This week’s post is extra long (even by my verbose standards). A lot is happening! For the first time ever, I’m starting with a little TL;DR for those who would prefer the headlines: Belle graduates from middle school next week, John’s in…Rwanda?!, I headed back to the yoga studio, we went to the movies, and I enjoyed a ripe, juicy peach.
If you’re here for the long version — grab a cup of something warm and delicious and settle in.
GRADE EIGHT GRADUATION
After nine — yes, NINE — years at the same school, Belle will be walking out those front doors for the last time next week. It feels like the end of a very long, special era.
Wednesday night was the informal grad reception.
We rarely buy new clothes, but graduation felt like a good reason to splurge. Belle found a pink dress on clearance for $19, and the plan was to wear it for both the reception and the official ceremony next week.
But…while I was killing time at a thrift store during Indy’s soccer practice, she asked me to browse for alternatives. I found this gorgeous blue dress for $20. Doesn’t she look so grown up???!!!
Let’s just say my presence at the reception was not her first choice. (I believe her exact words were: “You’re sooooo embarrassing, Mom.”) When I insisted on going, she issued a shortlist of people I was permitted to talk to and told me what I was allowed to wear…down to the shoes.
Belle has long complained that I dress in ways that embarrass her (she really has no idea how much worse it could be), and spotted these sneakers at a thrift store about a month ago and said she would buy them for me because she wanted me to have one cool article of clothing. I paid for them myself ($5.60), and she now begs me to wear them regularly.
Kids these days.
Of course, all the parents ended up attending. I stuck to my assigned people, made my rounds, and the whole thing was blessedly short and quite sweet. (You know how I feel about small talk.)
RWANDA
A heads-up: This section includes mention of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
I haven’t talked about it here before, but for the past six months our family has been deep in planning and fundraising mode for a church-organized humanitarian trip to Rwanda. The team, including John, left Canada on Monday.
I pretty quickly lost track of how many people said something along the lines of: “I guess your family must be used to this by now.” In some ways, we are. John has traveled frequently for the majority of our married life. But 30+ hours of travel (each way), anti-malarial pills, typhoid vaccines, and risk of venomous creatures? Not so routine.
This goodbye felt harder than most. He’ll be gone for over two weeks and is missing all the end-of-year milestones — including Belle’s graduation. We explored every configuration: him going, me going, us going together. I came close to joining the team, but I didn’t have peace about leaving the kids for that long. They’ve spent their lives saying goodbye to a parent, and this felt like a bit too much to ask of them. I trust there will be future opportunities to serve together.
Africa holds a special place in John’s heart — he spent a summer working in Tanzania right before we met. Ironically, my niece Elizabeth is currently in Tanzania as a medical missionary, just a hop, skip, and jump from Rwanda.
Now that he’s officially there, the stewing (on my end) has been worse than the doing. I’m so proud of him for saying yes. His experience traveling has already been a huge asset to the team. And the kids and I have settled into a great routine.
Our dear friend Laura (a former medical missionary in Kenya) is also part of the team. She took a large suitcase full of First Aid supplies and knowing she’s there gives me a lot of comfort. She’s blogging about the experience, and her reflections after visiting the genocide memorial museum are soberingly prescient:
“I couldn’t [help feeling] that it was less of a warning and more of a description of current events, justified conflicts, the allowance and culture of demonizing and dehumanizing people, the realities of global complicity…One million people over 100 days, accounts for 10,000 people a day being killed. Something unimaginable and yet unbearably, I wonder whether it is repeatable.”
On a related note, I really appreciated this short but impactful post from Maria yesterday that concludes with the line: “I can’t change the world. I can make my little corner of it better.”
And James Clear’s newsletter this week had a relatable quote (of course it did!)
PERSONAL MAIL
I’m grateful for readers every day, but two people stood out in particular this week:
- Rachel sent me a lovely e-mail; I woke up to find it in my inbox and her kind words made my day.
- Jana mailed me a long, handwritten letter — on one of her own cards, no less! She started off by saying she assumed I was old enough to read cursive. (I am!)
