What Did You Do This Weekend?

My weekend:
My birthday was Thursday, had a really wonderful day with friends and family stopping by. I enjoyed the unreasonable warmth. The warmest bday in my 53 years (all in Montana).
Went out to dinner with family in Friday. So lovely. Brownie and ice cream with toasted marshmallow for dessert. It felt strange being in a crowded loud joyful restaurant, I haven’t been out in a very long time.
Friday was my husband’s last wound care appointment for his burns. HALLELUJAH. I’m so grateful to be closing that chapter.
Saturday and Sunday we got some lovely long sunshine walks with puppy Mo and Nora. Mo is obsessed with his ball and it’s a delight watching him prance around with it in his mouth, so very proud of himself.
Watching Waiting for Guffman. Shed some tears for the brilliant light that is Catherine OHara.
Had the most amazing meal delivered by a very kind friend, manicotti and green salad and APPLE CRISP and ice cream. Heaven. On paper plates.
Started Monday with my baby grandson, who is officially a HUGGER. It’s the best.

I love reading about everyone’s lives through these little updates. I hope the week ahead is good for everyone.
Started Monday

It was a good weekend. Saturday was just the usual routine: chores, kid activities, playground meetup with some other families, and dinner at my in-laws place. On Sunday, my daughter (10) had an extra long training session for artistic swim at the pool. I took my knitting along, as I do every week. And just like every week, I barely knit a stitch because whenever her team is working on their routine, I am absolutely transfixed and cannot tear my eyes away. It’s even better than the Olympics.

After a 5 year hiatus, spent 2 frigid days skiing in Vermont! No Lyndsey Vonn moments, thankfully, just achy knees. And dang – the old rag wool sweater kept me toasty warm unlike my kids fancy synthetic gear.

We did chores, watched the Olympics, and then the Super Bowl. The bestest, best was watching my almost four year old grandson dance to Bad Bunny! Honorable mention goes to the Grass People!

I don’t know if this counts, but I’ve normalized tampons for my 4.5yo son! I had a few on the table to take to work and he asked “Why are there tampons out?” and when I explained that my period started his reaction was “oh, ok.” Just accepting that it’s a normal part of life. Felt like a parenting win.

Oh this week end was good! We watched the opening ceremony for the olympics on friday and so decided to take my 12 y old and 2 of his friend ice-skating! It was lovely to see them help each other on the ice… my man and I went dancing saturday night to celebrate a colombian carnival (the latino community is important in Paris), and sunday was busy with homework and more olympics watching… nice to hear from you all! Love from Paris

My husband and I took the train into NYC to see Maybe Happy Ending on Broadway (highly recommend!) in the frigid cold (don’t recommend). https://www.maybehappyending.com

Sorry, but this comment is sounding rather racist. I am wondering why it has been posted?

Such a glimmer reading about your cozy weekend and seeing Anton’s smile! I spent some time over the weekend looking for books for my daughter, she’s in tenth grade and reads a lot. She likes Colleen Hoover and drama/romance, not dystopian science fiction. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I am really, really enjoying this new series of sharing our weekends. It’s the sweetest to hear how each of you is faring, as we make our way through this messy, vibrant, upsetting, surprising world.

We hosted friends at our house on Saturday, wearing our sweaters and sitting in the backyard because there was a patch of sun and warmth before this week’s rain and cold. The kids played for HOURS, independently and with kindness. Proud parents!

Sunday morning I went to take the dog for a quiet walk but my kids and spouse trailed after me… We meandered to a fancy coffee shop and back. Then we showed up at a bouldering gym for a kids’ birthday party and closed out the event. The four of us were still bouldering two hours after the party ended. Turns out climbing with elementary-aged kids is a wonderfully low-dopamine activity while also intensely rewarding?! It wasn’t until bedtime that we realized we straight missed the Super Bowl.

Love these weekend after posts! I got so much joy from Bad Bunny’s halftime show…amazing!

