Here’s this week’s story:
Title: Early Morning at Cafe Borrone
Story:
Saturday morning I found myself awake at 5:46am. As I was lying in bed, trying to decide whether I should go back to sleep or get up, I heard Nathaniel go to the bathroom. Since Jake looked like he was going to stay asleep, I decided to sneak out of bed and go downstairs to meet Nathaniel and ask him if he’d like to go to Cafe Borrone together. He said, “Yes!”
We looked up the Cafe’s hours and found out that even though they don’t open until seven am, they serve coffee starting at six. So we grabbed our books, got dressed and drove to Borrone. There were no other customers, so we had our pick of tables. I got some coffee and Nathaniel got some ice water and we sat inside by the windows.
We spent the next hour working on different problems in Nathaniel’s second grade workbook. We did some science and then we learned about telling time. We even played math bingo. By this point, it was past seven, so we got up and ordered a strawberry tart for Nathaniel (his favorite) and a warm croissant for me (my favorite). I tried to get some photos of him working but Nathaniel, being his sweet, silly self, made funny faces, laughed, and then laughed some more, so all my photos are blurry and silly. But I love them.
I love them because they were the perfect ending to the perfect morning. They are such an excellent reminder of Nathaniel’s sweet, kind, and silly disposition. All in all, we were there for a little over an hour. It was the very best way to start my morning. We got a little work done, we ate some tasty food, we laughed, we hugged and we spent time just the two of us. And I will likely cherish this ordinary Cafe Borrone morning for weeks and weeks to come.
Yet another example that ordinary moments are what make life so extraordinary. That these are the moments I live for and strive for every day in my life. This is what I want more of in my life: little moments of connection. Small ways to carve time to spend with the people I love so very very much. I am so glad I chose to get out of bed.
Thank you, my sweet boy, for bringing so much light into my life.
Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s story:
Title: My New Planner
Story:
I blame Christy Tomlinson. Or maybe I should blame Stephanie Howell because Christy wasn’t even in my Instagram but Stephanie was and she posted a photo of some beautiful planners Christy was giving away. Then I added her account to my feed and, within a half hour, I was shopping for my own planner. I haven’t even owned a planner since 1990s and I have no idea why I suddenly had the unstoppable urge to own one.
After pondering it pretty much full-time for two days, I decided to bite the bullet and get one. The gold one was on sale for 50% off so I decided it would be a good first test to see if the planner thing would actually work. I bought the planner and even though I knew it wouldn’t arrive for at least a week, considering it was coming from Australia, I started stalking the mailman.
I spent my waiting days buying smaller but fun planner goodies, some a4 paper, and thinking about all the inserts I want to have. I designed five different kinds of inserts. Each day, my anticipation grew and grew and the planner could not get here fast enough.
Finally, this Friday, the mailman showed up with the planner in his arms. I almost kissed him. It was as beautiful in person and I’d anticipated. I spent most of my day making the inserts, the dividers, filling the pockets and making a fun but personal dashboard to remind me of what I want this year to be about.
I’ve only had it for a day and a half, so it’s too soon to tell whether this solution will work for me long term. The planner is definitely thicker and heavier than the Moleskine I was using before so we’ll see if it’s sustainable but, for now, I am enjoying it. Even though I probably didn’t need another obsession in my life.
All joking aside, it has been really fun dreaming up different ways in which I can organize and track my life. The colorful pages of my planner make me happy and give me hope that it might be able to help me get my life back on track.
Here’s to hoping it’s not just pretty but also effective.
Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s story:
Title: A Day in Santa Cruz
Story:
During the ski week that the kids get off, we were supposed to go to Los Angeles. Before I decided to book David’s surprise trip, this was planned to be how we celebrated his birthday. We hadn’t booked a hotel or made any specific plans but it was our intention to spend the early part of the week in LA.
After we got back from the Orlando trip, I was very tired and overwhelmed and wasn’t sure if I really could deal with going away again in less than a week. I though about it some and stressed about it some and then finally had a talk with Jake. I asked him if we could do something a lot more low key. I really didn’t want to sit in the car for six hours. I really didn’t want to do anything taxing at all. I asked if we could do day trips instead. Maybe a day in Santa Cruz, a day in the city, and another day filled with something local but fun. He said okay.
So Monday morning, we woke up and got on our way to Santa Cruz. It was early enough that the boardwalk wasn’t open yet so we went bowling instead. I did abysmally bad but the boys did well. Then we went to the arcade and played games for a while. I walked around with Nathaniel and Jake spent time with David so they could play the more mature games.
After a while, we took a break and walked on the boardwalk, got some food and ice cream and decided it would be fun to play mini golf. The place in the boardwalk is really nice and even had a section that has a lot of fluorescent paint and some black light. We didn’t keep score but I am pretty sure Daddy would have won.
