Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Mar 15, 2021 23:14:40 GMT -6
Basically the walk I was doing, but while also wearing a baby. Good times. 😆
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 15, 2021 23:26:20 GMT -6
Well thank goodness, the meteorologist were wrong and it only snowed for 1.5 days instead of the 3.5 they originally predicted because we would've been buried! We got like maybe 2 feet? We are also thankful we didn't lose power but we were prepared. Times like this is when I wished we had a gas stove instead of electric. Still waiting for it to quit so we can get a gas stove. Anyways the boys had such a good time sledding this afternoon after school. We managed to get out yesterday morning to sled even though it was snowing hard and windy but DS was determined to go and I was pulling them on the tube and post holing it all the way to the hill. I was super crazy! and didn't expect the snow to be so deep and there were drifts I just sank into past my knees. It was murder hauling them up the slope and we only did like 3 runs. Today I got smart and blew the dust off the snowshoes and boy was that so much easier. My gosh! Why didn't I think of that! Oh yeah the patio furniture is buried. PDQ
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Post by CoachTsWife on Mar 16, 2021 7:30:14 GMT -6
duskymonkey, Taitai, I agree she doesn't look 100 - at all. I can't stop looking through the pics we took and remembering the time with her - warms my heart. I'm dying at that gif and the context around the broken shoes, duskymonkey. Sorry you had that happen during an interview August Blooms - any reasonable person could look past that and see all the great qualities you would bring to that job. Fingers crossed for you! That is a LOT of snow duskymonkey! We had a tornado in our area yesterday, right at 5pm. I was on conference calls all afternoon and the people who live West of me kept reporting that their tornado sires were sounding. We ended the call and I left to go pick up DS2 so try and beat the storm home. The sirens were going off in our town on our way home and it was a stressful 10-15 minutes waiting for DH and DS1 to arrive. Luckily it passed South of us and we just had some very small hail and a brief strong storm.
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Mar 18, 2021 16:04:10 GMT -6
Tomorrow is the last day of work before Spring Break. The students seem to be climbing the walls with excitement so I’m hoping I can stream Disney’s new Raya and the Last Dragon tomorrow to end our day.
We watched the movie with the girls a few weeks ago. I loved it but probably wouldn’t recommend it for little kids - school ages kids definitely though! There just wasn’t enough singing and talking animals for the my girls.
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 20, 2021 0:01:41 GMT -6
DS is off for Spring break too next week! I am so looking forward to no beeping timers from his crazy class schedule but now I have to think of activities for both kids. The kids also lived their best life this week and went sledding every single afternoon. Today was a sloppy day and the hillside was getting muddy but we managed to get at least 6 runs in and they ran through all the melting snow and climbed over all the snow mounds and pretended they were on an adventure in Antarctic. By the time we got home, I had soaking wet happy boys! and I was totally OK with it. We are expected to get more snow this weekend so there's a chance they could do more sledding early next week. I do not look forward to dressing lil fella though. My gosh! I wanted to give up everyday getting his gear on. I told hubs, it was like wrestling and trying to put clothes on a deranged person. 3YO are exhausting!
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Mar 20, 2021 8:12:26 GMT -6
duskymonkey So cool that your boys have been able to enjoy sledding and the outdoors these past few days! I can’t imagine the hassle with the clothes though - we are so used to just walking out the door and slipping on crocs. When we used to visit Hokkaido in the winter, I remember thinking - the snow is fun, but OMG what a pain it is to get all this stuff on - AND keep track of it! We’re just not used to it. Hope you get some more snow (but not too much), so the boys can enjoy sledding over the spring break! danvers Happy spring break to you too! Sounds like the kids were ready for it. Hope you get to some time with your girls during the break!
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Mar 20, 2021 8:16:54 GMT -6
It happened again - just finished a birthday party at our place for DS1, and our small party turned into about 25 people coming over. How does it always happen? This year we even limited it to only people who live on our compound. 🤷♀️. We had 11 kids running around and enjoying themselves. Lots of tasty food, a balloon twister, and a tattoo sticker/face painter person. Really nice time, and it surprisingly only took us only an hour to clean up after everyone left. The house was back to normal by 6pm! I think we’re getting better at throwing parties 😂🤣.
