William the NINE Year Old!

 William is such a fun child to celebrate. The days leading up to his birthday he was so excited and very sweet. I am so grateful we had a day to appreciate such a wonderful boy!

The Many Faces of Cate Elizabeth

 When I left  my phone in the car to pick up Johnny from a friend’s house, Cate found ways to keep herself busy. She cracks me up.

Homework

I have a love/hate relationship with homework as we started seeing more of it this week. On one end, “Ew.” On the other, it is so sweet seeing these kids focused on their school work!

There were only a few tears as we worked through sight words and spelling. I forgot how hands-on first grade can be as kids are learning how to read. I love Matthew’s little tongue slipping out while he concentrates. I love how William will focus so intently and rewrite words so everything is spelled right and looks tidy. I also love that Johnny loves Math because heaven knows I do not!

Yesterday after soccer, I scurried around the kitchen prepping dinner helping three boys simultaneously with their schoolwork while a 14 year old sat on the counter recapping her day. I was a little overwhelmed maintaining four conversations at the same, but also felt a bit of thrill realizing how full this season of my life is right now. A quiet voice whispered in my mind, “You will treasure nights like this when you look back some day.” It’s exhausting, but it’s fulfilling raising these kids. I am so proud of their hard work and so grateful for them. When we sit around the table for dinner every night I try to savor each of their voices and faces as we recap our days and laugh at silly things one or the other is doing. It is always a calming ritual to end these hectic school nights.

Happy 15 years To Us!

15 years? That is really hard to wrap my head around. Something about today thins time a little, and I can remember so vividly how warm it felt when I hugged John in his crisp black tuxedo, and I even more; I feel the fresh anticipation from that day of the life we would share together from that day forward. 

I knew John was someone who I wanted by my side through the mountains and valleys of life, but I don’t know if I could have predicted how hard and exhausting some of those valleys would be—and yet: John HAS stayed by my side and I can’t think of the pain and hard times without also thinking of our love for each other, our friendship, and how much our faith grew as we walked through together. The view I remember from life’s mountains are accompanied by John’s face because the joy of the peak can’t be separated from the joy I feel sharing it with him. I can’t separate him from any good thing in my life the last fifteen years and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Every single morning I wake up and can’t wait to look over and see John there next to me, and I know we get another day together, and say a “thank you” in my heart. It a ritual that has superseded the bad days, annoyed days, hormonal days, lonely days—I know that every morning I can feel gratitude that he is there with me.

We’ve had quite the year!!

Our third child, William was baptized!

He helped me with the Primary and PTO trunk or treat, and We dressed up for Halloween. (15 years later you still close your eyes!)

We cut down a Christmas tree

We went skiiing!

We watched our daughter play basketball…We watched so so many sporting events this year!

We went camping and caving!

AND we bought a house!! 

AND we became pregnant with baby number 5!

Excited to see what the next year holds!

Cate the Great Turns 14!

And like that, we have a fourteen year old in the house! Cate was so much fun to celebrate this year. I think she felt bummed her birthday landed smack in the middle of a four day weekend, and she wouldn’t see any of her friends. I was so grateful for friends who reached out and wished her a happy birthday. The night before, John took the kids boating while Cate and I stayed home and watched Gilmore Girls while I peeled and cut up peaches to freeze. She is simply a delight to hang out with.

Her meals:

Breakfast: Blueberry Crumble and Orange Julius

Lunch: In n Out Cheeseburger

Dinner: Homemade Mac and Cheese, Potstickers, and Cesar Salad

Cake: Better than Anything Cake

Cate claims In n Out is “her” place. It is her number one choice given the chance, and often on the way home from softball tournaments and track invitationals we will stop there as a treat. 

Cate has learned the art of “M.A.S.H.” (A randomized fortune telling game where you figure out who some will marry, where they will live, their salary, etc.) She is often putting her brothers through the ringer playing with her, they are her eager participants.

Activities: sleeping in, karaoke, running a mile with her dad, driving stick in her dad’s old truck. Basically dad came in for the win today. They had a great time together.

For her birthday her grandma Brassell took her shopping for school clothes, Grandma and Grandpa Partridge got her a dress she’s been wanting, and a back massager. Her friend Colton brought her the Defense Against Dark Arts Lego set. She also got a pitching net to practice for fast pitch season, self-care products, the Divination lego book set, and a fast pitch ball for practice pitches.

Where would our family be without Cate? She is the leader, protector, comedian, advocate, helper, trail-blazer, listener, mediator, librarian, basketball teammate, peacemaker, builder and so many other things. I love our drives home from XC practice where I get to hear about her day. She is a comfort and a friend to me, and gives sound advice. I love how hard she works and appreciate the growth she reaps from her efforts. She has a gift of confidence, and she carries herself with grace. She is a delight to laugh with and a pleasure to dissect deep topics with. Simply put: what a blessing to have daughter who is also a best friend. 

