Odds and Ends

I know I said that I wasn't going to try to recap the past 3 months but I thought I'd share just a few pics and videos of the past couple of weeks.
On Mondays and Fridays Benjamin has a friend over after school.  On Mondays it is Leopold and and Fridays it is Clayton.  On those days I let them ride their bikes home on their own.  I know kids all over the world do this and I mostly trust that they will arrive home on time and in one piece but I do often look out the window awaiting their arrival. 

 The past few weeks we have started family dinners with Julie, Micha and Frida.  SO much fun for all of us.  Frida is an adorable dog and the kids absolutely adore her.  Micha and Julie are cool too 😊

 Benjamin's reading is off the rails.  I really cannot keep enough books in his hands.  He read all of these during Marty's two weeks in Seattle.  Crazy.  He finishes a book about every 2 to 3 days!!!

 I haven't exercised here apart from my normal walking/biking/hauling that one must do when they don't have a car.  Marty bought me a fitbit for Christmas.  Before when I measured my steps on my phone I nearly always had over 10,000 steps for the day but knew that I didn't always have my phone on me so knew it wasn't counting all of my steps.  With my fitbit I'm normally closer to 20,000 steps per day.  Crazy actually. As much as I'd like a car on some days - normally if it is rainy or I have a lot to carry, 9.5 times out of 10 within 3 minutes into my bike ride or walk I so appreciate the gift of being able to get out in the fresh air, get exercise just in my daily routine and that I'm healthy enough to do it.

Saturday soccer and play dates.
Both kids had soccer on Saturday morning.  Then afterward Benjamin was invited over to Louis' house for spaghetti and meatballs  lunch.  He was thrilled as I haven't made meatballs since Josie became a vegetarian over 3 years ago. And then they went to the local arcade to play pinball.  Again, he was in HEAVEN.

After Josie's soccer practice, her friends, Ella and Maya went with us to get her a new pair of shoes which she so desperately needed.  I remember my mom saying that I was really hard on shoes and I remember thinking, well I'm just walking in them. How can I be hard on them.  Well, Josie is VERY hard on shoes to the point where the soles just separate from rest of the shoe. But with her friends were were in and out of the store in 5 minutes. Now that is my kind of shopping.  Then to lunch at our favorite Asian (Vietnamese/Thai) place across the street. 

 She is constantly roller blading these days!!

 Benjamin was invited to a jump house for his friend, Tesh's, birthday.  Not only was the jump house fun but then they served huge, delicious looking burgers and fries for lunch!!  He was very excited.

 The rollerblading continues...

Marty got back after 2 weeks in Seattle and it was like Santa arrived!!!!  Haha!  He brought an entire empty suitcase with him, filled it while there and then brought it back.  Pancakes and peanut butter for days... weeks, months!!