We then went back to video games and played a whole bunch more. The kids were watching this couple play for a while and on their way out, they gave us all their tickets, which was awesome!! By the end of our time, we had enough points to buy two light sabers, a huge pen, a few stickers, and a little ring. Pretty great.
We walked the pier to see the seals and then got a slice of pizza before heading home. It was a really lovely day full of much joy, adventure, and family time. We all decided that we need to go to Santa Cruz a lot more often.
Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s story:
Title: Valentine’s Day Cards
Story:
One would think that, as someone who is into crafting, I would like making Valentines for the kids’ schools. But it’s never been one of my favorite things to do. Though I also refuse to buy them when they are so easy to make. As the day approached this year, I was dreading coming up with a plan.
About a week before, we got an email from David’s teacher explaining that they were planning to do something different this year. Each kid would only make a Valentine for one other kid. It would be more personal and it would be hand made and it had to have three things specific to that kid. I loved this idea! I wish all the grades did exactly that.
Alas, not Nathaniel’s class.
So as we scoured the internet for ideas three days before his party, I kept thinking we were going to have to go back to our idea from a few years ago when we made little paper airplanes. I wasn’t looking forward to hand folding forty airplanes again.
Then we found these cute printables that used googley eyes. I remembered that I had bought googley eyes for David almost five years ago when he and I were doing our year-long crafting project. I dug in the closet to see if I could find them and was overjoyed to find that not only did I still have them but that they would be perfectly sized for these Valentines.
Nathaniel picked the printables he liked the most, we printed and cut them and then glued the little eyeballs on each of them one by one (so thankful for glue dots!) And then he stamped his very long name on each of the cards and we were done!
All in all, the project took us maybe twenty minutes. And I think they turned out very cute. He said that everyone in his class enjoyed them.
I feel like this year might go down in history as one of the most painless Valentine prep years ever. Three cheers for fun, easy, and cute!
Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s story:
Title: David’s Tenth Birthday at Universal Studios
Story:
When David and I first talked about his upcoming tenth birthday, he wasn’t sure how he wanted to spend it. The more I thought about it, the more I knew I wanted to do something special. He was turning two digits. Two digits. I can’t even believe it.
After some talk back and forth, he mentioned he would like to go to Harry Potter Land. He loves the books and he had heard it was wonderful. I did some quick math and quickly realized that the vacation to the other end of the US would be relatively expensive for all of us and told him that we likely couldn’t do that. He was sad but he understood. So we made plans to go to Los Angeles instead. About a week later, I was still thinking about our conversation and feeling bad that I couldn’t do what he wanted for his birthday. The more I thought about it, the worse I felt.
And then I had this idea: what if I could take him to Orlando on his actual birthday for just two days? just him and me. I asked Jake if he would be okay with it, and he was. So I told myself to not overthink it and, within the hour, I’d booked a plane and a hotel room.
I decided not to tell David anything. The plan was to pull him out of class on Friday and go right to the airport. I was a little worried about how Nathaniel might react but I knew we couldn’t tell him until right before we took David. It was hard work to keep it all a secret but I managed just barely.
When the day finally came, Nathaniel was a total champ and said okay. We flew off to Florida (despite the four hour delay, which is a story for another day) and spent two magical days just David and I. We saw all of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and we even managed to go on several rides all over Universal Studios. In the end, David enjoyed the Terminator and Transformers and Men in Black rides almost as much as he enjoyed all the Harry Potter loveliness.
All in all, I hope it was a wonderful birthday, for you, my sweet boy. I am so very grateful to you each and every moment of my life and I hope that every single one of your dreams, small or large, always comes true. I love you with all my heart.
Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s story:
Title: White Rabbit Party
Story:
Last Spring, after reading several emails on how the school was still looking for a chair, I decided to volunteer for this year’s Spring Benefit. This was an exceptionally odd choice for me because, even though we’ve been at the school for almost four years, I’ve never actually been to the Benefit before. I had no idea what it looked like, what all the moving parts were, or even what the job would entail. I am not exactly sure what prompted me to even consider it.
But I did.
Right before I decided to do it, I emailed an acquaintance who’d been involved in previous years. I didn’t know her that well but I knew she was nice and I figured not having to do it all by myself would be a good idea.
It wasn’t just a good idea; it was a great idea.
Kerry and I have been co-chairing the event and it has been absolutely wonderful to have her. She is so easy to work with, so very nice, and such a great benefit in all areas where I struggle. I am so grateful she was up for doing this together.
This week, we had a big kickoff event to build some excitement for the Benefit, which is coming up in April. The idea was to make a bit of splash and see if we can get people to donate some parties, maybe volunteer some and hopefully get a few solicitations. I wasn’t very optimistic about potential turnout. But it was quite great.