DS1 had a lot of fun - can’t believe he’s 6 already!
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Mar 20, 2021 16:28:36 GMT -6
Taitai I do so very much love the feeling of a clean house after a party. It’s the best to have a great time but put your feet up at the end of the night in a house that’s back to regular order.
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Mar 22, 2021 16:21:19 GMT -6
It’s day 1 of Spring Break and beautiful outside today. I took the girls to a set of playgrounds in an area I knew wasn’t on “spring break” yet so they wouldn’t be crowded. The girls loved playing on new equipment and I sat around imagining life in the suburbs vs our middle-of-no-where farm town. I don’t think the suburb life is for me anymore but it was fun to play pretend for the day.
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 22, 2021 22:37:14 GMT -6
Happy belated birthday Taitai DS! Word gets around that you throw a good party! so it's a definite show up plus 2 or 3 lol! You know it's common all family members are invited and their 2nd cousins and grandparents too haha! That's incredible you got everything cleaned out so fast! I am with danvers on getting everything put away and putting your feet up! My mom threw us what was considered epic birthday parties in our village as kids and normally every kid in our class ( between 30-40) is invited which usually includes their family members. There were lots and lots of food. My mom was also a teacher so everyone knew her/us and I think she also knew there were kids in our class who struggle with food so any extras were always packed for anyone who wanted them. We also lived in a "gated" area and had use of a former British officers clubhouse across our house ( former British officer quarters ) so kids could run wild outside with lots of space.
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 22, 2021 23:14:44 GMT -6
CoachTsWife weather was wild last week and we got snow dumped and the midwest got tornadoes. I am glad you are safe and gosh it must've been scary driving through the sirens! We got snow yesterday but it was very light with no accumulation and yesterday morning was nice before the weather turned so we took the boys out and they had a great adventure to the Antarctic again lol! We decided to let them stomp and roll in the big puddles too and told them that they were only allowed to do so when we said it was OK. Today everything is melting and it's muddy. The kids were happy to just stay home and they got to play all day with no classes for DS. Tomorrow we have dentist appointments for them. danvers sounds like you had a great start to your Spring break and I started reading JB Fudge books and can't put it down and OMG! lil fella is "interesting" like Fudge *headsmack* I think DS will enjoy the first book and I'll hold off the 2nd because there's revelation that Santa isn't real and he's not ready for that yet and I don't know how to work around explaining it. Which reminds me Taitai, HoR first book mentions briefly about Santa not being real but DS never brought it up. I think it was because we had talked about how Santa has elves from different countries making toys because he can read "Made in China" and this year in his stocking he noticed his chocolate orange was Trader Joes and asked why did Santa get it from TJs so we had to tell him that Santa doesn't make everything and the elves sometimes would go shopping too! then he'd said Ooooo....they probably go at night so no one can see them *headsmack* I think by the time you all read this you'd know what has happened out here. It's just so sad and horrifying that 2 mass shootings have occurred in a week and coincidence that both states have crazy Qanon reps? I really have no words.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Mar 23, 2021 8:34:15 GMT -6
duskymonkey We were just reading a JB book that had a sentence in there about the tooth fairy really being the parents, and I thankfully caught myself before I read that part out loud! Thanks for the heads up about Santa not being real on HoR. I’ll either try to skip that part or explain to DS1 a similar thing about Santa getting help with toys from stores. This past Christmas, DS1 recognized the wrapping paper from Kinokuniya and the local department store out here on his Christmas gifts from Santa. DS1 was like, “Santa went to the mall to get these mom! Santa first stopped at the mall before he came here! Look - it’s the same wrapping paper!” 😬😂. I underestimated him for sure. Also, I love that pretty much all stores out here provide free gift wrapping for any purchase. It’s wonderful - just like how it used to be in the states when I was a little kid! On a more somber note - DH and I have been watching the news from the USA this week, and it’s just awful. It’s sickening, and from an overseas perspective, it’s just insane that a huge portion of the population in the USA refuse to correlate everyone having guns with mass shootings and increased violent crime. I mean, obviously. Really awful, and my heart goes out to all of the victims and their loved ones.