Related: my sister sent me a meme midweek that is highly accurate. We had a rotary phone in our basement for years and I loved using it.
FOOD
- I spent a few hours working from my favourite local cafe — such a cozy, joyful place.
- I enjoyed a bowl of cottage cheese and perfectly ripe peaches for one lunch. Simple but delicious!
- Homemade chicken noodle soup. The kids continue to hate it (they used to love it, so maybe I just served it too much?), but it was so good.
- A friend dropped by on her lunch break and we ate together on the porch, catching up in the sunshine.
BONUS HAPPY THINGS
- We went to see Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning at the theatre. It was long but entertaining. If you like Tom Cruise movies, you’ll probably enjoy it. We usually go on cheap day, but this time we splurged — it was our last Saturday together before John left.
- We grabbed ice cream on the way home from soccer one night. Indy and his friend are on different teams but happened to wear red shirts and black shorts to practice — unintentionally twinning.
- In more soccer news, Indy was named Co-Player of the game on Sunday. We are so proud of him. Last year, because of his broken thumb, he didn’t play on any soccer team. And before that he has only played two years of community soccer. It’s been such a joy to watch him grow and thrive in this club soccer setting.
- All of my mailboxes (6 total) were empty at the same time. A rare and fleeting victory.
- My great-nephew is already over a month old. This robe photo absolutely slayed me — and reminded me of one of Belle around the same age. Time is a blur. He’ll be graduating from Grade 8 in the blink of an eye!
- I haven’t been to an in-person yoga class since before Christmas. I had purchased a large package of passes and still had 15 left. I decided to get my butt back into gear and started things off with a 75-minute VinYin class. It was incredible! I was sweating buckets from the vinyasa portion, and then the yin gave me a great deep stretch. I followed that up a few days later with a pure yin practice; the instructor handed out straps at the beginning of class and I am officially hooked!
- Eufy. I just love having a robovacuum.
- I finished a really good book (Crow Mary) around 5 am after staying up too late and then waking up too early. Highly recommend — though I’ll include content warnings in my June reading recap.
Phew. I told you it was a long one.
Now it’s your turn.
- What were some of your happy things this week?
- Do you remember your Grade 8 graduation? What did you wear? (I was still homeschooling at the time, so I didn’t have one!)
- Can you read cursive? Do you still use it?
- What’s the last movie you saw in theatres?
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That blue dress is so lovely on Belle! I have to admit I prefer blue on blonds more than pink.
She wants you to wear cool? Sneakers?? And tells you who to talk to? Um, she would get a totally different reaction from other parents ( locking her in a dungeon? Wearing rag bag clothing? ). You are very nice to indulge her teenage moods this way.
We didn’t do 8th grade graduation back in the dark ages- we just went home on the bus after some sort of field day. Glad Belle felt celebrated
The Rwanda trip- blessings on your church for going, and prayers that it goes well. It must be hard to let your husband go when he has to travel so much anyways. I have a sister who does mission trips to Dominican Republic- which is mostly safe but really poor and occasionally difficult. When she told us of getting mugged – someone ripped her necklace off and ran- it was scary. ( usually it’s just hot weather and bad plumbing.) She keeps going and we keep praying.
That picture of new nephew – such a cutie! And bonus picture of baby Belle – melts my heart.
I still use cursive ( I’m old!) Though I print when I teach for clarity.
Last movie I saw in theater? Despicable Me 4 last summer. Before that, it had been thr Hobbit movies- 10 yrs before. I don’t see movies often.
Happy things? Short on happy this week- some really hard news. But let’s see:
1- Gone withe the Wind. I read it because Jenny at runners fly mentioned it, and I try to read one classic each summer.
2- summer camp started for my daughter. She needs the fun, and I need the break.
3- Cats curling up next to me to nap.
Have a good weekend! Prayers for your church’s mission and safe return!
