Weekend Review + Organizing Bug

Well election week is upon us. I am anxious and so very ready to have this behind us. And that is all I have to say about the election! 

Moving on… my weekend did not get off to a good start. Late in the day on Friday, my rheumatology clinic called to cancel my infusion appointment for this week because they have no IV drugs (I think the saline, not the drug itself, but I didn’t ask) due to the supply chain interruptions caused by the hurricanes last month. I have been in so much pain lately as my flare has gotten worse so I am so sad that I can’t get the drugs my body needs. They can’t even reschedule at this point as they don’t know when the meds will be back in stock. #sob I’ve already increased my prednisone to 15mg but can’t bare to increase it further because 20mg makes me overly ragey.

After that I had the lovely distraction of volunteering at chess club that afternoon which helped. And then that evening we let the boys stay up later in the hopes that they would sleep later on Sunday when we fell back for the end of DST. We watched the movie, Sing, which was so delightful! 

On Saturday I woke on my own, not from a child yelling for me which is always a treat. Taco was up around 6:30 and I had to wake Paul up at 7:30! I ran 4 miles, showered and then a friend came over and walked to Starbucks with us while Phil grocery shopped. Her daughter is almost 14 so she enjoyed being around the boys and said she wanted to take Taco home with her. We need to take her up on her offer to watch the boys for a date night. 

That afternoon, Phil took both boys out to his mom’s so I could get a break (husband of the year!!!). I spent that time organizing the window seat shelves - now that task is off my list and I can mostly use my days off this week as shouldless days. Woo hoo!! I forwent my typical Saturday afternoon reading session/nap and set to work. I also had Taco help me go through the board books before he went to Nana’s so we could donate things we no longer read. 

Lots of books to donate!

Here is a before of one side of the window seat shelves… 

Yes it was a disaster!

… and after! 

Can you see the John Dickerson photo? I’m a huge fan so Phil had his cousin’s wife who works at CBS get a signed photo for my 40th bday. Apparently he didn’t have stock photos to sign so his assistant took this for him to sign. Pretty cool, huh? I’m looking forward to listening to John’s election commentary. 

Here is the other side which wasn’t AS bad…

And after!

The finished product! It will rarely look like this. The pillows are too tempting for the boys and this area tends to be a dropping place for everyone’s bags.

I also hung some of Paul’s kindergarten art work in his room and then I ran out of motivation so caught up on the Great British Baking Show and watched some episodes of One Day. 

The boys were up at 5:50 on Sunday which isn’t too bad since that felt like 6:50. I was already awake and was laying in bed waiting for one of then to wake up. I’m glad our strategy of pushing bedtimes back worked. Starting our day at 5:50 is much better than 5! 

The boys got some holiday activity books from their Nana the day before so Taco and I did some coloring that morning. 

We we working on teaching him now to hold crayons. Fine motor skills are hard! 

I ran 3 miles and then we went to church/Sunday school. I attended a new member orientation brunch at church and then it was time for swimming lessons. Both boys will repeat their levels but have made great progress - yesterday was the halfway point of the term so we still have about 1.5 months of lessons left. 

We had a more ‘effortful’ dinner - turkey breast made in the instant pot with mashed potatoes, gravy, and roasted carrots. Both boys love poultry so the meal was a hit although Paul only ate the turkey. But I’ll take what I can get! 

We’ll obviously eat this meal again later this month on Thanksgiving. I mostly made the turkey breast so we could use some of the leftover meat to make turkey wild rice soup later this week! 

I ended the night watching some of the Vikings game with Phil before calling it a night.

I have Wednesday and Thursday off this week so it’s a short week which I am looking forward to! I really needed a break from work. The days will be mostly shouldless kind of days with a few errands mixed in. 

How was your weekend? Did you enjoy ‘falling back’? I hate this manipulation of time and wish we could just stay on DST! But overall, it wasn’t bad since we pushed the boys bedtimes back throughout the week. 

Fun, full, fall weekend!

We fit in lots of fun fall activities this weekend. Here’s how we filled the weekend. 

