Angels from above

I get to be a mommy to these two sweet souls? No matter how I may stumble and fall through this "mommy" parenting thing, they still think I'm the best. How did I become so blessed!? Every day these precious girls humble me and make me want to be a better person. As their mommy, I'm supposed to teach them life's important lessons, but they are teaching me things every day! They teach me patience, to open my heart even wider, to open my arms even more, to let go, and to see the joy in the simple things of life. I always want to protect them from being hurt or sad or lonely or scared. I  always want to be by their side. 

Lord, I know I fall short of meeting their every need, so please help guide me so that they can see Your love for them through me. Give me the confidence and strength and wisdom to be the best mommy and always protect them!

A little girl no more

"I a big girl now!" That's Khloe's new favorite line. And she's right, she is a big girl now. Khloe has made the transition so effortlessly. The same cannot be said for me.

Khloe, you got your big girl bed this week! This is a BIG moment! And almost too big for me to write about. Mostly I have been in denial that this chapter of your life - your first two and a half years of life - are over. After all, you are my baby! My baby! You're not supposed to be a big girl yet. Or ever. This week has been very emotional for me. Why is it for a mom? Is it a mom thing, or is it just me? Aaron handled it so differently; the dismantling of the crib did not symbolize the passing of time for him, the closing of a chapter, the loss of innocence. Nope, it just meant finding one more place in the house to store something big. He chided me, "She's ready, you're not". "Well, what if she's not!" Okay, so yeah. Maybe he is right. Khloe loved her crib and surprisingly, for as much as this girl likes to run, escape, climb and generally be a daredevil monkey, she never once tried to climb out of her crib. (I still can't figure out why this never crossed her mind). She sleeps soundly, she puts herself to sleep, she never wakes up at night. So, why in the world were we going to fix something that wasn't broken? Why ruin something that's working so well? I tormented myself with these thoughts as we were rolling the queen size box spring in the front door.

Yet, we've been talking about this moment for awhile now. We (I) knew it was coming and was quite excited about it. We talked a lot about it with you too and you were excited about it too. Goodness, you were probably tired of hearing us talk about it! I guess I just never realized what the moment would feel like when it actually came time. And when it did come time, I pushed back at it. Well, Kayla was two and a half before she went in her big girl bed... "And Khloe will be two and a half in 3 weeks" Aaron pointed out. My line of logic backfired. I was out of time, and excuses.

Khloe, I want this for you, but at the same time I don't. I know that doesn't make any sense. I'm happy to see you growing up and while that brings so many fun new exciting things, it's big moments like this that cause me to reflect on how my baby is becoming big.

As I mentioned earlier, this transition has been effortless for you, you ask to go to bed, you stay in bed (shocking!), you don't fight getting into bed (also, shocking!) and you've woken up singing every morning. Your big girl bed must be a happy place! You just look so little in your bed! You're just this tiny, tiny dot in a sea of duvet and sheets and blankets! It makes me sad that you have to be by yourself in such a large space!

But all of this has opened a new chapter that we are happy about. You slept together in the same bed at Grandpa and Grandmas, and then at home too. This text from my mom melted my heart! Picturing you two cuddling together in bed keeping each other warm and safe made my heart smile! Yes, this is how everything should be. Welcome to your big girl bed Khloe!

 Out with the old...

 In with the new!

Settling into fall

And quite nicely I might add!

We are back to the old familiar school routine, and it's working out well. Kayla thinks her homework is "too easy!", she's passed all of her spelling tests so far with 100%, which means she is then given a candy word test (yes, she gets candy if she passes it) and has also passed those with 100%. Kayla and Khloe have started back with gymnastics. We're still managing to squeeze in fun between the daily routine and chores of the school year. It sure does help that it feels like summer still!

A fun afternoon of dress-up with Gina and Gabby

 We invited Molly for a sleep over! The girls had a ball. They don't like to leave one another until the next sleepover date is on the calendar.

 We got to visit with Denise who was in town from Chicago and meet her sweet boys, Evan and Asher, and her littlest one, Samara (or "Sam"). The "cousins" all had fun playing at the park and at our home on a Sunday morning and afternoon

 Yea! First grade lunch!