The pink dress came in white and blue…but two of her friends had already purchased those colours. To make a long story short, she bought pink, exchanged it for blue (which we all agreed better suited her), and then returned the BLUE for pink again because the friend that had bought it in blue said she would prefer for Belle not to have the same colour. There is a lot to teen fashion, I guess.
I remember being hopelessly embarrassed about my parents. BUT THEY WERE EMBARRASSING. I think I’m objectively not that bad. But she would beg to differ 😉
I write in a hybrid of printing and cursive (my elementary teacher that taught me cursive would be horrified) but I can definitely read it!
I’m sorry you’ve had such a tough week, friend. Glad to hear there were a few rays of sunshine amidst the clouds. Everyone is talking about GWTW. I need to read this ASAP.
Oh wow, end of an era for Belle! I can’t imagine how you’d be embarrassing? I’m definitely embarassing – I shout at bad drivers and tell children not to be rude. Thoughts and prayers for tomorrow when I’m helping chaperone the Scouts trip to the zoo. We’re in the midst of a “heat wave” and these kids will definitely not cope.
Re. cursive, I had a student walk up very politely one year and say “Coree, this is awkward, but we can’t read cursive?” I have (she says modestly) beautiful handwriting, and it’s big and clear, so I just told them to tough it out. Often, I’m just scribbling one or two word ideas on the board from their discussion, so it’s not crucial to their understanding. When students come to my office, they don’t take notes which drives me bananas. I write things down for them but my goal for this year is to cultivate my reputation as very stern, so I’m going to tell them off. T is learning it at school, so I’m not sure why these university students can’t read it?
I gave the speech at my 8th grade graduation. Which was my last act of school pride, after that, I became far too cynical.
Happy things – only 5 more days of school and we’ve not had too many tears about class composition (he was put in a class without a single pal), I’m off on a writing retreat Mon-Wed with a pal, and then we’re hosting a group for pizza on Thursday. Which is madness, but I really just wanted to end what’s been a pretty tough school year on a positive note. And then we will declare a moratorium about talking about school for 6 weeks.
The zoo on a hot day sounds like you will deserve sainthood afterwards. All the best.
My kids have learned the basics because they’ve had teachers that wanted to teach it, but it’s not part of the curriculum. It feels like it will soon be a lost “art” – though maybe it will have a resurgence like vinyl records and bell bottoms?
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Oh wow, end of an era for Belle! I can’t imagine how you’d be embarrassing? I’m definitely embarassing – I shout at bad drivers and tell children not to be rude. Thoughts and prayers for tomorrow when I’m helping chaperone the Scouts trip to the zoo. We’re in the midst of a “heat wave” and these kids will definitely not cope.
Re. cursive, I had a student walk up very politely one year and say “Coree, this is awkward, but we can’t read cursive?” I have (she says modestly) beautiful handwriting, and it’s big and clear, so I just told them to tough it out. Often, I’m just scribbling one or two word ideas on the board from their discussion, so it’s not crucial to their understanding. When students come to my office, they don’t take notes which drives me bananas. I write things down for them but my goal for this year is to cultivate my reputation as very stern, so I’m going to tell them off. T is learning it at school, so I’m not sure why these university students can’t read it?
I gave the speech at my 8th grade graduation. Which was my last act of school pride, after that, I became far too cynical.” I laughed and laughed at this 😉
Enjoy the school-free time ahead. Everyone needs a break by this point in the year.
Both dresses look lovely on your daughter. The multiple grad thing is new to me. I went to 3 schools, but they only had a ceremony for senior year. My kids had4 schools, but still one graduation. Although there was a preschool graduation 🎊
I still use cursive. I do a lot of genealogy research, so I read it all the time. The last movie I saw in a theatre was the original Frozen when Middle Child wanted to go. I’m not a movie person, even at home.
Best wishes to your husband and congrats to your daughter!
I went to my high school and undergrad ceremony, but actually forgot until I saw people walking in their caps and gowns that I had missed my graduate school ceremony. I had a very colicky 2-month old and it just completely slipped my mind.