Friday:

- I went into the office which isn’t typical for a Friday. I sometimes have issues with my VPN connection. It can take a LONG time to save files when I WFH and since I had a long to do list, I figured being in the office was best. Plus I had a client call at 8:30 so I wouldn’t have been able to workout if I had WFH (being able to squeeze in a workout is the main benefit of WFH). One of the items on my list was to write my self-review for 2024. It’s so early to write a self-review but my company keeps moving up the deadline every year it seems. I’ve been tactfully lobbying for a pay increase over the last several months so I wanted a really strong self-review with lots of examples of my contributions. My role has changed dramatically in the last 2 years. For example, I used to rarely travel… this year I will do 20+ trips. Plus I have a direct report that I manage/mentor now. I don’t love comp conversations but I know many of my male colleagues aren’t shy about asking for what they want so I had to go outside my comfort zone and be more direct. 

- I also voted early while I was downtown. There was a steady steam of people at the voting site. I really liked the idea of voting on Election Day with Paul since our polling site is next to his school. But I wanted to make sure nothing got in the way of casting my vote!!

Saturday:

- It was a chilly morning with temps in the upper 30s which felt good on my 5 mile run. I needed to wear a vest and LS shirt for this run. 

- After I showered Phil headed to get groceries and I took the boys to the fall event at our church’s pumpkin patch. Taco helped me pick out our pumpkin and he picked out 2 small ones for him and Paul while Paul jumped in the bounce house (Taco is terrified of bounce houses - Paul was scared at his age, too). The boys also enjoyed a pumpkin sugar cookie. A woman offered to take a picture of me with the boys so I took her up on that since I am in so few pictures with the boys! I was wishing I had worn make up that day but oh well. This is my weekend mom look.

- After quiet time that afternoon we went to a free tennis clinic that is put on every weekend at a tennis bubble close to Taco’s school. The boys had so much fun!

- Then it was off to a pumpkin carving party at our friend’s house! I worked on making sweet and smoky chili while Phil carved our pumpkin. After dinner the kids all watched a movie together while the adults played cards. It was such a fun night!!

We usually carve a cat but this year we went off brand and Phil carved a hand as it was one of the easier stencils in our book of patterns. Our friend’s cat pumpkin was amazing! 

- The boys’ and I went to Sunday school on Sunday morning. I volunteered in Taco’s room which was pretty easy and fun. I helped in the music room and played the piano while 2 of the teachers went to hear their grandson sing in church. I was a little nervous to sight read a piece but the kids are 3-4 so not a very judgmental audience! I took some pics of the boys on the way home from church for our Christmas card which was quite an ordeal… 

- In the afternoon Phil golfed with some friends while the boys had swimming lessons and went to the fall festival at Paul’s school. There were bounce houses, food trucks, games, llamas, and more! The boys had a great time.

Could we have fit more into the weekend? I don’t think so! 

This afternoon I fly to Detroit for a work trip. I’ll be back around dinner time on Wednesday so it’s a pretty short trip. Then I get a week break from travel thank goodness.

How was your weekend?

Weekend recap

We had a beautiful fall weekend! The temps have cooled off but it’s still beautiful during the day which is my favorite. 

On Friday Phil took Paul to the driving range after school since it was so nice outside. I met a former colleague that still works in the same industry as me for coffee before getting Taco from daycare.

Taco had been waking at night last week, probably because of the cough he picked up at daycare, but he slept through the night on Friday night and was up at 6:30! Phew! I needed a solid night of uninterrupted sleep. Once Phil was up for the day I headed out for a 6 mile run. I signed up for a 10k race on Thanksgiving morning so I plan to maintain 6ish mile weekend runs. 

One of the paths I ran on. I’m lucky that most of my runs are on dedicated run/walk paths.

Then the boys and I headed to the library where we ran into friends. The boys enjoyed playing with the camping toys. 

After lunch I had to pull data for work again - last time for awhile (hopefully) as my colleague who took this task over from me last spring is back this week. Then I laid down and took a monster 2 hour nap while Paul had screen time and Phil and Taco went to his mom’s. I have felt so tired lately and a couple of nights of Taco waking did not help so I really needed this solid nap. I so want to be a person that doesn’t need naps. But the reality is that I do between this demanding stage of parenting, my RA, and my intense schedule at work. 

