I have neglected the blog for a couple of months. This summer has hit and run already! It's amazing how busy we kept with all of Sydney's camps and activities. I took the girls to Sea World and Kelli saw ocean life for the first time. She was amazed and they both had a great time. Andy wasn't with us, however, so me + 2 kids + 104 heat just meant I wasn't enjoying it all to the max potential. Seeing how much fun they were having, though, made it at least slightly enjoyable! I love watching them explore, learn and laugh.
Sydney was in drama camp, then basketball camp and then recently did two camps with the Austin Ballet Company. She did so well in all of them. It's hard to narrow down her activities because she really thrives on being busy. This Fall she is singing with the Austin Children's Choir, continuing drama camp and after school art. starts gymnastics and will play soccer. We may need to trade something in because she really wants to take the theater/jazz dance class with Austin Ballet. SHE IS IN KINDERGARTEN!!!! I cannot believe it.
Kelli continues to be a handful, but in a good way. This kid knows what she wants and how to get it. She is so charming, playful, happy and passionate about everything. Even if she sees a picture of a cat, she will exclaim "Mama I see a CAT!!" as though she's pointing out the Pope himself. She does school 2x a week and we've kept her on that schedule so there are no surprises this Fall and she enjoys her little class with friends and art. We continue gymnastics on Fridays and storytimes on Monday. Will have to change it up a little when I go back to school as well but I'm only taking one class. (yay!)
Sydney and Kelli are still so close. When they are both home, they do everything together and play (for the most part) very well. Sydney is really a great big sister. Even when she has her neighborhood friends over, Kelli is always by her side mimicking and following along. Her friends love Kelli, too. Now that Sydney has started Kindergarten and is gone everyday 7-4, Kelli asks about her big sister all day. We went to pick her up the other day and it was so precious watching Kelli frantically scope out the crowd of kids for her sister, crying "sissy!!! sissyyyyy!!!" and when they spotted each other (don't mind me... I'm just your Mom) ran to each other and Sydney scooped her little sister up and they embraced, hugged, giggled, hugged some more. Sydney kept saying "Kelli!!! I missed you!! Can you believe I'm in KINDERGARTEN???" and Kelli just giggles. Lately she has spontaneously popped out an "I yuh-you sissy" here and there for no reason and it really illustrates how much they bond together. I love it!
Andy has traveled a lot this summer! Mostly to Denver and Dallas but he's really getting swallowed up by all the exciting happenings at Accuvant. If any ONE person in that company could handle it, it'd be him though. So I am pretty patient and understanding when it comes to his travel or evening conference calls, etc. In return he is always sure to make us priority. We took a trip to Las Vegas on our 7th anniversary and renewed our vows. Truth be told, it was actually a business trip and I tagged along! But as long as I am his priority, then I don't feel like I'm competing with work. We both know how hard the other works and there is no resentment. I don't earn special accolades because I had a hard week with the kids nor does Andy expect us to have a parade for him and let him golf all weekend each time he has a busy and hectic week. I love the pattern we've fallen into. I understand that I signed up to be a mother, and that it isn't supposed to be easy... so when it gets hard, I've learned that I need to lean on him, not dump the load on him. And vice versa.
I am still doing boot camps but have been practicing with my "coach" on a personal training level so I can meet my goals and he can match the challenges I need. I am really enjoying the progress I make and it provokes this competitive anger inside myself that wants to do more. It's like I reach one goal and think... well if I can do that, then I could do THIS. And I keep going. I am training for the Marine Marathon in DC which is October 30th and have two 1/2 marathons between now and then. This is also something that could lead to more. But who knows. I love running but have started getting interested in boxing since Marshall, my trainer, has had me do some of that at the gym. I also begin playing soccer again for the Austin Women's Soccer League, which starts mid-September. I am pumped!
Andy is playing on about 12 different soccer teams right now (okay 3) and will be coaching Sydney's team. He's also still doing golf lessons and really getting into that.
We are planning all our trips for the year. I am going out to see my brother the week prior to the marathon, then we all fly into DC for the weekend and we'll go see Mona and trick or treat in her neighborhood. Coming up in a few weeks we're going to Boston for the weekend to see a Red Sox game, then fly home and immediately go to the ACL Festival (woot!) Sometime this year we are planning a trip to Peru and in January (I think) we are going to Costa Rica with his company. We'd love to also plan a cruise with the kids. We spent a lot of time at our lake house this summer but as we wrapped our vacation up, life got busy. So I know we'll be utilizing that whenever we can. We are toying around with the idea of living downtown. Nothing set in stone but we are house hunting and checking our properties. I think we've narrowed down our location to this one neighborhood between SOLA and SoCo called Bouldin Creek. Exciting things! We are blessed!
Oh also... if my friend Jeannine would get her hand out of her butt and give me some good dates, we are taking the oldest girls to NYC for a long weekend. #passive assertiveness