Parents showed up. They signed up for donating parties, they chatted and got excited over ideas. There was a bunch of chatter and even some solicitations. All in all, it was a definite success.
There are still three months, three crucial months, before the event and I am quite nervous about how well it will all come together but this was one little step in the right direction and yet another example of what a great decision it was to work with my friend Kerry on this party. I am thankful for great partners.
Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s story:
Title: A Day in Diamond Peak
Story:
As the winter started approaching, Jake and I made some plans to go skiing. We originally had planned to go the first weekend in January. We had our room booked and location picked out and we were all excited to go.
The night before we were scheduled to leave, Nathaniel walked into our room at midnight and said he wasn’t feeling so well. As it turned out, he had a fever of 104. We canceled everything and spent the weekend at home. A week later, he came down with an ear infection. So we waited a bit longer.
The third week of January, we decided it was finally time to try again.
David has tennis lessons that end at 5pm Friday so we decided we would leave right after his lesson. That was mistake one. Not surprisingly, traffic is quite bad on Friday afternoons. It took us two hours to get out of the Bay Area. A few hours into the trip, we stopped to get some quick food and the boys wanted some ice cream. That was mistake two. A few hours after the ice cream, Nathaniel woke up and got sick all over the car. Since this is not something our kids usually do at all, we were poorly prepared. We pulled over, cleaned and changed him and then got back on the road.
Another few hours later, the whole incident repeated itself. And since we were only going away for two days, this meant that Nathaniel was now wearing the last of his spare clothes. The car was smelly enough to make the rest of us sick and what was supposed to be a four and a half hour drive took us seven hours.
To make things even more fun, there was very little snow on the mountain so many of the runs were closed. But all four of us still got a full day of skiing in and had a great time.
Instead of spending half a day on the road, we decided to brave the drive back that same night so we could sleep in our own bed. Fourteen hours of driving for six hours of skiing. This will go down in history as the quickest trip to Tahoe and hopefully the next ones won’t be nearly as painful.
Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s story:
Title: Gratitude Journal
Story:
When David was six, he and I both started our own gratitude journals. He was learning how to write his letters and I had read a lot about the advantages of keeping a gratitude journal so we each started one. Even though, he’s since fallen out of practice, I feel that the regular writing exercise and having a daily focus on something good was really valuable for him.
Now that Nathaniel is approaching six himself, I decided it was time for him to get his own journal. As I was buying David his graph paper notebook for math this week, I got Nathaniel a notebook with wide lines. I got him one that was bright green because green is his favorite color.
On Tuesday, he started writing daily gratitudes. So far we have: I am grateful for the swings (at school.) I am grateful for the spiderweb ( a climbing structure at school.) I am grateful for cakepops. I am grateful that I went to the movies with my friends. We missed a day so we decided to just skip it and keep going.
I was worried that Nathaniel would rebel or whine or complain but he hasn’t done any of it. He always starts with picking his item, then writing “i am grateful” and then for each word, we first spell it out loud and see what all the letters of the full word are. Once he can easily repeat all the letters, he writes the word down by himself and then we discuss the next one and on and on.
Even though he’s not falling behind in any way, I want to make sure some of the attention stays on Nathaniel’s progress. We’ve been focusing a lot on David lately because of the Tech Challenge and middle schools, etc. So this project is my way of ensuring Nathaniel gets daily writing practice.
I will also search for some math work for him and I hope to convince him to read on his own more often, too. He can definitely read now and he just needs practice. Around this time, I did the daily reading with David so maybe that’s what we need here, too. Anyhow, one step at a time and, for this week, this journal is a wonderful step forward. Three cheers for Nathaniel!
Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s story:
Title: The Tech Challenge
Story:On Thursday evening, I get a letter from a friend of David’s mom. “Is David doing the Tech Challenge?” she asks. Instead of going to bed, like I usually would, I decide to google it.
And then the world speeds up.
Next thing I know, I am emailing parents to see if they’d be willing to advise kids. I am reading the rules. I am talking to David. I am registering them and I am in the middle of forty-seven emails and twenty-three phone calls. All in the span of twenty-four hours.
Here we are, a mere two days later and I’ve committed David to spending two late nights and seven extra hours a week on this crazy project. I’ve also committed my own time with the kids once a week. I am reading documentation, trying to wrap my head around what all this means. Buying supplies for the kids to get started. Looking at my calendar and doing the math over and over again on how all this is going to fit into our already overflowing life.
And yet.
And yet we do it. David’s excited, motivated and looking forward to the adventure this is going to be. And isn’t that what life is all about? Working hard to support him in all the adventures he wants to take? Isn’t this what I meant when I picked brave for my work this year? Doing things despite the fear and worry. Stepping up. Showing up. Having faith that my instincts are faithful guides on this journey I’m taking.
