On a roll, that is what I am!!! Of course not only is February a short month, but also pre blogged just a wee bit… let’s see…

• Emanuel’s 12th birthday HERE
• Zander and Gavin turning 14 HERE
• Valentine’s Day HERE
• Chinese New Year Celebrations HERE

So see, much of my work is already done. You can check those links and refresh your memory of our fun! I know I enjoy a nice look back once in a while.

Well let’s see, there was more time in the snow.

Snow….

More chinchilla pictures.

Many hours spent at our YMCA (not a surprise?).

That is Ken sleeping there.

We even brought 2 of the Novak boys to enjoy the pool (Alex and Aidan) during an overnight visit.

Scrabble became quite the game.

This was before they pulled out the words verging on rude lol

We had dinner with Maevowyn… I mean Aunty Shandai and Uncle Ravyn and Maevowyn. Belated Christmas fun there. Seriously Echo is in love with her baby cousin. As it should be!

Pay attention to ME Cousin Gavin!!!

Visited the aquarium at Mall of America.

Kept on acolyting.

We learned much.

Kiwi Crate! Thanks Gammie

Crafted some.

And played more.

Of course there was more to the month than all of this, but what a fun look back at some highlights.

One step WAY closer to current. Time to glance back at how we started this year. Now over midway through the memories are actually a little faint, so this will be a fun reflection back for myself as well!!

Let’s see less to share in January… Snow! Yup, honest to goodness white fluffy stuff. Which became white structures.

We made a trip to the Science Museum (with out large family the pass is awesome!).

There was a hands on cardboard exhibit.

Amazing beaded dresses display too.

Karate, of course!

Equally of course – the YMCA for workouts, swimming and all that jazz.

CHINCHILLA!!! Cuz you must embrace the fluff! Or at least look at my copious amounts of pictures of our Fluffy Overlord.

More crochet… and crafts

We did homeschool stuff, like look at snowflakes on black card stock and get to work on our Chinese New Year learning.

Ken and I saw interesting things.

I wish I had gotten a better picture of the sign. It said Floods, earthquakes and hurricanes.

And we even went out for ice cream.

Acolyting continued.

And sermon notes

And life was, apparently good. Well according to the images I saw off my camera roll. If nothing else, the memories that these images popped up were great which to me is the most important part. And that was January!

Sick napping Trinity

Well, June seems to have been my month of change. There will, of course, be a month overview post WHEN I finally catch up this darn blog, but I feel like I should just jump in and share my stuff.

Anyway, I finally caved and dealt with the hair that I totally fried dying it a year ago (remember the blue hair? Yah, not my best adventure). Sadly it was over bleached in places so there was no fixing it, I grew it as long as I could and then went into the salon. I chose a place referred to my by Renee, had a loose image of what I wanted and threw in a lot of trust. Snip snip and my curls are back, one product and some scrunching and my look is done. Simple enough that even I can do it, and my hair skills are… sad!!!

This coincided with a VERY busy weekend – our anniversary – number 17, and Father’s Day. This year our present was special and already introduced… Check out Momo HERE.

We went out to dinner the night before, Broadway Pizza and kept it low key. Choices had to be made… spendy night or kitten. No brainer right? My original plan was to head out to a hotel for a night, but Ken is in the middle of a massive project that also cancels our July 4th plans. Maybe in the fall we will sneak in a tiny get away? Any sitters offering???

Father’s Day was also a rather quiet day. There was a kitten to enjoy and Ken’s wanted quiet. He also made a cat post for Momo. Which OF COURSE had us to Home Depot for some small random things and Ken and the kids making Momo her own scratching post. We celebrated Dad by enjoying time together, quiet moments and working with our hands. OH and No Name steaks and brats for dinner. YUM!

My birthday was on the 24th! It fell on a Sunday so of course I ended up at the YMCA to workout with my usual R.I.P.P.E.D. class. In the morning Renee and Chris came over and spoiled us with birthday pancakes! And Renee got in some kitten snuggles.

I got in my own snuggles and nap.

And ended the day with poutine made fresh by Ken. It was an amazing day. 39 feels absolutely amazing.

Now for the final big change… I finally found the right image for myself and jumped in with both feet. My very first tattoo, and it is very meaningful to me. I chose to go with a semi colon (a symbol for depression) butterfly with maple leaf wings (Canada, of course). In honor of Ken’s and many of my friend’s struggle with mental image and of course my own roots which are deep in Canada.

Even better – Shandai, who has been with me since high school, been involved in so many of my big changes and fun choices, was able to not only help design but take me and basically hold my hand while I had it done. I couldn’t ask for a better partner in crime.

This is the face of a kitty put out cuz I felt the need to play with my niece

And the face of my niece when I had the audacity to pet the cat! I couldn’t win!

And the artist and staff at the tattoo parlor – Rose in No Man’s Land Tattoo and Piercing were amazing. I could not have been happier with Marx Berry. Amazing! And a lot less painful for the most part than I expected. No regrets here… except for 2-3 weeks of no shaving a portion of my leg in the middle of summer. Oh well, worth it!

So June has been my month of actually doing some things I have not only wanted but at times been a bit scared to do. And funny enough, my kids are super PROUD of me getting the tattoo and the day after told EVERYONE at the YMCA that Mom had a new tattoo… I joked with Shandai, good thing I didn’t get it in an intimate place!!! What a month!