Connor {ten years}

Connor turned ten a week ago and it just felt so monstrous and huge. Once he started school, the years just seem to fly by. And we are now on the downhill side of when he will be an adult and leaving the house. I felt very aware of that. I felt excited and happy but also a bit sad. A lot of growing up and changing has happened over the past year. Connor didn't even want me to bring cupcakes to his class for his birthday! But that worked out anyway, as on his birthday I surprised him and took him out of school for lunch and let him stay out the rest of the day.

The older my children get, the more difficult it feels to describe them. It feels so personal and they are ever changing (and should be allowed to), so I struggle with wanting to make sure I don't put them in a box or label them, but here goes a bit about Connor. 

Connor is a brilliant person. Truly brilliant. He no longer enjoys school like he used to, mostly sighting that it is boring. But then he will come home and watch videos to learn how to do algebra. The thirst for knowledge is definitely there. Connor is still very obedient in school and also does well. His teacher glowed about him at his parent teacher conference. Connor is playing the cello at school this year and that is perfect for him. He has a knack for music and does so well. He is also doing piano lessons with Ian's mom and plays the piano at home all the time...after we moved it into his room. He really enjoys playing it or really any instrument. 

Connor says he is hungry all the time, like it is a burden. Ian and I are like, "Hello, you are growing!!!" But I guess it could be annoying to feel like you always need to eat. His current favorites to eat are breakfast sandwiches and anything seafood, though I really just keep around tuna and some imitation crab for him to snack on. He also loves teriyaki chicken. For his birthday, I took him to a sushi restaurant for lunch, which he loves, then for dinner I made orange chicken, which he also loves. 

Connor enjoys reading and I find it hard to provide him enough books to read. He particularly likes the funny/slightly inappropriate books for kids and historical books. His favorite author is Stuart Gibbs, but he has read all his books. 

Parenting kids as they get older is an interesting thing. It's being there for them, but also giving them their space. It's allowing them to make mistakes, then talking through it later. I feel privileged to have Connor as a part of our family and know he will go far in life.

You can also find me on:

bloglovin // instagram // pinterest 

The Tale of Four Monkeys

You guys, how cute is my fourth little monkey?! A little back story on this outfit. A former coworker sent it to me in Scotland when I was pregnant with Connor. I was super into sock monkeys back then. And it was perfect. In fact, it still is. I am keeping hardly any of my kids clothes because I know that's not what kids want when they become adults, but this, this I am keeping. And I will most likely stuff my grandchildren in it, much to the complaining and eye rolling of my children. It is what it is children! It's for the memories! 

Also, I am glad I took Willa's picture right after I put her in this outfit because, well, she had a blow out about 30 minutes after I put it on. So, she didn't even get to go trick or treating as a sock monkey. Of course, she slept for most of the trick or treating experience and I didn't even get her a bucket or take her up to a house to get candy, so I guess it doesn't really matter! 

Now let's take a walk down memory lane and revisit all the kids as sock monkeys. 

Connor:

Isla:

Callum:

Willa:

It's a good thing all my kids were fall/winter babies so this comparison worked! Man did we plan well, haha! And if sibling comparisons are your thing, here is another one of all four and two sister comparisons (one and two). I know, I know, I document A LOT.

You can also find me on:

bloglovin // instagram // pinterest 

School Halloween Parades

Both of the kids schools do Halloween parades and I just love it. It's just one of those childhood things I truly enjoy...as many of the school activities I find just over the top. Callum's preschool started doing a Halloween parade Isla's last year there, so Connor never got to do it until elementary school. But watching preschoolers get all dressed up in their adorable costumes and awkwardly parade around is just the best. Callum ended up ditching his helmet halfway through the parade. The teacher tried putting it back on, but he wasn't having it. Also, Callum's parade was the day before Halloween, which really worked out well for me. He only goes to school two days a week and it was just how it worked out. But otherwise, I would have had to miss one or the other, as I can't be at two schools at the same time. So I am grateful for that happening. 

