a good week

PaPa would have been 69 this year.  We got ice cream to celebrate his birthday when everyone was done with their sports.  Mema was at the beach with her brothers and sisters.  Bruster's just isn't the same without him.  Peep Callie and her first pup cup.  She LOVED it.  I was worried if dogs could get a brain freeze because she was eating is so fast. 

The theme of Bryce's Friday night football game was USA.  He was prepared with his Tik Tok shop purchase.  

The girls' volleyball game theme at Emmy's school was also USA on Friday. 

We had our 25 year class reunion on Saturday night.  It was a great turnout and a great time.  Covid put a damper on our 20th, so 25 it is! 

We were voted cutest couple for senior superlatives our senior year.  

Of course we had to recreate the picture.  

We continued the celebration with an after party with our group of friends.  So glad we're all still friends after 25 years.  

And of course all of the spouses make it even better. 

This little girl is the sweetest.  She doesn't love a card ride, but we're trying.  We took her on a road trip for Bryce's baseball games on Saturday.  She didn't really settle down on the ride down, but she was great at the games and so worn out that she slept the whole way home.  Here she is in the school car line with me today.  

back to work

After almost two years of being a stay-at-home mom for the second time, I headed back to work this week.  I'll be working mostly full time.  I'm five days a week but have to leave just a little early each day to pick up Emmy from school.  

Jason and I have found ourselves with lots of time in the evenings while the kids are at sports, so we've been enjoying dinners on the deck and working on a deck project.  

The weather has been cool, so I pulled out the fall decorations.  I even had a glass of wine on Friday night.  Something about a Friday night after a work week just hits different now.  We had gone to dinner early on Friday to get to Bryce's volleyball game, so it was nice to come home and unwind on the deck with a glass of wine and s'mores for Emmy.  

My good friend Beth is battling stage 4 breast cancer.  She is such a warrior!  Her neighborhood friends threw her a lovely birthday party on Saturday.  The venue was a cancer retreat center where she has found tons of support while battling cancer and going through treatments.  

All of our husbands were the best of friends in high school and now the husbands and wives are the best of friends.  We were missing a few in this picture.

 

Avery gave Bryce tickets to the Lumineers concert for his birthday and the concert was Saturday night.  He played two volleyball games in the morning and then they headed to DC to Nationals Park for the concert.  

LBD weekend

We are still smitten with this little love bug.  

We had a four-day weekend for the Labor Day weekend, and we kicked it off at the beach.  Kelly was going to the beach Thursday night to watch Taylor play volleyball, so Emmy hitched a ride and had a blast with Taylor's teammates. 

Of course, the boys wanted to go so Jason and I drove them down Friday morning and we met up with the girls. 

A day at the beach is always better than a day at home. 

They were so pleased with their Five Below shirts. 

The girls got dressed up for dinner after the beach, but we took the boys to Chick Fil A and headed home a little earlier than them. 

The rest of the weekend was spent outside enjoying the beautiful weather and watching football while Bryce was at the Bay with Avery's family.   

back to school

Emmy went back to school on Monday.  She started her new fall gym schedule and had gym from 5-9 Monday through Thursday.  She's happy to have Fridays off finally.  This Friday night she went to a volleyball game at her school and then had a sleepover with her friends.  She went to a birthday party on Saturday night and is now at her Sunday afternoon gym practice.  She has youth group tonight to finish out the weekend.  It was a good week back for her and I think she's going to like her new schedule and more time to hang out with friends on the weekends.  

Bryce started school on Tuesday.  He's playing volleyball again this year and has practice right after school from 4-6.  Two days a week he goes straight from that practice to practice with his travel baseball team.  He's working hard but playing hard too.  He and Avery went out to dinner on Friday night and then he worked Saturday afternoon and then went to the Bailey Zimmerman concert with friends and spent the night out and met us at church this morning.  He's working an afternoon shift at the pool today and then he's doing a fantasy draft with his friends.  I'm glad he's found a balance of work and play.  

 

I'm still taking hundreds of pictures of this one and trying to figure out how to balance life around a puppy.  There's a lot more down time and time watching her every move that I'm not used to.  I like to be moving and accomplishing something all the time and I'm having a hard time staying caught up with life watching and chasing after her.  I'm interested to see what going back to work five days a week for me will look like with a puppy.  Jason and I have gotten a small glimpse into empty nesting this weekend with the kids' busy schedules.  We were able to go out last night for a quick date which was nice.  

work, callie, volleyball

School starts tomorrow and I'll be making my way back to the classroom almost full time starting in September.  I'm excited to work with this team of friends.   

Callie doesn't really love riding in the car, but when she does, she's most comfortable wrapped around my neck.

Emmy is in heaven. 

Bryce had a school volleyball tournament this weekend.  He's the libero this year. 

It's crazy to think he's old enough to be playing varsity this year.  

He thinks he'll get a decent amount of playing time this year. 

Callie's little stubby legs are so cute. 

I could watch her sleep all day!  We're obsessed. 

more callie

We are in love with this little girl, and I think the feeling is mutual.  

She loves to cuddle. If you sit anywhere for more than a minute, she will find you and curl up with you. 

The only pictures in my camera roll this last week are all of Callie looking cute. 

She learned a lot this week.  She can climb the steps, fetch and we think she's learning to let us know when she wants to go outside even though she hasn't figured out going outside to pee yet but luckily, she hasn't pooped in the house.  We're not sure if she knows her name yet.

She doesn't really love riding in the car yet.  She likes to climb you and nestle behind your neck.  It's sometimes hard to be the driver when she does this.  

She is doing better about not having to be hot on our heels every second.  She is starting to find comfy spots on the floor to lay and relax.  

I weighed her today and she's still only about two pounds.  She'll be ten weeks old this week. 

 

callie

All Emmy has ever wanted was a puppy to love.  She loved Bentley, but he didn't reciprocate.  So far, this little girl is the sweetest and gentlest dog.  

She's wrapped around his finger (or neck) already. 

Emmy wanted the dog to pick her own name.  I wasn't sure how that was going to happen, but it did.  We had narrowed the list to three names.  Emmy wrote each name on a different post it note and put them on the floor.  While we were laying on the floor and playing with her, she randomly went over to check out the papers and picked one up and started walking around with it.  So, there you have it.  She picked her own name!

She wants to be touching someone all the time.  

She really does fit in the palm of your hand. 

We brought her home on Sunday night and she was just shy of two pounds.  Today she has gained just a little bit.  She has changed so much in just three days.  She's already learning so many things and has gotten so comfortable with us.  We love her!