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Post by CoachTsWife on Mar 23, 2021 8:50:10 GMT -6
Woohoo for birthday parties Taitai. I didn't realize that both of our oldest are so close in age - DS1 turns 6 in July. 6 going on 16, it seems. He has a 'girlfriend' at preschool and they have planned their entire lives - they're getting married and plan to live in Africa! duskymonkey we got enough snow and cold weather in February to last us a long time - so keep all the snow out your way! It is a little early for severe weather here, so last week's storm caught most of us off guard. Last week I threw my back out somehow. It was so bad on Friday that I took the day off and was laid up all day. I went to the chiropractor Friday and again yesterday and seem to be making progress, but not out of the woods yet. I sure feel old.... Work has been crazy as well, I worked until 9pm last night - so between my back and work I accidentally unplugged and just heard about the mass shootings last night before bed. It is devastating to hear about each one - and frustrating that nothing seems to change. Today would have been FIL's 62nd birthday. DH took a mental health day and is driving down to the cemetery to see the monument that was just installed at his dad's grave and put out some flowers. MIL is spending the night with us and we're taking her out to dinner. I know that these days will always be hard, but all of the 'firsts' are even harder. Yesterday we found out that DH's friends from college (a group of 6 guys who played football together - they talk every day in a group chat and we've done a couple group trips together) donated money to buy a football sideline bench for the school FIL taught and coached at. The bench is inscribed with "In memory of <FIL name>". It is so hard to express how meaningful and thoughtful a gesture like that is. So many emotions.
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 24, 2021 23:06:48 GMT -6
CoachTsWife hope your back is doing better. Sucks getting old, all the aches and pains my gosh! That's so funny about your DS and his GF, I chuckled reading that, just too cute. Also what an honourable gesture indeed and the heartfelt intent restores my faith in the goodness of people. I agree, way too early for severe weather and we'll gladly take all the snow out here to built up our snow pack TYVM. Just a week before the snow, we received a notice about water restrictions coming up this year. We are in extreme drought for another year again however this last storm built up our snow pack some but not quite enough. We are so glad that we removed 2/3 of our lawn in our backyard and planning to remove our front lawn and installing a xeriscape garden in its place.
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 24, 2021 23:20:53 GMT -6
Taitai I am extremely sad over what has happened in the last week and really really angry at the GD politics about gun control. Every time there's a mass shooting my mind always goes back to Sandy Hook and I just cry thinking of that horror. My friend's 2 children were in that school and I remember speaking to him and how awful and devastating it was for him, more so that he knew a few of the kids who lost their lives and their family. It's beyond comprehensible. Anyways if anyone wants to do something the Sandy Hook foundation has petitions you can sign. Please consider. link
ETA. So about a week or so ago, a judge blocked Boulder from enforcing a ban on assault weapons possession. Sleep well at night judge?
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 24, 2021 23:45:08 GMT -6
Earlier this week a friend of mine urged me to get a Covid vas appointment and said that one of her friend's said we could claim to be educators because we have the kids at home in virtual school and I feel guilty because I really am not a qualified candidate this phase but will be in the next. Anyways she and her husband both got their vax yesterday and asked me if I had made my appointment. I don't feel good about lying and with the vax rollout, I think it will be a matter of weeks before I get my chance to make the appointment. Hubs is however qualified for his age but said he'd wait a bit to allow other people like teachers to get theirs first because he works exclusively at home and we really aren't doing anything to put us at extreme risk for infection. Anyone thoughts? am I being silly since everyone seems to be getting vax and I really haven't a clue how they actually qualify? unless they have private underlying health issues.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Mar 25, 2021 8:36:47 GMT -6
CoachTsWife I’m sorry about your back - I hope the adjustments and rest do the trick. Back pain is so horrible. Also, so sorry about your family processing these difficult anniversaries/dates as it relates to your FIL. That is so hard. How wonderful of your H’s friend to have dedicated that bench to your FIL. Like duskymonkey said, hearing stories like that restore my faith in humanity. duskymonkey Thanks for sharing the Sandy Hook link - I signed the petitions. We’ve also donated to that organization in the past. I so desperately want there to be some movement on gun control - the status quo is untenable. The USA keeps company with countries who have the highest violent crime rates in the world - it shouldn’t be that way. Guns are a huge, huge reason for it. Sigh.
