Date Night

How do we keep a marriage like ours fresh and fun…date night! After Matt got over his “major surgery” (also known as a run-of-the-mill vasectomy) we do try to go out from time to time. Usually we end up at a bar talking about our kids. Tonight, lucky us, the bar had a blue mannequin. Date night will never be the same.

Cecilia Turns 1

Two September birthdays!  I went on my annual work trip to Wales and planned my return just in time for CC’s first birthday.  CC didn’t care that it was her birthday but she did love the attention.

Over the last year, C has turned into the girl I only imagined she would become. 

She dances to music when she is sitting down.

She crawls (the only Perryman child to crawl before their first birthday). 

She has already dropped her second nap (the only Perryman child to drop the nap before their first birthday).

She is happy.   This is the one that I write with most joy, as the first three months of her life she was not.  It is rare to not see her with a smile on her face.

C, you have completed the Perryman family.   Happy Birthday. 

I dress like a boy

Oh little C, I apologize now for dressing you like a boy. Actually, I am apologizing for your father dressing you like a boy. I was gone to Wales for a week. During that week, I requested that Matt brush the big girls hair and make sure that C wore pants. I guess I can’t have it all. Matt admitted to me that the majority of the time I was gone, C was dressed like a boy. When I asked him why, his response? Boy clothes are easier. You know what…he is right. C, no matter what you are wearing, you are cute.

Shopping with my Big Girls

When I was a little girl (and a big girl), my family’s normal Saturday activity was shopping.  Now that I am grown, it just feels right to go shopping on the weekends.  I do find other activities to do with my family, but I always revert back to shopping.

Harper and Abby are my best shopping companions.   Will tolerates it but doesn’t want to go.  C goes along for the ride, however now she is figuring out how to stand up in the shopping cart, so that adds an extra layer of complexity.

Here are my girls on a recent shopping trip with me.  They are trying on the grown up shoes and walking up and done the aisle of the store.  The conversation goes a bit like this:

Harper: Oh, these are so cute!

Abby: I love those go-go shoes!

Harper: Can I get these mom, they are fabulous! (where DID she learn to talk like that)

Abby: Mom, let’s buy them, we can share!

Me: No, I am not buying you grown up shoes.  (pause).  Ohh Abby, try on these!! (holding up a ridiculous pair of grown up shoes)

Repeat.

Harper Turns 4

How did this happen?  When did my little Harper get so big? 

Harper is my funny, sassy, calm 3^rd child.  This combination is fascinating and unique in the Perryman family.  Harper is very good at going with the flow.  Going to football?  Sure.  Serving green beans at dinner? No problem. Time to go to bed?  Can do.

Does she comply?  Kind of.  She really just goes along with the plan and then does her own thing.  I call it quite peaceful resistance. 

1.       Football:  She goes, but doesn’t bring shoes.

2.       Dinner: She only eats green beans but nothing else.  She doesn’t say anything, she just doesn’t do it.  Later, she quietly gets a piece of candy.  No fuss (like her siblings).  She just does.

3.       Bed time:  She pulls her bedding into the hallway or Abby’s room.  In her defense, I didn’t tell her where she had to sleep.

Harper, you fascinate me and startle me with you genius.  You have learned to exploit the family rules to your advantage with your quite resistance; something your older siblings were not able to do or didn’t know how to do.  

First day of School!

I have a first grader and a third grader? The summer is coming to a beautiful end. Here we all are, back at the bus stop for another year of folders, spelling words, lost library books and lunch treats.


I look forward to the start of school every year. Even though it wasn’t a mile stone year of a new kindergartner or a new school, I still get choked up watching my kids climb on the bus with a smiles on their faces, diving head first into a new school year adventure. The eagerness and excitement take the place of the mundane drudgery and reminds me why kids, especially mine, are so cool.