Updates in June

Where to even begin?

We had the last day of school on May 26 and we are so proud of our upcoming 4th, 8th, and 10th graders! It was a tough year in a lot of ways - a year that began in a rental house we hated, with all of their things packed away for months, not knowing a soul, and dropping them off in front of three new school buildings. I would very much like to never do that again. But they made it! And they grew (literally and figuratively) and made friends and learned things and now we are ready for a very different summer from the last one.

And it already is. Cora just finished a week of SMU soccer camp, which she loved, and two of her soccer teammates were with her. She's had playdates and a sleepover and a birthday party this afternoon.

We went to her end-of-year awards ceremony- our first elementary school awards ceremony not held at our sweet Fort Worth Elementary School- and it was a sharp jolt of how much has changed in a year. But it was also a reminder of all that's the same- the loving messages from teachers, the awards, the smiling kids, the earnestness and adorable nature of the whole event... we only have two of these left in our personal parenting run and we're soaking it all up.

Each student had written down what they wanted to be when they grew up and Cora's was "animal helper." We asked her about it later and she explained she didn't want to be a veterinarian anymore because they mostly help domestic animals. She wants to help endangered animals in the wild - probably lions, maybe elephants - and study and save them. She's been on a 6-month documentary kick and knows more about wild animal conservation than the rest of us combined times ten. I usually can't watch them with her - they're too gritty and real and animals die so often (I'm the person who only reads paranormal romance books because I like my entertainment to be as far from reality as possible), but she mourns each setback and celebrates each victory and spends much of dinner telling us what she's taken away from each one and how they'll help her when she is a grownup working in the wild.

She is all heart with a big creative brain and fast legs and strong arms and we love her so much. (And not just because she's the only one left who thinks hanging out with James and me is still fun and cool.)

Claire turned 13 last weekend, had her birthday party on the last day of school, and is now an incoming 8th grader.

She has grown so much this year, worked so hard, and been so vulnerable and strong throughout it all.

Her birthday party was a big hit- after starting school not knowing anyone, she has a great group of friends I am so very grateful for.

She is the thirteeniest of thirteen year olds which seems to mean we vacillate from clingy and affectionate to arguing about ever having to come home from friends' houses at all. We're navigating it- as with much in life, the podcasts of Glennon Doyle and Jen Hatmaker are seeing me through, and while there are times I find it frustrating that teenage brains aren't fully developed, in truth, I mostly feel such deep empathy for this age. It is hard. It is hard and big and overwhelming and also still small with room for mistakes, and our job is to help her navigate through each learning experience- because that's what each mistake is- to become stronger and better and truer to herself. It's a lot and it's an honor and man do we love this little bear so very much.

Landon is now a sophomore in high school.

He has a letter jacket, a small group of friends, and a growing swim lesson and sports card resale businesses.

He likes to chat, often in odd positions and at inconvenient times, but chat he does. He pretends to hate Forced Family Fun Time and has recently had the opportunity to learn what a hex wrench is by putting together a large amount of patio and outdoor furniture. The strangled scream he let out when he realized one box was made up entirely of the parts he'd need to assemble the other boxes will forever live in my memory and make me smile.

He turns 16 in 5 weeks and we are all SO READY for him to transport himself to and from swim practice. He is doing great with his driving practice and drove James and I to Waxahachie, Texas, an hour away with many a highway change, to go pick up his new car.

It's a 2017 Ford Escape with one elderly owner who took perfect care of it. He drove me home in it and I think they're going to be very happy together.

At 15.9, Landon is a mix of pre-adult, post-kid, hilarious, smart, loving, annoying, and at times simply breathtakingly dumb. It's like at times his brain is so focused on physical growth that the thinking part blinks offline for a bit. And yet he remains a straight-A student in very hard classes with no help or parental interaction. He has absolutely no idea what he wants to be when he grows up, except that he would like it to be someone who makes money, and he would like it to take as little effort as possible. He wants to swim in college, preferably at UT, but the school is negotiable as long as he gets to swim. He remains a friend of babies and small animals and whatever he ends up doing in life, he will likely be accompanied by many pets and children.

James continues to train and coach and remotely run the swim school and sell amazing swimsuits and other swim products. He has also seamlessly taken over running the home front- taking children to and fro, doing all of the meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking since the start of the year and he is *killing it*.

Sure sometimes he’s overly excited by the bounty of new recipes available on the internet and decides to make FIVE different very involved things on one random Wednesday night (like homemade scallion pancakes, miso glazed roasted carrots, baked marinated tofu, something magical with Brussels sprouts, and sweet hot chili smashed potatoes which took hours and every single pan, bowl, and measuring cup we have), but he is DOING it and being his sous chef while sipping wine and chatting about our days is the very best part of mine. I love him so much.

This past week included the one-year anniversary of our move to Dallas. That seems crazy, but I actually can't decide if it's because it seems like so much more or so much less than that. Somehow it seems like both.

I've had some recent visits from Fort Worth friends that have warmed my heart and made me feel so proud of the house we've built here that is finally complete and furnished and ready.

I love it here so much, I just wish I could have some sort of portal to Fort Worth to bring over the people I love there more often.

In other loves, I have found a local yoga studio! It's 0.5 miles away, big enough that I don't need to sign in a week in advance (and in fact have often just showed up after realizing 7 minutes before class that I could make it over), is not full of college students (love them, but doing yoga next to 25 perfectly toned 20-year-olds does not give me inner peace), and has a variety of classes at different times. I am of the median age and love love the hot pilates, cardio yoga HIIT, hot strength, and good old hot yoga. I have gone every day for two weeks and I almost no longer feel like I'm going to pass out at the end.

In fact, I'm off to a class in 30 minutes so let's wrap this up with the pets. Maggie has decided she only walks in her stroller and now flatly refuses to walk very far on her four little fat feet.

This was our walk on Friday.

That is our house in the background. It was 0.04 miles roundtrip. She usually just refuses to move forward once she's done with her exercise, but on Friday she fully laid down and closed her eyes. When I finally moved back in the direction of our house she popped up and trotted with pep in her step to the front door and then took a nap.

She felt really good about it.

Moose continues to claim Maggie as his own while Milo ignores her completely.

Moose: I don’t understand the misshapen white cat, but she is mine and I will dutifully rub my scent on her on a regular basis so everyone knows.
Milo: The big white cat cannot feed me kibbles and I do not acknowledge her in any way.
Maggie: I will stand very still for this ritual. I am a cat and must do as they say.
Moose: I have debased myself but I stand by my claim.
Milo: Ugh. No. Gross.
Maggie: I love you both so much.

And so summer presses on. Today Landon has swim practice, Claire is going to a water park with a friend, Cora has a birthday party, I have Bonnie coming over for a style appointment, Landon is babysitting, James has all his remote coaching calls, and then I have a farewell dinner for a partner at work. Somehow this will still feel like a relaxed day and I will definitely stretch out on our new fluffy couch to read or cuddle a cat.

Happy Summer!

I'm off to yoga- Happy Sunday all, thank for for still reading what I very sporadically post. Hopefully next time I won't have to cram two months of updates and pictures into one post!