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Mar 26, 2021 16:58:41 GMT -6
CoachTsWife the bench sounds like such a lovely tribute to your FIL, a place to take your boys later and tell stories of the community he touched around him duskymonkey 6 states are already at the “everyone 16 and up” eligible vaccine stage. Hopefully yours will be there soon. I know our rural areas had extra vaccines and people were driving from an hour plus away to get them. Maybe checking with your local health dept and see if you can get on an “extras” list?. I forgot to take myself off our list once teachers became eligible and have been called twice in three days.
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Mar 26, 2021 17:07:43 GMT -6
We snuck up to my parents to end our Spring Break. They had to work today so we hung out with “GiGi”. We’ve seen my family a handful of times throughout the shutdown but my parents and grandma are now all fully vaccinated so it feels easier to give those hugs and kisses.
We spent the day making homemade pretzels, doing puzzles, and playing hide and seek. My grandma is super active for 83 and has been a big part of the girl’s lives since the day they day they were born. She was my absolute favorite person growing up and I’m fairly certain she’s DD1’s too (DD2 still loves her mama the most-est forever and ever 🙄)
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Mar 27, 2021 7:18:57 GMT -6
danvers I’m so glad you were able to spend time with your GiGi! We also call H’s grandma “GG” - the boys love her so much. I’m excited that pretty much everyone in my family back in the states is now fully vaccinated. We can’t wait to give hugs and kisses when we come back for a visit this summer.
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 27, 2021 23:06:35 GMT -6
danvers my heart just melted at your last sentence. We are the whole world to them. Despite the unpredictable behaviors, I will certainly miss this age. Hubs and I were so frustrated and just started laughing so hard today trying to get lil fella into the car to go drop off and pick up books from the library and he was having a hard time deciding if staying or going...obviously we are all going so he has to come. It was back and forth putting socks on and off and crying about wanting it back on and then he takes them off. Jacket on and off over and over again, needed to take all sorts of toys and not, OY! It's nice to hear that you've been able to see your family this past year. So yeah...our county's heath dept. is a complete joke. They're pretty much Covid non-believers. The Governor said that everyone should be eligible by mid-April. They had opened a mass vax site just north of here and in less than 24 hrs, there were no bookings left. However I managed to get hubs an appointment next week! His age group became eligible last week. Taitai I am glad to hear most of your family is able to get vax too. How is your grandpa doing BTW? Also cythe where are you and have you finished your reno on your kitchen? curmudgeon did you decide on your DR chairs?
