Great turns SIX!

Greta manages to remain my child who is growing up before I even realize it. I mean, she turned six and can vividly remember taking photos of her in my room when she was 6 months old, her beautiful big blue eyes, so curious, and her cheeks, the sweetest cheeks. Her health scares, skin issues so bad as a three month old, followed by allergies, asthma, etc. She is a fighter, a peace keeper, smart as a whip. She asks intelligent questions and is the most 'go with the flow' out of the five of us. I fell asleep with her last night in her room and she fits perfectly into my body, curled around me. Before we fell asleep, I asked her how it felt to lay so close to me and she replied 'it just feels good, mama, because I love you so much.' She wondered how I felt, and in my mind I was thinking about how safe she must feel being so connected with me but when she directed that question to me, I realized how safe she made me feel. So I told her, 'I feel safe.' and she responded with a squeeze. I love her so much.

Greta has blossomed into an amazing kindergartner. After a really difficult 8 weeks of tears at school drop off, she now loves it. She loves to roll her 'rs' and sing songs in Spanish. She still prefers to be dropped off through the office, but otherwise is great. I'm so proud of her. The week she turned six, I let her and Sully walk home from the bus by themselves each day, she loves the independence its given them and prefers to take the long way home so they can be in charge of themselves for longer.

We celebrated Greta numerous times during the course of her birthday week, as we should have. We had a family party for both girls on Friday, November 1st, followed by her friend party on Sunday, the 3rd, and finally, dinner at her favorite place (Red Rossa) on her actual birthday November 5th with our family and a few extra special guests (grandma and grandpa banana, maggie and anna). We had a great week, opened dozens of gifts and so many treats and cake, we lost track of all of the sugar intake (and are still detoxing ;)).

Greta gave Grandma Banana a makeover and she
is officially her mini me.

Greta was certain we could accomplish a DIY unicorn cake.
😂😂😂

Family birthday party fun. 

Friend birthday party fun with a store bought cake. 

School gals. 

November 5th, officially SIX!

Halloween

We upped our decor game this year. The kids had been begging to get more so Dave took them and they bought a graveyard set up for like $100 (ridiculous) and the evening they set it up we had a windstorm and all of the figurines blew away or broke. We went back to the drawing board and remembered how sturdy Nowayjose has been over the years and went to work. We had so much fun creating and decorating each of our gravestone, it will be great to pull them over the years to come.

Halloween was cold this year, 34 degrees, but sunny. I can always count on Dave to give me a detailed forecast about 10 days ahead of Halloween as he eagerly anticipates the holiday and crosses his fingers and toes for a promising forecast.

We were very strategic and went early, 5-5:45 and came home in time to hand out candy to about 200 trick or treaters. The kids had lots of fun sitting with me in our foyer, watching the kids approach and then taking turns placing candy in each person's bag. Our numbers were down this year, which we had anticipated because of the weather, it was fun nonetheless.

Gravestone creating. 

Peristent Piper, getting hers just right. 

Final creations, they match their costume theme.
Kitty Cat Piper, Skeleton Sully, Witch Greta

Truth

Skeleton Sully

Witch Greta

Kitty Cat Piper

In costume and in character :).

Piper is FOUR!

I am so excited that the baby in our house is four. We were driving home from one of our activities and I was telling the kids about how I remember being so excited when Sully turned four. I had a 6 month old and a 2.5 year old behind him and it felt like the door was cracked to freedom, which I've learned will actually never come ;). But as Piper turns four, life is so different for all of us. As my responsibilities with all three kids being home full time slip away, I'm finding other things to fill my time, this transition has been a good one.

Piper is spunky, modest, silly, stubborn, and sweet. She fits just right in my arms and we love each other immensely. She loves school and her two best friends, Khloe and Fiona and she loves to play/taunt with Sully and Greta. Her vocabulary is incredibly and she wants to keep up with every big child around her, unless the alternative is snuggling in my arms :). Piper is a true mama's girl, unless she is in trouble, then she wants daddy. She is clever and my best side kick. I am SO glad she is mine, she is truly the icing on our cake.

As chance would have it, we had Connelly family photos on Pip's actual birthday, it was so cold, but we managed to capture several really great photos. I've added a few of them to the end of this entry.

Happy Fourth Birthday, sweet girl.

Happy Birthday breakfast.

Birthday playdate after preschool with her besties. 

Khloe, Piper, and Fiona

The birthday girl. 

Kathleen E. Photography

Kathleen E. Photography

Sibling photo.
Kathleen E. Photography

Grandkids
Kathleen E. Photography

Group Photo
Kathleen E. Photography

Fall catch up.

Yikes, I let life get away from my blog and I'm in major catch up mode! We have been in full swing with school, tae kwon do, soccer and life around and we are on the verge of Halloween and birthday week, so I figured now would be a good time to catch up on life before its too late. Amidst all of these fun things, Maggie and I snuck away for three nights (!) in Minneapolis last weekend. It was busy and easy and fun and went way too fast and we were both sad to see it come to an end. Such is life. Im so glad we are able to make it happen and have some quality sister time.

Greeting daddy at the airport. 

Front and Center for all of the travelers.

Christmas PJs in September. 

Sweet GG. 

Raffle ticket sales tactics. 

Life. 

Tae Kwon Do tourney.

Sweet sisters.

Sully- first grade. 

Greta- kinder. 

Piper's sunflower, look at that concentration. 

Room and Board weekend craziness. 

Weekend getaway with the sis. 

Successful souvenirs.

A cold and long soccer season. 

Team England.

A surprise after school visiter! 

Charleston, SC

Dave and I spent five days in Charleston for our 9th wedding anniversary. It was lovely and hot and our agenda was very flexible with plenty of time budgeted for the pool, happy hour, and wandering.

We arrived on a Tuesday early afternoon and stayed at this cool hotel with so much southern charm and probably the best rooftop pool and bar in the city. Oh, and we had a complimentary upgrade to the concierge level where we had snacks and happy hour provided each day. Mega score. We walked, talked, and enjoyed ourselves without all of the pulls of life, and within about 4 hours, we were officially in vacation mode. We found rooftop bars, lively restaurants, amazing courtyards, shopping, some tours, cemeteries, and great old neighborhoods to walk through and admire.

We spent our actual anniversary at the rooftop pool at our hotel before hitting a happy hour and shopping with a little buzz on, then had drinks and dinner at Husk, a local hotspot where we had orange wine and amazing food.

One of the highlights for both Dave and I was Sullivan's Island. We bought this poster when Sully was born and it was a photo of the lighthouse on the island. We didn't know much about it, but when we did a bit of research we found out it is a small island off the coast and it is known for its charm. We were excited to arrive at sunset for a lovely view of the lighthouse followed by a drink and one of my most favorite meals of the trip at The Obstinate Daughter. To top if off, we had a really good Lyft driver take us back to the hotel and Dave was feeling fine and tipped him something like 150%. Haha, you gotta love the heart on that guy.

We were gone just the right amount of time and were ready to get home to the kids. They were with Courtney and Nicole and did great, of course they missed us, but they were so busy between school and their other commitments. We say it every year, but having these get aways is really what we need to keep our boat afloat. Its fun to remember why we started this in the first place, Cheers to 9 years!

Anniversary photo. 

Husk with the orange wine. 

Anniversary flowers. 

Afternoon stroll. 

Ft. Sumpter. 

Sullivan's Island. 

Dave and the lighthouse. 

Slice of life, the walk to the beach. 

Our rooftop with a view of the bridge we walked to an and over the previous day!