We walked/scooted to the park that afternoon. The weather was gorgeous! 

Then after dinner it was time to head to the Pumpkin Spectacular at the zoo. This is an annual tradition for us and we had so much fun!!

There was a zoo employee taking photos so we got a non-selfie together!

Taco had a good day at Nana’s, too. They went to Costco where he basically wanted everything. 

All that fresh air, excitement, and movement meant everyone slept well. I slept until 7 and was the first one up! I went to bed with a sore throat so my body is clearly fighting something off, hence allll the extra sleep I seem to need. 

The boys were resistant to going to Sunday school so I got them out the door by enticing them with a Halloween scavenger hunt. We looked for a ghost, spiderweb, witch, pumpkin, cat, and skeleton. We managed to find and take pictures of everything! The ghost was the hardest to find.

It took much cajoling to get the kids out of the house for swimming lessons, too. Actually cajoling was really the word of the day for most interactions with Taco… Both boys are making good progress in lessons. 

This is a short week for Paul and me as we fly to DC to visit my sister and her family for fall break! I haven’t seen her since last September so we are long overdue for a visit!!

How was your weekend?

Weekend recap

Marathon weekend is in the books! I love how excited the Twin Cities gets for the marathon. So many people come out to cheer the runners on. It’s such a well-spectated course. Here’s how the weekend shaped up.

On Friday I logged off a bit early to take Paul to his first chess club meeting at school at 4. Another dad organized a club at school and there were 32 kids there! We walked over there since it was such a nice day (inspired by Elisabeth's walking club) and I stayed to help out even though I don’t actually know how to play chess. I guess I will learn by volunteering. When we got there, I saw one of the kids that bullied Paul last week at his after school program and wow did I want to give him a talking to. Paul has brushed it off quickly and said one of the kids apologized to him. I’m a bit slower to forgive and forget…

Saturday I was awoken by Taco yelling for me but at least it was 6:30 so not too early. I entertained the boys until Phil was up and then headed out for a windy 5 mile run. Then I took the boys to Target where I needed to grab a few things and Once Upon a Child where we purchased winter coats for both boys and 2 pairs of snow pants for Paul for a total of $58. I feel like Elisabeth would have probably paid a fraction of this amount at her thrift store but it was still far cheaper than buying everything brand new. Now we are all set for when winter arrives (hopefully months from now!!). The boys were NOT GREAT on this shopping excursion. They were so loud and kept running away from me. I must admit I was staring a bit longingly at other parents out with their quiet daughters… I know some girls can be wild, but usually when I see parents out with their daughters, they tend to be so calm and compliant! 

Enjoying some cake pops at the SBUX at Target. The sugar probably doesn’t help their behavior but it’s a small treat and something they really enjoy. I got a grande skinny vanilla latte!

Some of my coworkers were out on PTO so for the first time in many months I had to pull data for our weekly newsletter and write the column for the taxable fixed income section (taxable fixed income (bonds whose interest is taxed) is my area of expertise). It is a pretty brief column - certainly less than 1,000 words - and yet it took me over an hour to write it. I used to write it weekly years ago but rarely write it anymore and wow I am out of practice. The guy that usually writes it is back this week so I will be reminding him how grateful I am that he writes this commentary. I bet he does it in less than 30 minutes!!

Having to work meant I lost my nap slot as we left for Phil’s friend’s house shortly after I was done working. The winds calmed so it was a beautiful afternoon. Our friends have a son around Taco’s age and the 3 boys played so well together. These friends are very into Halloween so Paul loved checking out their decorations. Taco was terrified of them and would not even walk by them! This is the first year Paul wasn’t terrified of the decorations.

All that fresh air wore the boys out so I had to actually wake them both up around 7:30. I woke on my own around 6:30 and felt rested. It was so nice to drink coffee and eat breakfast in silence!

