So I am finally, finally feeling physically better, which is a relief. I can eat almost anything without dire, painful consequences, as long as I take my Zantac. Maybe next week I'll start easing off of those as well. We'll see.
But as a result, our social calendar picked up markedly.
Wednesday evening, Katka came by to visit. We have not seen each other since the 9th of May, so we had a lot of catching up to do. She brought me a bouquet of flowers and a bar of chocolate from Slovakia - her home, where she and her husband spent most of May - and proceeded to tell me that I look too skinny. Had she been a single man, I would have assumed she had intention to court me! Her husband, Rasty, is spending the summer in Minneapolis, where she can at least visit him each weekend. She is making plans to take me out this month to belatedly celebrate my birthday. Gotta love friends!
Thursday, we attended an monthly MOMS Club meeting - an outing much more for the girls than it was for me. At each monthly meeting, which is held at one member's church, all of the kids play in a giant nursery while supervised by two volunteer moms. At our May meeting, Ilsa cried copiously and pitifully, which meant that she spent the entire 45 minutes on my lap. No fun!
This month, I volunteered to supervise in the playroom so that Ilsa get over whatever had spooked her last month (she had never experienced problems before). As a result, the girls had a great time, tearing around and playing with the other children, but I wound up comforting and policing a bunch of under-fives instead of socializing with the moms. Oh well. Ilsa did great, so this was really a way of reclaiming future meetings for myself by ensuring that she will cope without me next month.
After the meeting, we went to Copps to grab a few groceries. We were in good spirits, with the girls riding in a car-shaped shopping cart. We passed by a display of Beanie Babies where I saw a little six-inch Blue from Blue's Clues. Without drawing the kids' attention, I checked to see if there were any other Blue's Clues characters, and there was - the cat Periwinkle. I surprised the girls with one each - Periwinkle for Ilsa and Blue for Juliette - and they have been big fans of my impromptu purchase!
After watching the Blue's movie that afternoon - the girls insisted that they see their new babies on the small screen - Jenn conveniently called to say that she and Calvin were heading to the beach near their apartment, and she asked if we would like to join them. Naturally! The day was quite hot with a gentle wind, and by the time we got to the beach, Jenn and I could hang out in the shade and chat while the kids played.
Ilsa is not afraid of water, which means I watch her all the more closely. She loves the lake, loves to lie on the edge of the sand with most of her body in the water. While the lake was a little choppy on Thursday because of the breeze, at least it wasn't totally covered with nasty algae like the last time we were there! Ick! Gosh, we must have spent about two hours there, so the kids were good and tired that night.
Jenn also made the offer to watch the girls for me on Friday morning, to give me a little break. Gotta love friends! The girls were super keen on playing over at their house, and I took myself out to breakfast at Denny's. Then I perused the romance shelves at Barnes and Noble for a while with a birthday gift certificate from the MOMS Club in my pocket. Cha-ching! Chai in hand, I spent the rest of the morning reading my new paperback.
And then this morning, I was up at 8am just in time to miss the only goal in the England v. Paraguay game. After the game, the kids and I rode the bus downtown to visit the farmer's market. I am using the bus on purpose, once a week, so that Ilsa gets used to varied forms of transportation. My goal is that she will not be quite so freaked out when we take the plane to Richmond at the end of the month. We'll see about that!
We bought our usual cheese curds and pastries, ate lunch on the grass beneath the capital building, and generally took advantage of a lovely morning. We also counted 36 cow statues, some of which were really beautiful (here are four on display by the capital - except in person they are lifesize). After a quick run to the library, where I checked out more books than was probably necessary, we returned home. Juliette walked the entire distance between our bus stop and the capital, approximately 1.25 miles. Good job three-year-old! Needless to say, we all had naps when we returned home. Now the girls are watching one of the videos we checked out of the library, and I am looking forward to the remainder of my pain-reduced weekend.
But as a result, our social calendar picked up markedly.
Wednesday evening, Katka came by to visit. We have not seen each other since the 9th of May, so we had a lot of catching up to do. She brought me a bouquet of flowers and a bar of chocolate from Slovakia - her home, where she and her husband spent most of May - and proceeded to tell me that I look too skinny. Had she been a single man, I would have assumed she had intention to court me! Her husband, Rasty, is spending the summer in Minneapolis, where she can at least visit him each weekend. She is making plans to take me out this month to belatedly celebrate my birthday. Gotta love friends!
Thursday, we attended an monthly MOMS Club meeting - an outing much more for the girls than it was for me. At each monthly meeting, which is held at one member's church, all of the kids play in a giant nursery while supervised by two volunteer moms. At our May meeting, Ilsa cried copiously and pitifully, which meant that she spent the entire 45 minutes on my lap. No fun!
This month, I volunteered to supervise in the playroom so that Ilsa get over whatever had spooked her last month (she had never experienced problems before). As a result, the girls had a great time, tearing around and playing with the other children, but I wound up comforting and policing a bunch of under-fives instead of socializing with the moms. Oh well. Ilsa did great, so this was really a way of reclaiming future meetings for myself by ensuring that she will cope without me next month.
After the meeting, we went to Copps to grab a few groceries. We were in good spirits, with the girls riding in a car-shaped shopping cart. We passed by a display of Beanie Babies where I saw a little six-inch Blue from Blue's Clues. Without drawing the kids' attention, I checked to see if there were any other Blue's Clues characters, and there was - the cat Periwinkle. I surprised the girls with one each - Periwinkle for Ilsa and Blue for Juliette - and they have been big fans of my impromptu purchase!
After watching the Blue's movie that afternoon - the girls insisted that they see their new babies on the small screen - Jenn conveniently called to say that she and Calvin were heading to the beach near their apartment, and she asked if we would like to join them. Naturally! The day was quite hot with a gentle wind, and by the time we got to the beach, Jenn and I could hang out in the shade and chat while the kids played.
Ilsa is not afraid of water, which means I watch her all the more closely. She loves the lake, loves to lie on the edge of the sand with most of her body in the water. While the lake was a little choppy on Thursday because of the breeze, at least it wasn't totally covered with nasty algae like the last time we were there! Ick! Gosh, we must have spent about two hours there, so the kids were good and tired that night.
Jenn also made the offer to watch the girls for me on Friday morning, to give me a little break. Gotta love friends! The girls were super keen on playing over at their house, and I took myself out to breakfast at Denny's. Then I perused the romance shelves at Barnes and Noble for a while with a birthday gift certificate from the MOMS Club in my pocket. Cha-ching! Chai in hand, I spent the rest of the morning reading my new paperback.
And then this morning, I was up at 8am just in time to miss the only goal in the England v. Paraguay game. After the game, the kids and I rode the bus downtown to visit the farmer's market. I am using the bus on purpose, once a week, so that Ilsa gets used to varied forms of transportation. My goal is that she will not be quite so freaked out when we take the plane to Richmond at the end of the month. We'll see about that!
We bought our usual cheese curds and pastries, ate lunch on the grass beneath the capital building, and generally took advantage of a lovely morning. We also counted 36 cow statues, some of which were really beautiful (here are four on display by the capital - except in person they are lifesize). After a quick run to the library, where I checked out more books than was probably necessary, we returned home. Juliette walked the entire distance between our bus stop and the capital, approximately 1.25 miles. Good job three-year-old! Needless to say, we all had naps when we returned home. Now the girls are watching one of the videos we checked out of the library, and I am looking forward to the remainder of my pain-reduced weekend.
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