Happiness Highlights

My fifth high five in a High Five for Friday post is usually Happiness Highlight(s): a collection of unrelated photos that snapshot happy moments in time that were happy. I haven't had an opportunity to share as many of these as I usually would these last couple of months, so I'm turning today's HFFF post into an exclusively Happiness Highlights post. 

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Hallie recently started reading Chasing Roots (neither kid has spent much time here prior to this development), so that, along with the fact that Will is quickly approaching moving on to the next stage of life, makes it feels more important than ever to document our Midwestern-turned-Texan lives so they can one day "walk" through this journey.

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My apologies if I accidentally share a pic here that I've already shared. I sorted through them all, but...

My new favorite from Buff City Soap.

Reunited after six LONG weeks apart.

In the 12+ years these three have been besties, this
is the longest they've gone without seeing each other.

Friends dancing at KC Ballet this summer went on a field trip to
a professional soccer game. I told them all I wanted was a photo
of them smiling in front of the field - they delivered!

Hallie recently discovered the wonder that is this kind
of mouthwash dispenser. She is forever changed and
her joyful realization was fabulous.

Preparing for hurricane season.

My niece and nephew found my bestie's daughter at
Disney World! I love it when different branches of life collide.

Tom's summer garden did fairly well this year!

Swimming/mascara eyes.

My new profile picture? 

Missing my Ferris ladies, but don't they look fabulous?

After our week in Oklahoma, Tom headed to Nebraska to
see his parents, siblings, and extended family, most of whom
were in Omaha for his cousin's wedding (that we missed, since
we were still caddying for/watching Will's disc golf tournament). 

Ah, Wisconsin cheese... 😍

She was so happy to see him...but done being held.

We've been playing A LOT of mini disc golf this summer,
and Will is - unsurprisingly - really good. This was an ace, shot
across the entire living room and part of the dining room.

This is how we roll in the car now - parents in
the back, kids driving and navigating up front.

Hallie's dessert creation included homemade cheesecake
dip and whipped cream with cookies and fruit for dipping.

Plié and Popeye LOVE to play hide-and-seek.

Plié is always the hider, and Popeye is always the seeker.

I watched from the cover of my closet as he got his claw
stuck in the rug. He tried - not frantically but patiently - for
about two minutes to remove it, and just as I was about to come
out of hiding to unhook him, he gave up. Not in a defeated way,
but in a "oh well, I guess I live here now" kind of way.
He then dozed off, still attached to the rug. 😂

I tried to make my way to him quietly (thinking I'd
unhook him while he slept and then he'd awake to find
himself a free cat), but I accidentally kicked the closet door
and woke him up. He "smiled" at me, and then I obviously
separated him from the rug.

She knows how to open doors (no, really), so
sometimes she greets us when we pull into the garage.

Ferris siblings, together again.

University of Iowa Engineering for the win!

On the other side of the fence (which I couldn't access without
security screaming at me) was the Columbian men's national
soccer team practicing ahead of their Copa tournament games a
couple of weeks back. I rooted for them from this point forward.

Tom's 3D printing skills are expanding.

No caption necessary.

Go Team Mom & Dad.

I now have two narcan kits on hand. I pray I never have to use them,
but just like I always have an epi-pen on hand, I think it's important to
have this medicine on hand too. Shout out to the Rotary Clubs of BCS for
hosting a free distribution event, my friend who coordinated the effort, her
daughter who grabbed kits for me even though I missed the distribution window,
and her son - also a friend of Will's - who delivered my kits right to my door!

Um, Will just gave me the proof of and order form for
his soccer pictures. These were taken in like September
and the order window closed nine months ago.

Loving Will's new patriotic disc.

Hallie and I recently discovered the sport of dog diving.

It's impressive from an athletic standpoint and surprisingly entertaining!

This is a level of preparedness
and organization to which I aspire.

Yes? No?

She tried to catch that leaf (blown onto the window during a windy
rain) for 30 minutes. Poor baby never got it but she worked so hard.

Shopping with Mr. John and Ms. Aya.

New glasses!

They still build forts together. 😊

Happy 1st birthday to this handsome boy!

Tom and Will with Tom's Uncle Joel - my boys were in
Dallas for a tournament and made a pitstop for dinner.

Exciting vacations ahead for the Ferris family!

Happy weekend, friends!

Flashback Friday: So Says the Universe

Lately a lot of old photos have unexpectedly "presented themselves" to me. It's not out of the ordinary for photos from years past to show up in my Facebook memories, but I've also received - seemingly out of the blue - multiple text messages from family members and friends sharing photos of the kids when they were little as well as a handful of emails from Shutterfly reminding me what we were up to 10 years ago and linking back to photographic evidence.

So today, because it feels like the universe wants these photos seen (and because I've been traveling, which makes writing and posting a little more challenging), I'm swapping out my High Five for Friday post in favor of a (my first in years) Flashback Friday post.

Happy weekend, friends!

From an artistic standpoint, one of my favorite photos of Hallie. 

Not sure another toy was ever loved more than this shark tent at the Lodge.

Driving the pontoon on Booth Lake in Wisconsin.

My parents, circa 1980ish?

Proudly handling the mail.

Will with our friend Neal, back when we lived in Ann Arbor.
Grad school was really hard in many ways, but out of it came
lots of great friends who truly helped us raise our babies. We
"returned the favor" by helping them recognize that they
might not want to have babies during grad school. 😂

A favorite of baby Will.

Another favorite. Man, I miss those curls.

Baby Plié!

Disneyland

We were the FIRST people in the park that day.

Summer hair, don't care.

Summer hair, don't care on steroids. Plus our sweet boy Tux,
riding around in his favorite position on her favorite person.

I kind of miss chalk art...except for when they'd sit down on top of their
art and I'd have to spend dark colored chalk out of their light colored shorts.

Watching the USWNT play in Houston a few years ago. He seemed
so old then, but now I look at this pic and think he looks like a baby.

Gramps and his four grands.

When Hallie broke her collarbone and they didn't make a sling
small enough for her, Grandma Susie made her one out of pink toule.

That's Popeye! If you zoom in, you can see
his little stump of a leg before it was amputated.

Will's first friends.

Hallie taking a nap on me on the lake.

Aunt Stacey and Fabio.

Hallie drying Tom's freshly
painted toenails by the fan.

You know what they say about Wisconsin ice cream...

AJ and Will 4th of July date!

Always working.

They'd given up on that day's outing... 😂

With our friends Carrie and Jason at our wedding bar crawl.

"I believe that we will win."

With our first babies, Duke and Clementine.

Enjoy your (flashback) Friday, friends! See you next week!