A Decade of Sporty

Today is bittersweet for me. My "momma heart" is full of joy and sadness. Joy that I am celebrating the birth of an incredible kid, but sadness in the fact that this kid is my baby boy and he is turning ten;  double digits! I can't do anything to stop time and keep him as my snuggle boy! This is my baby! I will readily admit that I do "baby" my baby. "Hello, my name is Krissy, and I treat my youngest child like he is the youngest child." Go ahead, judge me. I love all three of my children, and turning ten was hard each time, but this is my baby! This is my child that wears his heart on his sleeve. He does everything with gusto: sports, school, playing and even getting hurt. He loves to laugh and does so often. It is contagious! He is compassionate about others. He fights to keep the peace in our home and cannot stand any discord. He is an authority on World War 2. He thinks he is an authority on most everything else, as well. He loves to play soccer and football. He still loves to play with trains and army men and doesn't care what others think! He asks for "snuggle movie nights" and he still hugs me in front of his friends. He has the craziest head of hair you have ever seen and he loves that it is different!

Happy 10th Birthday Sporty!

May this year bring you as much joy as you bring to the world!

Love,

Mom

Milestones

Yesterday, we hit a big milestone at the Pearl household. Fisherman started high school. High school! How can that be? I remember his first day of Kindergarten like it was yesterday. When did he learn to tie his shoes and say his alphabet, learn his times tables and read books without pictures? When did he stop having me walk him into school and do his homework on his own? I am so excited for him and this new chapter, but you wouldn't know it by the way I boohooed as he drove away with Mr. Pearl yesterday morning. I made it worse by thinking that because of his late spring birthday (and assuming he stays out of trouble), this will be the last time one of his parents drives him to school! 

Kindergarten Fisherman

First day of high school - ninth grade

Today was a bit better, no tears. Sweet Pea and Sport start school tomorrow morning. I will be driving them to school and walking them in and maybe hanging around more than I should, but I don't care. Time is going too fast and I am going to savor these moments. Good luck to other moms out there! It's okay to cry!

xoxo,

Krissy

Climb Every Mountain, Ford Every Stream

Sweet Pea in Telluride

I have heard the Reverend Mother from the Sound of Music singing this song in my head as the soundtrack of my summer. Does anyone else do that? Play a constant soundtrack of your life in your head? Well, I have never claimed to be normal. This summer was supposed to be one that we would lay-low and stay close to home. Boy was that ever a wrong assumption! 

I got out of my comfort zone and had some great adventures with the mini-pearls and Mr. P. My comfort zone that consists of carefully planning vacations and mapping-out our calendar to a "t." So, accepting an invitation to leave town for a week with all three kiddos with less than twenty-four hours to prepare - way out of that zone! But, I did it and had a marvelous time with a precious friend and her boys in the mountains.

Me and the Mini-pearls overlooking Ralph Lauren's ranch

The whole gang!

Sport started a rock collection on the trip

Fisherman and his fly rod

Mr. P and I sent Sweet Pea and Sporty to two different camps for two weeks each. Two different camps, on two different schedules, with only one week of overlapping time. That is two drop-offs and two pick-ups - a logistical nightmare. However, Baby Girl wanted horses and SCUBA lessons at camp this summer. These were not available at the camp she previously attended with Sport. The things we do for our children. What about Fisherman, you ask? In spite of the fact that he is our "outdoorsman" and one would think that camp would be heaven for him, it is not. The boy has given it the old college try, more than once, at some of the best camps in Texas and well, camp just isn't for him. Therefore, a fishing trip was in order.

Sweet Pea and her camp buddy

For anyone who says that Texas isn't beautiful, this is a picture of the river valley where Sport is in camp. Sweet Pea's was just over the hills in the distance....beautiful!

Dropping Sport off at camp

Mr. P decided to take Fisherman bay fishing on the coast. I was invited to tag along on the boys' trip. Here again, I left my comfort zone to stay in a fish camp cabin with two of my boys. I ate barbecue and cheese and peanut butter crackers, got up before dawn and yes ladies, I held my own! I out-fished the boys the first day (my son was not pleased). I stayed in a place where the only food was fried and the nearest vegetable was the wilted lettuce garnish on my fish plate. I caught a shark and I held it and had the opportunity of a lifetime to make memories with my oldest son and husband.

