Currently

Saying farewell to our butterflies this week.  We enjoyed our newly emerged butterflies for a day or two by giving them plenty of fruit and kid-picked flowers.  But after I caught Lola sneaking up on our habitat to pounce (! I moved it before she got to it thankfully) and having one butterfly die on us (!! I think it was my little runt caterpillar that has had me stressing all along!), it was time to let them fly off and make their own families and life.  Right after they all flew away, both Grey and Gem said that it was very sad that they couldn't stay with us forever (to which I secretly weeped inside my heart 'try being a mother?!') but then they quickly followed up with 'Can we get more?'

Cooling off this week in all sorts of ways.  We pulled out the slip 'n slide much to the kids' delight and then spent an afternoon at the Ebensburg Public Pool with Aunt Uch too.  We had never been ,but will definitely be visiting again this summer!  I've seemed to 'win' the AC argument this week which means we're 'sweating' it out (hahah).  So we've also been enjoying meals outside and by candlelight at the dinner table (to keep the lightbulb heat down).

Reading Make It Happen by Lara Casey with our Inspired Readers book club.  If I'm being fully honest, the book on the whole is a heap more religious than I am personally, but I am keeping my focus on all the pieces of inspiration that shine through about reflection, naming my goals and fears, and starting to consider what my life could look like if I wasn't afraid to change.  As I talked about in our group - the book has helped me see that maybe part of a my fear (a big part?) is that success could mean a change to the way our life looks now - which is a life we love - so thinking it could change (even if because of something great happening) is a scary thought.  Also still reading Their Eyes Were Watching God and listening to The Husband's Secret on an audiobook on my jogs with Bullet.

Finishing up Grey's very first teeball season this week.  What a great first introduction to organized sports we had and we were so grateful to Grey's Coach Jeff for being the very first coach to our son.  Grey had so much fun and really did learn a lot about the rules and vocabulary of the game - which will certainly serve him well as we've been informed he'll be moving up to machine pitch next year.  Grey's favorite part (besides the action) was his new friends he made and he's hopeful that some of them will be in his kindergarten class this fall!

Gratefully surprised to get a notification that a a friend of mine tagged me in a beautiful passage about being an artist on instagram. It was a passage from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield and I loved the whole passage, but especially, "Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor.  It's a gift to the world and every being in it.  Don't cheat us of your contribution."  It was doubly wonderful because the friend that tagged me (hi, Sarah!) is someone that I've only met in real life once or twice but somehow in the way humanity and magic works - that's all it took for us to recognize some common thread in our souls and maintain contact via social media and inspire each other.

Planning some of our summer fun trips including our Grandma and Kid annual trip (switching it up to a new city this year!) and our summer AKT play date with my best friends and their kids.  We also have the 7th annual Beer Olympics, a wedding, and three family reunions on the horizon.  Bring it on summer, I'm ready :)


This week in interesting internet:

This article about the hypervisibility and invisibilty of black children was both fascinating and informative - especially following my viewing of the McKinney video with open-mouthed horror.

Happy to read this article about how Free Play is fundamental to teaching kids independence and self regulation.  Thank goodness as my interest in doing home preschool has severely waned in the past few weeks.  Oops.

I feel passionate about the topic of giving kids information and education about their own bodies, relationships, and safety  - so I enjoyed this article about Pre-school 'sex' education in the Netherlands and the good it is doing.

A negative article was released about my hometown (of which I am vocally proud of) that stated that our town is the 'poorest' in the state of PA.  After watching many people take it as an opportunity to post unkind things about this city - I responded on our local news facebook page with my thoughts.  Much to my surprise and pride, many people responded to my thoughts with solidarity and positive feedback.

This article about the wild and confusing situation with Rachel Dolezal helped give me a stronger foothold in where my thoughts have been trying to reach about race and privilege and media.