barrett: 97 months old

Barrett finished up his soccer season this weekend, and I tell you what, it felt like the longest soccer season ever!  We tried out a new soccer org in town, and they have practice and the games back-to-back on Saturdays, which I thought would be really convenient.  But when that Texas heat hits, sitting out in the middle of a non-shaded field was brutal.

But while soccer is winding down, swim team is heating up!  Every morning I wake up Barrett at 6:30 am so he can get to swim practice at 7:00 am.  Next week he starts his first summer camp next week, and they include a golf and tennis camp, a "Mission to Mars" camp, a science camp, and an adventure camp!  I had to cobble together camps this summer, and luckily Memaw and PawPaw are helping out with transportation and watching the kids when they aren't in camp.

Likes:  Minecraft (especially when Britton will discuss strategies and characters with him)

Dislikes:  cold pools in the morning

 

142 months old

 

It's officially summer vacation for this girl!  She's living her best life right now - sleeping in, swimming every day, and getting ready for summer camp.  After researching forever, the hubs and I found a fantastic camp out in Hill Country, and Britton is going for two weeks this year.  I've planned on spending all day Friday packing her steamer trunk and ironing name labels into her clothes, towels, and sheets.  Every day she'll get to go horseback riding, swimming, and a rotation of tons of activities like archery, canoeing, riflery, pottery, and crafting.

But before she goes, she's got her first official swim meet tomorrow night!  Britton is in 7 events tomorrow, including the IM and relay, and her times were good at the practice meet.  She loves freestyle and detests backstroke, but in the IM, she'll have to do all four strokes.  Good luck!

Likes:  Nella the cat, Face Timing on her iPad with her friends, Arizona green tea

Dislikes:  the amount of different camps I've signed her up for this summer - sleep away, theater, softball, and art!

barrett: 8 years old!

Eight years ago, I gave birth to this amazing kid, who blazed into this world at 10 pounds, 10 ounces and 23 inches long, nicknamed "The Toddler" by the hospital nursery.  My gentle giant.  Barrett is an incredibly sensitive and loving second-grader, who loves every dog and cat he meets, and finds friends at every playground.  He's the most empathetic kid I've ever known, and has been known to cry as easily during movies as me!  He let's me snuggle him every morning in the "boogernook" (a term I think my mom made up, and which just means snuggling up real close).  

Barrett is funny, sweet, helps out without being asked, and if you think I'm making him out to be all sunshine and roses, well, I am.  If he has any faults, he came by them honestly, and inherited my knack for occasional laziness and his sister's reticence of doing homework until the last possible minute.  He's genuinely curious, growing carrots in our neighborhood garden and reading encyclopedias about ships.  Barrett's favorite clothes are his pajamas, and he knows how to get cozy and comfortable.   

Sprinkle pancakes for breakfast!

Barrett has a strong creative streak too.  He's been taking an Outschool Pokemon class, where he gets to make clay Pokemon figurines.  He draws and paints all the time, and loves hanging his pictures up around the house.  But his ultimate love is Legos, and he has a natural talent when it comes to creating characters and scenes out of Legos.  He does love the kits, but he also isn't beholden to the instruction manual.

The school marquee has his name up for his birthday, but the computerized sign is impossible to photograph

Likes:  Pokemon, Super Mario Brothers, Bruce Cameron books, swim team, riding his bike

Dislikes:  jumping into the cold water at swim team practice

 

141 months old

 

We're slowly creeping towards the last few weeks of school, and I mean slowly because it's not going nearly fast enough for the kids, and it's coming way too soon for me!  Now that I'm working from home, I've got to find day camps and fun activities for the kids, so they don't spend all summer staring at iPads and holing up in their rooms, and I can actually get some work finished without being guilt-tripped into endless drives to Target for snacks and park trips.  

Britton starts swim team tomorrow!  And halfway through the season, she'll be headed to sleep away camp in the Texas hill country.  Neither kid is excited about getting into a cold pool tomorrow, but I'm ready for them both to get back into the water.  The winter storm destroyed our pool heater, so it's been a while since we have been in the pool.

Likes:  the cat, reading every book she can get her hands on

Dislikes:  every single day camp I find in the local area (but not the sleep away camp - that's a like!)

barrett: 95 months old

We are a mere ONE MONTH away from Barrett turning 8!!  Granted, the last year has been a bit of a Groundhog Day-eque blur, but seriously - where does the time go?  Because every morning, upon being woken up (like Sadie before him, Barrett is not a self-starter), Barrett and I snuggle in the booger nook, which is him being cuddled up on my lap in his bedroom chair.  And every morning, I notice how much bigger he is than the extremely-large baby (10 lbs, 10 oz) he was, and I find it completely unfair that he's getting so much older so fast.  Maybe it's hardest with your youngest, because you know there are a whole host of "last times" you're heading towards.

Enough about my whining - onto Barrett!  He starts soccer back up this Saturday!  We got new cleats last week, and while his Crocs are a size 3, his new cleats are a size 5, so clearly I have not been keeping up with his growing feet.  He and his BFF Walker are completely into Pokemon right now, and if you had guessed that Pokemon would be the one character Crocs doesn't make shoes in, you'd be right.  So, I'm still scrounging.  And of course, the birthday party theme will be.........Pokemon!  Minecraft narrowly lost in this heated battle.

Likes:  Squirtle, going to the playground, riding bikes

Dislikes:  being made to come home when he'd rather be playing, thinking about his upcoming spelling test

 

140 months old

Britton started an Outschool theatre class production of "Alice in Wonderland" a couple of weeks ago and is enjoying it!  With the pandemic shutting everything down, we got complacent about not doing much, welcomed it even.  Last year, we had activities at least 3 nights of the week, commutes, rushed dinners, and we didn't know any different.  Now, the last year has been a nice change, some parts even preferable to how it was before.  I take the kids to school, pick them up, hear about their days, and we're not all so rushed anymore.  But we still need things to do, to teach us new things, to pique interest in life.  So, Britton is doing her online production, and will begin swim team soon, and we're slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things.

Likes:  Swedish fish, reading all the books!

Dislikes:  having two more months of school left

 

barrett: 94 months old

We are a mere two months away from having an 8 year old!  This year has been Barrett's "golden birthday" (he was born on the 7th and turned 7), and it's felt like anything but golden.  Or maybe I'm just looking at it wrong.  Yes, it's been the most trying year of my life (everyone's life, for sure), but it's also given me back time at home, no commute, for months there was no school, and no activities.  Barrett missed swim team, soccer, and baseball, but also, maybe he didn't "miss" it as much as I think.  He's a homebody through and through.  But to break out of our rut of not leaving the house except for school, Barrett is now set to begin soccer when we get back from spring break.

Barrett did participate in some Outschool classes - harmonica lessons and a karate lesson!  He enjoyed both, and I need to find some more classes for him.  They are all online, and a fun way to get a taste of many different classes.  

Likes:  Megan McDonald "Stink" books (we're on the 12th book!), Baldi's Basics game

Dislikes:  having to study for school tests