the first day of school!

Both Britton and Barrett started new schools today!  Britton is in second grade at the elementary school across the street from our neighborhood.  So far, my impression of the school and her teachers is overwhelmingly positive.  

Did I say teacherS?  Yep!  She has one teacher for half the day, then her class switches with another class, and she goes into the different classroom (with a new teacher, but her same class).  She was nothing but smiles today, and even made a new friend who lives in the neighborhood.  Her teacher (who I talked to because she was walking the kids out of the school at the end of the day, how awesome is that?) reports that in their afternoon reflection, Britton was happy and hopeful about a fun year.

Barrett is now officially in preschool!  He will be going 3 days a week, and while he was iffy about us leaving this morning (he's been home with the hubs for over a year now), he adjusted quickly.  Barrett has grown into such a social child, who loves imaginative games and interaction, that he really needs to be around other three-years-old.  And his preschool will be a great place to get that interaction, along with time for dancing, singing, art, and all new toys! 

 I love the excitement for the first day of school.  All too soon the schoolwork will be more difficult, the friends not as easy to make, and I want this light to last forever.

going to the chapel....10 years later

We picked August 19th for our wedding day because fell before college football season began.  I'd heard stories, read them on "The Knot," about wedding guests crowded around televisions and not participating in the Electric Slide or bouquet toss because of a football game nobody wanted to miss seeing.  We decided to stay with tradition and get married in my hometown, Virginia Beach, and knew getting married at the beach in the summer meant heat and humidity.  We made the reception venue put it in the contract that the thermostat wouldn't be set below 72 degrees.  Those are the kinds of details you focus on when you're getting married, you know?

You don't think about "the future" - it's too far away.  It's why twenty-somethings don't fret about 401(k)s.  There's abstract talk of houses and kids and jobs, some sickness and health and death do you part, and you're on your own (together) to navigate this life you've chosen to lead with someone else. Autonomy and me-first gone, it's now "us."

We didn't know that 10 years down the road, we'd have made it through:

5 states

6 houses (we owned, the least amount of time being 4 months in our first house and longest for 4 years in Pittsburgh)

2 kids

1 dog

1 cat

3 fish

too many cars to count

I still love our wedding cake.  And those toppers sit on my bookcase to this day.

 There's no magic equation for making a marriage work.  Of the marriages I've seen work and those that didn't, it seems that you've got the best bet if you tackle life as a joint project.  When one person stops investing in this life you have together, how can the marriage be sustained?  If there's any work to be had, it's staying on the same page.  In 10 years, we've learned how to talk, how to listen (probably more important than talking!), and when to just shut up.  Of course, when your husband has seen you give birth, it's easy to be honest!  What's there to hide at that point?

I read a story years back that stuck with me.  When your spouse tells a joke and it bombs, nobody's laughing, worse yet maybe someone coughs and averts eye contact, be the one who laughs.  Even if the joke wasn't funny, or the delivery failed, or it doesn't really make sense.  Laugh.  Because it's not hard to do, you're doing what you'd want your spouse to do for you, and you're in this together.  

We're finally coming up from air from the daunting years of rearing young kids, and we're learning to be adventurous again.  There's a certain drudgery to the never-ending chores of life - job, grocery store, paying bills, rinse and repeat.  The hubs and I will never stop taking the kids to Disney World, but we've tried to do trips just us too, lest we forget how to be "us."  And we're doing it together.  

What a lovely 10 years it has been.  Like the blur of a roller coaster, I can't remember every detail, every day, and while there were certainly days it was hard, those aren't the times that stick in my mind when I look back.  We are better together, and there's a beautiful comfort in having each other.  

discovering houston: children's museum

Memaw came to visit for a few short days, such a whirlwind trip that I got a mere couple of photos!  On the trip back from dropping Memaw off at the airport, the kids were sad, and we noticed a sign for the Children's Museum.  Britton, knowing the hubs and I were easy prey, asked quietly from the backseat if we might go soon.  That turned into a trip this afternoon...

There are something like 19 museums in the museum district, and after passing the Bike Museum, we stumbled upon a bright building.  The statutes holding up the building gave it away - we had arrived!

This statute's name is "Joy"

 We went in an immediately started with the hands-on activities.  This museum is entirely interactive, and the kids wanted to do it all.  Pulleys, magnets, electric currents, air pressure - we did it all!

Barrett (with his new snazzy haircut) loved the bank drive through-esque tubes, which sent balls up to  the wire track system overhead.

Both Britton and Barrett liked the magnets, though I could have spent over an hour there!  I was entranced by the iron in the tubes - shards, blobs, and tiny fragments like those magnet boards where you move the pieces to give the picture a beard or weird hair.

I made the kids get a picture with a payphone, because really, these things may not be around forever.  I picked up the phone just to remember the weight of it, and punched in phone numbers I haven't had to remember since I got a cell phone.  It was deja vu all over again!  

The payphones were in a sculpture made entirely of old phones and computer circuits.  

Jessica and I had that clear phone below, and our mom had that brick cell phone!

One fun area is Kidtropolis, and entire "kid-sized" town, with a grocery store, vet, police station, bank, stock trading floor, and more.  The first thing you do is hit up the ATM (with the "ATM card" they give you) so you can pretend to withdraw money!  Then at each store/stop, you can earn a paycheck of $20, which you can then deposit into your account.  