Oh my goodness your daughter looks gorgeous in both dresses! What beautiful finds!
I love your thrifted NB shoes – they are so cute! I feel such tender exasperation in response to Belle’s directives to you; so genuinely adorable and I love that she is communicating her needs to you and finding ways to include you, and also SIGH. (I hope you know I am viewing this through the lens of similar interactions with my daughter!)
Congrats to your son on the soccer achievement!! So fun to see our kids thrive and excel!
And wow – Rwanda! What a wonderful gift John is making of his time and attention, and that you and the kids are making while he’s gone.
I do remember my eighth grade graduation and what I wore! It was a long dress with vertical stripes in shades of blue, green, brown and tan. I loved that dress! My choir sang End of the Road by Boyz 2 Men at the ceremony and I still remember all the words lol. (What a weird song to choose for graduation! But we loved it at the time.)
The NB shoes are cute, and it’s nice to have something she approves of. I know you get the teen girl thing (and I also know you and I are pretty darn cool as moms go!).
Your memory of 8th grade is vivid! Sounds like a very fun celebration.
Congrats on the Rwanda trip! Yes it’s tough that he has to be away right now, but amazing that you *get* to do this. There will be a time when it will make sense for your family for you to go with him.
Crow Mary!!! I can’t wait for your June book recap. Yes there is a content warning to be sure, but I cheered so hard when she “took care of business”.
My favorite cursive story is an old movie trivia thing. North by Northwest is a Big Deal Alfred Hitchcock movie that appears on every “best movie” list, and there is a pivotal scene where a character passes a note to another character. It’s just a few simple words, something like “what do I do with him?” but it’s written in full on cursive. I can read it since I am, ahem, of a certain age, but I’d heard that younger audiences were having problems, and sure enough when we showed it to the boys they asked us what the note said.
Yup. It was hard to say goodbye, but what a blessing he can take this time off work, I’m used to caring for kiddos solo, we’re in good health, etc, etc.
I LOVED CROW MARY. I was surprised how propulsive it was, despite being character-driven. Loved it.
I’ve never seen a Hitchcock film. I feel like we need to rectify that when you come to visit me. Sounds like that pivotal scene is lost in translation with the modern generation. Thank goodness for old (uncool!) folks like us who know how to translate these sorts of things 😉
So much here!!! Belle is graduating from middle school- that is a big one. Hold on tight to every moment- high school just flies by. And, we’ve discussed this. WHAT is so embarrassing about us??? We look like normal people, speak in a normal voice and don’t say embarrassing things in public. I mean I seriously see other parents doing some cringey things, and I’m thinking, how am I the embarrassing one??? Well- they grow out of it. Eventually.
I hope all is going well for John in Rwanda. What an incredible way to make a difference in the world. I hope we get to hear more about this!
Is that second baby photo Belle? It’s RIDICULOUSLY CUTE, almost like someone made a cartoon of a “cute baby.” You must love that one so much.
Yes, I grew up writing cursive but I don’t use it anymore. My handwriting is pretty messy, and it’s neater if I print. That meme is hilarious, and very true. When my son graduated last month, his trumpet professor wrote him a really nice card- and we had to help him read it because it’s in cursive!
That picture is of Belle. Can you believe she used to be so tiny!!!
I am also neater if I print, but I’m also lazy and cursive is faster for me!
We’re not embarrassing, Jenny. I refuse to believe it. Now my parents WERE embarrassing. I will admit it doesn’t bother me one iota that she thinks I’m embarrassing. That’s normal for teens, and I know deep down, she does love having me along for stuff.
Babies in robes. This is a niche I can get behind!
Congratulations to Belle. Yes, she is so grown up and both dresses are lovely. I had to laugh at you being so embarrassing. HA. If she only knew how bad you COULD actually be if you even tried.
Bless John and the others who are on this mission of goodness. Wishing them safe travels and all the positivity they can get while doing such good work.
I write mostly in cursive and I can’t imagine that ever not being a thing.