We love you Cate!!!

 

 

First Day of School 2022

 There is something magical and nerve wracking  about the first day of school. Everyone woke up eager and nervous. Teeth and hair were brushed, lunches packed, prayers said and off they went.

Matthew, the first grader. He has Miss Stratton this year and has a lot of friends in his class he didn’t have last year. In case you were wondering why he is wearing a coat when the forecast I supposed to be 102 degrees: it’s so when the girls chase him and catch him, he can slip out of their grasp easily. 

What a stud!

William, the third grader! William has Mrs. Robertson. He was very nervous for school since his teacher was new to the school, so out of the three it was the only one he didn’t know! More so, this is his first year since preschool that he didn’t have his best friend, Luke, in his class. (He only vaguely knew one boy in his class this year!) 

William and Baby-mode (knees in his shirt.) All. The. Time.

Johnny. The man. The myth. The Legend. The SIXTH grader! His last year in elementary! 🥺😭. Johnny has Cate’s old teacher, Mr. Finnegan. He is so excited. Also for the first time he is with his best friend Max, among other good friends. He was more excited than I can ever remember going to school the first day.

Goodness I love him. His favorite teacher is the librarian, and every year he makes a stop first thing to tell her hello!

Cate the Great, starting year eight! Her final year of middle school. Her first day was technically next day, but because she is in Leadership, she got to help out with orientation for the seventh graders at Mcloughlin. 

Goodness, if I could just hug a picture!! I love these four!

Per tradition, I promised Johnny we could walk to school. We drove a few blocks away and enjoyed the beautiful crisp morning. As I trailed behind these three, I realized this was the last year I would have all three of my boys at the same school! I felt so grateful the school district is waiting until next year to move sixth grade to the middle school. I love having these three together.

Johnny took off as soon as we got to the school, but William and Matthew wanted me to walk them to their classroom. They each got their teachers a plant and treat for the first day.

Dropping off the little boys ended up being much more dramatic for my mama’s heart than I anticipated. William was in a nervous daze as he entered his classroom. He couldn’t find his chair and I watched his eyes panic as he read all the name tags, not recognizing any names! He sunk into his chair and just looked at his desk, not sure what to do. (Spoiler: everything turned out fine, but it was not an easy visual to walk away from.) Matthew insisted he wasn’t nervous, besides; he’s not a kinder anymore! He marched into his classroom, followed directions and found his cubby. As he clearly didn’t need me, I turned away and then thought—“I’m going to snag a quick picture to send to John.” 

Here is what I found when I turned back toward the classroom:

His head was buried in his hands. I walked back in and asked if he needed a hug. He nodded “yes.”  I asked if he was OK, and he answered with flushed cheeks and watery eyes, “I didn’t know I was going to miss you so much.” And instead of melting into a puddle of tears right then and there I put on my brave mom face and said, “You’re not going to miss me! You are going to have so much fun today and before you know it, I’ll come pick you up and we’ll have cookies after school together! How does that sound?” He smiled shyly and said it sounded good, gave me a hug. 

Then I left.

And held my hormonal pregnancy tears in until made it to my car, and absolutely cried the whole way home. There was something so lonely about walking into an empty home after the often chaotic, messy, and crowded home of Summer. I called John to ask how Cate’s drop off went and he said it was fine, and she talked a lot but he wasn’t paying attention (ha!) and she said some jokes he didn’t laugh at and she responded with “OK, I guess I’m not using that one on my friends.” And I thought about how nice it must be to be John and not neurotic and an emotional mess over basically nothing. 😂

I ate away my feelings then got to work on some organizing projects that have been on my list, and prepping dinner and cookies for after school.

The boys all had the best day. Everyone loves their teachers and it was an afternoon of fielding three conversations simultaneously. It was such a happy feeling. After my worried morning, I was so grateful to see what a great year this is going to be for all of them. 

We filled out all the back to school paper work (ew.) and the kids played with friends until it was time to pick Cate up from Cross Country.

I went to bed that night exhausted, grateful, and happy. Despite the bold declaration that time is indeed passing, I sure love the first day of school with its new school shoes and fresh school supplies. The routine of fall is a familiarity I fell asleep looking forward to.

Cate’s official first day of school!

The boys’ second day of school!

(William’s peace sign, Johnny’s “Hi best friend!” Shirt he had custom made because that is his motto, and Matthew’s that’s-how-I-smile-mom face. Love them.

Cate’s third day of school.