Last Thursday night was Will's final orchestra concert of the year. (They still have one more "performance" at graduation, but the rest of us won't attend that one.) It was especially entertaining with its "Pops" theme, and while Hallie missed it because she had dance, Tom and I enjoyed the show.
Two
Would an orchestra concert evening be complete without a late-night (and in the middle of a severe thunderstorm) dinner at IHOP?
Side note: wearing my hair like this makes it look completely gray instead of blond with a little bit of gray, so I won't be doing that again. Lesson learned.
Three
Both kids spent at least part of their weekend trying out/auditioning...Will at the Rome City Institute Serie A Elite Camp and Hallie for The Ballet Academy's Encore Company for the 23-24 year. Trying out or auditioning for anything TERRIFIED me growing up, so it continues to make me particularly proud that both kids are so willing to put themselves out there in ways I wasn't.
Four
Happy (belated) birthday, Hallie!
For fun, here's the first (we think) picture of the three of them together. They were three.
Five
This kid won Most Outstanding Teammate for his club soccer team at the club's annual banquet on Tuesday night. The truth is that this year he would have liked to receive a soccer "skills" award or honor. But as his mom, I can honestly say that I couldn't care less about whether or not he ever brings one of those home, and I couldn't be prouder of his accomplishments on and off the pitch this year.
My friend Anne put it best, I think, when she said, "What they don't know is that soccer 'skills' are important for two more years and not remotely connected to future success or well-being. Being a good friend and teammate, though? 100% predictor of better things to come."
Picking strawberries wasn't on my Texas Bucket List exactly, but it was on my general bucket list to do with my kids. I tried once in Michigan, but for a reason I can't quite remember, it didn't happen. I tried - multiple times - here in Texas, but again it didn't happen due to a wide variety of conflicts ranging from weather (rain, extreme cold, or extreme heat on the days we had planned to go) to damaged crops (due to freezes and/or flooding) to scheduling (the farm being closed on the days school was out). But finally, after years and years of trying, Will, Hallie, and I went strawberry picking together.
I was actually a little worried as I planned our outing and then again when I woke the kids up that morning. Worried the farm would close for the day or the weather would turn or there wouldn't be any strawberries left to pick...worried the kids wouldn't want to go and they'd take out their frustrations on each other or me. Thankfully, my concerns never materialized.
I keep listing all of the ways the morning was perfect...and then deleting the lists, because they sound so cheesy. So instead I'll say, even though it also sounds cheesy and even a little bit dramatic: the experience was simple and pure and everything I wanted it to be.
Definitely a day I'll remember.
~
Live near me and want to pick strawberries? Here's where we went. They still have strawberries, and blackberry season is coming!
Last Wednesday night Hallie and I attended and she performed Footloose - with her Spanish teacher and four other students for a test grade - at her school's first annual Culture Night. I don't quite understand what Footloose has to do with culture exactly, but it was a fun evening!
Two
On Friday night we booked it to Caldwell after ballet and pointe to see friends perform in their high school dance team's spring show. Even though Hallie decided not to tryout for her high school's dance team (she would have auditioned last month ahead of her freshman year starting in the fall), she and I both still really like to to attend these shows, especially when we know some of the kids participating.
Three
All things considered, we had a leisurely weekend. (It makes me laugh to think about what I consider a leisurely weekend now compared to what I considered a leisurely weekend 10 years ago.) The weather was beautiful, and it was nice to feel less rushed that usual and to have time to watch movies, play cards, and work in the yard.
Popeye likes to show us what leisurely actually looks like...
Four
I'm on the board of SheServes, a new, local service organization for girls in 7th - 12th grades. We officially launched this week - check us out on Facebook here, and let me know if you have any questions about getting involved!
Five
Happiness Highlights
If you look closely, you can see that this is actually a picture of me and two friends enjoying coffee inside while another friend captures our get-together from the outside. Grateful for the time to step away from the crazy and catch up.
Hallie received this for her birthday and I LOVE it. These are real pictures, with real cats hidden in them - 10/10 recommend!
Their last picture with us...such sweet babies.
Same friends...different drinks. 😂
Watching our first Cavalry UPSL game. (I think I can best describe UPSL as semi-semi-pro, or the unofficial fourth tier of US Soccer.) They won!
Well, we had spring, and then we had summer, and then winter returned, and now spring has come around again. Texas weather is fun like that.