Indy LIVES in robes. He is such a robe boy (he gets that from me; I wear a robe most mornings), so it made me extra happy to see the tradition trickle down.
Congrats to Belle! To be honest, a shortlist of people to talk to and being told what to wear to an event kind of sounds like a dream? Cursive has been such a topic of conversation in my household these past few years! My daughter learned it in 4th grade and loves how “swirly” it is and being able to sign her name – but, it is hard for her to read! My Mr. and I also were hard-pressed to find more than a handful of use cases for her using this skill in the world as it is right now – which is why we have friends with kids in other districts who never learned it (which seems wild to me! I used to get graded on handwriting in elementary school!!)… Here’s to a happy things-filled weekend and sending so many good thoughts to John and the team in Africa, as well as their families and community at home.
You know, it WAS nice to be told what to wear (I think she did a good job picking the outfit out, though it was sweltering inside the school so the sweater turned out to be not quite weather appropriate). I really enjoyed only talking to a few people and getting out of there fairly quickly. It was seamless and lovely and celebratory and then I came home and got into jammies 🙂
Lots of big events in your family, Elisabeth! Belle looks beautiful in her dresses – the blue is especially striking. Grade 8 grad wasn’t done in my day, but my daughter had one when leaving middle school. I don’t remember too much about it other than she hated all 3 years of middle school! Hard to believe Rwanda’s genocide was 31 years ago, and with what’s going on in the world it feels like we learn nothing from these horrific events except to repeat them. How wonderful that your church and family are taking part in this humanitarian effort.
I can read and write cursive, although since mostly using a computer, my handwriting is terrible. My husband had to stop using cursive at work because the younger staff couldn’t read it!
The crazy thing is…the blue dress fits me, too. It’s wild how one minute you have babies in towels and robes and the next you can SHARE CLOTHING WITH THEM.
Belle has not been a fan of middle school – though I don’t know many kids (especially girls) who like middle school. Such a fraught age. But she’s ending on a high note.
A few quick responses to your most totally interesting post:
1. Belle is NOT allowed to call you embarrassing while wearing socks with those beautiful dresses.
2. Africa holds zero appeal and I admire anyone who goes there for ministry purposes. An entire continent full of never-ending conflict, drought, diseases, unrest. . . that’s what sticks in my mind. Currently I have some dear friends living in Angola, and it is rough just to see the starving people daily, knowing they can do nothing. (They work for an oil company and are well taken care of.)
3. The meme about rotary phones etc. with cursive instructions is EXCELLENT.
4. I looked up Crow Mary on GoodReads and it won’t be making my TBR list. Too sad and grim and violent. I’m getting softer and softer in my advancing years.
Ha. The sock/sneaker/dress combo is still very popular. All of the girls were wearing white socks with their dresses (and either sneakers or slide on sandals). Which a few years ago would have been the height of poor fashion.
As a Brit, we never had US/Canada style graduations. I kind of miss that rite of passage. Oh, and love both the pink and blue dress. Sweetie.
Being as I’m from that era (dinosaur) yes, I can read, write, and decipher Sanskrit, I mean, cursive. I had to laugh when I saw you asking if any of us could read cursive. I find it mind boggling that people are no longer to taught how to write anymore. Frightening.
Good things this week? We had two days of sunshine amid allllll the rain. Though the last couple of days it’s poured down with a vengeance. And … next week me and mine start a whole month of holidays … roll on July and our trip to Montreal.
It sounds as thought it’s been many years since cursive has been taught since 20-odd year-olds don’t know it. I wonder if it will start making its way back into the curriculum?
Enjoy the month of holidays! Hooray for a long stretch of adventuring and relaxing.
It feels like we’re dumbing down every successive generation. And today I read that, in the US, they’re restricting access to the National Archives. It’s beyond me why.
Less than two weeks, though, of course, we have another long weekend this weekend, again, thank you Canada for a well placed birthday!
I remember being sooo embarrassed by my mom at Belle’s age, but I’d like to think I wasn’t telling her who I could talk to! But maybe I just blocked all of that out, haha.
