He is officially a pre-teen! Can't believe this is his last semester in elementary school and next year the middle school years begin. He still makes me proud with his academic achievements and the respect he shows his elders. He got 2nd place in the school spelling bee this year and placed 6th in the district-wide Number Sense competition for 6th graders. I signed him up for Cotillion against his wishes, but I think he had a good time with his friends and it was worth every penny to me when we danced together on Parents' night! His favorite music right now is AJR and Macklemore; he watched the entire Office series; he loves the comedian Nate Bargatze; and he still stays up too late reading every night. He's got a great friend group and I have a feeling they'll be seeing a lot of each other this summer. Happy 12th birthday, kiddo. Your dad and I love you tons.
My Favorite Color is You
I need all of you to stop what you're doing and listen.
Monday, March 18, 2024
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Jude Turns Nine!
Turning nine and feeling fine. This fly kiddo celebrated his birthday in late November with a trip to Hapik with his friends.
I'm constantly impressed by Jude's wit, memory, intelligence, affection, and desire to play. If we suggest a game, he's up for it. He's been studying Spanish a few minutes a day for the past year and I am so proud of him. Here's a sentence he put together about our small-headed dog, Zoey, that gives you a good example of his quirky mind: "La cabeza de mi perro es mas pequena que mi mano."
He's still obsessed with Corgis, but also has started loving Shiba Inus. He's pretty much an animal lover in general though, so it's not unusual for me to get a text with a funny animal video, or an animal park he's found online that he wants us to visit.
We gave him sparkling apple juice on NYE and now he's decided he wants to drink that year-round from a fancy glass. I'll allow it. I consider myself very lucky to be his mom and look forward to seeing what his bright future holds.
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
A Jude and Mom Getaway to Oregon
I don't get to see my high school bestie, Iris, and her daughter, Wren, very often since they live in Oregon, so I vowed to plan a trip to spend time with them before the year was over. The kids had a long weekend in November for fall break, and since I had taken Dutch on a solo trip this summer, I decided it would be perfect for Jude to tag along with me. He and Wren are close in age, so that made it even better. We flew out on Friday night so we could spend both days of the weekend with them and then come home on Monday.
Our adventure-packed Saturday started with a visit to Vista House in the Columbia River Gorge. The views are spectacular, but Jude was not thrilled about the drop-off! He didn't think there were enough safety measures in place, lol.
But, have no fear, any place with a gift shop and hot chocolate is alright in his book.
Next up we drove to Multnomah Falls. This place was breathtaking! You could take in the falls from ground level, or hike up to a higher bridge to get a closer look. Jude was adamant he would not participate in that endeavor, but once we got to the bridge he was a great sport. It was loud!
Thursday, August 17, 2023
A Dutch and Mom Getaway to Cali
AJR has been my favorite band for a while. I love their music, but the lyrics are really what get me most of the time. The sarcasm of Birthday Party, the realness of Way Less Sad, and the optimism of 100 Bad Days; they're all great in their own way. When I found out AJR was going on tour, I definitely wanted to see them. But, life got in the way and I hadn't picked a date/location that would work for me by the time the US Tour was almost over. As summer break was coming to an end, I remembered my intention and checked tour dates one more time. Luckily, there were two options left at that point - one in California and one in Pennsylvania. The PA one was a music fest, so they wouldn't be the main attraction, and it landed on a day I already had dinner & show plans with friends back in Dallas. It was settled, then! Cali, here I come.
Meezy wouldn't be able to join me because we'd have to set up last minute childcare, and he already had a guys trip coming up soon that required PTO to be used. I decided this would be a great trip for my oldest and I to take together because he loves AJR too, and school hadn't started yet. I had enough miles earned with American to get both our flights covered, so I picked out a hotel and rental car and secured our tickets to the concert. It all came together very quickly, and we were excited to go! It had to be a short trip though, because of work and pre-existing plans, but we'd make it happen!
When we arrived in Cali on Tuesday, we went straight to Newport Beach to eat and sight-see since we couldn't check into our hotel yet. We also took the ferry to Balboa Island and checked out the pier.
Finally it was the moment we had been waiting for! AJR came on and we got up out of our seats. I didn't sit down for the entire performance from that point forward, but Dutch did take a break for one song before getting right back to it. It feels silly to say, but the concert was amazing. I loved every minute of it. The guys are so energetic and upbeat and fun to watch. They really love what they do and since they write all their songs, their performance is even more convincing. They interacted with the fans directly because surprisingly they were super close to the first row. They even did a stuffed animal swap with one of the fans, because they had actually visited the fair before the show too. Dutch knew almost all the songs, so we were both singing along and dancing and putting our hands in the air and having a great time. It was like 1.5 hours of non-stop smiling and joy.