Christmas Eve teeth

Christmas 2022, Claire was missing her two front teeth. She enjoyed being able to connect the song. Fast forward to Christmas 2021 and Clair has two loose teeth on either side of her front teeth. She suddenly becomes determined to lose them on Christmas Eve so that the tooth fairy and Santa clause come on the same night. 

I honestly did not believe she would pull that off and ignored it. There’s two side wiggly teeth stayed in there for a while. Fast forward to Christmas Eve. She wakes me up by telling me that she got her two side teeth out one at 6:45 AM in the other 7:15 AM. She was so proud of herself. This is surely a girl who knows how to execute a plan that she has made.

Kittens and kiddos

In the beginning of October 2 kittens found us. Rachelle‘s sister-in-law had rescued them and she was convinced they were the ones for us. I should’ve known that when I agreed to meet them we would be bringing them home.

It has been a journey. They came with fleas and mites and worms and a hair problem. Sunshine even had a little heart murmur at her first visit.

For the first few weeks they had to stay in a bathroom and we had to do a lot of cleaning to keep the house from getting fleas all kinds of stuff.

But we have nursed them to full health. They are lovely little kittens that run around our home. They absolutely love spending time with Max in his room. Clair has a doll house that’s been converted into a sleeping condo which they enjoyed greatly. Eli has made them a special soft bed under her couch. These kids love these cats. And I will admit I’m quite smitten with the girl, sunshine. She’s starting to be quite chatty and I like chatty kitties.

M

Sharing my sink

Ever since we moved into the new house, five years ago, I have been sharing my sink, my bathroom counter, and our master bath with Clair Vonita. This happened because Max‘s bathroom that she was supposed to share was just so nasty I could not keep it clean and I could not have her use it. This has stuck.

Every week and there’s extra toothpaste and yuck around my sink I have to take a deep breath. I think I wish she had her own bathroom. And then I quickly think, soon enough she’ll be out of my house and I’ll be wishing for these days back. She is such a sweet girl. The conversations we’ve had while sharing a bathroom or countless. She is so open with me and she tries so hard to clean up and to make good choices. She is a wonderful wonderful little person. And I am lucky to share the bathroom with her. 

I keep asking David when he’s going to build her very own bathroom, but honestly, as long as this is working and she’s happy, I’m happy.

Fourteen years of parenting

14 years of parenting started 14 years ago today. It has been a wonderful journey and it has surely changed my life. This morning I sit here having woken up at seven as the first one in the house the week and I’m downstairs heating the oven to cook cinnamon rolls for Eli‘s birthday because that is her tradition as she calls it. The girl likes her traditions especially when they’re associated with sugar.

Each year and Eli‘s birthday I reflect on the night before she was born. David and I went out for a nice dinner because I knew it be the last table to go out like that without a babysitter for a long time. It was a nice meal and I enjoyed at the time and ended up regretting after the C-section. The day Ellie was born what is a exciting and terrifying day. I had no idea how that baby was coming out. I knew I was ready to meet her though.

14 years later that baby has turned into an independent, smart, caring, thoughtful, self thinking, artistic, artistic person. She’s still my baby but surely is not a baby anymore.  

Over the past 14 years of things that I have cared about and worried about have changed dramatically. The personal adventure of the world has subsided greatly, and the adventure of parenting has taken me on journeys of caring about things like ounces of milk consumed and pumped, number of wet diapers, schools to pick and choose, number of calories to eat a day, bones to have x-rayed, physical therapy to do, how to teach a child to be on time, how to learn how to healthfully feed a vegetarian, How to help a child through without having a friendship she needs (when I myself don’t have them), Coaching sports (instead of playing them), A lot less happy hours with colleagues and a lot more home to cook dinner, learning how to be a better cook, trying to cook things like tofu and beans and lentils, trying to balance a vegetarian who loves cheese and has been who hates cheese, how to plan the perfect family vacation instead of self adventure, had a balance my vacation days for meeting all the children’s needs instead of the most traveling I can do, how many vials of sunblock and how many layers of protective clothing to five people need to spend a week at the beach instead of the right alcohol to bring, are the children reading the right books instead of am I reading write books, trying to teach my children how to enjoy boardgames which I love so much, focusing on their friendships instead of my own (probably a parent failure quite honestly but I’m trying). All of these things represent a huge shift that you go through when you become a parent, and I honestly believe my life would never have been complete without these wonderful changes.

