•4 min read
Little local adventures, late winter 2024
With all the mild days we've had this winter, we have spent a lot of time outside. We've visited playgrounds with friends, yes, but we have also spent a lot of time outside in our own (new) yard, as well as on little excursions close to home.
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Savoring a brief fall
In some very real ways, autumn felt like it lasted for only a few weeks. September was a very warm month–hot even–and then our temperatures quickly dipped from the seventies to the low fifties and forties. I love this time of year, so I savored any...
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Local September fun
We've been up to some fun things over the past few weeks, and I figured it was time for a little catch up!
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Life lately, early September 2023
Today, the air felt different. Cooler and more crisp. Filled with anitcipation. The last several weeks since my last "life lately" post, have been filled with a lot of summery fun and they've felt full. I might be getting ahead of myself, since it...
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Life lately, late July 2023
Looking back at my recent posts, I realized it has been a long time since I wrote a little post about "life lately." I've written about things in our life, yes, like Cooper turning four, a visit to our friends in Bloomington, a visit from my family,...
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Life lately, early May 2023
It's been awhile since a "life lately" post where I write about all the little bits and pieces of our life. This spring has been a rather cold one, but just this past weekend, we are seeing much warmer temperatures and the weather seems to be...
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Spring joys
The transition of winter to spring feels more exciting to me with each passing year. Maybe it's the longer daylight hours, maybe it signifies entering a season of getting outside with more ease, maybe because all that's been tucked away for the...
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Winter adventuring
Starting sometime in the fall, I made a point to be a bit more creative and find new to us trails to hike on and explore. Since then, we have found several new favorites for when we are in the mood for a hike, regardless of the season.
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2022: A year in review
Welcome to my annual post of our life in the last year – a review of all the big and little events, travels, habits, heartbreaks, and joys. These posts require a lot of time and energy, in part due to sifting through all the posts I wrote in the...
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More green than the sky: A July beach day
A few weeks ago, our little family of four made plans with my father- and sister-in-law for an early Saturday morning at the Lake. When we arrived in the eight o'clock hour, it was breezy, in the low seventies. At this particular beach and time of...
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In the garden, late June 2022
Here we are, on the very cusp of July, and I've neglected to share about our garden. Nicholas and I had a plot at a community garden when we were engaged back in 2013, but we haven't had a vegetable garden since—until this year, that is. I wanted to...
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Up north to the Tulip festival
If you missed my last post, I shared about the passing of my beautiful mother-in-law. I don't want to continue on in a "business as usual" style, nor do I want to neglect to share about joyful things in our life. Again and again, I'm learning that...
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An early May beach day
Several days ago, a friend texted a few of us, asking if we'd be up for a (Lake Michigan) beach day. The weather forecast showed warm—actually hot—temperatures and sun, and it was Nicholas' first day back in his office, so we said yes!
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2021: A year in review
Every January, I assemble a blog post of sorts that catalogs our year. Largely organized in list-form, I touch on the big and little things, events and thoughts and experiences that shaped our life over the last year. I do find this incredibly...
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The worth of each day: Life lately, November 2021
Fall feels like a number of transitions, one right after the other. We are now bridging into late fall, with lots of frost in the mornings, first sightings of bare trees, and darker, cozier evenings at home. Of course, there is talk of Thanksgiving...
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Turning over autumn & Turning thirty-one
We've taken to a regular "cozy hike," as we've termed it. A nearly wooded path, my favorite spot for fall color, a wagon, an eager toddler, a cozy blanket, and snacks. I look for the bright red leaves, since those are a favorite for both of us. And...
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A first hike
Several weeks ago, Nicholas took some time off of work, and our little family planned a few semi-local adventures. One was our day trip up to Michigan, and another was a first "real" hiking experience for Cooper at Starved Rock State Park. My SIL,...
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Life lately, September 2021
The air is crisper in the mornings, leaves on some trees just barely tinged with red and gold, a few eager leaves already fallen, begging to be crunched on the sidewalk. It's not truly fall yet, I realize, but the wonderful in-between has very much...
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An outing to the Michigan coast
Last week, Nicholas took some time off of work and our little family of three planned a few outings as a means of a (nearly) staycation. On one day, we planned a trip to a lakeside town, just shy of 1.5 hours north of us.
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Summer days, early August 2021
It's August already! I can't believe it either. This summer has felt filled to the brim with so many good things, so many summer-y things. Beach trips, visits to new places (the zoo, etc), and lots of family outings. Of course there have been truly...
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The first beach day of the season
A few weeks ago, on a hot, sunny Saturday, our family of three packed up and headed to the beach (for us, Lake Michigan sand dunes) in the morning. We parked, walked a ways to where it was less crowded, and laid out our quilt.
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What brings me to worship: Life lately, mid-May 2021
There's a lot of heaviness in the world right now.
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Picnic dinners & play
As the weather warms, we're spending even more time outside. Nicholas is mowing and trimming, I'm weeding and sorting out rocks from a garden bed, Cooper is roaming and playing in dirt. But beyond the practical outdoor tasks, we're doing a lot of...
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2020: A year in review
Now that we're well into January, I'm sitting down to write and glance back at the last year. I'm not much of a resolution-maker (not fundamentally opposed, just not for me), but I do find it's healthiest for my heart and mind to reflect and then...
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At the lake & on the deck : Summer edition
I'm typically in a rush to wish away the hot days of summer, to exchange them for cozy days, sweater season, cool mornings. I'm an optimist, and that optimism frequently couples itself with being future minded. Constantly looking forward with hope,...
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