DADDY DAUGHTER DANCE

You guys, I didn't realize how excited I would get for a daddy-daughter dance until we got the notice from school a few months ago that it was happening. If anything, I might have even wrinkled my nose in confusion at the concept of a daddy-daughter dance prior to this... but then we got the save-the-date for the event and I was all of a sudden so excited FOR Sloane and Ken. And I get now why it's special: we always try to take our girls out on individual dates so that we can have one-on-one time with each of them, and this was just another version of that. Also, as a daughter of a wonderful dad, I know that the way my dad treated me set my own expectations and the high standard of how I was to be treated with respect and love by my future husband, so I can see that this sort of dovetails into that.  Also, I want to note that this was the first year that the school had a daddy-daughter dance, and they are working on having a mommy-son dance next year as well, because hey sons need to learn how to be treated with respect and love too!

Anyways! here are some photos that I snapped of that night as Sloane got ready.  Logan was in a cranky mood that evening (maybe because Sloane got to go off with Ken?) but as soon as Sloane and Ken left, I took Logan on our own little special date and her mood was much improved. :)

I offered to do her nails for her, but she wanted to do them herself! 

These darlings. 

She wore the "high-up" shoes that Ms. Mignon got for her from Japan!

Behind the scenes: Yup, this was how Logan was the whole time while they were trying to leave.  I was only able to snap a few quick photos of Ken and Logan because Mignon was there to hold her. 

My big girl with her dance ticket! They had a great time. I'm so proud of both of them. 

WHAT I'M READING V. 32

I'm back from Miami! It was glorious. It was worth the difficulty it is of catching up at work. I miss it already, but I'm also so happy to see my girls again. They were so sweet when I got back and they haven't stopped giving me hugs and kisses. Speaking of catching up (this is Sloane's favorite phrase these days), I've been meaning to do one of these posts for a while! I read a GREAT book while I was in Miami that I can't wait to share about - I'll include that the next installment.

The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin

I can't remember how I came to read this one, but it's no surprise  - it's a book about another personality framework! I'm always interested in habit making and this one touches upon how the way you respond to expectations can determine every aspect of our behavior, including making better decisions, forming habits, and meeting goals. She describes four different tendencies: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels (I'm a Questioner). It wasn't revolutionary, but yet another way in which to think about behavior - mine and others around me - and think more deeply about what motivates a person.

Hillbilly Elegy by 

This is a memoir by J.D. Vance, who grew up in a poor Rust Belt town and ending up becoming a marine and Yale Law School graduate.  I had heard this book was intriguing for the way that it allows a look at the struggles of America's white working class, and offers an insider perspective on a demographic of our country that has "been slowly disintegrating over forty years." It was recommended to me saying that this book became popular because it could help explain how Donald Trump came to be elected president. I think it was a good book, and a interesting look at a specific group of the poor white of this country, but I was also finishing up "The New Jim Crow" at the time, and I couldn't help compare.  I did think this book gives insight into a perspective that is not readily available (only presumed!) and I was most intrigued by his explanations of how he came to regard education as social capital. His descriptions of how class differences create an information gap that might make "cultural immigrants" of those crossing of economic lines resonated with me too. It's worth a read if you're interested in getting a look inside America's white working class.

Hallelujah Anyway by Anne Lamott

I love this book. Lamott shares about mercy as radical kindness - for others, as well as yourself. She weaves this book out of her vulnerability, her questions, and stories and parables throughout the bible that have spoken to her in dark times.  She talks about the importance of asking for mercy for ourselves after facing the great big mess of ourselves, and then how it is up to us to recognize the presence and importance of mercy everywhere around us - "When we manage a flash of mercy for someone we don’t like, especially a truly awful person, including ourselves, we experience a great spiritual moment, a new point of view that can make us gasp. It gives us the chance to rediscover something both old and original, the sweet child in us who, all evidence to the contrary, was not killed off, but just put in the drawer."

We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This is my second book by Ta-Nehisi Coates (the other being "Between the World and Me", which I really liked) and I appreciated this one as well.  It's a collection of long-form essays that he wrote for The Atlantic (and you can still find them online), and they are a well thought-out foray into the complexities of race and touches on things like: how a contemporary black person regards the Civil War, how for all of Malcolm X's "prodigious intellect, he was ultimately more an expression of black America’s heart than of its brain", how the myth of “twice as good” that makes Barack Obama possible might also be what smothers him, the black family in the age of mass incarceration,  how the significance in reparations lies in the chance to see ourselves squarely, and a look at Obama's eight years as president through the lens of race. 

SLOANE'S SPRING BREAK: WASHINGTON DC

now that sloane is in school, she has things like a spring break...! it's been interesting, orienting ourselves to a school year, which means winter break, spring break, and summer breaks. there's a little it of transition that happens with each of them; the good news being, i think we all are getting better at them. 

 ken took that week off to be at home with sloane, to get some studying done, and get some work done outside the house. overall, it was a really productive week for them, with ken's mom coming up in the early part of the week and ken, sloane and my MIL all putting in some hard work doing yard work! sloane also got to have playdates with friends, and ken and sloane got some quality time together.  i couldn't take off that whole week, but i did take off on friday so that we could all go up to d.c. to visit the national museum of natural history for the day. i love the museums in d.c. and try to visit with the girls as much as i can. this time around, my mom was able to join us, as well as my cousin lois! 

we went up on thursday night to stay at my sister's place in silver spring, and the next morning we took the metro in. logan kept saying, "we're riding the train!!"  we spent the morning at the natural history mueum, and then took the metro over to gallery place to get burgers at shake shack for a late lunch, which we ate on the steps of the national portrait gallery - which is one of my favorites.  afterwards, we went inside for a brief peek and lingered in the indoor courtyard they have there, drinking coffee and eating sponge bob popsicles. my mom got these for the girls and while the girls have no idea who sponge bob is, they were obviously thrilled with their square-headed yellow popsicles.  

we headed back to downtown silver spring in the later afternoon to meet my sister and we took our time window shopping and sitting on benches outside, enjoying the last bits of the sun. (my sister got them unicorn hair clips, which they were very excited about!) traveling and wandering around with small kids isn't always easy and takes more leg work for sure, but it is always worth it for me, even if they are little trips.  i think travel and new experiences shapes our brains in amazing ways, but especially so for kids! and days like these are wonderful memory makers.