Merry Christmas 2019!

These two beautiful children held themselves back and waited to wake us until 6:15 am!  But you can't be mad, because it's Christmas!  So I hurriedly put in contacts, grabbed a robe, and we all gathered at the top of the stairs, ready to go down and see what Santa brought.  Barrett was especially vocal about wanting all things Legos, but Britton told Santa "surprise me" and he did!

The kids picked out presents for each other and for us at their school store and on some special shopping trips with Memaw and PawPaw.  Barrett got the hubs a "Best Dad" mug, and me a travel jewelry case, while Britton got me a great cube for my office cube.  

Santa surprised Britton with an Instax camera and a kitty lamp!  She loved them both!

Barrett pitched in with the cleaning - so much wrapping paper everywhere.

Memaw and PawPaw spent the night, so they got to see the unwrapping frenzy this morning.  Later, we went over to their place for a Mexican feast, some couch napping, and unwrapping gifts from them.  It was great to break up the presents over the day, and really get to appreciate what we were being gifted from each other.

Barrett put this Lego police station together all by himself!  He was pretty bummed out that I wouldn't let him take the police station to bed tonight, but you just know it would get destroyed.  

Our annual tree photo!  I've taken one every year, so I can look back and see how we change, how big the kids get every year, and see the slight glaze of fatigue on the faces of the adults!

barrett: 79 months old

What a busy day we had!  Barrett had his final soccer game of the season today, and of course, it was today's game where everything came together and he played amazingly well!  He's grown so much this season, learning that in sports you don't have to be so dang considerate like you would be on the recess playground.  Being aggressive doesn't come naturally to this gentle soul, and he's had to learn to hold his own on the field.  The team also had its end-of-season party today at a trampoline park, so Barrett is sure to sleep well tonight!

Likes:  any and all Christmas decorations and lights, his Lego advent calendar

Dislikes:  waiting another 18 days for Christmas

124 months old

Holla!  We are back from our Disney Merrytime Cruise, and no one, including this girl, wanted to get back into the swing of things this morning.  Britton had a great time, and jumped right into swimming in the pool, going down the twisty slide, watching the shows, and ordering fancy dinner every night.  We even made it into the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for some fun pixie dust hairstyling and make up.  More to come!

Likes:  looking forward to performing in the choir concert at school and a few field trips before break

Dislikes:  waiting another 3 weeks for Christmas!

barrett: 78 months old

Barrett had a blast at the first class birthday party of the year!  It was at one of those trampoline places, and he had so much fun going down the huge slides and through the obstacle courses, playing with his friends and eating too much cake.  But it's bedtime now, because we've got soccer pictures first thing in the morning!  Barrett is enjoying playing soccer, but I think it has to do with goofing off with friends more than it has to do with soccer.  Luckily, that's what kids' sports should be, and we're over halfway through the season already!

Likes: cuddling Ruby, Dippin Dots, soccer

Dislikes:  this cold weather that blew in yesterday

happy halloween!

The kids were ready to celebrate, even without being allowed to wear costumes to school!  Barrett made a spider hat in class, and Britton has been rocking knee socks lately.  The hubs and I jumped into the fun (we dress up at work, and the hubs puts up with couple costume ideas from me) - we're Max and Chief Jim Hopper from Stranger Things!

Barrett is Pokemon catcher Ash Ketchum and Britton is a dragon - she put together the costume herself!

We set out the candy and non-food treats, and were on our way to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood.

Happy Halloween!

123 months old

Sometimes I have a hard time believing I have a ten year old!  Britton will slip into preteen angst antics, and I want to roll my eyes out of my head, thinking to myself that I never could have been that ornery.  But then the little girl returns, who is impressed when I know random song lyrics and wants to snuggle instead of reading together, and I think of how appreciative I am she isn't a teen yet!  

Halloween was a hoot!  We set out at 6:00 pm, and nobody was home yet, so we went back and waited until the streets looked a bit less deserted.  It was ridiculously cold (for Texas) that night, so Barrett only hit up a few houses with us, then went back home, since he was sick last week.  Britton and I went back out, the dragon and her mom, and roamed around with some of her friends, and she brought home quite the haul!

Likes:  making animated videos on her iPad, reading new books from her classroom library

Dislikes:  my insistence that we finish the Lemony Snicket series - we've made it to book #10!

barrett: 77 months old

Look who starts soccer next week!  We've got so much going on in October that I feel like I'm bound to forget something.  His first practice is this Friday and first game is Saturday, though we have tickets to the "Wands & Wizards:  Music from Harry Potter and More" Houston symphony show this Saturday, so we will probably have to skip his first game. But that's ok because he's got more games, AND he's very excited about going to the symphony, hearing the Harry Potter music (even though he's never seen the movies), and getting to do the instrument "petting zoo."  

