Road Trip

The Auntie and I went on a road trip adventure today and had so much fun.  We stopped at a town she'd never been to and I hadn't been to since high school, went on a nature walk through some cedars, walked across a swinging bridge (which if you know my fear of heights you will know was a MAJOR feat for me), visited her parents'/my grandparents' graves, and came home on a road neither of us had ever been on before.  We saw a bald eagle, a million trillion deer, 2 turkeys, geese (and 7 baby geese) a bunny, 2 sand hill cranes, and one friend and her twin boys from my hometown who were coincidentally in that same town we stopped in.  The animals were awesome, and the unexpected friend sighting was also awesome, even if I did had to go to a different town to see them! 

So tonight I went looking for road trip shoes and mostly came up with VW shoes, which I am totally OK with:

Aren't they so very cute?  I love them all!  Tonight after we got home I worked at the theater since Double A is spending the weekend with her mom (I did popcorn, which is what she normally does).  Then I stayed for the movie, which was OK.  I read the books, but either the movie was completely different, or I have no memory of most of that book.  And now off to bed!

Memory Lane: 2013. 2014. 2015.

Baby Elsa

I spent a lovely day with the Seester, Flower, Laughter, and 3 kiddos the Seester was watching today, all of whom are very sweet.  They are 13 months, 5, and 7, so I definitely got my kid fix in.  And after yesterday I got a bit of a baby fix, which was a little bittersweet, but she's such a little love that I just tried to soak it in as much as possible.  Her name is Elsa and since she's a baby we all tended to call her baby Elsa.  On a rather random note, I had to laugh because at one point she was chewing on a toy and I looked and it was an Anna doll from Frozen and Elsa was chewing on poor Anna's head.  Maybe you had to be there.  Or maybe I'm just tired from playing with babies and then going home.  Let's look at Baby Elsa shoes so I can go to bed, kay?

I'll try to move on to big people shoes tomorrow, but I'm not promising anything.

Memory Lane: 2013. 2014. 2015.

Tick Tock

The holidays website tells me that today is Biological Clock Day.  Huh.  Like a I need a specific day in April to remind me that my biological clock is ticking?  Nope.  The darn thing has been ticking VERY loudly for a VERY long time.  Motherhood is the one thing I have felt the most consistently called to do and the one thing I may never achieve.  I just turned 41, which in the baby world is old.  It's not impossible, but the risk factors are high and the chances of getting pregnant get lower all the time.  I would be open to adoption, but I'm not sure that will happen, either.  I try to be maternal in other ways like being a good auntie.  Unfortunately I think I'm more of an office mother sometimes than an office manager, which is probably weird for all of our employees.  I have classmates who are grandparents.  There are children I used to babysit who now have children of their own.  So I'm feeling a little sad tonight and will now pour salt in the wound by showing you baby shoes.  LOTS of baby shoes.  Some I've had in my ideas folder for awhile (I collect things I find as I'm looking for other things/themes) and some I found today when I went looking.  Believe me, I could have done way more.

So cute.  Sad that the Potential Baby may only ever be that, but it is what it is.

PS--before you (very kindly) tell me that I'm not old and you are older, I will remind you that most of you are already parents and/or grandparents, and telling me I'm not old isn't really the point in this case.  It's also not true in medical terms.  But thank you anyway.  I also understand that it has been my own choices that have led me to where I am today, and while I don't regret most of them, I do regret a few, and I do think I might change some things if I had the chance, but since I can't, I can admit that it's my own fault that I'm childless and not following that call.

Memory Lane: 2013. 2014.

Denim

I woke up this morning and realized that I didn't post yesterday.  I wasn't particularly busy, I just forgot.  I did spend the evening with the parents, Double A and The Bean watching Adventures in Babysitting but there's no reason I couldn't also have posted.  No idea where my brain was.  Maybe it was still in shock over the lovely gift of an EXTRA WEEK WITH MY FAMILY that the hubby gave me.  Isn't he awesome?  Yes.  Yes, he is.  Today was quiet but lovely.  I took Mom to her dr.'s appointment and then we had lunch with Dad, followed by some errand running.  I picked Double A and The Bean up from school.  We made Rocky Road no-bake bars (ohmygoodnessyum).  I went for a walk.  I crocheted.  Now I'm writing a post.  Quiet, but delightful.