We grabbed donuts and then headed to our friend’s house who lives along the marathon course around mile 9 to cheer on the runners. It was a chilly morning (in the low 50s!) and there was much complaining about the cold from the boys but all in all we enjoyed cheering on the runners! My coworker was in such a clump of runners since he was running around a 4 hour pace (9:09/mile) at that point which is a popular pace goal, so he actually saw me and yelled out my name as he was passing by! Often it’s easier for runners to spot spectators than vice versa! I also spotted 2 guys I used to run with when I was in a running club pre-kids.

Swimming lessons went great in the afternoon. Paul made good progress. I had just talked to Phil about enrolling him in private lessons rather than signing up for another session in the winter so now I am on the fence and will see if he continues to improve. 

Making some progress on his front crawl

After dinner that night I had to pull a teeth of Paul’s that has been dangling by a thread for well over a week. The boys have dentist appts this morning so he had until after dinner to get it out on his own. He agreed that it didn’t hurt when I plucked it out so hopefully he will take care of it himself next time he has a loose tooth! The tooth fairy came again but didn’t have any small bills so he gets $5 again. I guess the tooth fairy needs to plan a bit better and keep some singles around!

How was your weekend?

HOT HOT HOT

The calendar says fall but it has been HOT lately with highs in the mid-80s. Where are you, fall? I bank on cooler but still sunny weather and that has not happened much this month. I don’t want highs in the upper 80s when all the pools are closed! But the weather will cool off this week but then will warm up over the weekend - right in time for the marathon. Womp womp. It won’t be dangerously hot - just hotter than ideal for a fall marathon in the upper Midwest. You may remember it was canceled last year due to the heat and humidity. I wonder if the race organizers will consider pushing it to late October since warm falls seem to be a thing that will happen going forward (global warming, amiright?). 

All that said, we had a nice weekend. Phil took Paul to the driving range again on Friday and then to Home Depot. I had a late (for a Friday) client call that went until 4:30 pm but since it was a $200 million opportunity, I was happy to be on the call! 

Friday night at the driving range!

Taco had a rare solo bath since he was so dirty from playing in the sandbox at daycare.

On Saturday morning I ran 5.75 miles. I had to stop and take a picture of this house’s decorations! It made me think of our fall-lover, Jenny!

After showering, I took the boys to a park while Phil grocery shopped. It was BUSY at this park as there were 3 kid birthday parties and what appeared to be a parent group meet-up. There were a bunch of blown up balloons around the park so the boys had fun playing with them and made friends with another little boy. 

I did overhear a convo between them - the boy they met made a comment about Paul’s size as he was bigger than Paul but a year younger. Paul confidently said, ‘I’m 6.5, I’m just small for my age.’ He weighs about the same as Taco these days (prob around 38 lbs) so he is very small. But his doctor has never been concerned since he’s stayed on his (4th percentile) growth curve. Admittedly I worry about him getting teased for his size as he gets older but I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there. 

Phil took Paul out to his mom’s for the afternoon and I stayed back with Taco. We went to the goose house and played with LEGO. 

Paul got $5 from Nana for helping with yard work! They also found a cardinal feather in her yard which he was excited about.

Sunday was the usual program - church/Sunday school, Vikings game viewing for the boys (they almost blew their big lead but pulled off a win in the end), and swimming lessons. 

Working on his back float. 

When we got home, the boys happily played with LEGO for a solid chunk of time with no wrestling/fighting! It was magical!! 

This week will finally be a normal week with no travel… although now I wonder - is a week of travel now my new normal and a travel-free week is more abnormal? That’s what is feels like these days. My Chicago employee will be here for part of the week since he’s running the marathon on Sunday (his first!!). A lot of our 1:1 meetings this spring/summer have had a solid amount of time dedicated to discussing his marathon training and he usually lets me know how his long run went. I’m excited to cheer him on!

How was your weekend?

Weekend Recap

It’s the last week of September. I am actually not terribly sad to see this month come to an end because it’s been intense. I leave for another work trip today. It’s my 3rd week of traveling in a row which is TOO MUCH. I get a 2 week break after this thank goodness. This week’s trip is a team offsite in Chicago so a short flight and lower pressure since I won’t have any in-person client meetings. But there is often pressure to socialize and stay out late with the team but I have decided I will not be doing that. I’m secure in my position within the team and do not need to be the most fun person. 

