I haven’t posted in such a long time, for a few reasons. The first is that we haven’t gotten out much. The second is that I’m too overwhelmed to go through and individually post the adventures we DID take. The third is that sometimes you just need a break.
So because I have a slew of photos waiting to be posted, and that slew is causing me some anxiety, I’m just going to throw it all in this one glorious “recap” post and start fresh afterwards.
Please be warned there are a million photos of my kids doing art projects in their pajamas. Here’s the past month in photos:
Oil pastel lessons from Grandpa.
Fine-tuning her craft of making “loopty loops”.
A “big dog bone”. My kids have each been planning their big dog bone for months. Maybe even a year for Little T. My husband and I have been baffled at what this whole thing means, because nobody’s ever done anything except collect pieces of paper and recyclables. But one day, after collecting a million scraps of paper, Little A declared that “today’s the day for my big dog bone!”. She mapped it out and then created her masterpiece. I’ll let you know when the others are having their dog bone. It might even be a party.
Took pretend naps on the kitchen floor while I was trying to make dinner. Very helpful.
Made it to the Tosa Tree Lighting ceremony. It was crowded and fun and hectic and we were glad to do it. And glad to leave.
Went to the Milwaukee Art Museum. Like 10 times.
We dragged each other across the floor with blankets.
Drank lots of hot chocolate.
Got dressed up in Halloween costumes to help Uncle Wow with a shoot for his film.
We drew more loopty loops.
And drew aliens, robots, and super heroes.
And decorated cookies. I thoroughly enjoyed saying “screw it”, and letting them just get at it. I didn’t supervise one bit. I put all the decorations out, walked away, and only came back for this photo. They made a huge mess and had a blast.
Little A, Little T and I went to The Nutcracker with my mother-in-law for the third year in a row. It was amazing, as always!
Cranky Al’s saw our faces quite a few times.
We went back to the art museum.
And made these AWESOME accordion books filled with slides of famous artwork! The kids art studio was open EVERY DAY of winter break. That place is the best.
We had another impromptu cookie-decorating session, this time with TEN kids. Most were under age 6.
Sat on boxes eating treats.
Played with glow-in-the-dark Hot Wheels tracks. And got numerous “movies” put on by Little T and her new planetarium projector.
Took my dad to the hospital on Christmas Day. He’s ok, back home now and recovering well after a 6 day stay for an inner ear issue. Merry Christmas!
Played outside in the snow.
Took a family photo.
Went back to the art museum.
Made crowns and took photos.
Attempted that ever-elusive 6 person selfie.
We said goodbye to the world’s best dog, Bagheera. He gave us 14 beautiful years of love and wisdom. I’m still grieving something big and heavy.
My beautiful sister and her hubby drove up from Colorado to hang out with our crazy crew. They even took us out to lunch at Pho 124, which is really great by the way. And my kids discovered bubble tea! There’s no going back.
We went to Gospel Brunch at Collectivo, only to discover that it was cancelled (or the calendar was just incorrect online). However, we drank more hot chocolate and smoothie, and ran into an Instagram friend. So not a total bust.
We did more art projects at home. In pajamas of course.
And we got bunk beds, which gave opportunity to some super dangerous but really fun mattress-jumping.
A big shout out to the Milwaukee Art Museum for being so totally rad and giving us endless opportunities to create and absorb art so frequently. To cookies and hot chocolate and donuts for pumping my kids full of sugar. To Froedtert hospital for taking care of my dad. To the Milwaukee Ballet for another year of tradition. And to the good people who I call friends and family.
And here’s to the year ahead. May it be filled with more places to explore, friends to share experiences with, love to be radiated, and peace to be found.
A. Storm
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