two weeks...

until school start. This house will have 1 high schooler, 1 middle schooler, and 2 kindergartners. I was reviewing photos from 2010 summer road trip and came across this first day photo, which was when Zach started Kinder.

I wonder if they will let me put them in coordinating outfits this year.

That's What She Said

There have been so many moments in life where someone has made a comment to me, mainly about children. Often these comments don't resonate until years later. In fact in the moment, I was usually (or I am) annoyed, probably rolled my eyes or complained to Rick about it later. Things like, "Enjoy your free time now, because soon you will wonder what you did before you had kids." or "Enjoy every moment because they grow up really fast."

This coming fall marks a milestone for us - JT enters high school, Zach moves to 7th, and the girls embark on their elementary school career. As an incoming freshman baseball player, you are asked to play in a summer league. It is a relaxed team, practice once a week and double-headers with other pre-freshman teams. I feel like JT has been waiting all of his life for this moment. Last night was the first practice and I have to admit a bit emotional for me as I watched all these boys (who aren't really looking like boys anymore), most of whom we've known since kinder, play baseball.  I thought about a friend who warned me about this very day; the day when I would see my baby not as much of a baby anymore and how quickly these next four years will go and how quickly he will change. And now that it is here, I am listening and watching every moment because I don't want to miss a single thing and I definitely want to be sure that I can turn to the mom I see with her 4 year-old baseball player and tell her to enjoy every single moment because it really does go quicker than you can imagine.

JT at 4 on his first team

First high school practice (he is in there in the gray shirt!)

Spring game

April Photos

It seems like just yesterday I was making lists for Easter and then suddenly we are cruising in to May. The boys have 14 days of school left and the girls have just 5 more pre-k classes.

Here are some of my favorite images from April.

We've spent the last few months supporting JT and his baseball endeavors. A few weeks back they won the championship, which came with the lovely hardware I am modeling.

After watching Zach in the State Kickstart tournament we spent the day at the zoo. Kit Kat got to see her favorite, the cheetahs and we all fell in love with the baby giraffe.

 Zach at his competition. He didn't place during State but so proud of him considering this is his first go at karate. Below is the video of him competing.

 Dying our Easter eggs al fresco.

We spent the entire month of April trying to convince Rick to let us get one of the kittens some friends were fostering. Needless to say we do not have a new kitten. 

The Schuyler Sisters

This house hears a wide range of music from Anthrax to Taylor Swift. The unspoken rule has always been that the cook gets to listen to their music without complaints from the rest of the house. So when JT started listening to Hamilton last year we didn't question it. When we all tired of the girls reenacting Shrek the Musical after seeing it at Zilker Hillside Theater, JT tried to convince them to listen to Hamilton. By the fall we were all hooked especially the girls. With a brief two week break to obsess over Moana, Hamilton has remained one of their favorite past times.

• Elizabeth has broken the spine on JT's copy of Ron Chernow's biography while obsessing over the images of Eliza and Hamilton.
• The girls refer to JT as Hamilton and Zach as Aaron Burr
• The girls launch out in song anytime they hear New York ("In New York you can be a new man")
• They draw countless pictures of the main characters and even made paper puppets that they took to school for Show and Tell.
• JT and Lulu have an entire routine reenacting the opening line of Yorktown ("Monsieur Hamilton, Monsieur Lafayette, In command where you belong)
• They forgo cartoons to watch the PBS Great Performances about Lin Manuel Miranda and the creation of Hamilton
• The girls will tell anyone that will listen that LMM helped write songs for  Moana and that Christopher Jackson sings a song
• The girls spend countless hours on the back deck acting out their favorite scenes

It is this last bit that led us to Goodwill yesterday because none of the dresses  in their closet were the right dress to play the roles of Eliza and Angelica (for the record I get to play Peggy). And believe me they have argued countless times the NONE part of that statement.

And the girls love watching this version of the Schuyler Sisters.

and everybody was kung-fu fighting

In my last post I lied. Zach did not qualify for the State competition, he qualified for the Regional competition. That was until Saturday when he journeyed to lovely Navasota, Texas with his Kickstart team for the Regional/State Qualifying Tournament.

Zach had originally qualified for individual competition but was asked to compete with a group team when a third member wasn't able to make the trip. Sadly I wasn't able to attend as JT had a baseball tournament that weekend. Rick arrived in time to see Zach's solo competition and a district photographer caught some shots of his group competition.

The team placed 2nd in their group and Zach placed 3rd for individual. He officially moves on to State Competition  in Sugarland on April 22.

memories...

Rick is working on a project. Part of his project includes asking me to reach in to the depths of my memories and try to recall aspects of my pregnancy, the girls' first few years, or various recollections from the boys' childhoods. Sadly my memory sucks, like really I'd be worried about me if it wasn't for the fact that I know I can't remember things. Thankfully at one point I was really good about maintaining this blog and chronically the kids' life. I miss it.

While looking through my stories that I've chronicled for the past nine years I came across this post and specifically this statement:

And in case you are doing the math (because the boys did it this morning). When Zach heads to 7th grade  and JT is in his his first year in high school, Rick and I should be celebrating but instead we will be in the cafeteria listening to Mr. Riley warning the kinder parents that before we know it, we will back in the cafeteria for 5th grade orientation.

Yes I know it is only March but this is happening this year. How did this happen? How did JT end up being almost a high school freshman? He has 12 weeks left in middle school. The girls have 12 weeks left in pre-school and then it is summer. We have no real plans yet just lots of ideas. Despite the insanity that exists on a daily basis at this house I am making a mental note to enjoy and savor this summer. In four years when Rick asks me to remember something about the kids I will no doubt scroll through this post and probably cry a little because in just four short years JT will heading to college and if he has his way it will be out of State. Zach will be going in to his junior year of high school and the girls will be entering 4th grade. Definitely not ready for any of this.

 Lulu on the left and Kat on the right - what are they doing you ask? They cut out Shimmer and Shine from napkins and taped them (we go through A LOT of tape in this house) to skewers. They did puppet shows for each other.

 Zach after a day of kick-start competition - he qualified for the State tournament in April

And what would a blog post be without reference to baseball. JT at the first tourney of the weekend,

August in Moments

Since I fail at having time to be creative and capture every minute, I am borrowing an idea from another blog and sharing our (photographic) moments one month at a time, starting today with August.