So here we go. We stepped up for the challenge. Let’s see what unfolds from here. Let’s see if the boys really come through. Let’s see what we learn. Let’s see how much fun and struggle and learning this will result in. Let’s see what we don’t know yet. Let’s see where this journey takes us.
Bring it on.
Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s story:
Title: Practicing Basketball
Story:
David’s class started their basketball practice and games in November. From November to March, they will have practice and a game each week. As opposed to many other boys in his class, David doesn’t play any basketball (or other similar sports) outside of school. This means that the weekly practice is all he gets.
In hopes of giving him a little more time to practice, Jake took both the boys to the park this week. As the boys practiced, I worked on my computer. Jake was shooting hoops, trying to teach David how to steal the ball from right under the net. I asked them if they could take a little break so I could take a photo of David shooting.
They were willing to accommodate me so David grabbed the ball and gave it a shot. It was the very perfect moment because David threw and it went right into the basket!
I am not a sporty person. I have never played any sports I wasn’t required to. I am way too clumsy and uncoordinated to be good at anything. Even when skiing and skating (the only two sports I can do) I am cautious and therefore not very good. Sports is just not my thing. It’s never been and I don’t think it will ever be at this point.
Which is exactly why I love watching my kids play. I love it when Jake takes them out there and works with them to improve their balance, their skills, and their dexterity. I love watching David try again and again. I love that he’s willing to keep going. I love that he’s getting to experience playing a team sport. I love that he keeps trying relentlessly.
I love sharing the things that I know how to do with my boys. It’s special for me to pass on my own joys and learnings. But, what I love even more is watching them do things I never could. Watching them ride bikes. Watching them sing or play an instrument. Watching them play sports. I haven’t done any of these things. I get to experience them for the first time through them. I get to see how amazing it feels to have your kids be better than you. To be more. To do more.
It’s a magical feeling.
Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s story:
Title: Solar System Mobile
Story:
One of the presents Jake got for Nathaniel this Christmas was a box of Space Exploration projects. It wasn’t until Nathaniel asked him to help do some of the projects that he opened the box and realized how complicated each project was.
But he’d already promised to help.
So the boys got to work. They picked one of the simpler projects: a solar system mobile.
First they got a piece of yarn and put all the labels for each planet through. Then they tied a picture of the planet below each with a thread. Then, they blew up a yellow balloon to represent the sun. It sounds simple in the three sentences but these steps took quite some time. And then we had the challenge of where to put the finished project.
Jake and I took it upstairs very carefully and looked around Nathaniel’s room to find the perfect spot. As it turned out, we got lucky. We hung it right over his desk.
While the project is lovely, what I love most about this little story was watching the two boys work together. I love seeing how they are both so focused in the photo above. I love how Nathaniel’s not deterred by the difficulty of the task. I love how he wasn’t bored or didn’t get distracted and walk away. And, of course, I love what it taught him about science.
(I learned something, too. I had no idea how different the sizes of each of the planets were. And how much bigger Jupiter is than the others. )
I really enjoy watching the two boys play together and I love playing with them myself, but there’s something special, for me, in watching their dad play with them. Maybe it’s because it’s a father-son moment or maybe it’s because I love them both so much. Either way, these are special moments for me and I cherish every single one of them.
I love you so much, Nathaniel and Jake.
Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.
Here’s this week’s story:
Title: Traveling to Zurich
Story:
When I joined the Transit Team, Holly said it would probably be a good idea for me to visit Zurich sooner than later. I knew she was right, but I was reluctant to and worried about leaving the kids for a week. As it works out, because the flight there takes such a long time, it’s not really feasible to leave for less than a week.
So a week it was.
I booked my flight but immediately started dreading it. Even up until the very last moment, I was not looking forward to it. But, alas, the day came and it was time for me to get on the plane.
The boys drove me to the airport and gave me big hugs goodbye. The plane ride was long, but uneventful. And, before I knew it, I was in Zurich. I found the train to the office relatively easily and the awesome Google Transit directions got me right to my hotel. I took a quick shower and headed off to work.
Even though the first day was a bit awkward and disorganized, the next three days were extremely helpful and very busy. I spent all my days in meetings, coming up with lists of things to do, and connecting with all the engineers.
I spent my nights getting organized, winding down, reading, and resting.
The first three days, I woke up no later than 3am. I was very jet lagged but I still managed to get through the days without a problem. Later in the week, we even went out at night for some socializing.
All in all it was a fantastically worthwhile trip. I felt a lot more connected to the team and good about my job. And the boys? They did wonderfully. We chatted a bit each day and, while I missed them, I was too busy to really worry about anything.
As with most things, the idea of this trip was much worse in my head than how it all worked out in reality. Note to future self: Stop worrying, things always work out.
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projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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