This week gave our family plenty to celebrate.
Mitten Mornings Coffee Company received its official SBA Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) certification. Our daughter took a brave leap at the pool. And her soccer team played its first match with the kind of hustle and mutual support that makes parents proud, no matter what the scoreboard says.
The weekend also brought rain—but between games, baking, errands, and homemade spaghetti, there was plenty of good tucked into those gray Michigan days.
Rainy-day games with the Mitten Mornings family.
A Proud Moment for Mitten Mornings
Official SBA Veteran-Owned Small Business certification.
Receiving our official SBA VOSB certification was a meaningful milestone for our family business.
Our veteran-owned identity is part of the story behind Mitten Mornings, and we are proud to have that ownership officially recognized. As we continue building this company, moments like this give us a chance to pause and appreciate how far we have come.
They also bring us back to why we started: creating something valuable for our community while helping our daughter learn about responsibility, effort, and building something together.
Our daughter lends a hand with the family coffee business.
The photo of our daughter holding the camera equipment beside a bag of our coffee captures that family-business spirit perfectly. There is the official milestone—and then there is the everyday work happening around the kitchen counter, with our little helper nearby.
Thank you for being part of that journey. Every order, shared post, and encouraging word means something to the family behind the bags.
A Brave Jump at the Pool
Our daughter takes a brave jump toward her swim instructor.
One of our proudest parenting moments this week happened at swim class.
Our daughter jumped off the pool wall and into the water, with her instructor waiting to help her.
It is a short distance when you are watching from the side. When you are the child standing at the edge, it can be a very big decision.
Seeing her make that jump reminded us how much growing happens in these small moments. Learning a new skill is not only about getting the movements right. Sometimes it is about finding the courage to try.
This week, she tried—and we could not have been prouder.
Hustle That the Scoreboard Couldn’t Measure
A first soccer match full of effort and encouragement.
Our daughter and her teammates also played their first soccer match.
They lost 6–8, and of course we would have loved to see them come away with a win. But the result was only one part of the story.
What stood out to us was their tremendous hustle and the support they showed one another. There is a lot to learn in a first match: following the action, working together, and continuing to give your best when things do not go your way.
Those are lessons worth celebrating.
We want our daughter to enjoy competing, but we also want her to understand that being a good teammate matters. Effort matters. The way you treat the people beside you matters.
There was plenty to be proud of on that field, even without the winning score.
Rain Outside, Plenty Happening Inside
The rain changed the rhythm of our weekend, but it did not bring everything to a stop.
We still spent some time outdoors, and our daughter’s smile beneath her colorful umbrella was a good reminder that a gray sky does not have to mean a gloomy day.
A colorful umbrella brightens a gray Michigan day.
Inside, we played games and spent time in the kitchen baking muffins. The photo of our daughter and Mom arranging bright muffin liners captures a simple kind of teamwork: making room for little hands to take part.
Mom and our daughter prepare colorful muffin liners together.
There were errands, too, with our daughter helping push a small grocery cart. Not every family memory comes from a special destination. Sometimes it comes from letting your child help with the ordinary things already on the list.
Our daughter helps with the weekend grocery run.
And sometimes a rainy weekend gives you just the excuse you need to gather around a game and stay there a little longer.
Sunday Dinner, the Grams Way
We capped off Sunday with homemade spaghetti using Grams’s recipe.
The kitchen photos tell the story: flour and eggs ready to become pasta, Mom working the pasta machine, and our daughter helping gather the fresh strands as they came through.
Flour and eggs ready for homemade pasta.
Mom and our daughter make spaghetti using Grams’s recipe.
A family recipe brings something extra to the table. It connects the meal you are making now with the person who shared it—and gives the next generation a chance to become part of that tradition.
This time, our daughter was not simply sitting down to dinner. She was helping make it.
After a week of exciting news, new challenges, and busy family life, homemade spaghetti felt like a lovely way to close the weekend.
More Than One Way to Win
Looking back, this week held different kinds of accomplishments.
An official certification for our business. A brave jump into the pool. A first soccer match full of effort and encouragement. Muffins made together and a family recipe passed along through hands-on practice.
Not everything ended with a winning score. Not every plan came with sunshine.
But there was growth, connection, and plenty to celebrate.
That is the life behind Mitten Mornings: building a business, raising our daughter, and making room for the everyday experiences that matter to our family.
Here’s to brave first tries, supportive teammates, rainy-day games, and recipes worth passing down.
What is one small victory your family celebrated this week?
—The Mitten Mornings Family
Celebrate your own family milestones with coffee from our Michigan-roasted collection, and learn more about our family business.