The Boys' Fishing Trip

Mr. P and I did sneak in a quick trip away for a few days and now, here we are. It's the end of July and school starts in two short weeks! Football and homework and carpools - oh my! Sporty is still at camp this week, so I have my two oldest at home. What a summer!

Enjoy these last few says of summertime and step out of your comfort zone!

Krissy

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea

My baby girl turns twelve today!

Happy Birthday to my smart, beautiful, compassionate, determined, athletic, creative daughter.

We love you and the joy you bring to our lives each day. May this next year be the best one ever!

We love you!

This Little Piggy...

is from World Market. I love that place! I went in to purchase a chair for Sport's room and left with a little friend. Well, Fisherman and Sweet Pea left with a little pig. It is just the cutest thing. It is a tiny grill and makes the best s'mores. It is too cute on our back patio.

They have named him Mr. Piggy. You too can have one here and it also comes in an elephant!

Happy Summer!

Krissy

Summer At Our House

Hello darlings! It's summertime! I am a summer girl. I love hot days and warm nights, no bedtimes, snow cones, sun-kissed faces, pool time, lake time, anywhere around the water time, having a house and a car full of excited kiddos and the general fun spirit of summer. This summer is a little different from the rest. Fisherman has Driver's Ed and football workouts, so that boy has a full schedule that requires us to stay pretty close to home for a good chunk of our summer. The boy is not happy. Seven a.m. is a time that is not on a teenage boy's clock, so getting up each day for practice is a challenge: and that's all I have to say about that.

Never fear, we are having fun though! I have been painting camp trunks for some sweet campers and I will share those with you and I have had time to do some house-tweaking - always fun! 

A trip to the new drive-in movie in town...

Swimming with precious neighbors. Sport is really good with little ones.

A wonderful get-away to Horseshoe Bay. Fisherman was in his element, not only does he get his Driver's Learning permit this summer, but he got his Boater's license as well. We are not safe on land or water!

Fishing in the dark!

Dinner at a family convention for Mr. Pearl's job.

You might be a redneck if.....

You set-up a slip-n-slide in your front yard.

We had so much fun though!

Our summer has been really "bright" so far. Hope yours is, too!

Soakin' up the sun,

Krissy

It's Broken and Mother's Day

Hello dear ones! I hope a lovely weekend was had by all, specially the moms out there. I know mine was davoon. Before I show you a pic or two, I want to catch you up on Sweet Pea's football finger. Yes, it is broken. This makes broken finger number three for baby girl. Don't for a minute think that this discouraged her. Oh no! She was back at practice and has no retirement plans in the works. I guess I better start looking for, what were her words, "cute and colorful" football cleats. Oxymoron. Okeedokee. I would show you a pic of my warrior child, but alas, she has forbidden me to show any pictures of her on any of my social media outlets. I am sneaking one in, but only because her brothers and myself are in it! I would welcome any and all input into how to convince her that volleyball is the better pick for next fall's sport choice. She says though that she will only play one season...to be continued.

My biggest blessings - you can see the famous pinky finger - 

Fisherman would like you all to notice that he is taller than me and I am wearing three inch heels.

Back to Mother's Day. It was loverly. My hubby thought of everything: my favorite finger sandwiches from a local luncheon place, cupcakes from a fabulous bakery, chilled Proseco and bountiful carbs to devour, flowers and my precious family in our home. Perfection! Thank you Mr. P! I am so blessed to be the wife of a wonderful man and mom to three amazing young people! 

 The table ready for guests

 Just a small sample of the goodies we munched on!

 My Mommom - the Birdie in Birdie Pearl

 My precious mom - Mumsie!

Flowers from my Daddy. These touched my heart, as my dad is not the "gift-giving" type. He brought these "lellow" (how I said "yellow" as a child) for me.

May the love continue all week and any sweets you ate this weekend not effect the way you look in a swimsuit!

Krissy