Barrett didn't want to leave the police car, so I tempted him over to the vet, where he didn't want to leave the stuffed dog behind.  It was hard to be three years old and deal with the crowds of kids who wanted their turns too!

There's an outdoor area (it was oddly under 90 degrees today, so it was doable), where you can play with water!  The kids sprayed water guns, but the real hit was metal "rivers" for floating boats.  The hubs was all over the lock system, and Barrett didn't want to leave without the plastic boats!

It was a fun afternoon at the museum, though somewhat crowded and lacking in exhibits.  There's a lower level, but it included "inventor" type activities, which catered to older children.  The second floor was for infants and toddlers, so we stuck to the first floor only.

barrett: 39 months old

This bundle of sunshine hasn't decided to be 3 years old full-time, so we still get great days of cuddling and sweetness.  Other times, not so much, but that's being 3.  Sometimes life gets too hard, and he actually does want the juice he just said he doesn't want, and Sadie is looking at the toy that belongs to him and only him even if he doesn't really want to play with it so long as you don't play with it- yeah, some days are like that.  But luckily, when it's your second kid, you know it's coming, and we've just ignored the fits until he gives up and decides to find Baby Bels in the fridge.  Yesterday morning, at around 11:00 am, he came up to me and said, "Mom, I tired, I want to snuggle in your bed, and we go to sleep."  Ummm, you've been up for 2 hours, Barrett!  But we did snuggle, and after a couple of minutes he was ready for lunch and a trip to IKEA.  

Barrett starts part-time preschool on the same day Britton starts second grade, a mere two weeks from tomorrow.  It'll be good for Barrett to be with kids his own age, playing and interacting with them.  Plus, he's been pretty laid back on potty training (read: only shows interest every now and then), so I hope that seeing other kids heading to the bathroom will spur him on.  

Likes:  swimming in the pool, playing on his Kindle, playing tag, alternating between hating his favorite foods (for instance, hot dogs) and then being completely willing to try new foods (for instance, dragon fruit), cuddling Sadie (definitely not a "like" for Sadie!)

Dislikes: going anywhere he doesn't feel like going, being rushed

birthday time at the aquarium

Britton chose the Houston aquarium for celebrating her birthday, and I was excited to check it out.  I was warned that it's small and can get crowded, but by going on a Tuesday we avoided most of the crowds.  And while it is small, we took our time and lingered at the tanks, so we made it through the aquarium in about an hour.

Turtles, my favorite!  I appreciated that they had so many creatures to look at.  Every tank had a new surprise.

A feeding frenzy!  As we walked by, I noticed a hand in the tank delivering food to the fish.

Barrett and Britton loved the giant fish, especially the catfish.  I was trying to get a picture of this giant fish, and the catfish totally photobombed him!

These are baby jellyfish, and they are the size of a nickel.  

Barrett especially loved the seahorses.

Not sea-related at all, the aquarium has a white Bengal tiger.  It was beautiful and absolutely majestic, though I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor tiger, being stuck indoors with field trip after field trip of kids knocking on the glass and freaking out.

We got "adventure passes," which allowed us into the stingray exhibit.  We bought some little fish to feed them, but I freaked out anytime the rays actually got near my hand!  I finally did manage to feed one ray straight from my hand.

Outside was a shark train - it went around the outdoor area, then through a clear tunnel tank full of sharks.  Fun shark fact - a sawtooth shark is a ray, not a shark!

This sawtooth was directly above us!  Doesn't he look like he's got an annoyed smirk going on, like we're bothering his nap?

Don't tell the other guys I'm not a shark, ok?

There's an outdoor area with a splash pad, carousel, and various carnival-type games.  Since it was approaching noon high temperatures, we decided to ride the marine-themed carousel then skedaddle out of there!  We went home for lunch and cake, and of course present-opening!

7 years old!

We've started out birthdays in the last couple of years with pancakes, covered in whipped cream and sprinkles.  It's a fun way to announce that your birthday has arrived!  Plus we got to use Shopkins plates and cups, which is always a bonus.  

Britton turned seven today!  Seeing as we don't know anyone, and couldn't very well throw a party, we decided to all go to the aquarium today.  Britton is dealing well with the move, but she really wants to make some friends.  Problem is, with the heat we haven't seen any kids outside playing.  Hopefully when school starts she will get to meet some kids from the neighborhood and have built-in play buddies again!  

Britton is getting to the point where Barrett gets on her nerves.  He has opinions now, gets loud, and she's a girl after my own heart - she'd prefer he keep it down a little!  Plus they are together all day, so I think she's ready for some independent time.  Britton wants to start piano lessons and gymnastics, so when school starts we will look into both.  She also wants to do soccer and violin lessons and Girl Scouts, but whew - there's only so much time in the week!  

Britton loves reading, drawing and painting, swimming (especially in her mermaid tail), watching "Austin and Ally", singing and making up songs, FaceTiming with her friend Kayla in PA, cuddling with Nella, and playing Barbies.  I love the songs she makes up, including her first hit "Fishy Liquid."    She wants to dance with us, put on fashion shows, and have the hubs throw her in the pool.   She's sometimes stubborn, like her momma, so I can't blame her there.  But she's mostly sweet and too grown up for seven years old, and we love her so much.