I can’t believe Belle is off to HIGH SCHOOL OMG. I love that blue dress on her! She looks so grown-up!
One of the things I joke about a lot with my mom is how hard she made forging her signature. Her name starts with L and she has this very specific loop she uses for the bottom part of the letter that I could NEVER replicate. Smart cookie. 😉
Crow Mary! I loved that book. Such an interesting piece of history.
I don’t remember if we had an 8th grade graduation. We had an 8th grade dance, but I think the actual “graduation” was just this casual thing we did in the gym, lol.
I’m not sure how formal the ceremony will be – it happens this week! The reception was fun, and I appreciated how short it was. As an introvert, you can imagine I had really been dreading the event!
HIGH SCHOOL. It boggles my mind…
My brother has a very unique signature. One time he was out of the country and I had to forge his signature (with his permission!!!) and I remember practicing for a long time!
Congrats on an imminent high schooler!!! I remember Grade 8 graduation – my mother bought me a dress, even though money was tight and initially she said I wouldn’t get a new dress. I still have that dress – it’s hanging in my parent’s closet.
I’m so sad that my kids don’t get to learn cursive at school. There are some private schools here where it is still in the curriculum, but it’s not taught in public schools. I tried to teach my oldest during COVID – she can sign her name, but that’s about it.
How amazing that your church organized this trip to Rwanda and that John gets to go. It sounds like an incredible opportunity to building international bridges – I’m sure so many lives will be touched and eyes opened. Thank you for sharing your friend Laura’s blog – such powerful thoughts and words. I just finished reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, and I’ve also been thinking about war and hate and fear and peace and kindness and connection and how these things play out over and over again in our lives in big ways and small.
That’s so sweet that you still have your Grade 8 dress <3
Belle can write decently well in cursive (she had an elementary teacher who did work on it with them) and can read it fairly well. Indy can sign his name, but he definitely can't read it.
It is sobering how often history repeats itself. Over and over and over and over...
I went to a k-12 school so did not have 8th grade graduation. I am sure my parents were glad to not have all that ceremonies to attend for 5 kids!
One of my happy things was talking with you today! I feel like we just scratched the surface and could have talked for hours! 🙂 Another happy thing is having central air. We live in an area with very old homes and many don’t have a/c or have a mini-split which is like a nicer wall unit. I am glad our 1925 was renovated to have a/c as it will be quite steamy this weekend!
I am glad you’ve been able to be in touch with John. A trip to Rwanda is quite an undertaking but I am sure it will be a very meaningful experience for him!
Your great nephew is so adorable!!
Wow! A K-12 school. Those can’t be very common, are they?
I loved getting a chance to chat with you. You sounded exactly as I imagined you would (I guess I did hear your voice once on BOBW). Can’t wait to take our conversations 3-D at some point. Until then, text and calls will have to suffice <3
K-12 was common in the rural area (population 500!) that I lived in. But it is very uncommon, outside of rural settings!
I thought you would have a heavier Canadian accent but it was pretty mild overall!
So many things I want to say… hopefully I can remember them all.
First, congratulations to Belle! She looks lovely in both dresses and you always look so classy, how on Earth could you embarrass her?!
I hope John’s trip continues to go well and that solo parenting continues to be uneventful (of bad events! Sounds like it’s going to be event-full in a good way). If you can share, what are they doing in Rwanda? Medical care?
My big happy thing this week is I got a new nephew on Saturday!! He’s very cute and I can’t wait to see him sometime hopefully at the end of the summer.
Thanks for sharing my post! I feel honoured and am glad it resonated with you!
And had other things in this post I wanted to comment on and am now forgetting what they were!
I think it is impossible to NOT embarrass teenage kids? I’m not offended and find it all rather hilarious.
