Oh look, a cute smiling photo with desert cacti. And then there’s Kai. Eating a pizza in a backpack. We don’t hike. And so we didn’t really think we were going to need a baby carrier. So what do you do? Wes throws Kai in a backpack. There it is. This isn’t the first mountain this backpack has climbed. My friend Lindsey used it when she hiked a mountain in Colorado. So I guess my backpack has seen more mountains than I have. Hmm.
On our way home we weren’t supposed to sit together. But thanks to a friend switching seats with us, and then swapping with a stranger, we ended up all together. Yay. This was taken right before takeoff. I’m thankful that our kids are good travelers. It makes me excited about the future trips we may take.
This is one of my favorite desserts. Ever. Creme Brûlée. I didn’t make it from scratch, but I probably will someday. We don’t have a kitchen torch, but I remembered this tool thing we got with some of my dad’s things. Here it is caramelizing some sugar for our delight. Definitely not what this was intended for, and it is definitely not the best flame for the job, but it was special. Made my night. Thank you dad.
In case you didn’t know, you can have birthday parties at the library. I was looking for an indoor room with an open space so we could have a dance floor area. The windows were extra perfect. Rhema wanted to have a dance party birthday, so we sent out the invitations and encouraged guests to dress up. It was so fun. I knew we would have little prep time after our trip, so we ended up just throwing balloons on the ground, hanging up a big 4, and making a kid friendly dance party playlist. It was a happy birthday.
I’m not sure who rode the wave of excitement longer, Rhema or me. Inspired by Rhema’s current interest in “Frozen Fever”, we set up a Follow The String to celebrate Rhema’s actual day of birth. After the kids went to bed we set it up. Making her way along the string, Rhema found lots of little gifts hidden all around the house. It ended with her birthday cake in the basement. So much fun. I have no idea if this is the start of a recurring event, or just one super fun fourth birthday, but either way it was one of my favorite kid birthdays so far.
One big perk of having a birthday party before your actual birthday is having gifts to enjoy all day long on your birthday. This painting kit was the first gift she got into today. I enjoy facilitating her creativity. That paper bag table cover has seen many painting projects. I wonder how long we will use it. If it can keep up. Her art apron is starting to fit her. She has had it for about three years now. It was a gift and was way too big for her when she got it. I remember thinking, “Someday this will fit.” I find us currently wading into that someday.
Here is the latest addition to our mug collection. We are running out of room. Hopefully we will have a new shelf attached to a new wall attached to a new house for our next travel mug. I’m still keeping my hope for building on our land. It feels like it will be forever from now.
Check out our new robot. We have a robot to clean our floors, and now we have a robot to clean our air. Our house is going to be super clean now. Watch out.
This is another attempt to take photos of myself as Mom. I don’t really get to see myself do what I do everyday. Most people don’t I guess, but I wanted to capture this season, this baby Kai, this mom-ing that I am in right now. Kai’s a heavy dude. The few takes it took to capture this photo was bringing my arms into new territories of strength. There’s a green bruising spot on his cheek. My kid for sure. I’ve been told that I always had a bruise of some sort on my head when I was a kid from playing. You could call it clumsy, although I’ve never felt clumsy. I think passionate feels a bit more accurate. Head first.
Kai has a few spirling, curly hairs on the very crown of his head. This makes me hopeful that he is going to have curly hair, too. What’s funny about these hairs is that they are waaaay longer than the other ones. They sometimes stick up like an antenna. I’m not planning on cutting his hair anytime soon. This is a phone pic if you couldn’t tell.
I found myself doing something new, with people I used to see everyday, in a part of town that I never knew existed. My friend invited some of her friends to a glass art class to celebrate her birthday. It was special and nostalgic. She is a friend from Middle School and High School that I always enjoy hanging out with, but seeing her is a bit of a rare thing these days. We had fun. I also got to chat with another old friend as we cut glass and pretended we knew what we were doing. It is a weird thing to see old friends. Hard not to see them as we last knew them. I think I’ve found that change over time looks good on most people. I ended up making a green glass window decoration. It now lives in the window above my desk downstairs.
This is some intense highlight action going on with the direct sunlight. Like one of those chiaroscuro paintings. This photo could definitely be balanced out with some post editing. Here you see Mr. Kai Guy entering into the play world of Coffee Shop. A very regular scene at our house. If Daddy is opening up shop, it is called Wesley’s Bistro. If mommy is running the show, the shop is called Christa’s Cantina. And if Rhema is opening up her shop the name will range anywhere from Caramel Latte Feather Light, to Cha Cha Chi Choo. We’ll have to wait and see what Kai names his establishment.