At one point during first spring, Hallie and I went for a walk. She noticed and commented that I wasn't taking pictures of flowers like I usually do at this time of year, and when I responded that I just wasn't feeling it, she suggested that maybe I should do it anyway...the old "fake it 'til you make it" strategy.
So I did it anyway.
These aren't my best work, by any means. But they're a reminder that after the dark comes the light, after the cold comes the warmth, and spring brings renewed hope and endless beauty. Oh, and that sometimes "fake it 'til you make it" - at the advice of a 13-year-old - is the best strategy.
Thanks to everyone who helped make Hallie's birthday special! (Her annual birthday post, song, and video are here.)She stayed up late on her birthday eve (Easter), slept in on her birthday morning (Easter Monday), had donuts for breakfast, had Torchy's tacos for lunch, went out for ice cream and played at our house with a few friends, and then spent the afternoon and evening at dance. We wrapped up the night with strawberry swirl cheesecake (not my best work - I'm still new to cheesecakes) and presents.
Two
This guy deserves his own Happiness Highlight - he is always a delight, even when he doesn't really want to be. 😉
Three
Happy Passover and happy Easter to all who celebrate! Our Easter weekend alternated between relaxed and chaotic (reasons to come), but we enjoyed our time together regardless. The kids still hunted for Easter eggs and got a kick out of their Easter baskets, which made me sentimentally happy, and I was pretty excited about the treats I put the Easter bunny left in my and Tom's Easter baskets too.
I made Easter brunch/lunch, but as I really didn't want to spend the evening cooking as well, this was our Easter dinner.
Cat naps all around. (Well, cat naps for the boys and the actual cats. Hallie and I aren't much for napping.)
Four
Late last week I officially started my new position as Secretary on the Board of Directors for Ballet Brazos. Our new Board hit the ground running, and we can't wait to bring you another spectacular show come December! (Missed The Nutcracker last year? Pencil us in for December 1st and 2nd this year!)
Five
This isn't a high five or a happiness highlight, but I want to find a place for it this week and am therefore choosing to include it here.
Wednesday marked the one year anniversary of Hallie's friend Morgan's death. (If you weren't a follower of Chasing Roots back then, you can read the posts I wrote about Morgan here and here.) We still miss her, and our hearts still grieve her loss and break for her parents and sisters.
After Morgan died, I wore my "when it's dark, look for stars" shirt frequently; whenever I had it on, I felt like she would somehow show me the "stars" - rainbows soaring across the sky, flowers forcing their way through treacherous earth toward the light, strangers extending kindness where kindness wasn't necessarily due - through the darkness. These last few weeks I've found myself thinking of her more and more frequently, feeling once again like she was shining a spotlight...or perhaps starlight...on all things beautiful around me.
Last week, Hallie shared with me that while she was excited for her birthday, she wasn't excited to turn 14. When I asked for clarification, she explained that when you turn 13, you're just a "baby teenager," but when you turn 14, you're a "true teenager." She went on to add that turning 14 would mean she was truly entrenched in her teen years as well as being - as she dreads almost every year - one year closer to becoming a grown up.
Funny thing is, I wrote almost the exact same assessment about turning 14 in Will's birthday blog post just two-and-a-half years ago.
~
When they turn 13, we label them teenagers. But they're new to the gig, so it's easy to fool ourselves into believing they're basically still little kids.
But when they turn 14, they become solidly teenager. They didn't just leave behind the sweet young age of 12; instead, they're only a year away from sitting in the driver's seat of a car.
On Sunday my baby turns 14 years old. It doesn't seem possible.
~
If you've read any of Hallie's past birthday posts - at least those from the last three or four years - you know she has little interest in growing up. One might assume she feels this way because she's afraid of change, however the longer she harbors and the more I deconstruct these feelings, the more I understand that this isn't the case. Hallie isn't afraid of change; she simply, in a wise-beyond-her-years sort of way, recognizes and appreciates the beauty of childhood. Where many (most?) of us don't arrive at this conclusion until childhood has come to an end, she has seemingly always known just how precious and fleeting these years are, and that she can never go back.
~
For someone who doesn't want to grow up, Hallie has kind of an old soul. She likes quiet evenings at home, working on projects with her dad, baking with her mom, playing games with her brother, and snuggling her kittens. She would almost always choose smaller, intimate gatherings with her closest friends than large, rowdy social events. She cares little about appearances and popularity, and while I wouldn't describe her as completely confident in her own skin, she manages to give that impression most of the time.
