FROM: STELLA
TO: LAURA
- The weather has been absolutely beautiful this week in Maine and we’ve been soaking in the sun every day this week, especially since it’s a full week of rain on the forecast for next week. Very happy to have this baby sunscreen on hand and usually Colby is a good sport about wearing his baseball cap outside.
2. I am constantly daydreaming about where we’ll live next and really enjoyed this site that compares cities around the globe with an impressively long list of factors. It looks like we’ll be moving to either Springfield, MO, or Botswana…. only time will tell.
3. In anticipation of our return to NC (about a month away), I ordered this awesome kid’s picnic table (with combo water/sand exploration) for my mom’s backyard. I can’t wait to enjoy the summer months with Colby outside, he is going to love it. I am also eyeing this toddler step stool with an activity board so that Colby can see a little better and start to learn his way around the kitchen.
4. I greatly enjoyed this article/interview with Elizabeth Acevedo (author of The Poet X). Her fierce love of reading paired wonderfully with my current book-club read: I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf.
FROM: LAURA
TO: STELLA
1. Ernie has really entered a phase of loving crafts! Every day he plays with markers and crayons on these huge Melissa & Dug paper pads (they’re labeled as easel pads, but we just use them on the floor). I also have a stash of pom poms, googly eyes, popsicle sticks, paints, etc. that come out when we’re feeling extra adventurous. I’ve invested in as many “highly washable” versions of art supplies as possible because it was quickly discovered that, as a toddler, he for sure has toddler control over where things end up (read: these Crayola ultra clean markers have already been wiped off my floor many, many times!).
2. This was my first week of working a 9-to-5 again since last March! It’s been quite the transition already, not least of which because we still have Ernie home with us, as well as a friend we’ve bubbled with to take care of him during working hours. So there are a lot of beings in our home and we’re all cordoned off in our separate areas. It’s made me start thinking about office changes I want to make, and I think I might go the way of a small desk (like this?) as well as an expandable table (like this?) for sewing adventures.
3. It was my birthday last week and I lucked into a couple of Bookshop.org gift certificates. Books are very much the way to my heart when it comes to gifts to receive. I’ve basically been using The Stacks preorder page as my to-be-read list, so I’m looking forward to surprise mail in the future!
4. Last year I read a few different books that all felt like they were in conversation with each other in a really nice way. ‘The Undocumented Americans,’ ‘Behold the Dreamers,’ and ‘Americanah‘ all focus on the experience of immigrants to the United States, but with different perspectives, storylines, and research (‘The Undocumented Americans‘ is a really cool mix of fiction and non-fiction, with lots of data alongside the author’s anecdotal stories). I’ve since recommended and gifted all three of these books separately and as a set and everyone I’ve sent them off to has loved them.