6 months in minneapolis, presidents day break, high school gathering

 last monday marked 6 months since we moved back to minneapolis. the fastest 6 months of my life! we've experienced so much during this time - buying a house, the kids starting new schools, thatcher starting a new job, getting winnie, and countless get togethers with friends and family. i'm so happy to be here, but it does not come without a little heartache. i know the kids really miss their friends (thatcher and i miss ours too) and they wish we were still in seattle, but i've been so proud of how well they have transitioned. i hope another 6 months from now that they will feel even more settled. 

there was no school for presidents' day on monday. this is normally the week we would spend in florida with my mom and brother, but we decided not to go this winter for multiple reasons. hopefully next winter we'll be back! we didn't have any plans aside from the kids requesting a trip to crumbl cookies. i forgot to take a picture, but we got four cookies and split them all over a couple of days. yum! it was our last super warm day for a while too. 

tuesday was the last day of the short break. we had no plans. i worked and ran some errands and took winnie on a walk. the kids lounged around all day. ashford had zoom piano in the evening. 

wednesday morning the kids headed back to school and i met my friend anna m for coffee at a new-to-me place called 'silverbird.' i had my weekly staff meeting on zoom and registered ashford for spring baseball! it doesn't start until may, but i'm glad he agreed to do it. it's through parks and rec and we aren't really sure what to expect, but i hope it's a great experience for him. it started snowing again in the mid afternoon and it was unclear how much we would get. azalea had stage crew in the evening from 6-9. by the time we went to bed, there was probably 4 inches of snow on the ground. 

thursday we woke up to another 1-2 inches on top of that. it was beautiful, but i'm kiiinda ready for spring at this point. ha! 

winnie loved it! 

school was on, so the kids went out the door. well, i gave azalea a ride since she normally walks and i was feeling nice. :) 

it was wet snow, which means winnie gets the classic snowball clumps all over her fur. 

azalea had stage crew in the evening again. 

friday evening we went to thatcher's parents' for dinner. it was nice to catch up with them. winnie got to come too :)

saturday morning we had our weekend brunch at home (because we had plans during our usual sunday morning). azalea had stage crew for four hours in the middle of the day. i ran some errands and thatcher and i took winnie for a walk. it was cold again, back to 20 degrees. we made pizza for dinner and ashford and i watched the third 'narnia' movie - a classic we have rewatched a million times. we took this hilarious picture of winnie - she is really filling out these days. she's up to 21 lbs! 

sunday was busy! in the morning the kids and i went to my friend kelli's to hang out with her and addie and clare while jake was out of town. we had a little brunch of donuts, mini quiche, and fruit. it was nice to catch up with kelli. in the afternoon, azalea had a babysitting gig for my friend caylia's kids. thatcher and i dropped her off then ran some errands. i came home to make this greek dip for my evening get together with my high school girl friends. 

my friend anna h hosted us at her house. i love being able to see these friends much more frequently now that i'm back in minneapolis. so many fun memories with them. this was a weekend full of my favorite things. 

thatcher and the kids had thai take out and hung out with winnie.