Saturday Morning

I let myself sleep until I woke up this morning. 

I've been awake for a mug of lemon water and half a cup of coffee.

The freezing rain has turned to fat fluffy snowflakes.

This is my weather.

My guy read me a review of the concert Lily attended with friends last night.

When she told me she was going to see Travis Scott, I naively thought country.

That was ridiculous on my part as she's not a big country fan.

She's not a little one either.

Her first concert was a hip hop explosion.

I'm sort of glad I didn't know.

I went to see my favorite young performer in the final show of her high school career.

Before hand I enjoyed a quick glass of wine with her mother who happens to be one of my oldest and dearest friends.

A quick glass of wine was not long enough.

It never is, but it was something.

Cate was the beautiful, bone chilling voice of Audrey Two in A Little Shop of Horrors.

Her last show was my first of this particular production and it was special.

She is special.

The Catalanes and the McGurks, the Danes and the Evanses, the Gwidts and the Wegehaupts...we have a shared history and are more like family than friends.

One of my friend's acquaintances mistook us for sisters.

That's a common occurrence.

I came home to an empty house.

Ted trailed in not long after in his slippers.

He'd been out for dinner with friends...in his slippers.

Mike was next.

He too was out with friends on this Friday night.

He was not wearing slippers.

Lily texted that the show was pretty good and she liked it.

She was home at her friend's for the night.

Oh, and she bought a really cool Travis sweatshirt at the show.

Suddenly I was 14 again standing in line for a Violent Femmes T Shirt I don't think I ever wore.

Knowing everyone was safe and sound, I headed to bed feeling full and happy and blessed.

My wise Instagram friend shared in a recent post that she's been lost in life.

That sure resonated with me.

Not busy, but present.

And that is my goal every single day.

My prayer every night.

To simply be.here.now.

Mother and daughter.

Grateful Friday

Today I give thanks for...

Windmill Beach, family and weekend, or Windmill Beach family weekends.

Saturday we headed north for our second annual Windmill Beach Olympics. It was such great family time and big competitive fun. My brother and sister-in-law got extra into it and took it to a new level this year with new events, fun prizes and fireworks during the opening and closing ceremonies, or whenever my brother felt like lighting up the sky, which is often.  

Mike was last year's champion. 2018 events included putting, driving, ping pong and Boggle. He had to hand over the trophy under some protest.

Pyro Brad doing what he loves to do. Opening ceremonies must have some fire.

The girls showed their USA team spirit. These two were vying for a summer Olympics so we can have swimming events. None of the rest of us will stand a chance.

Teddy was getting impatient for the games to begin. That tie lasted about 10 minutes btw. 18 year olds are too cool for corny costumes.

One event was a putting challenge. We all did well, but not surprising it was Ted's event.

Shuffle board was another close one for all athletes.

Brad wore out the mic before the end of the night.

Mike helped MC.

Snap Chatting was not an event.

As the sun went down, we took a break to refuel with a tasty taco buffet.

  

Closing ceremonies.

The Jenga tournament had to be continued in the morning. 

We woke to another broody day, but every day is beautiful at the beach.

My brother and I were eliminated in the Jenga match from the night before soon after breakfast. It must have been the fried chicken we ate. 

Fried chicken for breakfast. 

Then it quickly became a battle between father and son. a battle that kept is all on the edge of our seats.

Teddy won  to became the 2019 champ with the most golds.

The trophy will stay safe at Windmill Beach until next year.

He celebrated his victory by taking some swings in the snow.

 We came home to another winter wonderland. It was snowing at the lake, but we had even more snow at home and that made for a quiet, cozy day and night back at Casa Wags.

'

I made a nice dinner in honor of President's Day and we ate and drank well.

 And now it's time for another weekend again.

Grateful Friday

Today I give thanks for...

Friday. It was sort of a strange week. It felt really long even with a snow day Tuesday. 

A snow day Tuesday.

After playing hockey and broom ball all day, Teddy came home and got his baseball net set up in the driveway so he could hit some balls. That is a snow plow making another pass in the background after 24 hours of snow. That is dedication. 

Peanut cozied up to the heater as the temperature dropped.

And then I wrapped him in my scarf.

The morning sky the day after the epic snowstorm.

Ted got up before the sun that morning to put the banana bread in the oven and to practice putting in the basement before school.

Four seasons. So many people were moaning and groaning about the weather, but not me. I love a big snowstorm and I even love the winter.

A pan of chicken enchiladas for dinner. I finally perfected the recipe so I hope I can remember how I made these because we all were raving over them. I love a one pan dinner too.

  

 Valentine's Day. Holidays. I also love every single one of them. I got up early to make my guys camel's eyes. Lily shuns breakfast these days. Then I baked a loaf of banana bread and I took it in to work. Alan and Linda were very very happy. He brought bagels and she brought chocolate covered strawberries and candy. It was sweet.

Valentine's Day was very low key at Casa Wags this year. Mike and I celebrated over the weekend and both the kids got their gifts early. Mike and I cooked with our cocktails. It was a team effort to make our delicious spaghettios and meatballs. French silk pie was for dessert. The four of us had lively conversation during dinner, some laughs too and then I felt sad when it came up that this is Ted's last Valentine's Day at home. How on earth am I going to send him a French silk pie in the mail?

A little sprucing up of the rec room. It's very dated, but we did a deep clean, added some candles and twinkle lights, new pillows, and a rug. Ted even noticed and Lily has been choosing to hang out down there more often. I have a few more ideas to further improve the space.

Both the kids got straight As first semester and made the high honor roll. We are super lucky to have motivated, hard working students.

Cute and sweet too!

Another Snow Day

All four of us are home again as the snow flies out the windows and piles up and up on rooftops and roads. The streets are all but deserted. Only those who absolutely must, go. The rest stay. The accumulating inches offer permission to just be...not do. It's such a rarity in our busy lives to feel that we've nowhere to go and nothing to do without even a little nagging guilt. That's the beauty of a snow day. That's one of the beauties of a snow day.

Tigger gets it. He just checked out the neighborhood and crawled back into bed. Lily hasn't surfaced yet. The boys are working side by side, or more like across from one another. Ted's vacation lasts another day. He made it home before bed last night after a weekend of fresh powder skiing. He's lucky the snow followed him because today he can get caught up on sleep and schoolwork. And shoveling. It's good to be Ted. He's a lucky lad who lives a charmed life.

I know myself. I'll happily putter around the house all day making meals and doing a few loads of fresh flannel sheets. I'll likely bake something too. I'll stop now and then to read a few pages of one of the three books I'm reading right now, and I'll even sit still and watch the snow fly all the while thinking about how there's nowhere else I'd rather be.