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 27, 2021 23:19:21 GMT -6
duskymonkey Thanks for sharing the Sandy Hook link - I signed the petitions. We’ve also donated to that organization in the past. I so desperately want there to be some movement on gun control - the status quo is untenable. The USA keeps company with countries who have the highest violent crime rates in the world - it shouldn’t be that way. Guns are a huge, huge reason for it. Sigh. Not to mention selling arms to SA thus fueling the Yemen war. What is happening there is just beyond horrific with no end in sight and people here are complaining about not being able to eat in restaurants, have parties and go on vacation. Priorities.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Mar 29, 2021 7:19:17 GMT -6
How is it almost Easter? I have to get my act together and go buy some goodies for Easter baskets. We always make these Italian almond Easter cookies with a buttercream frosting each year, so I’m looking forward to doing that with the kids this next weekend. I also can’t wait to watch the Rankin Bass Here Comes Peter Cottontail with them as well. Another tradition, plus dying eggs and then setting up a plastic Easter egg hunt in the morning. Anyone here have plans for Easter? duskymonkey Thanks for asking about my grandpa and grandma who had COVID. Both are doing well - grandpa has made pretty much a full recovery. Grandma still has some memory loss, but she has improved quite a bit from where she was at. She can recognize her kids and some grandchildren now. When we come home this summer, I’m hoping she’ll recognize/remember me. Will be so nice to see them.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Mar 29, 2021 7:39:31 GMT -6
duskymonkey Thanks for sharing the Sandy Hook link - I signed the petitions. We’ve also donated to that organization in the past. I so desperately want there to be some movement on gun control - the status quo is untenable. The USA keeps company with countries who have the highest violent crime rates in the world - it shouldn’t be that way. Guns are a huge, huge reason for it. Sigh. Not to mention selling arms to SA thus fueling the Yemen war. What is happening there is just beyond horrific with no end in sight and people here are complaining about not being able to eat in restaurants, have parties and go on vacation. Priorities. Yes, Yemen is tragic, and Burma is too. About 3,000 displaced people crossed into our country today - just with what they could carry on their backs. Little kids, babies, all of these families sitting in a clearing now with no shelter and nothing but what they could carry from their homes before they were bombed with air strikes. I cried seeing the pictures - it’s awful. There are groups setting up aid/shelters for the refugees, and we are figuring out which one to donate to...the whole thing next door makes me so sad. There will be many more refugees, and I hope they will be taken care of somehow.
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Post by curmudgeon on Mar 29, 2021 17:44:55 GMT -6
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Post by curmudgeon on Mar 29, 2021 17:47:14 GMT -6
Easter has come so fast. I committed to making a charcuterie board. I’ve never made one before so this will be interesting. We are spending the day at my parents and MIL will come over. That’s the extent of our plans.
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 31, 2021 22:57:33 GMT -6
RH has good stuff. Can't go wrong. Link isn't working for me and may be our firewall. I was reading that furniture and appliances have huge delays due to Covid. Reminded me that we waited over a year for our bed. We ordered it before I was even pregnant with DS and then he was born.... and it wasn't even anything special at all - just a Japanese tatami frame. When it finally arrived, they delivered and had someone put it together for us which was great cos a piece of the bed was cracked so the dude had to go get another piece and it was mismatched and at that point we were like whatever, we'll just restain it at some point especially considering how the kids are going to destroy it anyways.
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 31, 2021 23:17:02 GMT -6
Taitai It's so awful how the military junta treatment of the Burmese people are and I read about the airstrikes on civilians. Just so heartbreaking for all the loss of life and devastation. There was hope with Aung San Su Kyi ( although problematic with her handling of the Rohingya crisis ) but now I just don't know. I am happy to hear your grandparents are doing well despite your grandmas slow recovery. I hope you will be able to return this summer. Things are definitely looking up here as far as vaccination goes although people are again being stupid and doing dumb things. Just hoping the vax will pick up pace to dampen the next surge which is looking inevitable now.
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 31, 2021 23:32:40 GMT -6
Easter has come so fast. I committed to making a charcuterie board. I’ve never made one before so this will be interesting. We are spending the day at my parents and MIL will come over. That’s the extent of our plans. Oooh that sounds like so much fun...love cured meats! reminds me of Spain and all the lovely Jamon yummm! There are a few things that pair really well like honey, walnuts and blue cheese. I especially love green castelvetrano olives and caper berries! and can snack on those all day. Whatever you read or see, just pick things you love to eat.
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Post by duskymonkey on Mar 31, 2021 23:43:56 GMT -6
I got a little sad last week when I saw that the town was having their annual egg hunt and hell no we didn't go. Lil fella is missing another year of egg hunting and he's growing up so fast and I got sad thinking how he didn't get to experience the wonder last year and this year because at this stage, their reactions are so innocent and full of joy over little things. So I decided to organize an egg hunt with another 2 families this weekend at our neighborhood small park which is typically empty and we're planning on a picnic lunch too which I am sure the kids will be thrilled and they will get to play together which will be so good for them. We are lucky too that the kids happen to be in the same virtual G1 together. Carrot cupcakes will be on the menu and not sure what else.
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