We had a nice weekend. I took Friday off as I had a friend who was in town for work. I hadn’t seen her in person for almost 7 years when I visited her in St. Louis when I was pregnant with Paul! I picked her up at her hotel, we went out for Mexican, walked around the lake by my house, and then I took her to the airport. This is a friend I met through blogging (who sadly no longer blogs) but despite not seeing each other for many years, we picked right up where we left off and gabbed for hours straight. 

Since it was so beautiful, Phil took Paul to the driving range when he got home from school.

I picked up Taco and when we got home, I pulled out his Halloween costume since he has been asking to try it on. The boys are VERY excited for Halloween. They will probably wear their costumes a lot before the actual holiday. 

Taco will be Chase from Paw Patrol which is a hand-me-down from Paul

Paul is going as Pikachu

I woke up on my own at 6:45 on Saturday which was delightful! The boys slept past 7! It was a rainy morning so we hit up Starbucks for treats…

A donut for Paul (from the grocery store next door) and a raccoon-shaped cake pop for Taco. I hate how expensive the cake pops are but it evens out since Paul’s donut (from the grocery store next door) is cheap.

Is there something on my face? ;)

Then we went to the library where Paul lobbied to check out all of these books. He actually had a few more he wanted to check out but we settled on 5. He is very into graphic novels and will read them over and over again. He gets to read when he goes up to bed every night and I have to pry the book out of his hands! I let him read later on weekends since he can sleep in a bit. 

After lunch and quiet time, the rain had moved out so I took the boys to the park. They had a blast running around and pretended a pine tree was their house where they made croissants (pine cones) - I think they got this idea from Bluey.

They slept past 7 again on Sunday (although Taco yelled for me at 5:40 to cover him with blankets and I didn’t fall back asleep like he did). I laid in bed until 6:30, though, which felt good. 

Sunday was our usual church + Sunday school + afternoon swimming lessons. Phil and the boys watched the first half of the Vikings game before swimming lessons while I rested. The Vikings won and are 3-0 which is shocking to us as we thought this would be another ‘rebuilding season.’ The boys are both progressing well in swimming lessons although I imagine both will repeat their level, which is fine. I do sometimes wonder if we should enroll Paul in private lessons to see if he’d advance to a level of more comfort and then we could put him back in group. But I am seeing progress in him willingly putting his face in the water.

Paul working on the front crawl

Taco working on his front crawl

When we got home, Phil took them to the park so I could start making dinner. I made a marina with blitzed veggies hidden in it. I had mine on spaghetti squash and boys had theirs on pasta.

And then after Taco was in bed, we played Paul’s new favorite game, ‘bank.’ He is very good at counting out money and likes the made up withdrawals we come up with. We make up names and amounts we will withdraw. He’s very interested in money so I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!

How was your weekend? 

10 mile race + weekend happenings

My 10 mile race on Saturday morning went really well! Hurrah! I wasn’t super confident going into the race as I was just so dang tired from an intense week of travel. But I knew I had trained adequately and luckily my body did not let me down. 

It was overcast and a bit more humid than typical at the start but I was hoping the rain would hold off. Well, it didn’t. It started to rain around mile 3 and rained for most of the race. But I would rather run in rain than heat. My co-worker that lives in the area came out to cheer! I saw her twice on the course and then she was at the finish line. 

I felt really good for most of the race! I finished with a time of around 1:43 - so 7 minutes faster than my last 10 mile race in October of 2021 (which was a terrible race since I was fighting a cold - and I was only 10 months post partum and still breastfeeding…). Granted this time/pace is a far cry from previous longer race times (my half marathon PR is 1:52) but my life looks so different so I can’t really compare mom with 2 kids Lisa to pre-kids Lisa. 

While I was running, Phil was golfing at a charity tournament with my old coworker. They won the tournament for the 2nd year in a row! It’s a par 3 scramble which is not a typical format for a tournament but he has enjoyed winning it the last 2 years. My MIL watched the boys (we stayed at her house Friday night since the race was in her town) while we were out running and golfing. It’s nice that they are at ages/stages where she can handle them on her own for a couple of hours. 

