Wife, mother, laugh-er at very inopportune moments, and matchmaker. I am an excessive user of commas and exclamation marks. I once won March Madness despite knowing nothing about basketball, and I know how to find all the best Dunkin Donuts coupons. Clearly my talents are just endless.
spring break ’22
This is the first school year that Annabelle has started with the “my friends are_________ so can we” talk. She’s seldom flustered if they do or have something she doesn’t, but it was very obvious that she wanted to do something for spring break when she found out the others were all going on vacation. I had no plans for spring break beyond sleeping in. That was the extent of my planning. When I realized AB thought I had Big Plans I tried to up my game. I talked to my grandmother in Florida about visiting her but that didn’t work out. I had to come up with something else. I wrote activities on popsicle sticks and put them in a jar for her to pick out each morning. Every morning we’d do yard work or a spring cleaning inside then we’d do the special activity in the afternoon. We went to the arcade and did a scavenger hunt in our backyard. We had a morning movie marathon. We had a playdate. One day we went to a drive-through safari. We did get to sleep in too. Every morning Sesame would come into my bed for snuggles. “MAMA! I’m here for snugs!” It’s was my favorite part of the week.
On Saturday we drove to Florida and visited the outdoor Tallahassee Museum. We couldn’t have asked for a prettier day.
Annabelle went on the kids zipline. She was so serious the whole time and didn’t appreciate it when I let out the smallest amount of cheerleader. She’s starting to get embarrassed when I’m too enthusiastic which makes me want to pull out the confetti cannons and be all the more enthusiastic. 
They had several animals in enclosures very similar to the animals’ natural habitats. They were so much nicer than cement and iron fence exhibits. There was a red fox hanging out in a tree and a black bear swimming in the lake.
There was a caterpillar on a leaf that captured AB’s attention. We drove several hours and spent several dollars for her to latch onto something we could have seen for free at home.
If only I had known that all she needed for spring break entertainment was a caterpillar! I’m writing that on a popsicle stick next year.
Sesame on the High Seas
I have traveled many miles and crisscrossed many timezones since I last posted. We went on a week-long Disney cruise to the Bahamas with Christopher's family. It would take 46 posts to recap the trip in the longwinded way I often do, so I'm going to post a few...
old friends are the best friends
A little piece of home flew in to visit us last week. My sweet friend Autumn arrived with her lavender hair and avocado print shirts. I never know where to bring guests when they visit. Sometimes I wonder if I just don't know the good spots, but turns out...
I’ll use the photos of AB and Grayson at their rehearsal dinner
Now that we're a few weeks from Thanksgiving it seems like time to briefly recap the end of October. Last week we went to the fair with friends. AB's friend Grayson drove her around on the bumper cars. They held hands as they waited in line. When they got in...
pumpking patching round 2
Update from the weather desk- it hit 57 degrees this morning. FIFTY-SEVEN. The locals are calling it a cold front and bundling up. I call it normal weather for October. You'd think the cool air would mean my brain is fresh and unfried but I've completely...
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