So today is Denim Day.  I did a denim post last year when Denim Day was on April 29th , but I clearly did not go and read about the day, because it's not simply about wearing denim (which I did because it's cool enough here to wear jeans - yay), it's actually a day to raise awareness about sexual violence:

"For the past 17 years, Peace Over Violence has run its Denim Day campaign on a Wednesday in April in honor of Sexual Violence Awareness Month. The campaign was originally triggered by a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she must have helped her rapist remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. Peace Over Violence developed the Denim Day campaign in response to this case and the activism surrounding it. Since then, wearing jeans on Denim Day has become a symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault. In this rape prevention education campaign we ask community members, elected officials, businesses and students to make a social statement with their fashion by wearing jeans on this day as a visible means of protest against the misconceptions that surround sexual assault. This year’s Denim Day is April 27, 2016."

This is a day that needs more publicity because sexual violence is NEVER the victim's fault.  In celebration and solidarity of the day, here are some denim shoes:

I love them all.

Memory Lane: 2013. 2014. 2015.

Penguins

Today is National Penguin Day! I love penguins, and penguin shoes are adorable, so I though I'd do a quick (very quick as suddenly I am very tired) post.  Here are some cute shoes for your viewing pleasure:

Adorable.  Love them.  Want them all.

Memory Lane: 2013. 2014. 2015.

Family!

Today was awesome.  We had a family dinner to celebrate my (late) and Double A's (early) birthdays.  The rain from yesterday continued today which meant that Flower's and Laughter's soccer games got canceled, which meant that their whole family got to come to dinner when we didn't think they would be able to.  There were 12 of us:  me, Mom, Dad, the Brother, the Seester, the Brother-in-Law, Double A, the Bean, Flower, Laughter, the Auntie, and the Uncle (who I haven't seen in a couple of years, so that was extra-special-awesome!).  We were only missing DJ and the hubby, which is very very sad.  There was German chocolate cake, which is never ever sad.  Sigh...it was lovely, and I wish it could happen more often.  Here are some shoes from the day:

The Auntie's thrift store boots.  They're crazy, and cool, and totally work for her.

Dad and the Uncle were both wearing Keene's today.  One of these days I should round us all up and take a Keene family picture. 

The Seester's adorable brown sandals, with a slight, unintentional photo-bomb from the Brother-in-Law.

So it was a pretty fabulous day.  So fabulous, in fact, that even going to the mostly terrible and very long Batman Vs. Superman couldn't ruin the overall fabulosity.

Memory Lane: 2013. 2014. 2015.

Holidays!

Last night I had a sleepover with Double A, The Bean, Flower, Laughter, Pippi and Tink.  Mom's house was a bit crowded, but it just made it more cozy.  Today they were all on hand so we could do Holidays!  For those of you unfamiliar, this is the day when we do a whole bunch of holidays in one day while I'm home because I miss most of them with the kiddos during the year.  For Easter we dyed eggs and then had an Easter egg hunt in the yard.  Then we did Fourth of July with leftover smoke bombs and snaps that the brother brought over.  Lunch was a Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and stuffing followed  by a birthday celebration for everyone with cupcakes and candles.  After lunch we did Halloween with face paint and Trick-or-Treating at various doors (usually we do this outside, but today it was pouring down rain so we did it inside).  Last we did a St. Patrick's Day treasure hunt to find the gold that the Leprechaun hid.  Hopefully a good time was had by all.  Mom and I were fairly tired afterwards, but I had fun.  Here are the shoes everyone wore today:

The Bean and Double A's matching fleep flops.

Tink's whole outfit was that crazy color combination, plus these fun, colorful shoes that light up.

Laughter.  I think these are adorable.

Flower.  She's siting next to me and says these shoes are oooooold.  But look at her cute polka dot socks!

I love Pippi's colorful laces.

Today was another awesome day with the fam.  Laughter, Flower, The Bean and Double A are staying the night again, so that will be fun.  And slightly less crowded.

Memory Lane:  2013. 2014. 2015.