Hi, friends! This is an early morning coffee date for me, written in an unusually quiet house because I had the house all to myself on Saturday night through Sunday morning. I'm sipping my usual home brewed hot half-caf coffee with a combo of cinnamon churro Nutpods (I found this locally at Sprouts) and 2% Fairlife milk. With my coffee I'm having a homemade chocolate chip cookie made the proper way which is with pecans. One of my favorite things in life is eating a leftover dessert with my morning coffee so together with a quiet house, Sunday morning was quite luxurious.

The best gift

My night alone came about because Chris was out of town this past weekend and I arranged for the kids to have family sleepovers. Having the house all to myself for a night was truly amazing and probably the best gift anyone could give me in this season of my life. When I travel by myself or have had a night to myself at home (this is my second one this spring) I realize how active and loud my thoughts are all the time. And how it feels like I'm always needing to live life at 1.5X speed. When the kids are around, someone needs me in some capacity almost all the time (especially Maeve) or I'm buzzing around trying to stay five steps ahead of the kids' needs or catch up on housework.

As I was reminded on Saturday morning when I took all the kids to Dash's soccer game on my own, it's nearly impossible for Maeve to go directly from point A to point B. The graphic for this would be a line from point A into a tangled, snarled mess and then to point B. Whether that is eating breakfast, getting dressed, or getting in the car. Parents of toddlers and preschoolers, can you relate?! It's not a crisis and Maeve is being a totally normal four year old but when I step away from managing that snarled middle mess I realize the baseline stress that comes with parenting an emotional preschooler.

When I'm by myself my mind gets so much quieter. I can move through the house and my day at my own pace. I can go directly from point A to point B. It is glorious. I am reminded, "Oh yeah. This is actually the normal state of my mind. I've missed this!"

Having a whole evening to myself induced some slight panic as I tried to figure out, "How should I best use these precious hours to myself??" It was not unlike thinking about taking a day off. But I've become pretty good at knowing how to spend my time off, and I'm really happy with how I ended up spending my time. My time alone included: tidying up (because I rest best in a clean house) while listening to a new audiobook by a favorite author (The Hunter by Tana French), making homemade pizza and cookies, watching The Mindy Project while starting our 2024 photo book, and going to bed relatively early. On Sunday I woke up early to write and took a walk while catching up with a friend. Having the time to recharge in my own home is so grounding to me that I realize I need to find a way to have a night at home by myself more often, at least a few times a year. 

April goals review

+ Enjoy my family, our road trip, and our eclipse experience. I think I did great! I wrote about our eclipse trip recently in case you missed it.

+ Work on our 2024 family photo book. Yes! I did this during my wonderful solo evening.

+ Focused work session for a new workshop. Yes! I had a couple of work sessions plus I have my branding and design extraordinaire Emily on board which always feels like an official kick off for me. Once a logo is underway I know that I really have to follow through on the project!

Currently in April

To capture the rest of April I'd love to share a "currently style" list. Here goes!

Going on walking dates with Chris which have brought about great conversation and sometimes frozen yogurt.

Calling and texting Dash on his new Apple Watch (!!!) which he bought himself with our permission. I'm always a little nervous about what can of worms a new tech will open but I've been pleasantly surprised how much I love Dash having an Apple Watch, and how much it further enables his independence which I really like. To have Dash "pay" for the monthly service on his Apple Watch he has taken over his laundry completely. I'm so proud of how well he's doing, and I really love this for me too.

Pondering AI after listening to two great episodes of The Ezra Klein Show about AI (one, two). I even got acquainted with Claude!

Focusing on our budget and tracking all our expenses in Monarch which we are enjoying using.

Marveling that we have an 11, 9 and 4 year old for the next eight months.

Measuring all the kids and seeing how much they've grown. The boys are only an inch different in height right now and with their shaggy hair we've had a few people recently ask us if they are twins, which used to happen more often when they were young.

Registering both boys for sleep away camp this summer (!!) and making other summer plans. We'll be here all summer except for one trip but I think it's going to be a good summer (she says hopefully...).

Watering my backyard plants and thinking about my best plant lady life after a recent very fun episode with Erica.

Watching our palo verde tree burst into bloom and start to cover our front yard with golden confetti.

Observing our octopus agave blooms to see what happens next. The blooms were a bee's paradise for a while and now they seem to be starting to turn into little fruits...I think they are supposed to turn into little baby agaves?! I can't wait to find out.

Enjoying watching the boys play epic games of Uno.

Making time to volunteer with a small local organization working to get the votes needed for funding our local public school district.

Filled with pride and emotion after a recent evening art show at the kids' school. Kid art is so beautiful and earnest and I'm so appreciative of the teachers who encourage them to be creative. I love how proud every kid is of their art and to show their parents.

Appreciating our little neighborhood park and all the years and hours we have spent there. I still have many years left of going to the park with my kids but as we left one afternoon I realized that one day the park would no longer be a place we spend a lot of time which made me feel so wistful. The years are short!

Remembering two great outdoor adventures with the kids recently: a fun town fishing event and taking the kids and their cousin hiking. The kids had great attitudes and I love enjoying the outdoors with my kids.

Creating simple spreads of fruits, veg, bread, and other random things and calling it dinner.

Cheering for Dash on the soccer sidelines and so thankful for the great community of boys and supportive parents on our team.

Hoping you found good things in April, friends!

I'd love to know what you're sipping on lately and what your ideal chocolate chip cookie is like (anyone else Team Pecan?). And what would your ideal recharge look like: a night at home alone like me, a night away, a night out with friends...I'd love to know!

P.S. More coffee dates.