The boys slept past 7 on Sunday which is such a treat. We went to church/Sunday school and the boys had matching shirts. It was hot and humid. Where is the fall weather? I like sunshine but I don’t need humidity in September!

Phil golfed with friends in the afternoon as a belated birthday celebration so he got to golf twice in one weekend! The boys had swimming lessons and then we went to a birthday party. 

I travel again this week - this time to Dallas Tuesday-Thursday where the highs will be in the mid-90s. Bleh. I’ve officially reached the point where I am ready for cool, crisp fall temps! It looks like the weather will cool off next weekend in Minneapolis, though. 

How was your weekend? Has it been unseasonably warm where you are?

Weekend Recap + Back on the Road

We had a beautiful fall-like weekend but now summer weather returns this week with highs in the upper 80s - right in time for my 10 mile race on Saturday, go figure. If only my race was this past weekend when the weather was PERFECT but so it goes! Here is how our weekend shaped up.

- Friday night was low key as usual. We ate leftovers and I ended up taking the boys to the goose house to play with the toys there to get them out of the house. Phil stayed back to enjoy some silence since he’ll be solo parenting for a good chunk this week. 

- Both boys were up around 6:15 on Saturday morning. I did my final long run (8 miles) once Phil was up. It was 53 with low humidity when I started so perfect running weather. I felt really strong! When I got back and showered, the boys and I went to the library. We hadn’t been there in about a month. I ran into a friend from the neighborhood (hi, Anne!). 

A rare quiet moment when Taco was looking at a book.

- After lunch I was ‘off-the-clock’ so I laid down in bed and read (‘You, With a View’, recommended by Stephany!) and napped while Phil took the boys to the park. 

- Then it was block party time! The boys had a blast scooting and running around on the closed street with the other kids on our block. Phil and I had a great time catching up with the other adults. The shoe kicking contest was fun as usual. The way it works is that each person gets 2 tries - one try for each shoe. There is an under 13 division, women's, and men’s with a traveling ‘golden’ shoe trophy for each division. I actually tied for 2nd! My furthest shoe went 63’ - the winner kicked it 66’.  I did have to carry a kicking, screaming Taco home around 7:30 when it was time for bed… transitions are so hard. Paul and Phil stayed until 8:30.

Shoe kicking!

Racing with other kids on the block!

- I woke on my own at 6:45 on Sunday morning! Not waking to a screaming child is such a treat. I actually had to wake both boys around 7:30 which pained me to do, but letting them sleep too late makes for a terrible bedtime and since it was a school night, I didn’t want to pay for letting them sleep late when bedtime rolled around. 

- The boys went to Sunday school while I went to church at 10. This is a new routine for us but both boys loved their classes and are excited to go back. Phil stayed back to clean and mow.

- After lunch I once again read and napped. Why am I so dang tired? Phil and the boys watched the Vikings (they won!!) and the boys played on their iPads. Then it was time for the first swimming lesson of the fall session. This is Taco’s first session of being in the pool without me - we did mom/parent classes when he was a baby/young toddler but took a long break until he was ready/interested in the water and could be in the pool without me. Both boys did great so we celebrated with macarons after class. 

- Their behavior was not great when we got macarons… They just can’t keep their hands off each other and constantly want to wrestle and mess with each other. I’ve talked to other moms of boys and it seems like this is just how they are going to be for like years to come? Sigh. I used my yelling mom voice when getting them in their car seats which I hate to use.

- So we stopped at a park to run off some of their boundless energy to make the final hours of the day more tolerable.

This week I travel for the first time in 1.5 months. It was a nice break and what our family needed. This is a longer 3-night trip for me. I think I will hit gold status with Delta on this trip. This is the most I have traveled since the year I lived in Charlotte and made silver status on 2 different airline - which is a total waste since silver is worthless but it’s how it worked out. I hope the boys are cooperative while I am away… Solo parenting is hard enough with well-behaved kids, Phil doesn’t need the extra challenge.

How was your weekend?