Tidbits

I love that Sydney still wants to snuggle up and read with me. Had to record a bit of her reading from The Little Engine That Could.

*hair loss commercial comes on tv*
Me: Do you think Dad suffers from hair loss?

Ireland: No

Me: Why not?

Ireland: Wellllll.... *hesitates* LOOK AT HIM!

Liesel apparently didn't want to get her fingers covered in salt so she ate her veggie straws with tongs!

Me: Hey, what are you up to?
Ireland: Nothing suspicious.

Generally a candy face if there ever was one, Sydney is also a huge fan of yogurt! Not necessarily the overly sugary kind either-- here she is just having a plain vanilla with some granola on top. It's one of her breakfast go-tos. 

Me: I have a text from Stacey Taylor. She said she volunteered with you at the food pantry and that you told her all about me. *I look at her suspiciously*

Liesel: Well not ALL all...

Sydney's kindergarten teacher dropped off a cute end of year package for Sydney and it happened to come while Brent and I were pulling weeds in the backyard. She ran around shouting in utter glee.

She was so happy- look at that smile!

As the necessity for masks became apparent, I pulled out all my scrap fabric and the girls had a blast deciding on which colors they wanted for theirs. Liesel and Ireland even made two so I ran out of elastic to go around the ears. I probably shouldn't have been surprised that they were completely sold out at every fabric store in a 15 mile radius of our home, but I was.

When lockdown eased, our neighbors invited the girls over for a picnic.

They were so happy to get some actual face to face time with them!

Sydney and I had a our own playdate. She requested Chick-fil-a for lunch (YUM!).

Since the parks were no longer taped off, we stopped by one of her favorites and she played on the slides and monkey bars and swings. So good to get out and have fun!

They say it's not the heat, it's the humidity which is definitely true when it comes to Brent's hair. The high humidity has really played up his curly locks. Straight up ringlet right there!

Had to run my fingers through this luscious set of locks!

Love the Superman curl front and center.

The fact that we aren't coffee drinkers doesn't stop Liesel's love for Starbucks. She was thrilled to find her soul mate apparently is too:

No matter how many times we tell Sydney we are working and not to bother us, she sneaks into the office more than anyone. Hard to be annoyed when she's still in her pajamas and she has a doll in tow.

With restaurants open again, Brent took me on a date and not only did Liesel babysit, but she offered to do my makeup as well. 

She was so careful and it was nice to feel her delicate fingers making me all pretty.

I kind of love this age!

The splash pad finally opened up and Brigitta was pretty dang excited about that.

We've used the fire pit so much more this year than we have in previous years! Liesel really loves her s'mores- she doesn't let even a bit of that gooey marshmallow go to waste.

With the libraries closed as well, we relented and bought Ireland the last of the Harry Potter books which she will indubitably read over and over. A good investment there.

Speaking of Harry Potter, on July 31 we called Whitney and asked her if she knew the significance of the day with the caveat that her niece's love and respect were on the line. She was silent for a bit and then said, "I dunno, I mean, it's Harry Potter's birthday" and the girls screamed in approval- thus increasing their love and respect for her. She called later with Tim on the line to see if he could pass the same test. He did. Afterward the girls properly celebrated by pulling out all their Harry Potter costumes.

A crown of clouds. I thought that was pretty cool.

Some (virtual) crowns of flowers:

At a playdate, Sydney fell in love with this ukulele so much, she became its new owner! I really regret that.

Liesel and Ireland did improv camp. It was pared down quite a bit from the previous year but they still had a lot of fun. 

They didn't love that they were the only two girls but per the rules of improv, they rolled with it.

I love this video so much! Obviously I think it's funny, but I really love how Liesel just takes my teasing with such grace. She doesn't get mad or let her feelings get hurt, the second she clues into it she smiles. Love her so much for that. 

Liesel's room is basically our second guest room and Whitney and Tim stayed there when they visited us for Brigitta's baptism. Liesel created this on her dry erase board for them and I thought it was so charming.

Ireland had a playdate with a friend and they were doing some work on the house. The dad let them go up in the basket...