They’re doing a range of things in Rwanda. In recent years there have been very stringent guidelines in place for places of worship. To have a functional church facility, they have to meet a huge number of criteria. One of which is a safe physical structure! So one of their jobs was helping to mix cement and lay something like 1,200 massive tiles to finish the floor of a building (in addition to providing the manpower, our home church here in NS funded all the materials). Yesterday one of the pastors on the trip led a church service (he preached for less than an hour, but then there were more than THREE hours of worship full of singing and dancing; John said it was amazing). There will be some medical things, there is also training/mentorship of Rwandan leaders. I believe they’re doing some work on sustainable farming and I know at one point they were slated to help with preparation/submission of small business loans.
Yay for baby nephews (great and otherwise).
What a happy things filled week! Thank you for sharing more about John’s trip – it is a *big* deal for one parent to be gone for so long. But what an amazing experience.
Those shoes are awesome! I Just spent £40 on second hand new balances and I always love reading about your thrifting experiences on here. I also love both dresses. Gorgeous!
Also I am sorry you are such an embarrassing mom. I’m curious which of your clothings are embarrassing – I must have embarrassing mom fashion as well since I like all the things you wear.
I have a post about thrifted clothes in my drafts folder. Stay tuned!
Ha. I don’t think anything is really embarrassing, she just needs to complain about something. Isn’t it a rite of passage to be embarrassed by your mom? I think I could be wearing Gucci and Louis V and she’d still think I was embarrassing. I don’t take it personally at all and choose to find it hilarious. Now my parents were TRULY embarrassing…
Wow, the Rwanda trip sounds unbelievable. I’m sure it’s hard to have him away for that long. Such a meaningful adventure. I hope and pray it all goes well. The photos of the babies in the robes – too cute.
I wore a dress that I loved to my 8th grade graduation. It was new, which was unusual because I typically wore hand me downs. It was light blue and sleeveless with a fitted bodice and a pretty, somewhat gathered skirt (no idea how to describe it). My mom added an Irish lace collar. It was really unique. We moved almost an hour away after I graduated 8th grade, so I didn’t see a lot of those people again/or at least not regularly. I can read cursive and I do write in cursive, but not often because I’m usually typing. Happy things? Hmm, It’s been a bit of a roller coaster. I’d say finding the best doctor for my dad (I give credit here to my sister, the nurse, I just offer to drive him places and hang out with my mom when he’s at appointments with her). I also took the girls thrifting this evening and they are excited about our finds. I’m embracing my inner Elisabeth. 😉 I took Kay on a surprise visit to a her fav cousin who lives an hour away. It was Kay’s 13th bday. I took the girls to breakfast and then to see the movie How To Train Your Dragon. So, that’s the last movie I saw. I admit that I sat in the last row, so I could work on my iPad. But I was there and watched bits and pieces.
Babies in robes!! Gives me all the warm fuzzies.
You went thrifting!! How fun. I’m glad the girls enjoyed it. We like thrifting as a family and it’s one of our “activities”!
Happy Birthday to Kay. 13 is a momentous milestone, and I know you’re working so hard to support her as she moves into this next stage of life <3
Wow, what a post! Okay, where do I start? First of all, yay for the grade 8 grad! Elisabeth! You look SO GORGEOUS in that photo of the two of you. I mean. My goodness. Your face. Your hair. (YOUR HAIR!!! IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL AND CURLY!) Your skin! Your skin is perfect. You are so beautiful and I am just over here with heart-eyes.
I did laugh at Belle’s commentary. Oh, teen girls. So mean to their moms. It will pass! And in the meantime, I will say she looks lovely in those dresses, congrats on a big milestone. Here, it is grade 9 grad as high school is grade 10-12, and I do remember my grad. I had a white dress and red shoes, with giant red earrings. It was a choice. Not a great choice, but a choice.
Rwanda! Wow! I hope everything goes well with the project and hoping for smooth travel on the way home.
Rob and Jake went to see that movie, and they enjoyed it. Rob said he had to close his eyes during the stunt where he was hanging from the plane. Eeek!
I’m THRILLED that you are back on the mat! Good for you! Yay!
Great job by Indy at soccer, that’s wonderful news.
