more days off school, more deep freeze, more community

things went from bad to worse with ICE last week in our beautiful city and state. it feels like it can't get any worse, but i fear it will before it gets better. we won't lose hope and we won't let up our resistance. future generations are depending on it. it feels wrong to go about our daily lives with this all happening so close by, but we need to for our kids' sake. we take time to share the horrors on social media, talk to our friends and family and our kids about it, and donate to causes that are helping immigrant communities in this time of need. 

 last monday the kids were off school for mlk jr day. we didn't really have any plans, so i decided to take them out for lunch. 'broders deli' recently added an expanded dining area, so we went to check it out. we had delicious pizza and pasta, and the added space was amazing, as they used to have so few tables. 

ashford insisted on not one but two giant slices. and then ate every bite :) 

in the afternoon, we stopped over at durant and cheryl's with winnie for a visit. 

tuesday morning winnie had her last 'puppy visit' at the vet. she weighed in at 17 lbs (so big!) but she's still working up to 20-30, and she got her final vaccine. she will be getting spayed in late may or early june, otherwise just annual visits going forward. she had an upset tummy for a lot of the day (even before the vaccine) so that wasn't fun. azalea participated in the 'walk out' against ICE with over 200 kids from her school in the afternoon. i'm proud of her. ashford had zoom piano in the evening. 

wednesday morning i went to see my friend carolina at her new house in st. paul. it was nice to catch up with her. i also had my weekly staff meeting. we got more snow during the day, and we braced for the coldest temps we've experienced yet this winter in the coming days. 

thursday was the kids' last day of school for the week. there have been so few school days this month. i made it to the gym and the grocery store. the temperature started dropping during the day and i picked up azalea from school because it was zero degrees at that time. by the time we went to bed it was -15. which is interesting with a puppy who still wants/needs to go outside. 

friday morning we woke up to -20 degrees (-38 feels like temp). it's a good thing the kids had off school for end of Q2, so we could just stay cozy inside. there was also a huge movement that took place this day. over 700 (mostly local) businesses closed for the day and roughly 50,000 people took to the streets of downtown for a peaceful protest march. i did not attend the march because i always worry that something bad will happen at large-scale events like that, but i regretted not going after i saw the videos and pictures. i did take ashford to an existing haircut appointment he had. winnie kept us entertained all day. she now tries to open the backdoor by jumping up and using her paws and wants to check out everything we are cooking. 

this one is blurry, but i thought her teeth were so funny sticking out.

saturday was a complete 180 turn. just a couple hours into the day, we learned that ICE killed another civilian on the street just a couple miles from where we live. he was videoing ICE attacking a woman on the street. and they don't like that. so much that they are willing to kill someone and try to destroy the evidence. horrific. the rest of the day felt extremely heavy as i did my normal activities like wishing my mom a happy birthday, laundry, walking winnie, and getting groceries. thankfully we had plans to have our friends liz, joe, lux, and max over for dinner. it was the best distraction and reminder that there is so much good in the world. we made lemongrass chicken vermicilli bowls and had lots of good conversations. 

sunday morning we made waffles and bacon for breakfast. it was well below zero for days on end. azalea went to a sing-along showing of 'the greatest showman' at the riverview theater with her friend sylvia and her mom. my brother came over in the evening, and we made pizza and watched the seahawks win their conference title game, which sends them to the superbowl. we aren't big football people, but it's fun to watch when your home (or second home) team does well. 

and yes, most of my pictures are of winnie these days. ha! 

the kids headed off to school in -15 temperatures this morning. it's amazing how well they have gotten used to this kind of cold. we are certainly dreaming of summer these days.