Barrett's "wink" - he's been trying so hard to wink.  It's adorable!

Then the next weekend we are all going to the Brick Fest Live LEGO Experience, but can arrange that around his game time.  Barrett is in love with LEGOs and has been for a while now - he can read the instruction manuals and put the sets together all by himself, and will create different buildings, cars, etc. out of his buckets of spare bricks.  His imagination is really endless when it comes to creating an ever-evolving LEGO city!

Likes:  Ruby (oh my heart, this kid loves this dog so much), swinging at the playground super high, going to the school playground in the evening to play basketball, reading by himself!!

Dislikes:  when Britton takes the last of the salted caramel toffee ice cream

122 months old

Well, somehow I missed October 2nd, and not until Memaw asked where Britton's post was did I even realize I was already to October 7th!  This new school year has felt like a whirlwind of activity, and with work heating up for both me and the hubs, some days it feels like we're treading water.  Britton is back on student council, but unfortunately did not have a successful run for student council president.  But don't expect that to get this girl down - she's moving right ahead with doing choir AND a local production of Mary Poppins, Jr. which starts up in the spring!  

The hubs and I had a parent-teacher conference this afternoon with Britton's teacher, and she just had the best things to report!  Britton is doing well in all her subjects, she's responsible and attentive in class, and she gets along well with her classmates.  In her words, "She's the kid who is doing everything right."  It feels good to know her teachers see her just as we do!

Likes:  making anime videos (kids and their technology these days), salted caramel toffee ice cream, taking her lunch for school

Dislikes:  Monday mornings - so rough!

barrett: 76 months old

Barrett is back with his wonky grins - not sure why only one half of his smile hit his face, but it's really the luck of the draw when I ask either of my kids to smile for a photo.  Barrett is enjoying first grade, and it seems like half his kindergarten class followed him into his new class this year.  His reading has blown me away - he will sit down with his library books and practice reading them, then want to show me a dozen times!  I love it, because I want him to love reading as much as I do!

This year Barrett is taking hip hop dance classes!  My coworker's son is also in the class, and there's 5 kids total, so they make great strides in every class.  Barrett loves dancing, just goofing off and moving his body, and the songs might be his favorite part of class.  There's a constant stream of "Old Town Road" going on in my house at the moment!  We're also looking at doing soccer again for the fall season.

Likes:  buying school lunch, playing with trucks in his sand pile, walking Ruby

Dislikes:  picking up his Legos

121 months old

Now that the kids are officially back in school (since August 14th), we're of course right on track for Britton to be battling a head cold for the past week.  It never fails, and honestly, I completely understand why my sister was sick for the first two YEARS of teaching - these kids are crawling with germs.  But it hasn't stopped Britton from diving head-first into 5th grade, and she is loving it!!  Her teachers are incredible - I know it seems like every year we love her teachers even more than the year before - but really, she lucks out on the best teachers.  

Side note - Britton and her friend Olivia were eating lunch today and were talking about the "My Hero Academia" books they love, and mentioned how some have bad words, and then Britton says, "Ms. T (teacher from last year) had this book - "Blubber" by Judy Blume - have you read it, Mom?" And of course I reply YES because I read every Judy Blume book 100 times, and Britton says that Ms. T said the book had a bad word in it, but (and I love this) "that's just how it is."  And she's right, we can't throw every book out the window just because it has a "bad" word, which is really just what I call an "adult" word.  Though Barrett did point out a "big ass rock" the other day, and admitted that he heard Daddy use that descriptor often......

But I digress.  So Britton is reading some books with "adult" words, and loves anime and manga, and draws her own characters too.  She's also taking dance this year again - ballet, tap, lyrical, and jazz - and is joining chorus at school.  And she now tentatively ventures wanting to try things out that other kids talk about - so we went to Starbucks for some fancy frappucino drinks, and she also wants to see "Stranger Things" (which the hubs and I watch and love), so I've been re-watching the first season with her.  And I maybe caution too much that the scary parts are coming up, and we can turn it off anytime she likes, but no, she wants to see it and I get that.  I'm just happy she lets me watch with her, you know?

Likes:  chicken patties (she gets it from her mom), science, dance class with her teacher from last year

Dislikes:  being sick, it being too hot to have recess outside since school started back up

barrett: 75 months old

Barrett has grown a ton this summer!  So much so that when his size 13/1 crocs were giving him a blister, I took him shoe shopping.  And lo and behold, he's wearing a 2.5 now!  And all his size 6 shirts are way too short now, so we need to get some size 7 for going back to school.  Barrett's back to obsessing over Legos - he has an amazing ability to think of what he wants to build, and then he just builds it!  We got him a Lego lunchbox for this school year, which he loves.

