekend. We are going to have the ceremony on his birthday weekend in May, just shy of a year of the anniversary of his passing (since the state of the world prevented any such event last year).<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n I’m simultaneously looking forward to spending time with mom and Kris, sick to stomach about having to put the details of that day together, and at the same time ready to properly have a time to celebrate, remember, and mourn him with the people who all loved him so much. In so many ways, I still can’t believe he is really gone, and in other ways it feels like he has been gone for so long. Tears are falling down my face, so it’s all I’m going to share about that for now.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n I can’t end on tears, especially when for the most part I feel so much joy lately (thank you, sunshine!). The spark of planning for our family’s future is back, after being thrown off by a year of loss, from my Grandma Betty, to Dad, to our house contract(s) falling through. <\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n Furthermore, I truly love how I am spending my days. While the girls wear me flat out<\/em> more days than not, learning beside them, strengthening our bond, and watching them grow is the honor of my life. Clich\u00e9 alert- it goes so fast. <\/em><\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n Hailey is almost 9 1\/2 and amazes me more each day. I am seeing glimpses of the young woman she is becoming, in the form of both big emotions and frustrations, but also the gentleness she possesses and depth of her heart. I’m a lucky mama.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n Goose is losing teeth and playing soccer and rocking her math like it ain’t no thing. But when she curls up in bed I still seem glimpses of her toddler self, too, and I savor it.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n And the unsung hero who doesn’t get much mention is David. I freaking love that funny, handsome man and should mention him more than I do. He works his tail off not only at work stuff, but around the house, too, whether it’s shoveling gravel or often cleaning the kitchen after dinner while the girls and I retreat to read Harry Potter on the couch. We’re still dedicated work out buddies, rocking Madeline Moves<\/a>, and really in sync at the moment, though we’re both ready for warmer weather and some outdoor date night adventures (boating, kayaking, and cocktails, oh my!).<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n Activity season is kicking back up around here, too. The girls have soccer, Hailey is going to do Girls on the Run, we’ve registered for swim team, and Hailey is signed up for a sewing camp, too. I’m ready for it and for the feeling that comes with “springing” back to life.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n Because ending with food is always a good idea. I made this old recipe (now that I can find old recipes in the archive finally with the new design…) this past week and the family loved it! If you’re looking for a new (easy!) weeknight dinner to try next week, click over and print it out<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n And that’s life in a nutshell around here right now. If you’re open to sharing, I’d love to hear… what’s something going on in your life at the moment?<\/p>\r\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You could consider this a coffee date or a peek into my mind, but either way, here’s a glimpse of life lately…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":56667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2295,2240,2162],"tags":[2280,2375],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56658"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/march-2021-5-of-6-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\nSocial Media<\/h2>\r\n
Spring Science Fun<\/h2>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/march-2021-1-of-2-scaled.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/march-2021-4-of-6-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\nHouse projects<\/h2>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/march-2021-6-of-6-scaled.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/march-2021-2-of-2-scaled.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/march-2021-3-of-6-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\nGrief<\/h2>\r\n
Little joys<\/h2>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/march-2021-2-of-6-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\nItalian chicken<\/h2>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/easy-baked-Italian-chicken-7-of-7.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/march-2021-life.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\n