I only write in cursive! I am of the generation that really worked on having pretty handwriting, although Rob says it’s “too swooshy to read” (what does he know???)
I am blushing from all the compliments, Nicole <3 You're more than making up for how embarrassing Belle insists I am 😉
That sounds like a BOLD choice, and I would have expected nothing less from you.
Yup, there was yet another plane stunt. They've run out of new dangerous things for him to do and they've cycled back to an oldie but a goodie - clambering around on the outside of a plane. Two different planes, actually, in this movie.
I love your handwriting. It's so bubbly and joyful looking.
What a great post, Elisabeth. I could comment on every single point, but I will just say, your daughter is beautiful and I had to chuckle because I was “sooo embarrassing” too 🙂 Was never given instructions for shoes though 🙂
I must add that while she thinks I’m embarrassing, she does it all with a little smile on her face. I think the embarrassment is surface-level only.
Wow! This was a cool post! Congrats to Belle on her 8th-grade graduation! She looks beautiful in both dresses. I have to say that I think you’re lucky to have such an excellent stylist! You look absolutely gorgeous, and the pink shoes are so cute!
I’m blown away by John’s decision to go to Rwanda—what an act of kindness. I wish him and the group a successful journey. It’s an act of kindness on your part as well, staying home and being there for your kids.
I’m starting to value writing in cursive more and more lately. My writing is a mix of printing and cursive, but I’ve been trying to focus more on cursive.
We always try to frame John’s travels – usually for work, but this time for a humanitarian purpose, as a family effort. And it’s true! It IS hard work to be kids with a parent that leaves frequently and they do have to make sacrifices. But I’m so proud of them for being so good about it all. There are definitely tough moments when they “just want Dad” but for the most part they are flexible and understanding and amazing kiddos.
I do a hybrid of printing/cursive, but it’s mostly cursive. I write more quickly that way. If there was anything I could work on, it would be neatness. I write so quickly; it’s a bad habit. Why am I in such a rush?
Happy graduation Bella, she looks so happy with her friend. I don’t remember much from my teenage years for some reason as my parents were busy making a living. I hope to create more memories for my girls.
I just wathced Anora in my flight back from Rio and still undecided if I like it.
happy thing this week was completing 10k and cutting off 50 secs from my PB of two years ago. And the beach view from our airbnb.
Your PB is awesome! I’m so glad your whole family was able to go to Rio together. What an adventure. And congrats again on the great result.
Wow congratulations Belle! She looks so grown up and beautiful. So funny she told you what you could wear and do- right now Ellie loves having me around and it’s funny to think in just a few short years how that changes. We didn’t have a Grade 8 graduation but I remember my Grade 6 one- I had a navy dress and felt very grown up. That’s so impactful that John is in Rwanda, and you are holding the fort at home. I hope it’s a really successful trip. I’ve never been to Africa but I have been to a Holocaust memorial in Berlin and also Cambodia, and it’s hard to get your head around the level of tragedy and pain from genocide. And yet these things are repeated.
I haven’t gotten to the point of being embarrassing to Indy, but I’m sure that’s only a few years off…
Congratulations to Belle, she looks gorgeous in both dresses. I only had a graduation from year 12 plus university graduations. Other graduations were not a thing, but my kids had grade 6 graduations. In Australia we have primary school (Prep-Grade 6) and high school (Year 7-12).
What an exciting trip for John. I’m sure there will be a chance later for you both to do something like that together. Not a missionary trip, but G and I spent some time with missionaries in China on one of our trips which was fascinating.
I can read cursive, but I don’t use it, although I do a bit of a combination of printing and cursive, joining some letters. The only full cursive I do is for my signature.
Late to getting over here to read this because last week was a bit of a staycation for us and my schedule is all out of whack, ha.
Belle’s dresses! 😀 Those are both so gorgeous, and I need that pink one in my size, lol… Also: loving those thrifted sneakers. She has excellent taste 😉
Prayers to y’all during this time, but what an amazing opportunity for John <3