family in town, new hair, winnie's surgery

 last monday was back to our normal school, work, errands, walking winnie (x2) routine. oh and lots of laundry. thatcher had to keep going full speed ahead even after the workday because he had a bunch of colleagues in town for a conference planning meeting he used to be a part of. he went to the twin's game with the group that night. azalea went to her friend's to work on a project and ashford and i met up with anders, nith, and moss for ice cream at sebastian joe's. yum. i also had my first night of reading out on our deck...i even brought out my cute re-chargeable lamp i got for christmas. it was very cozy. no mosquitoes yet, but i know it's only a matter of time. 

tuesday i met azalea after school at a salon in our neighborhood. she had been asking to get her hair cut and my friend caylia who usually does it was scheduling out a while, so we tried somewhere new this time. azalea had a picture from pinterest with the style she wanted, which was a big cut for her. i would guess 7-8 inches. she looks older and really cute with her new 'do. 

ashford had baseball practice in the evening and azalea went to sylvia's again to finish a project so that meant lots of driving around for me. we also had to start winnie's prep for her spaying the next day by giving her medication. 

wednesday i was up and out the door with winnie at 7am for the spaying. when i dropped her off at the vet, i felt like i was dropping my child off for surgery. ha. they planned to keep her there all day for monitoring after the procedure. i went to the gym and the grocery store. otherwise i mainly worked and did a bunch of yardwork that's hard to do when she's around. our peonies are finally blooming and they are so pretty.

 i went back to the vet at 4pm to pick her up and she was very groggy. my poor baby. they gave us the recovery instructions, and we went on our way. they have body suits for dogs now as an alternative to cones to keep them from licking the incision. she looked pretty cute in it. we all showered her with love when she got home. she was not interested in eating or drinking. 

ashford had piano on zoom and then we had dinner plans in the evening, so i confirmed with the vet that she would be okay in her crate for a couple of hours. we went to davanni's in richfield with thatcher's parents, both his siblings and their families, and my mom and brother. it was such a fun night. 

the cousin gang...with one more coming in july! 

then we came back home to our sweet sleepy girl. 

thursday winnie continued to rest (thank goodness for the medication that chills her out). in the evening, ashford had a baseball game. we told the extended family and they all came, which was so nice :) there was a threat of storms all evening, but they got most of the game in before they had to end it. their team lost 4-19. ashford has been a bit frustrated with this new team/league. it's fairly casual compared to his seattle league and many of the kids seem to be beginners. but it's okay. he's still getting playing time in. we'll see what happens next year. 

friday morning i went over to my cousin austin's because my mom was babysitting his daughter gracie. she's 21 months now and just the cutest. after work and school and taking care of winnie, our family headed to liz and joe's for their monthly potluck. cedar and anders and their families came too, because they grew up with liz. we always have fun, but it was even more fun having them there. liz and joe's oldest child lux graduated from high school, so it was partially a celebration of that as well. i didn't take any pictures. 

saturday was busy! in the morning, i met my mom (and john) to go to the edina art fair. it's my favorite and i hadn't been to it in 11-12 years. it was forecasted to be a hot day, and it already felt hot at 10am. i didn't purchase any art, but i did try this buffalo mac and cheese in a mini savory cone. it was really good! 

in the afternoon ashford had a baseball game way over in NE minneapolis. it was in the upper eighties by this point. he has never played baseball in that kind of heat. thatcher brought us a tent canopy for shade. an hour into the game, one of the kids on his team collapsed out on the field due to heat exhaustion. yikes! thankfully he was okay after getting over to the dugout and having some water. but the umpire and coaches decided to suspend the game right then and pick it up again another day. it was a smart decision. so we all headed home early. azalea had gone to see 'the amazing digital circus' with her friend sylvia at a movie theater. thatcher grilled our dinner and we ate outside. i think this is my official dinner of the summer: grilled chicken with bruschetta topping, fresh mozzarella with balsamic vinegar, and arugula with lemon. it was so good! 

finally...the end the day...i was sitting on my deck and i could hear live music playing so i went to check it out. a street two blocks over from us was having a block party with a live band. i didn't know anyone there but i hung out for an hour chatting with a couple that lives on the next block. it was a really fun summer night activity, and it felt so midwest, which makes me really happy. 

sunday morning thatcher and i went to the garden store (it was hot hot hot again in the morning). we got a pine tree for our backyard. i also admired our peonies that are finally blooming out front. 

 we continued winnie's post-surgery care. it felt so weird to not be able to walk her for so many days. the calming meds really did work well. she slept a lot all week. in the afternoon we met up with grandma cheryl, anders + fam, and cedar + fam at sebastian joe's for ice cream. yes, twice in one week. i have a feeling we will be there a lot this summer ;) 

in the evening, thatcher's parents hosted the entire group of 13 for dinner. it was so nice to all be together again. cedar, eric, and telemachus left this morning and they will be living in norway starting in july, so we likely won't see them again until next summer. it was so sweet to see moss and telemachus play together while they were both here. there was a lot less fighting than the last couple of years. :) our nephew jack graduates from high school this week and then he'll be back later in june for most of the summer. yay! 

we are jumping into another busy week that includes our wedding anniversary, the last day of school, thatcher's birthday, and my brother brandon's birthday.