...and I think it's safe to say Ireland has my same healthy fear of heights!

Liesel: Brigitta told me she thinks boobs are disgusting... and it was just a few days before you and Dad were going to have The Talk with her so I was just like, "Well, I'M SORRY!!"

On another outing to a park, Sydney told me to take her picture and struck this pose. None of my girls are shy in front of a camera, that's for sure!

This handicap parking space cracked me up just because that is the biggest wheelchair for the longest leg I've ever seen!

When the drive-in movies opened, the line to get in stretched for miles. People were so desperate to get out of their home in a safe, physically distanced way that they jumped at the opportunity. We were finally able to catch the last one of the summer. .

It was Hook and honestly not my favorite movie- but there's a magic to throwing a blow up mattress in the back of the truck and being entertained under the stars. While we waited for dusk, Brent and I helped Sydney finish her summer workbook

I don't remember what Brigitta was crying about, but I think it's important to note life isn't always sunshine and bliss. Into every life a little rain must fall.

With that, summer of 2020 ends!

Journey to Splits

I put out the challenge to the girls to get their splits and wow, did they ever respond! Going from this:

 To this:

Lockdown has definitely whittled away most of the daily distractions and the girls were able to focus on their flexibility. They worked on it every day, multiple times a day. They did doorway stretches:

I love how the light is shining right at the tippy top of Liesel's toes!

Eventually they came up with this- which they call "Doorway Jenga"

They used the pillars to work on their standing splits:

They practiced splits upside down:

Gita was the first and oddly enough, it was her left splits (even though she's right-handed). Liesel followed with her right splits. Ireland is nearly there with her right and Sydney is working on them as well. Eventually, they all want to have their 3-way splits and something they call a "roll over" where they begin seated and then roll over their middle splits until they are on their belly. Liesel is already trying to see how far she can get her over splits;

Sometimes I can't believe what I am seeing- the body doesn't usually fling limbs so far and wide apart! Sometimes it makes me cringe because I'm worried they will hurt themselves- even though flexibility will protect them from injury. Mostly I'm incredibly proud of them for going after a goal so relentlessly and for supporting each other as they did it. The next challenge? Mastering a split jump, and Liesel is well on her way:

What Makes This School Year Unlike Any Other?

For those of us not actually going back to school, but going back to remote learning, the trend was to take first day of school pictures in pajamas. Or at least pajama bottoms with a cute top. The girls have really missed dressing up so they didn't mind going a bit fancier for their photos. No Meet the Teacher this year, just a drive up to grab supplies.

Love that little tongue sticking out.

I have to admit I've always grumbled about the high taxes in this area. One thing the school district insists on is that every child have a Chrome book. When lockdown happened and everything went remote, I suddenly had a great appreciation for that education tool. We would have been sunk if we had to provide computers for all four girls on our own. Sydney received the newest model Chrome book which also has a touch screen- much to the envy of her sisters.

Brigitta picked this dress out long before school started.

Brigitta and Ireland don't have dedicated desks so Brigitta had to make do with a small play table. Thank goodness she's tiny enough to fit!

I love that Irelands got a little sass in her First Day of School photos. She's definitely a tween!

Ireland really drew the short straw when it comes to study spaces. She ended up on the table in the family room. It's by the kitchen which is noisy and both rooms are super prone to getting messy because they are used so much. Ireland is making the best of it though.

I think you can tell by Liesel's tight smiles that she was probably having the hardest time with another round of remote learning ahead of her. She's a social girl at a socially significant age and she was really getting sick of time with her sisters. Our hardline approach to smartphones isn't exactly helping and she's feeling pretty isolated from other kids her age.

I hope for everyone's sake we can safely get the kids back into their classrooms soon! I know the teachers and administrators and (heaven bless them) kids are doing their best. I'm sure if they can dedicate themselves to remote learning, they will pick up skills that will benefit them for the rest of their life. But it's not the same. At the end of the day, a knock off is still a knock off and trying to say it's as good as the original just doesn't hold water. If it were as good as the original, it would BE the original. Remote learning is a knock off. 

We are all definitely more appreciative of what we had before the pandemic hit.