My dear friend got engaged this weekend and her fiancé not only organized a surprise party to celebrate it with friends and family but he SECRETLY flew in her parents from another continent! Her eyes lit up when she saw them and of course everyone around was bawling. So much love in one room!! 100% worth it braving the arctic temperatures to be there :)

Thank you for the brownie cookie recipe! Recently I’ve been suggesting to my 2.5 year old that we bake brownies and he keeps insisting on cookies instead. (Even though I’m 100% sure he likes brownies; I’ve seen him eat them and go back for more.) Actual conversation yesterday:

Me: Hey baby, shall we bake brownies today?
2: No Mummy, I DON’T LOVE THOSE!
Me: I think you do? They’re like chocolate cake.
2: (under breath) They’re like poo-poos.

Maybe the Smitten Kitchen recipe will be a “gateway brownie” I can get him on board with.

Saturday afternoon my daughter took me out for an early birthday and shopping day in our neighborhood. As we were strolling down the street, I saw Allison and her family (including Jo’s adorable honorary niece) and I got so excited!!! I felt both like “I know her! We are already friends!” and “OMG Famous Person!!”. Thank God it was like negative 200 degrees or I might have stopped and embarassed myself (and definitely my daughter).

Weekend too intense with three lots of hosting as people just turn up at our door which sounds good in theory. 3rd lot was really fun but I drank slightly too much and played petanque and darts badly. Did heaps of cooking for the week, overheated, got cross, had a nap. Got fed up with kids and husband, fretted again about the week and then just took to my bed by 7.30 pm Sunday. This is the truth. Not pretty, but the truth.

It is weirdly comforting to hear about everyone’s weekend! My kids and I made some Valentines on Saturday morning while watching the Olympics, then I met up with my BWC (book and wine club) at our local pub for our annual Aquarius birthday drinks/live music (we are 3 of us with bdays a few days apart), followed by a yummy thai dinner. Sunday was skiing with the kids. For the Superbowl, my 9 year old had his buddy over to watch and it was very sweet to watch these boys cheer for opposing teams in a very respectful manner.

Seeing my 4.5 yr old get excited for the Olympics has been such a delight. We are not a family that watches a lot of sports at home but we have all been happy to watch all the random Olympics events. My son has been so excited about figure skating, luge, hockey (yay Canadian women’s team!), speed skating, downhill skiing, curling… It’s so fun for us all to suddenly be so invested and get to expose him to so many different activities and talk about how much hard work and dedication the athletes need in order to make it this far. It really warms my heart.

I’ve been waiting for an Olympics mention!!

Half of our house was sick, and I’m in the throes of most-day-morning sickness, so we spent 97% of our Saturday and Sunday on the couch watching the Olympics, eating crackers, and sipping Gatorade. It was a rough weekend, but there is no better time to be sick than Olympic season!

This year we’ve made an effort to go on Sunday adventures with my dad. On Saturday when I told my dad that my husband and I were feeling like we needed a rest day, he said “I wish I were at a point where I could take [my 4 year old] on my own.” I said… “are you not?” He said, “am I?”

The next day two of my favorite guys — my dad and my son — headed out on an all-day adventure to a cowboy museum and who knows what else. My husband, daughter (10 months) and I stayed home and watched the Olympics (mostly figure skating) except for an hour outing to the park where we laid on a blanket in the shade while our daughter crawled all over us. Such joy in knowing my son was galavanting with my dad the way I used to as a kid, and double joy in some quality time with our daughter!

We had our first fun weekend in ages. We’re in the Minneapolis area so our weekends have been *heavy* but man Joy! We all need it. Friday night we ordered pizza, and for the grown up pizza we ordered pickle pizza and man it was surprisingly awesome. Saturday we puttered about and played and napped (we should all nap more, what a treat) and I finished ‘State of Wonder’ by Ann Patchett (fun fact, it takes place mostly in the Amazon and partly in Eden Prairie, MN where i live!) so good. Sunday my husband decided to host a SuperBowl party and I said ‘but we hate football’ and he said ‘but wings are on sale’ so we invited the neighborhood and some other friends and ate wings, and held each others kiddos and it was wonderful. Bad Bunny’s performance, the response from the world, the support flooding our state, all of it feels like hope.

Joanna, I love that you are more into cooking and posting your recipes and outcomes here. Longtime reader and I know this is a new venture for you. Bravo!

Spent the weekend resting from first bunion surgery last week. Ask me anything!

Finished the audiobook “Heart the Lover” after all of you lot recommended it.

Also became a Great Aunt on Sunday. My niece is such a badass woman. #girlpower