They say the days can be long but the years fly by. I know this is true. It wasn’t that long ago that I remember celebrating the birthdays of the Perrotta boys and thinking they had grown up fast. It’s amazing how much of a blur the parenting years and life as a whole can be. 

So, the decorations are up. The signs have been hung, the balloons have been blown up, presents are wrapped and placed under the birthday tree which is standing erect in the family room. The plans for the day have been made. The birthday meal has been ordered. We will celebrate and we will try to make it a wonderful day for Ellie. 

I hope as she ages she has fond memories of her childhood. I hope the same for all of my children.

The oven has beeped and I’m off to put the cinnamon buns into the oven so my daughter wakes up to the smell that makes her happy. I’ll probably wake her with the kittens in my arms.

Here’s to a happy 14th my dear darling daughter Ellie! 

Love you always and forever!

Mommy

Fall soccer tournament closes the season

Today Max and David soccer team finished up their season is a tough tournament showing. It was a very cool risk for a morning on a wet field in Frederick. They were three games. The boys battled hard, but it wasn’t hard enough to make it into the final game tomorrow. No Matter, I think they had fun this season and that’s what matters. Max is like going to have his daddy coaching him. This Reckley struggles to find coaches so we help we can. We are also going to coach Josh stepped up to help David this year and I could take a backseat and focus on softball.

Throughout the free games today Max had some time on office defense and even in goalie. I manage to snap only a few pictures. I got one of his cheering section.

I enjoy watching Max play soccer.

Happy Halloween

The kids really look forward to all holidays. They like the traditions. For Halloween they especially like the candy.

Halloween on a Sunday is not ideal, but they enjoyed it very much.

Clair is a superhero. She titled herself collision Clair. This is inspired by the book Mia Mayham. She really enjoyed the persona as well as the costume.

Max decided to be something scary this year instead of a superhero. He was a Grim Reaper. He didn’t wear the mask with the eyes much. I guess they get in the way of running around and grabbing candy.

Ellie was a fictitious character that has something to do with Minecraft. I’m not really sure. She is good with make up and she’s very creative with putting costumes together. She’s cute and she had a good time. She walked around with some friends.

Although it was a busy day and a busy weekend, they still managed to carve the pumpkins. I need to get pictures of Ellie‘s and Max’s Still from David. 

David and I walked around with Max and Clair. Henry and Jon joined us. Max was happy for that tradition to continue. Clair was determined to go to the whole neighborhood. But because her candy basket was so full I managed to persuade her against it. They came home with way too much candy. Now to figure out how to sneak it out of the house…

After counting the candy Clair proclaimed that she had over 250 pieces. Wow

Ellie and Max were also very happy with their takes.

Tomorrow they have school. They got to bed at a decent time and I’m happy for that.

Fall sports come to an end

Another sport season is coming to an end. Ellie was in 15 u rec softball, Clair was in eight you rec softball. Max played 12 U rec soccer.

David coached soccer and I helped him a little bit. I was the head coach for Ellie‘s team. I was an assistant for Clair‘s team. It’s been a busy fall.

What’s important is that I think each of the kids had fun. 

I think Ellie was enjoying her teammates more as she gets older. She continues to be our primary picture. I miss seeing her at first base. Her hitting is coming along nicely. It’s a shame her body is a mess with hurt knees, hurt ankles, and now her wrists. I’m not quite sure what to do with her. She is quite athletic, and she seems to hurt herself a lot. 

Max had a whole new team of boys, except for two. His team did quite well this year. He played goalie some at the beginning. But that feed it off. I think he did all right school. He also scored a few calls throughout the season. He’s been working on his passing and he’s been working on just being aware of his teammates and working hard.Max had a whole new team of boys, except for two. His team did quite well this year. He played goalie some at the beginning. But that feed it off. I think he did all right as Gooley. He also scored a few goals throughout the season. He’s been working on his passing and he’s been working on just being aware of his teammates and working hard. He does work hard at soccer. It’s fun watching him play.

Clair went back to softball after two years away. She started her head above the other girls in terms of her preparedness for catching throwing and hitting. (at least that is my biased assessment as her mother.) she had much better focus this year now that she is eight instead of six. She really has a knack for the game. She keeps track of the outs in the score in her head. It seems she’s always right. I can’t keep track of these games in my head. I’m Impressed by that. She still enjoys soccer also. We will keep switching back-and-forth between soccer and softball for a while. She’s quite athletic and I don’t want to focus her on just one sport yet. Who knows what her sport will be and I think it’s great for kids to want to pay more than one sport.

Max has one practice and a tournament this weekend. Clair has one final game. Ellie was done today.