Denim Daisies

 Hello and Happy Friday!!! I don’t know why this week felt so rough even though so many good things happened, but I am so happy for it to be Friday! Here are some highlights from the week. Leo’s growth: I’m so proud of Leo and how much he is growing and maturing after starting preschool. It’s honestly staggering in the best way and he’s having so much fun making friends. We also started letting him play some video games with us for “game night” rather than just board games which we still do pretty much daily and he’s already beating me at Mario kart. 😆 Win for Jamie: we were having a hard time figuring out the best method for the walk back to the car after school and would you know T. swift was our saving Grace yet again, using his headphones and letting him listen to music (he’s a swiftie right now and so Taylor is all he wants) while we walk seems to be the fit that we needed! 🥰 Quiet time: I’m looking forward to my quiet time every morning with TBR and am doing three lessons a day

 Hello! So Grant and I had fun comparing our top five football snacks in time for football to kick off this weekend. Here they are: Me: 5 Gourmet burgers 4 Chicken and/or cauliflower wings 3 chips and corn dip (from Bab’s cook book, Lisa makes this and it’s AMAZING) 2 chips and guac 1 chips and queso Grant: 5 veggie tray (just to have something that feels good after you eat it) 4 cookie cake cut in squares 3 wings 2 burgers 1 chips and queso That’s all for today, I’m thinking there will be lots of queso in our future. 😋 💛 Jess

 Hello! Here’s a little of what’s going on with me lately. It’s a mash up based on Mix and Match Mamma’s “What’s up Wednesday” posts with some changes that make sense for me. Eating: we’re still eating off of our standard meal setup with Monday’s as veggie bowls with couscous, Tuesday crepes, wednesday pasta, Thursday pizza, Friday comfort food, Saturday slow cooker, and sundays have now transitioned to football food for snacking while watching the game. I’m also loving Trader Joe’s salads for lunch and eggs with avocado and Tajin for breakfast. Wearing: mostly zoo uniform and then workout clothes after to get in a quick workout while waiting for the boys, but I’m really hoping to change out fall clothes soon because I’m so ready for cozy but don’t want to tempt fate and have the hot weather surprise me again. Doing: helping out at the zoo and spending afternoons with my little guys! Right now mostly species specific work now that I’ve finished up a couple of big projects and a particu

 Hello! So a bit of a different tone to this post today. There are certain things that are harder for our family than us probably common (not that I would truly know because we only know how life is for us and haven’t lived in others shoes). Things like walking as a family or going out to a restaurant are frankly just really hard because it’s so easy to dysregulate. This doesn’t mean that we can’t still do them, but it does mean that when we practice, we are going to fail a lot. This is ok, but I’m not good with not having control of the situation all the time or not being able to predict how it will go and so it’s something that I’m having to learn. In short, what I’m learning is that this is a mind shift lesson for me. We aren’t working on being a Norman Rockwell painting, we are working on making things safe and, hopefully, fun, and forget anything or anyone else. So here’s us practicing this weekend and it was fun. A little stressful at times, but fun. (Oh and Leo is legitimately a

 Hello and Happy Labor Day! This is a big holiday for my husband’s side of the family because this is the anniversary of when his grandma and grandpa arrived in the US after the iron curtain closed in the 1940s. We are so grateful for the opportunities that they had from getting on that boat (Grandma Marga and Grandpa Sulev even met on the boat which is so romantic). Aunt Valda and Uncle Arnis both earned their PhDs in biomedical science and were the researchers who proved smoking causes cancer. It’s amazing to know about and honor their lives and we are fortunate to be able to still have regular calls with Aunt Valda and that she and Grandma Marga have been able to spend time with both of our boys who were named for their spouses (Sulev “Jamie” and Arnis “Leo”).  For some light hearted content a meal idea without and meat in it would be our regular crepes, we make these every Tuesday. Last week we did a Mexican French fusion and it was delicious! We do use eggs, but egg beaters would

 Hello! So we’re going to change this up a tiny bit to make it a fun conversation starter for me and Grant and eventually the boys as they get more opinionated. I’m going to give my top five and then list out theirs with any needed commentary.  My top five: 5. Halloween- I’m not a spooky fun person typically, but this is becoming more fun to dress up with the kids and really get into it. We’re slowly adopting a “haunted mansion” theme for our house over the years and this year it’s adding hangings that look like the elevator stretching and funny epitaph fake graves.  4. Thanksgiving- what’s not to love about eating until you can’t anymore then sitting on the couch watching an old movie or football. Especially as this is the ultimate hygge holiday.  3. Valentine’s Day- I love how so many are referring to this as the “I love you” holiday to just focus on those you love and communicate in their love language. I want this to be even bigger for us as a family as time goes on.  2. Easter- I