Hey there, hi there, ho there, friends! Time for a catch-up post. Our calendar’s been full lately – dinner guests, more hockey, and our first Grandma/Grandpa visit.

But first we had a birthday in there. Can you believe she’s 15?!

Per usual, I knocked the cake outta the park. And also per usual, we consumed said cake at the crack o’ dawn (hence the bathrobes, blankets, and bedheads).

Good times with the g’parents. Somehow they lucked out and got the nicest week we’ve had since we moved – sunny and 20s pretty much every day. It’s also fun being in a new city, since we’d long exhausted the Minneapolis faves. So in showing them around, we got to see some new stuff, too – took the fam to OMSI and got ourselves nice and scienced up:

Then there’s new hockey in the mix. The Boy is actually playing on a for real team! It’s “4 on 4” (which, I have learned, does NOT mean that there are only three other kids on his team and that the two coaches can each take two cute little boys under their wings and give them all this individualized attention. Nope, it means four at a time on the ice and it’s actually a bunch of crazy tweens all getting up to no good in between being on the ice).

The Boy likes it so far, except for the 6:20 AM ice time today (!!!!!). I knew that in theory this was a thing, but never thought I’d experience it. (By “experience it,” I actually mean “groan in disbelief as The Husband gets up at 5:45 and roll over while murmuring ‘you wanted him to play hockey…'”.)

But the boys were home in time for us to try another church. Sigh. Church-shopping is tough. I imagine it’s like dating? (Having only ever had one real first date [unless you count attending an all-day youth event with Greg from Grunthal when I was 14 “a date”], I’m not sure how closely it compares.) Every time we try a new one I have to remind myself that it’s just a “get-to-know-you” visit and that it’s not like I’m gonna marry this church and have its babies and that I don’t need to sign up to lead children’s ministry my first time. But oh, the temptation is there – nothing makes you feel more settled in a new place than a church, yes?

In the still-finding-our-feet meantime, we soldier on. Work/school continue to be fun and pleasant places for us all (NOT taking that for granted, never ever). The Girl has tested out of French class, so she’s down to six classes, one of which is metal shop. She has a free period every day, and her other classes are either new-but-easy or repeats of material from Minnesota. I’m calling this her “gap year” and just being thankful that she can take it easy academically while she focuses on acclimating.

Ooo, in possibly-exciting news, I’m joining a book club that meets monthly at a local bookstore. I kinda wanted to find one that was the “meet in people’s houses and drink wine” kind because the public place ones seem a bit too formal. But then I thought about starting my own and realized that I’d never be comfortable going to a stranger’s house, much less invite several strangers over to mine, so I’ll follow the first-date-in-a-public-place rule here. I’ll keep you posted! We’re reading Middlesex, and nothing says “first date conversation fodder” like hermaphrodites!

And that’s all I’ve got. Consider yourself catched up.