For once - and I'm sure it won't last - I was more popular than Khloe. Everyone wanted to sit by me this time; last year it was Khloe. Yeah, I felt cool. We brought Kayla what she requested: pizza! 

 Making driveway art, because Asia and Kayla wanted to do something "crafty".

And Khloe, as usual, just wants to ride her bike to visit her friends' homes!

Sparty on

What's the guaranteed most fun at a MSU football game? 

With Kayla by your side, of course!

Teach 'em while they're young!

Hopefully she and Khloe will carry on the long tradition of keeping the Faust family seats, started decades ago by her Grandpa and Granny Kay.

Go green! Go white! 

And as Khloe likes to say, just to tease her Dad, "Go Blue!" (Thanks, Kristi)

Or, in the case of Saturday's game, another type of 'Go Blue'. Some idiot person hired an airplane skywriter to spell this out before the start of the game. Kristi, I hope you didn't have something to do with this. I'm going to need to see your bank statement to verify if there was a recent withdraw for $3,000...

Last hoorah

The fall is being kind to us, it's giving us back a little of our summer. Just when we thought summer - and boating - were over, well guess again! We embraced the 80 degree - almost 90 degree! - day and went out on our boat in the middle of the week. On a Tuesday. At 5pm. And guess what? The boat launch parking lot was so full there was no room to park! And the beach was packed full of boats! It was like a true summer weekend day. Guess everyone had the same idea, about the last hoorah of summer. Who cares its a school night, we're pretending its summer vacation!

Summer Wind Farms

On Saturday we visited such a cool, cool place! I just recently discovered its existence, although it’s been in operation for almost 20 years, but just recently open to the public the last 8 years. Just 30 miles from our house there is this exotic animal sanctuary. Summer Wind Farms Sanctuary sits on 140 acres and is home to over 200 animals including bears, tigers, cougars, reptiles, leopards, lions, fox, every type of primate you can imagine, and more. They provide a safe comfortable haven where these animals can live out their lives. Through our guided tour we could see these exotic animals up-close and personal, just 12” from the front of the cages! Close enough where a boa constrictor could bite your finger, an ostrich could peck your head, or a tiger could spray you! The volunteers could interact with some the animals since most of them had been raised  in the care of humans since babies; one was petting the mountain lion and we listened to him purr, another was petting the coyote while it licked his hand, and another fed the grizzly bear marshmallows. We learned each animal's name and how it came to live at Summer Wind Farms. It was a perfect place for this animal lover to visit! It’s better than any zoo!

There were lots of tigers at the farm!

 Coco is a full size Grizzly who comes when he hears his name called. He loves marshmallows. 

 A pretty albino tiger

Ostrich are crazy looking birds!

Goodbye, summer

What a summer it was! These last two weeks we got our fill of summer - boating, friends, parties, concerts, vacations, traveling, it never ended! In fact I could be heard saying out loud, albeit quietly, I think I'm ready for fall. What? Who says that? Who ever wants the carefree, lazy days of summer to be over?! Well, I need to catch my breath, slow down and I need some routine back in my life. I am exhausted. If that means saying goodbye to summer, than I'm ready. It's a great feeling to know that my summer feels complete.

Of course I wouldn't be saying all this if it weren't for our Labor Day weekend in Harbor Springs. We are fulfilled; filled with the love from our closest friends, filled with new memories, too many laughs, abundant pool and play time, and too much great food and wine. Are hearts our overflowing with the blessings from summer's last weekend.

2013 - 8 kids! 

We've come a loooong way that we can finally sit outside in the early evening enjoying our wine and hors d'oueveres in peace and quiet while all the kids play inside. Cheers to that!

2006 - Only 1 kid and 1 on the way

We celebrated a much different holiday weekend back then!

We were all curious about how much time we've spent in Harbor Springs over the past years so we created a little timeline of our Labor Day weekends. Maybe this was driven by the overwhelming realization of how many kids - girls! - we have between us now! Eight years ago Stella was just a baby and Elizabeth was pregnant with Mary. Here are our crazy bundles of joy today:

Sadie 2, Kayla 6, Stella 8, Sophia 6, Mary 6, Katherine 4, Khloe 2 and Emma 2

Wow! That's a lot of girls! We stopped traffic with this picture taking session at Yummy's. 

