Sunday, February 17, 2019

Mom Project

With all my hot yoga attendance and Kyle going I wanted a place to hang our yoga mat to dry that wasn't all the way upstairs. I saw this towel rack on pinterest and thought it'd be a good way to use up some PVC I had lying around as well as be useful in the sumemr when we come home from the beach and need ap lace to hang six towels! So Mary and I made a trip to home depot last weekend to get the rest of what we needed. Lots of math work done to figure out how to use up the pieces I had and to try to get minimal extras to complete it. I had various diameters of PVC so that was also a challenge figuring out how to piece them together and get correct adapters. 

But after a long trip we had what we needed.... well realizing we needed different sized elbows I made another trip to exchange pieces. Mary loved being with me and it was good for her and Emma to have some time apart. They have been getting on each other's nerves lately. Will be good when they start school next fall and be in separate classes during the day. 


I got most of it cut how I needed then just had to drill in holes for the cross bars. I picked up a special drill bit this past week at Ace after I dropped the girls at school (I shared all this on my instagram stories so if you want to know more of what we're up to in real time, follow me there!)

As you can see the bit didn't complete the job (on the right), I ended up using a dremel we had to make the holes nice and open! 


I FINISHED it during Thomas's nap on Friday! WOOHOO! Love the feeling of completing a project!


MN Zoo

We had been trying to get to the zoo for a couple of weeks now. Our yearly membership is about to expire. Last weekend we even made it as far as getting loaded up in the van and headed down the highway when we realized the zoo closes at 4:00pm and it was 3:38 at that time. So we settled for going out to eat instead with a movie night at home. So yesterday we made it with plenty of time, heading there after my scheduled hair cut. 

Mary wanted a picture with everyone but discovered they had already ran off, so I got one with just her. She looks so much like her cousin Alyson here! 


There is plenty to do inside that we don't do the outside trails. The MN trail is a covered outside trail, so it's cold enough for coats but not super cold and loops around so you end up back inside. Watched the beaver swim around and here Thomas was watching the Lynx strut her stuff.


Looking at a beaver skull.

Back in mid-November when our friend introduced us to the bird show the kids have requested it everytime since. So this was our third time seeing the show. They love the parrot Coconut. First time for Kyle to see it.




We finished the day with a family trip to Costco where we stocked up on groceries, our fridge was literally empty! And I hit up some hot yoga while the kids watched a movie at home. 

Solo Mommy'ing and Polar Vortex SO much time spent INSIDE!

The end of January and into February presenting itself with craziness. The final two weeks of January Kyle was traveling so I was solo parenting. Isaac was out of school Monday for MLK day as well as that Thursday and Friday for teacher work days. This actually ended up being a blessing in disguise. As much as I was asking "WHY!?" he had to be out of school when Kyle was gone as well made it clearn on that first Friday when we MISSED THE BUS! And then I had to load everyone up, wake Thomas up from his slumber, and get Isaac to school. So I was okay with him not having as many school days during my solo days since getting to the bus was being a obstacle. 

Here the girls are playing with Thomas it was so cute and I tried to capture, have a better video I should share but it was being a pain when I tried to upload it so I'll try and share later. 

So while dad was away we kept ourselves busy with trips to InnerActive:


 Facing timing daddy: 

Another trip to the OTHER inneractive across town:



A trip to the big Backyard play place:






THEN THE POLAR VORTEX HIT! I knew Wednseday was going to be cold, like under -50 degree windchill so I figured school would be cancelled. BUT when they cancelled Sunday evening I knew it'd be a long week! Luckily at this point Kyle was home and by the grace of God with timing, it really wasn't that bad. We had Kyle coming home each evening to look forward to which was more than we had the following two weeks. We stayed busy although we didn't leave the house in a week. We ate through all our food and played lots and lots of games at home!


Fun with Emma's static hair!



By Thursday the kids were going nuts, haha. Here they are entertaining themselves with Thomas looking through the glass on the table.

Friday visit to Costco. Isaac FINALLY returned to school and it was time to get more groceries. Thomas ate a WHOLE quarter pound hot dog. Man this boy can eat!

With all that blur of life, it was time for a date night! Friday we got a sitter and treated ourselves to sushi and HOT YOGA! 


I had a free month pass I had been sitting on but waiting to activate it when I could make sure to make the most of it. Well planned to start it this Friday when we attended a class together, but discovered their Friday evening classes are drop in and no pass required. Which is great to know because Kyle ended up going the following week as I started in on my pass. It's called a Karma class and you pay a donation to attend. They tend to fill up so you gotta get there early. They give that money to their charity of the month. 

This was my first experience with hot yoga and I wasn't too sure in the beginning. We got in the room and I said "AH It's SOOO hot!" Kyle asked in surprise "um yeah, what did you think it was going to be?" lol. Well not that hot. At first I was thinking to myself "well maybe this just isn't for me. ya know that's okay, some things work for some people and not for others" But about halfway through I fell hard... hard in love with hot yoga that is. I was DRIPPING in sweat! More than I have ever sweat in my life and it felt AMAZING!! She had us go into tree pose and it sounded like it was raining from everyone dripping in sweat! It was so restorative, relaxing, and rejuvenating. Needless to say I returned every other day and have been back about 6 times since. I want to try every class they offer before my pass runs out and then I'll decide when I can make it and if I can keep this as a regular thing. The yoga we did together was called Modo 60 and is done in the 100-103 room. It's a serious of poses you hold. I have also attended the flow class which is a little cooler in a room at 95-97. I have done the barre class (done on room temp room, not the heated studio), Hot Hatha (more stretching and by candlelight). A couple more on my list I want to try.

Saturday we had a second birthday part to attend (Kyle had taken the girls the weekend before to another one while I was working). Back to the backyard play place again. 



The girls at their Monday Gymnastics class. Playing after class was over.


Thomas snoozing away. Had to wake him this morning to make it to BSF at 9:30. Felt good to be back to our routine.

The girls were SOOO Happy to get to go back to school and ride the bus home. They love to play outside when they get home because they are already suited up in their snow gear. They had missed the entire week during the polar vortex because they only have school Tue, Wed, and Thurs.


And me returning to hot yoga :-)


One more set of pics :-) Mary giving Harpo some love. <3 -="" favorite="" game="" girls="" guess="" nbsp="" now.="" p="" played="" right="" the="" we="" while="" who="">


After the Polar Vortex we got LOTS of snow!!!


Last Thursday they cancelled the afternoon bus run so I had to go pick up the girls. It was crazy and we got stuck a couple times. The 1.5 miles trip there and back took us 45 minutes!

Friday school was cancelled for Isaac. The girls spent the day making valentines.


Saturday (or Sunday I think it was) snuggles with Thomas :-) Kyle took Isaac to a Lacrosse try out practice.



Emma took this as we were leaving BSF last Tuesday :-)

Thomas loves books! Spending some time in the library corner at ECFE.


 

This past Friday we made a trip to the Library. Super cold but they all picked out tons of books that occupied them the rest of the day. Isaac was out of school again for teacher conferences.

 And more Mommy, Thomas snuggles :-)


All images are copyright of Daisy Simpson. It is unlawful and illegal to copy, scan, alter or edit the images in any way. This depreciates the photos value as well as my reputation, I take great care in capturing and editing each image and they are each important to me. Thank you for respecting my passion and my copyright.