Another big development this summer is that Barrett learned to swim!  He's been relying on the puddle jumper, but it started to fall apart.  It was past time for him to learn to swim, so we started getting in the pool every evening.  After a few nights, and the discovery of goggles, Barrett is now jumping into the pool in the deep end and swimming all the way to the steps!

Likes:  playing with Ruby, Legos, swimming

Dislikes:  not much these days

britton: 120 months old / 10 years old

Today Britton is a DECADE old!  We spent the day together, doing some back-to-school shopping and a haircut (the monthly picture is the long hair, haircut shown with the cake).  Britton has been doing a triple threat theater camp this week, and her performance was this afternoon, so we headed there to see it, then to Tiger Noodle for dinner - Britton's choice.  We finally made our way back home for oreo ice cream cake and presents!

More on Britton's performance today - her camp group performed two songs (with choreography!) and then they paired off for scenes. Britton and her partner Idira were amazing!  They were expressive, funny, and best of all - they enunciated!  No mumbling for those girls, which was much appreciated.  

Britton didn't know anyone at her theater camp, nor did she know anyone at sleepaway camp.  She charged into swim team this year, not apprehensive at all about having no idea how it worked or who most of the team members were.  It absolutely amazes me how brave she is.  At 40, I still hesitate to go places alone, afraid of being awkward or bored or whatever, but not Britton.  She shows up and gives it her all, and her enthusiasm is contagious.  I love that she is all in for new experiences.

barrett: 74 months old

Barrett is living his best life this summer!  We've decided that this is the summer that the puddle jumper life jacket gets thrown away.  Admittedly, it's coming apart at the seams and won't last much longer, but we're also past the point that Barrett needs to be a swimmer.  With the pool in the backyard, and swim team coming up next year, he's ready to swim like Britton does - like a fish!

Yesterday we went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and got to see the dinosaurs and gemstones - amazing!  It was fun pointing out the children's birthstones to them, especially when Barrett's emeralds were in a queen-like necklace, 100s of carats total.  We also did a first for us - we went to the planetarium!  Barrett loves space, and he especially enjoyed the show.  We have a membership to the museum, so I really do need to plan more trips to the museum and planetarium this summer - such a good place to hide from the heat!

Barrett also loves Pokemon, and can't get enough of Eevee.  We decided to put together a chore chart for him to earn the Pokemon plushies he really wanted, and he was begging to wash dishes and take out the trash!  I can definitely see a Pokemon backpack on our back-to-school shopping list.

Likes:  Pokemon, talking about how far space goes, building LEGO cities

Dislikes:  when Britton won't let him play with her stuff

119 months old

One month until this sweet thing turns 10!  Mostly sweet, and sometimes salty and emotional for no reason, and when that happens puberty comes and hits me in the face with the reminders of the emotional rollercoasters.  I'm not ready to navigate the "tween" years and yet, here we are!  

We've been planning Britton's birthday party - she again wants a pool party at home.  And that's fine with me because she's up for some fun games and activities!  The theme this year is "mermaid" which is so apropos because this summer Britton really came into her own with her swimming.  I think she must be part-mermaid (comes from my side)!

Britton's dance recital was in June, and she had THREE routines to remember!  Her class consisted of ballet, tap, and jazz, and she's already signed up for next year's intermediate class of ballet, lyrical, tap, and jazz, because she enjoys dance so much.  And it's rubbed off on Barrett, who is now enrolled in a hip hop dance class for the year - these kids just love moving and grooving!

Tap Costume

With dance friends

Likes:  playing on her iPad, swimming, dyeing her hair (the red has all faded out!), getting ready for sleepaway camp

Dislikes: being with Barrett for too much of the day and Toy Story 4 (gasp!)

barrett: 73 months old

Barrett and Memaw put together a first-aid kit, and Barrett has taken that thing everywhere!  Even to his monthly pictures!  He tells me that if people get hurt, he can help, and it's just like this kid to be thinking of others.  And I love that he painted the top white and added the red cross, being as artsy as he is.

Barrett is loving his summer, even though Britton's activities have taken precedence over his down time.  He's happily joined her for swim meets, dance recital rehearsal, and goes with the flow, so long as he gets some time to draw pictures, play with his stuffed Pokemon characters, and dance to some You Tube Kidz Bop videos.  

Likes:  corn dogs, rainbow sherbet ice cream, Squirtle and Bulbasaur (Pokemon)

Dislikes:  most dinners I've made this week - this kid could live off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Goldfish crackers!