Saturday, March 23, 2024

Greg Olsen!

Guess who Linda and I ran into while we were out to lunch last week? Greg Olsen!! He is huge in real life.

"Well, yeah," said MJ. "He was an NFL tight end."

"I know," I agreed, "but I don't usually sit next to them in restaurant booths!"

The kids were duly impressed. Little Man said, "You look like a mouse next to him!" And Sweet Pea said, "Miss Linda looks really excited."

It's true. We were fan-girling pretty hard.

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Boosterthon

This week we had our final Boosterthon run. Now that Sweet Pea and Little Man are big 5th graders, they got to have a color run, which made it even more exciting. 

I was amused that Little Man saluted at attention during the National Anthem -- that's not something we've ever encouraged him to do, but it was cute, and at least he did it correctly.

Little Man ran mostly with his buddy Sage, who thankfully will be going to the same middle school with him next year. And Sweet Pea ran with Charlie, a good friend who's finally in the same class this year!




They were messy but happy afterwards. And they helped raise money for the school, which also earned them a lot of fun prizes. Huge thanks to everyone who donated to support them and our wonderful school!

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Happy Birthday, MJ!

Happy birthday to our guy, the one who kills the bugs and keeps my cold feet warm. In wholly appropriate Morrison fashion, we celebrated at 6:30 am because the 3 kids were going 3 different directions all evening. But in between dropping off and picking up kids, MJ and I carved out a few minutes to meet for celebratory drinks. I love you, babe!


We also brought home a puppy! Meet Oliver, who we are dogsitting for the next week. He might have been a better birthday present than anything else!

Friday, February 23, 2024

Career Day

It's our final Career Day! Little Man went as a football player (again), and Sweet Pea went as a graphic designer. We couldn't figure out how to dress like a graphic designer, so we finally decided to print some graphic design software logos onto sticker paper and put them on her shirt.

(And yes, Little Man wore the helmet to school!)

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Mountain Escape

For the second year in a row, we went to our new favorite mountain cabin for President's Day Weekend. The weather was cold but clear, and we had a great time!

We played poker, lounged in the hot tub, explored the nearby waterfall and stream, made s'mores, played Uno, read books, played foozball and air hockey, and otherwise just lounged around together and relaxed. Amber ran around, free as a bird, and slept in the sunbeams all weekend. MJ didn't even work! 


It was so chilly outside that it never got above freezing, even during the day, so we stayed inside. We never left our home away from home, except for a quick trip to the grocery store that first morning to get all the obligatory junk food for the weekend.

There's a wood-burning stove in the family room, so we made our fires there every day, and the crackling of the fire burning was the soundtrack to the weekend. We even made our s'mores right there in the family room!

The final night, we were treated to a gorgeous sunset. The colors stretched 360 degrees all around the horizon! It was the perfect punctuation point on our weekend.

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Valentine's Day

Happy Love Day! 

Yes, I'm aware that I've been MIA for ages. Life happens! I have some posts that I'll (hopefully) put up soon to catch you up on the happy chaos that is our life. But in the meantime ...


Sweet Pea and Little Man distributed their final Valentine's cards. Next year they'll be in middle school, which doesn't have holiday parties, so it was a little bittersweet this week, watching them cut out and staple their little treasures.

Little Man's were packets of hot chocolate, and all the cards have some version of "Bruh. Here's your Valentine" printed on them.

Sweet Pea's say, "SQUISHING you a happy Valentine's Day!" with rainbow colors and lots of exclamation points.

Could there be Valentines that more accurately reflect their personalities? I think not.


CC didn't let her middle school status hold her back. She made brownies for her 6 closest friends (dairy- and egg-free, to accommodate allergies), and red velvet cookies for her teachers. The "Baked with love" packets were very well-received, and one allergy mom texted me for the brownie recipe. Win!

Since V Day (unfortunately) fell on Ash Wednesday this year, we celebrated last night with a yummy cookie cake. 


Today we abstained from all the usual candies, and went to Mass before a late dinner. But no worries -- we saved the treats the kids received today, and I'm sure they will disappear quickly tomorrow. 

Monday, February 12, 2024

School Dance

CC's middle school has offered several dances since she started there last year, but she's always been too intimidated to go. But after she helped me set up for the dance in December, she decided it looked like fun. So last Friday, she attended her FIRST DANCE! She was so excited! Unfortunately many of her friends were out of town for the weekend, but she went with one of her good friends, Patricia.

Since it was Valentine's Day-themed, she originally planned on just wearing leggings and her v-day t-shirt. But Patricia convinced her to wear a dress, so they'd both be dressed similarly, and CC complied. 

I chaperoned the dance, and I could tell she had fun. The DJ played songs that the kids loved, and it made me smile to hear them all yelling the words and watch them jumping up and down to the music. CC regrets not going to previous dances, but she's looking forward to next year's options.