The older kids elementary school takes Halloween very seriously. All the kids parade around to music, then the choir sings for everyone. We didn't stay for the choir, as Callum was all over the place, obviously feeding off the fun energy in the air, haha. Also, let me show you the nice pictures of Connor, then you can scroll down and see how Connor really felt about me taking his picture! 

^^ Connor really wanted this costume, even though it was a bit too small for him. Why do the precious costumes have to stop at smaller sizes and then only the scary or ridiculous costumes are available in larger sizes?! Oh well. 

^^ What a turkey!!!

Then there's Isla. She has been a witch for the past three years. Her best friend tried convincing her to be something else this year, but she obviously wasn't convinced. I got rid of the costume she wore the past two years, as it was looking rather tore up...and I thought maybe then she would chose to be something else this year. Nope! I guess being a witch is just her thing. If you didn't see the picture of Isla and her black cat on instagram, you can see it here...because it's too cute to miss. Isla also still gets super excited to see us at things, so that is nice for us, haha. 

You can also find me on:

bloglovin // instagram // pinterest 

Willa's First Tooth

10.12.2019

Willa got her first tooth! I should probably mention that I am that person that knows which milestones are left and looks for them constantly, trying to decide if today is the day or not. Did she just say "dada"? Was that a wave or did her hand just flail in the air? Was that a crawl forward or did she fall forward? Thankfully a tooth is a tooth is a tooth.

I have been checking Willa's mouth daily recently for teeth. I started checking originally because she became fussy and that is totally out of character for her. But her gums weren't bulging at all, so I thought we were a ways off from getting any teeth. So, imagine my surprise when I stuck my finger in her mouth to check things out and felt a little poke! At that point, the tooth had barely poked through in one spot. Now, almost a week later, the entire length of the tooth has come through.

Willa is really protective of her tooth and won't show anyone, so I have yet to get a decent picture of it. I know that will come soon enough and all those adorable smiles with tiny little teeth with be headed our way.

You can also find me on:

bloglovin // instagram // pinterest 

Celebrating Isla

Isla turned eight on Sunday and we had a fun weekend celebrating her. On Saturday, I took Isla and her best friend Amelie shopping at the mall. That was quite the experience! The girls enjoyed themselves and definitely enjoyed looking at EVERYTHING. They ended up getting matching dresses and sweaters, matching dangly earrings and matching necklaces. Now they are all set for their upcoming twins day at school. 

On Sunday, Isla's actual birthday, we had out families over to celebrate. Isla said it was the best birthday ever because she had two cakes. I had let her pick one out at the store on Saturday, then her and my dad made one together. Isla was also pretty jazzed because she got a lot of cash for her birthday from her grandparents and aunts and uncles. It was burning a hole in her pocket and she immediately wanted to go to Target to spend her money, but so far, I have held her off. 

Now this coming weekend, Isla gets to go to Disneyland with Amelie. She gets to do that instead of a birthday party this year. It should be fun because it's just me and Isla tagging along with Amelie, her sister and her mom. A fun girls day! 

Eight years sure did go by fast!!! In case you too want to walk down memory lane, here is Isla's birth day in photos. And her first birthday, third birthday and fifth. I have a picture of her blowing out her candles at her fifth birthday party hanging in our house and it always makes me smile. It's just one of those pictures that is so Isla. Time, man. It really is a thief.

You can also find me on:

bloglovin // instagram // pinterest 

Callum's Preschool Open House

Just before we left on our trip to Nashville was Callum's preschool open house. As a mother, these are the types of things I eat up. Adorable little crafts, children proud of their artwork, proud of their classrooms, lovers of their teachers. Preschool is just such a sweet, sweet time. And I just love that the big crafts they do are the exact same ones that Connor and Isla did as well. 

The open house itself was rather chaotic with a million families smooshed into one classroom with preschoolers running every direction taking parents on a scavenger hunt of their classroom. But Callum enjoyed himself, and thats what matters. He also enjoyed showing off his obviously amazing artwork. 

