melted smoosh

on a 60 degree day, perfect for eating lunch al fresco! 1) friend reunion. my best friend from childhood (roughly ages 6-12) messaged out of the blue to say she was in town for a graduate school trip and could we possibly meet up? we hadn't seen each other since high school although we've kept each other in the loop about life updates periodically. I quickly secured a babysitter and headed out to meet her for trivia night at a local bar along with her grad school cohort. in a serendipitous turn of events, I had just been talking to my siblings about how I've always wanted to go to trivia night at a bar. what better way to cross it off my bucket list than by combining it with a long overdue friend reunion? now... ... and then! (we were very proud of ourselves for making these newspaper trees) we had a good conversation interspersed with much discussion over the trivia questions (and it was just as much fun as I'd imagined -- questions spanning all types of genres!). afte...

1) wedding! on the first weekend in June, Nick's cousin was married in an absolutely beautiful ceremony (he played the organ for the wedding, and then chauffeured some of the family to the reception in the station wagon). it's always so much fun to spend time with his family, and the reception venue was stunning -- held in the grand hall of the train station, which has since been converted into apartments and an event space. 

back again, three months after the fact... why do I always think I will have more time to blog in the summer with all of the kids home and all of their activities? this particular summer has been particularly blog-less due to solo parenting while Nick and Cece were in Europe, a very busy season at work that has necessitated putting in extra hours at home charting and covering messages on my days off (compensated, but still!), and starting up 10K training (so I've been working out during times that previously were perfect for uninterrupted blogging time).  but three months ago, we were still in the groove of the school year and kicked off the month with an exciting development: 1) Elizabeth's first dental cleaning. Greta and Cece had their first cleaning with our new dentist earlier this year, and then it was Elizabeth's turn, for her first trip to the dentist ever! she did great! at that point she was still using a pacifier at bedtime (and other times throughout the day if ...