Weekend: cooking, reading, napping

After being away, I truly appreciate our low key weekends. Our “routine” is similar in both days, a lot of food, leisure time (reading, watching) for me, girls leisurely do their homework, even advancing in the case of Sofia as her week days are packed and long, and enjoying last few days with grandma.

Saturday: girls had swimming practice until 9:30am. I did 7 miles run that felt good after two days of not feeling great, likely due to adjusting back to the Jakarta heat and humidity, being mentally busy with work, and the full rest day on Friday.

After dry brush (first time in a long time), shower, moisturizer, and feeling super good mood, ate my beloved oatmeal, I started meal prep. In 2.5 hrs, I’ve made a banana bread, breakfast cookies (Sofia loved it!), crepe with berries jam, quinoa, baked tofu. Super productive and feeling great to have them ready for the family for the week.

After lunch, Sofia continued with her homework before 3pm piano theory zoom lesson, Lizzy had piano lesson until 2:30pm, then she watched wild robot that she has been waiting for a long time. I went to bed and stayed there for 3 hrs, I know…. 1 hr napping, 2 hrs. reading, what a luxury!!!

Sofia went to get ingredients for her dinner, and spent a good 30 min cutting them small (bell pepper, tomato) to make scrambled eggs with veggies and cheese. She made it during her health class and loved it. She now can cook?!!! I would never imagined school will teach them cooking, in a full kitchen set up! The health class is amazing, not only they learn about their body changes during puberty, but also about healthy eating, preparing healthy meals and snacks, even how to process their emotions and stress, they learn to meditate! Wooo! I am so “jealous” of this new generation. Maybe this is a special thing in international school as it’s not traditional and puts emphasize on non-academic learning.

I would have thought that with my nap, I wouldn’t be sleepy by 8pm as usual, but I did and had a fantastic night of sleep. It reminds me of baby stage, day nap helping with night sleep.

Sunday: I enjoyed my 13 miles LR with a podcast and then music. My mind can’t process/focus after 90 min or so. It was the new president starting day in Jakarta, road closure and army everywhere. Girls didn’t have swim training for the same reason, but they went to the building pool with grandma for a long time.

Again, I spent my morning in the kitchen, this time preparing enough lunch for the family with plenty of leftovers for few nights. I made pork belly with eggs (right brown dish), spaghetti with meatball (enough for 3-4 dinners), Korean seafood pancake, a soba noodle salad, and bok choy. Husband helped with cutting and washing, while I moved around the kitchen cooking. We both enjoy this couple moment a lot, part of the ordinary family life. It’s not romantic but brings us joy every time we do it.

The family enjoyed lunch a lot, and chef is happy.

2 hrs in bed, 50 min nap, and advancing my book. Girls did nails with grandma. Then I did nails myself using Sofia’s kit which comes with a lamp, very fancy! I then watched some work related talk, which didn’t feel like work. I was genuinely interested on the topic, power and progress by the Nobel winner Acemoglu.

My mom’s flight was scheduled at midnight. Girls spent hours hugging her, Lizzy with tears as usual. It’s not easy to say goodbye no matter how many times we do it, especially when we know she’s getting old. I am so glad to have her with us for the Perth trip, memory formed. To lessen the pain, I told the girls that we may go to Shanghai to visit grandma for the Chinese new year, which is less than 3 months away. Lizzy came to sleep with me as she was really sad. I didn’t have a good night of sleep, but I was glad to provide the comfort she needed.