^^ I didn't keep much artwork of the kids, but when I was cleaning out a closet the other day, I found both Connor and Isla's jellyfish like this. Now I feel like I should do something with them, since I have all three. I also thought that the preschool better still do this craft when it's Willa's turn!  

In case you wondered just how similar the crafts were with the other kids, totally samsies. Here's the proof - Connor and Isla. The entire building has undergone a renovation since we were last in that class five years ago, but the crafts remain the same! 

You can also find me on:

bloglovin // instagram // pinterest

Nashville

Wow, it's been a while since I have blogged. But, I'm not ready to give it up just yet, so here I go again. Ian, Willa and I went to Nashville for five days at the end of September. A lot of people have asked why. Ian and I were trying to remember how it started. We think it started with the idea of an anniversary trip, then the end of September became the first time that worked with childcare....thanks mom! Why Nashville? Well, it seems like everyone and their mom is talking about it and we wanted to see what the hype was all about. So now you are about to get my take on Nashville. 

The good - I don't know if I have ever been to a place with so many good restaurants. I didn't notice chain restaurants many places. Mostly just really good local restaurants. I'll list my favorites in a minute. The locals were amazing. We talked to so many. They really seemed to enjoy wanting to get outsiders takes on Nashville and to discuss how the city has exploded in growth. Nashville is rather compact, so taking Uber around was easy and not pricy. I highly recommend walking out on the John Seigenthaler pedestrian bridge in downtown Nashville. It gives you a beautiful view of the city. I was surprised how few people were on it, actually. Also, if you decide to take a tour of the Ryman Auditorium, spring for the backstage tour, as its full of interesting tidbits. And don't skip the video at the beginning of the tour, as it's really well done. All the cool murals around the city are super neat. So many businesses have them on the sides of their walls too. It creates such a neat vibe.

We ate at more places than this, but these were definitely great and ones I would certainly go back to:

Five Points Pizza - I ate possibly the best pizza of my life here

Bar Taco - make a reservation, as this place gets busy

Las Paletas - unique popsicles

Five Daughters Bakery - because who doesn't love donuts?

Dozen bakery - Best muffin of my life. It was apple something and it was life changing.

Martin's BBQ - get the brisket tacos and thank me later

Coffee shops:

Barista Parlor

Well Coffee House - they are a non-profit that builds wells in other countries!

Crema - amazing avocado toast! This is also where all the trendy, hipster people were...haha. 

The bad - I could not get over the humidity. It was SO HUMID. I felt like I was always covered in sweat. Also, what's up with no sidewalks outside of the city center? So weird, annoying and unsafe. And the lack of public transportation in a city of that size just blew my mind. Also, I never knew Nashville was nicknamed "Nash-Vegas". Bars and drunk people all over downtown. We were pretty much the only people around with a child out, even during the day. So that was kind of weird. Well, and drunk people wanting to hold Willa. But, outside of the city center, we did encounter other families. 

One thing I found funny is literally every Uber driver we had asked us if we were planning on moving to Nashville. The city has doubled in size in something like 10 or 15 years and is definitely growing faster than it can handle. Every local we talked to loved talking about this and how unhappy they were about it. There definitely seems to be an us vs. them mentality about people moving to Nashville. 

After we did everything we felt like doing in the city center, we rented a car for our last two days. We stopped in Franklin, walked around the downtown, which truly is something out of a tv show, and got coffee at a great place. Then we continued on into the middle of nowhere to visit the Jack Daniels Distillery. Besides it being in the middle of nowhere and food options being super limited around it, the tour itself was super interesting and entertaining. We also went to the Belle Mead Plantation on the outskirts of Nashville. It contains such a dark part of our country's history, slavery, but something I think shouldn't be ignored. 

All in all, Nashville was great. Just very different than I expected. Spending five days with Ian with only one child was amazing and dare I say, easy.

You can also find me on:

bloglovin // instagram // pinterest