Hallie is trustworthy, as a friend and as a confidant. She is open-minded and accepting, of differences and of choices. She is compassionate and kind, even at times - no, especially at times - when I struggle to be the same. She is a rule-follower, harboring just the tiniest spark of rebellion...rebellion that flares only in the direst of situations and when the marginalized or hurt need her fire.
~
Unlike so many of her peers and even some of her friends, she's not dreaming about high school, dating, or getting her driver's license. I know these days are coming, as are the days when her dreams grow even bigger to include college, her first job, lasting relationships, and starting a family. I want all of this for her - I want her to grow up, proudly and confidently, and I want her to follow her dreams - when she's ready. In the meantime, I'm just fine with her staying little for just a little while longer.
~
11 years ago I began the tradition (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) of sharing a song - one that reminds me of her and encompasses what I hope for her as she grows older - with Hallie on her birthday. This year's song came to me in a dream - a dream no doubt prompted by all of the Taylor Swift posts showing up on my social media feeds right now - and it seemed perfect for the stage of life in which my sweet girl finds herself.
Your little hand's wrapped around my finger
And it's so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter 'cause you're dreamin'
So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light
To you, everything's funny
You got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have honey
If you could stay like that
Oh, darlin', don't you ever grow up Don't you ever grow up Just stay this little Oh, darlin', don't you ever grow up Don't you ever grow up It could stay this simple I won't let nobody hurt you Won't let no one break your heart And no one will desert you Just try to never grow up Never grow up
You're in the car on the way to the movies And you're mortified your mom's droppin' you off At fourteen, there's just so much you can't do And you can't wait to move out someday and call your own shots But don't make her drop you off around the block Remember that she's gettin' older too And don't lose the way that you dance Around in your PJs getting ready for school
Oh, darlin', don't you ever grow up Don't you ever grow up Just stay this little Oh, darlin', don't you ever grow up Don't you ever grow up It could stay this simple And no one's ever burned you Nothing's ever left you scarred And even though you want to Just try to never grow up
Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home Remember the footsteps, remember the words said And all your little brother's favorite songs I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone
So here I am in my new apartment In a big city, they just dropped me off It's so much colder than I thought it would be So I tuck myself in and turn my nightlight on
Wish I'd never grown up I wish I'd never grown up
Oh, I don't wanna grow up Wish I'd never grown up Could still be little Oh, I don't wanna grow up Wish I'd never grown up It could still be simple Oh, darlin', don't you ever grow up Don't you ever grow up Just stay this little
~
Big or little, grown or not, you make us nothing but proud, Hallie Claire. Happy 14th birthday.
~
This post takes the place of my usual Tuesday post. See you on Friday!
The last three months have been BUSY: work, high school soccer, dance, foster kittens, two PTO Boards, helping a friend with contract negotiations, serving on a school district committee and subcommittee, and preparing to step into new roles on two different nonprofit Boards. This high five isn't because we made it through a busy season, rather because the older my kids get, the better I get at leaning in to the busy. I'll sleep when they graduate. 😉
Two
On Saturday afternoon, Hallie and I took a mother-daughter yoga class with Ms. Diane Bedford, who was one of her Nutcracker instructors and is also an Associate Professor and the Chair of Dance, Music, and Theatre Performance at TAMU. She teaches a great class, and we both left feeling stronger and more flexible! (Well, less unflexible, in my case.)
Three
After a stressful day (week? month?) of waiting for leveling to come out, my girl found out she was ready for the next step in her pointe development. She is beyond excited, to have been invited to move up and for the hard work ahead.
When we bought our house, we gave Hallie her room because it has these display pegs up near the ceiling on one wall. We didn't know what she'd hang there at the time, but they've turned out to be perfect for retired pointe shoes.
Four
Tom was in Michigan for work this past week, and we're so excited to welcome him back home just in time for Easter and Hallie's 14th birthday!
Five
We ended up having our kittens for a week longer than I'd expected, which was great because that extra time allowed us to learn that Vivi is a true water baby! We knew she liked the shower more than any other cat we've ever had, but last week she jumped - JUMPED, didn't fall - into the bathtub with Hallie. And instead of FREAKING out, she just paddled and played around until Hallie finally made her get out.
The next day, Kit fell into the tub...and she felt about the bathtub the same way most cats do - bitter and angry and panicked.
We have them until next week, but then we'll say goodbye. They've been a true delight to foster!
