147 months old

A few days late, which seems to be the norm now!  We had such a busy end to October - our NCL mother/daughter tea party, a visit from Cammy, a band concert, and Halloween!  Britton dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween, and roamed the neighborhood with her friend Olivia, the first time without a parent tagging along.  We used our new fog machine and the hubs created a cold box which made the fog roll out low to the ground.  It was so eery and we got a ton of compliments on the effect!

Britton was feeling under the weather for this monthly photo - she's got a head cold, and as it is these days, we of course tested her for covid at the first sign of a runny nose.  Barrett got his first dose of vaccine today, so we're still careful not to risk exposing him unnecessarily.  

Britton's still got her softball final tournament, but the games were cancelled on Saturday because of the field conditions.  They are pretty far north of where we live, so maybe they got rain, I'm not sure, but the final games were cancelled so we went to the zoo!  First round of tournament games start tomorrow night.

Likes:  watercolor painting, playing with make up

Dislikes:  band sectionals at 7:40 am Friday mornings, being sick

barrett: 101 months old

If you read Britton's post, then you know why this post is also late!  Frankly, after a week of sleeping in and too many boat drinks, I'm just proud of myself for remembering to post at all.  Barrett joined his school's book club this month!  They are reading "The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter" by Aaron Reynolds.  He's really gotten into chapter books, and lately we've traded roles at night, where instead of me reading to him, he reads me his books!  He loves the "Dog Man" series, Judy Moody books, and the "Diary of a Pug" series.

Barrett recently made chocolate chip cookies with Memaw, all by himself!  When I bake, I can sometimes get him to bake with me, and he likes measuring the ingredients the most. 

Likes:  reading, delivering "boo baskets" to neighborhood friends

Dislikes:  having to clean his glasses

146 months old

Let's pretend like I took this picture on October 2nd, and not today!  Truth be told, the hubs and I were on a much-needed vacation for the last week, so I wasn't home to actually take the picture on the 2nd.  October is turning out to be quite the busy month for Britton!  Softball games are in full swing, including double headers on multiple days.  The season is relatively short (over by the end of October, depending on tournament finals), so we're headed to games and practice multiple times per week.  And we've signed up for a lot of volunteering hours this month for NCL (National Charity League).  This week and next we're making 6 dozen cookies for the local hospital!  Ok, admittedly, I'm making the cookies, but I love baking so I don't mind sharing the credit.  

Britton has a band "hauntcert" where they will be performing spooky songs, and they get to dress up in costume!  So Britton has decided to be Little Red Riding Hood for both the concert and Halloween.

Likes:  softball, dyeing her hair bright red (Valentine by Unicorn Hair), going to the Spirit Halloween store

Dislikes:  getting sunburned at the softball games

 

barrett: 100 months old

Third grader over here!  Barrett is back in school, and most excited to learn multiplication.  His school isn't requiring masks (ugh), so he wears a N95 mask every day, which is especially irritating when it makes your glasses fog up.  But strangely enough, he's used to it, and I do wonder if and when covid ever goes away, he may feel like something is missing when the mask goes away.  

Barrett wasn't really excited about soccer last spring, so we decided to sit it out this fall.  But we have been able to finally get into the tennis courts (it's a long saga about a key fob and my ignored requests for almost a year), and he's learning to play tennis.  I'm not the best teacher, but I can teach him the basics, and the hubs and Britton do batting practice in the other tennis court.  I'm thinking that he'll be ready for some baseball in the spring!  

Likes:  Roblox, talking about Roblox, getting an allowance

Dislikes:  homework

 

145 months old

What can I say?  Yep, I'm a week late with Britton's monthly post, and I can squarely blame my delinquency on school starting and the chaos that comes with it!  Britton is enjoying the 7th grade, and actually got to start the school year this year in person.  She's back to playing the clarinet in symphonic band, and gets to dissect a frog in science!  

Britton has also started softball for the fall season.  I'm proud of her for trying something new!  She's got natural talent (the hubs played baseball - she didn't get the talent from me and my horrible 5th grade softball skills!), and has been practicing throwing and batting on the weekends.  Games start in October, and I'm ready to see her in action!  

Disclaimer - this is not a real wound!!!  Britton got a special effects makeup kit for Christmas, and worked on some gory wounds this weekend.  She added the staples to make it even more gruesome!  I'm looking forward to seeing what she pulls off for Halloween.

*THIS IS NOT REAL*

Likes:  special effects makeup (especially latex), new friends on her softball team, taking Barrett to the library

Dislikes: assigned seats on the bus

barrett: 99 months old

Here's my soon-to-be third grader!  We find out who Barrett's teacher will be this year tomorrow, and meet her at the "Meet the Teacher" event tomorrow night.  As you may know from the news, Texas's governor has issued an executive order preventing schools from requiring masks, even though Texas is a hotspot of covid infections.  I'm nervous for Barrett to go to school this year, no doubt, because unlike Britton, he's too young to be vaccinated.  Virtual school is only scheduled for a month and a half, which feels too disruptive.  So, we've stocked up on N95 masks, hand wipes and sanitizer, and discussed with Barrett how important it is to protect himself while he's at school.  

To celebrate the end of summer, we went to the aquarium on Saturday!  Barrett loves jellyfish because Britton loves jellyfish, but his best find at the aquarium was the axolotl!  I didn't even know they had one, let alone two of these adorable axolotls.

Barrett has started playing Roblox, and loves it when Britton will hop onto Roblox too and play with him. He still plays Minecraft too, and boy, is it going to be an interesting transition for him to be back at school without the electronic entertainment.  We've been reading the "Rainbow Fairy Magic" series lately, and we can get through the books pretty quickly.  Luckily, the library has a ton of them!

Likes:  axolotls, telling me about Roblox worlds, going on bike rides after dinner

Dislikes:  my key fob not working and stopping us from getting to play tennis

britton: 12 years old!

Geez Louise, not only did I forget to post Britton's monthly picture, it was her birthday no less!  And I forgot Barrett's too.  So, let's remedy this, shall we?

Britton is now 12 years old!  She decided that this year, she didn't want a big party.  She wanted to go bowling with some friends and the family, do cake, open presents, go to In-N-Out Burger for dinner, then go to the new Jungle Cruise movie.  A full day of celebration!  

Birthday sprinkle pancakes - a tradition!

Britton may not have had a big birthday party (in fact, one of her two friends she invited had to cancel due to covid exposure), but that didn't stop us from decorating and theming it out.  Britton's favorite animal now is the jellyfish, and it was a surprisingly fun birthday theme for me to run with!

This week, Britton starts 7th grade!!!  Next month, she's also starting softball, which has her both nervous and excited, since she's never played before.  She reads more books than anyone (adult or kid) I know ridiculously fast, and remembers every book too.  She finds obscure bands on You Tube, falls in love with them, memorizes lyrics, and for that she is definitely her mother's daughter.  Britton is still playing the clarinet - she made it into the symphonic band for this school year!  And while she's still shy and because of that can come off as detached or uninterested, she's super silly, sweet, and loving with friends and family.

Likes:  Sanrio characters, her new phone, playing Roblox with Barrett (this might be his "like" more than hers)

Dislikes:  waking up early, having to ride the bus this school year