Category Archives: montser

21 Months x3

Every once in a while I crack open my laptop and go through old photos. Last weekend I used my real camera to snap a few pics of the kiddos playing in the sprinkler. When I uploaded them it sent me down a rabbit hole. I did a little math to figure out Lincoln is about 21 months old, then proceeded to search my iphoto for photos of the girls at about that same age. This is what I found…

Rylee – Feb. 2010
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Reese – April 2014IMG_6992

Lincoln – July[ish] 2016DSC_0029

Yes, Reese is sitting on the toilet. Turns out that girl did not smile very much when she was that age. That was the best photo I could find that wasn’t her mean-muggin or with a binkie stuffed in her face hole.

I think Reese & Lincoln look SO much alike. I’ve always thought it, but now seeing them at about the same age, it really shows.

I don’t remember Rylee having such CHEEKS. She is so slender now, it’s hard to remember 6 years ago. Also… SIX years ago!? Holy moly.

I definitely think all the kiddos have the same nose in these photos.

I wish I had a photo in here on Lincoln without a hat on, because it’s so funny to me how I have 3 kiddos that all look so similar but all have very different hair colors… and how it’s been like that since the day they were born. Rylee with the red hair, Reese with the light brown/dirty blond, and Lincoln is a total toe head.

I also wish the photo of Lincoln wasn’t quite so dark. But fixing that would take time and well… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I can’t wait to do this again in the future. I love how much my siblings and I all look alike. In all honesty, it makes me feel more connected to them and I’ve always hoped my kiddos share that too.

Back to School

Today was officially back to school day in our house.

Rylee heading to first grade. Full day! and Reese heading back to daycare, only this year she will be full time in the two year old class.

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Rylee was a nervous/excited hybrid for her first day of first grade. Last week I took her in to find out who her teacher is for the year, look at her class list, check out her classroom and drop off her supplies. Her teacher is a mom of one of her daycare friends and her best friend is in her class. That helped ease the nerves a bit I think. She asked me to take her to school nonetheless.

We dropped Reese off first. Reese was super excited as we were walking in the door at daycare. She had even been cheering on the drive. But the second we walked into the drop-off room she froze up and wanted to be held. She laid her head on my shoulder and didn’t want to get down. I could tell she was right on the verge of tears. It was sweet and sad all at the same time. But cereal bar and banana to the rescue! Crisis averted. We kissed goodbye and as Ry & I walked out she was happily munching on her cereal bar.

As Rylee and I drove back to the school we chatted about the after school plan, since she will be riding a different bus than she did last year. She was clearly annoyed I kept bringing it up. I asked her if she was ok with me just dropping her off in the drop-off line and she asked that park and I walk her up to the school. I had to park across the street from the school and as we walked up, she held my hand. As soon as we got to the door of the school I asked if she was good or if she wanted me to walk with her all the way to her classroom. She asked me to walk all the way with her and I obliged. I mean, how many more years will she want me to do this, I thought. The second we walked in the school? She dropped my hand and walked 2 steps ahead of me. Ha, go figure.

I made sure she was settled in her room, threw her a high 5 and told her to have an awesome day. She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tight.

This year is going to be pretty great.

 

Six Whole Years

I swear I didn’t forget about my kid’s birthday this year. Life has just been hectic and such.

Her birthday came and went like a blur. We had our first ever not-at-home party and it was pretty great. We did a bowling party, complete with little plastic bowling trophies for each of the 9 kiddos.

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After her friend party we headed home and had the family over for Tacos (of course).  All in all a good day and my girl was feeling the love.

As for her 6-year interview? I love doing these things…every year I ask some of the same standard questions, then some Facebook friends chime in with questions they’d like me to ask her.

This is officially the 4th year I’ve done the interview and I think I’m going to go through some of the previous interviews and see how her answers have changed over the years. Don’t worry, I’ll report back.

Taco Tuesday

We’ve been pretty die-hard Taco Tuesday fans in our house for a while now…so long that I can’t actually remember when it started. Over the course of our Taco Tuesdays we’ve even converted a number of people to following along. It often comes up in conversation at daycare drop off or pick up…especially on Tuesday {go figure}.

A few weeks ago, one of Rylee’s friends at daycare asked if she could come over for Taco Tuesday sometime. I laughed, and told her absolutely and I’d chat with her mom about it. We had a Taco Tuesday date set for the following week. Then Rylee had a TBall game that night so we rescheduled for the following week. Then Reese ended up with HFM so we rescheduled, yet again, for the following Tuesday.

Well, that Tuesday was this last Tuesday and the stars aligned and third time’s a charm and such and we made it happen! This is also kind of a big deal because it was both girls’ first time having a “without parents staying” playdate.

It was so much fun to watch the girls play together. They were glued at the hip. They, of course, excluded Reese which kind of made me chuckle because…little sisters. When her mom came to pick her up I had a serious flashback to when I was 6 years old and my best friend would come over. {We would always, always hide her in my closet and tell her mom that she wasn’t here anymore in hopes that she could stay longer. Go figure, it never worked.} Rylee hid her friend in hopes of getting her to stay even just a little longer.

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We all decided a sleep over should happen soon.

I know I’ve said it before, but I am loving this school-age stage that Rylee is in! So many fun milestones to watch her experience.

Proud Mama Moment

Sometimes I wonder if I’m doing right by my girls. As a woman. As a mom. And as a working mom in particular. Am I giving my kids my best every day? We rush every morning to catch the bus and then more often than not I feel like we end the day rushed and a bit frazzled with me teetering on the edge of losing my patience.

Then there’s days like Tuesday. Where I take Rylee’s Tuesday folder out of her back-pack. We take a look at this week’s homework, any handouts the school has sent home and then she proudly goes through the previous week’s work with me. To be honest, most of it ends up in the recycle bin after she goes to bed for the night but every so often there’s a piece in there that I immediately know I want to keep forever.

That happened this week when I found this in her folder:

20140411-125348.jpgIt says “I want to be a tesher and a mom” Where tesher means teacher. The picture she drew is of herself reading to a class, and then herself pregnant.

Even though I’ve been at it for almost 6 years, I might still as a working mom from time to time. Who knows, I may never “have it down” and I might always feel like I’m struggling now and again but to me, this picture of Rylee’s shows me that she doesn’t think I’m doing too bad. In fact, she thinks I’m doing well enough that she wants to be a working mom just like me when she grows up.

Well, almost just like me…no way in hell I’d ever be able to handle being a teacher. ;)