(Just don't ask us all to go in one store together, because we did and it was not pretty. We got looks like "Awwww, how cute!" to "Are you kidding me right now?")

When we descend upon Elizabeth's parents house there are 14 of us that crash their place! 16, including her parents! They are so kind and generous to open up their house to all of us, and they truly love it and enjoy having us there. We feel so welcomed and comfortable there. We wouldn't have this opportunity or these memories if it weren't for Bruce and Kathy. Thank goodness they have enough space for us to all spread out! Fourteen of us in their home doesn't feel crowded like it did in that Harbor Springs store!

 Some of the girls' time was just spent relaxing around the house, playing, watching movies, and hanging out. The girls play so well together; they all love being together. There was not a single argument or fight the whole weekend. They have a special friendship!

Kayla couldn't believe that they all got to eat ice-cream three days in a row! I said that's what summer vacation is all about!

 As usual, the boys take half of one day to play 18 holes of golf. Here the girls are lined up on the deck watching their daddy's tee off in the distance. Hi Daddy!

 Of our four-day vacation, two days were spent at the pool all day. Lucky for us, it's not hard to put them to sleep EARLY when they've been swimming for hours!

Our affectionate nickname for these three? It was the Three Stooges, but we changed it to the Three Musketeers. These little rascals have larger-than-life personalities, such instigators and comedians! The Three Musketeers are going to be trouble!

 The Birchwood community that we stay in has miles and miles of wooded (steep!) hiking trails. We spend a lot of time taking hikes!

 Of course, after eight years of doing something, traditions are set and one of those is Aaron's meal he cooks one evening. It is a much anticipated event! He never disappoints. Aaron spends all year thinking about his meal he's going to cook and loves to prepare it. That goes both ways because everyone loves his cooking! 

 The legendary V. Sattui Winery

Another trip for the memory books!
Goodbye, summer. Hello, fall.

First grader

Kayla was soooooo excited for her first day of school! She was not anxious or nervous about it in the least bit. She jumped out of bed a half hour early without us having to wake her and surprised us by coming fully dressed and ready to go in our room. For the last 45 minutes of the morning she wore her backpack around - full of every school supply we had purchased - during breakfast, getting Khloe up, brushing her teeth. I asked if she wanted to take it off... "Nope." Day One was going well!

Once again, I was reminded today about how quickly time passes by.  

I got to hold Kayla's hand as we walked into school because she wanted us to. I got to walk her to the door and into her classroom because she wanted me to. I got to hang out in her classroom for awhile and then give her a kiss goodbye because she wanted me to. It is not lost on me how truly precious those moments are. I saw many friend's Facebook posts on the first day of school about how their child was "too cool" for first day of school photos, for being walked to the bus stop, for being walked into school. I panic thinking about how soon that might be Kayla! I say "might" because there's a possibility that she will always love for me to take her first day of school photo and walk her into school holding her hand. "Have a great Senior year, honey!"

Right? Okay, so probably not.

Before she realizes that its "not cool" for your mom to take your first day of school photo, and before she realizes that she doesn't need me to walk her into her classroom, I'll keep doing it, just like I did today.

Isn't she getting so big?! You must automatically grow an inch overnight when you become a first grader! 

 I want to be a ballet teacher and doctor when I grow up 
(She did say nurse and then changed it to doctor)

Kayla's big question the night before school was would she sit at a table again like in Kindergarten or would she would have her own desk. The answer? Her own desk! Just like a big student. She has her own folders, notebooks, binders, pencil box and text books. This is the real deal. It just hit me that I think show-n-tell is over, for good. This makes me sad. We had several great years of show-n-tell and now that fun is over and the real academics begin. I think there should always be show-n-tell!

They love their "monkey room". Mrs Raymo decorates in monkeys - it's an easy room to find! 

I'm SO excited for these girls! Kayla loves her teacher and has new and old friends in her class. I look forward to all the exciting opportunities and growth this year will bring! (Although not the nightly routine of making snacks and lunches, doing homework, picking out outfits, early bath and bedtimes, blah, blah.) Let the learning begin!