It was bound to happen eventually....

Sydney had her first fender bender. Unfortunately (or fortunately from an insurance perspective) the car she hit was mine. She was pulling in to the spot next to me and scraped along the side of my car. The damage looks fairly minimal, but we haven't taken it in yet to be sure.

I forget sometimes how much she has going on this year.  She's working and swimming and still getting straight A's. The night in question, she was leaving the district swim meet to rush to her choir concert. She was trying to get there on time because she had a solo and wanted time to warm up. She also was taking the PSAT the next morning. No pressure, right?

I think we handled it okay. We still try to impart the importance of driving safely, but we've all made silly mistakes behind the wheel. Our saving grace is that we have more experience and can often times recover before it's too late.

I'm pretty confident she will be a lot more careful from now on. She was pretty darn freaked out!

Unfortunately, while this was her first accident, it may not be her last. Hopefully if it does happen again, it will be equally as minor. 

For now, she's just having to deal with a whole lot of teasing...and a lot of parking practice!

Sweet 16!

It doesn't get much sweeter than this girl!

It's hard to believe that our "Absent-Minded Professor" is 16 already! Syd is one of the smartest people I know. She also has moments where I'm completely terrified for her. We have story after story of times when Sydney just made us shake our heads in wonderment. Both good, and bad. Ha!

One of the things that has always struck me about Sydney is that she is seemingly fearless. When she was really little, she would jump into any pool she saw. Whether she was wearing clothes or not...and even though she couldn't swim. It was extremely difficult parenting her through the toddler years. Childproofing was just a challenge that she was always willing to tackle. We never did find anything that would work to thwart her. Thankfully she was (and is) adorable!

As she's grown and matured, she has transferred that fearlessness into other areas. Including this:

Mark took the girls to the Basque picnic a couple weeks ago. Syd decided she wanted to try the weight competition. Maybe it's the fact that I'm pretty timid when it comes to things that could end up making me look foolish, but I'm always surprised when she volunteers for something like this. She never, ever worries about looking silly! Amazing. Oh, and I guess she actually did quite well, especially for never having seen this competition before!

She is also fearless when it comes to performing in public. 

 Even if she's wearing a swim suit!


I've never met someone who is more comfortable in their own skin. To be honest, I'm a little jealous! Whether she's cutting her hair super short, being into totally "geeky" things, or wearing whatever she wants, she definitely stays true to herself.

One of her other amazing qualities is her willingness to work hard. She's definitely willing to do the work and try to improve. I really love watching her determination in the pool!

I do think she's a little nervous about her sister heading to college. Not only will they really, really miss each other, I imagine she's terrified that she'll be our sole focus. I think Peyton's big personality has always let Syd fly under the radar. A role which she plays quite well. Hopefully we can temper our helicoptering a little. 

I am pretty thankful that she still likes to hang out with us. She really is about as sweet as they come!

Happy birthday, Tommy Waffles! We love you and are so humbled to be your parents. I'm still not sure how we got so lucky!  XOXO

Happy birthday to this girl!!

How is it that my baby is 14?

 Funny, I remember thinking the same thing when she was little...how is my baby already 14 months?

Sydney is amazing. But in some of the most hard to describe ways. She is the first one to offer to help. And she never refuses a request for help. That is a servants heart. She is who I strive to be.

Not only is she smart, like really, really smart (remind me to tell you how fun it is to be the dumbest person in your house...spoiler alert, it sucks), she is musically talented. She can SING, and she plays the piano beautifully.  Did I mention I want to be like her?

She also is a bit of a worrier. Wonder where she gets that awesome trait? And a bit of an introvert. Again me, sorry kiddo.

She's wickedly funny. She can throw out some sarcasm that none of us ever saw coming. It generally takes us a minute to even catch what she said.

This blanket? It went everywhere with her for her first 4 years. Then, it was with her at bedtime for another 4. Around age 8, she decided she was no longer in need of it. Of course, we still have it...

Syd loves to sit with us. Like, riiiigggghhhht next to us. I'll be sad if that ever changes.

She definitely has her own style. She couldn't care less if someone agrees with her choice of clothing or hairstyle. She likes what she likes. And I love that about her!

I'm super excited to see how she navigates high school. At this point, we are just along for the ride. I'm pretty sure she is going to be just fine.  

Happy birthday Tommy Waffles. We love you! XOXO

Ode to Ireland...For your Listening Pleasure.

I forgot that my friend Jennifer sent me the video of Peyton singing her solo in Ireland. (Have I mentioned that Jennifer is THE BEST!?!)

 So, here it is. Take a listen...

I love this choir SO much! Especially the redhead on the end.  :-)

Happy Friday...

Living vicariously...

So, last Friday Mark and I had the following text exchange:

Me: It's so nice out.  Why the heck are we at work?
Him:  So our kid can gallivant around Ireland.
Me: Oh, yeah. SO NOT FAIR!

While we haven't heard from Peyton the entire week, some of the other group members have been diligent in uploading pictures to Facebook. I asked them if I could share some of the trip photos which received enthusiastic response. Apparently, they all want to be featured in the blog. LOL. Oh, and lest I forget, photo cred goes to the following: Nikki Jensen, Lexie Janquart and Jennifer Lenoue!

So, without further ado:

At the airport, trying to function on 2 hours of sleep.  Love you Nikki!

Airport Lay-over

Peyton, Lexie and Nikki airport shenanigans

And then we move on to the actual trip!

First stop, Cliffs of Moher. 

Next up, Cobh Heritage Centre.

Lexie, Nikki and Nathan

Blarney Castle.  Wow!

Looks like a postcard

Amazing group of students!

Peyton, Nikki, Nathan, and Lexie

Bus shenanigans.

Kylemore Abbey.This is my absolute favorite. I can't believe how beautiful this is!

Jennifer (Peyton's other Mom at least for this week) and Nathan

Group photo in front of Kylemore Abbey

Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven.

I miss this face!

Christ Church Cathedral

The rest of these are just my favorite shots the various people sent to me. I probably wouldn't get all the locations correct so just enjoy. LOL

Lexie and Nikki

Lexie, Nikki and Peyton

Lexie

Lexie

Nikki

Nikki

Peyton in her choir finery

Peyton

Riley and Nikki

Thanks again to everyone who shared pictures with us. It was amazing to see all the cool sights. And I know all of us at home can't wait to see these faces in person!