Tom and I still put Hailey to bed each night but unlike when she was a baby, we don't check on her every night. However, if we are gone at bedtime and one of the other kids puts her to bed, we always stop in her room after we get home or before we go to bed ourselves to make sure she's all good.
Recently, I was out and came home to check on her and find her sound asleep. However, I was quite surprised when I found her sleeping with a sleep mask on. Now, I know she has a few of these (and even chastised me for throwing a few out or packing them away) but I never knew she wore them regularly. Apparently, she does. She has blackout shades in her room and she leaves on a little light too so not sure why she needed the sleep mask. So I asked her and she responded with "it helps me dream better."
There is a first time for everything and this was the first year my kids were done with any type of Easter egg hunt. I did get them all Easter baskets loaded with candy (not stuff because we are heavy into spring cleaning over here). But, there was no Easter egg hunt that we needed to concoct for them. Can't say I missed putting that together. (Hailey did let me know a few days before that she no longer believes in the Easter Bunny so that was definitely a huge reason for not putting together an Easter egg hunt any longer either.)
We started the day with 7:30am mass which is hard to get up for but not as crowded so that's a bonus. After church, we did a quick Starbucks run before returning home for a bit and then heading out for brunch.
This year, we decided to invoke some changes to our Easter. First, we decided to start rotating hosting the holidays on my side of the family to lighten the load a little bit. It started with Easter. We still did a brunch which is always a favorite but this time my oldest brother and his wife hosted. The food was abundant and delicious, and it was great to change it up so we had different things to eat than the usuals from the years' before.
I'm always an advocate for doing things differently and being okay with change. I think it comes from years of moving around as a kid. It helped me be okay with change and see the good that change can do. I hope to instill that in my own kids that change can be a very positive thing in your life and foster growth that you may not have even known you needed. Sometimes we need those little nudges to take a chance on something new and what better season than Easter/spring to be reminded that a rebirth can be good for the soul. And it was.
Recently, we went out to dinner as a family which we do most weekends. We all really enjoy our time together and our discussions. It's hard though with kids ages 11-18 and different focuses from each of them. If you start talking too much about college, Hailey's eyes start to glaze over. If the conversation isn't about her, Peyton tries to direct it back to something she's interested in. This happens at home too but Hailey can usually escapes from the table after she quickly eats her food.
However, one night, Hailey was in a particularly foul mood (she never wants to go out to eat and always wants to stay home while Peyton always wants to go out to eat and never wants to stay home - so you can see it's a battle). She was grouchy most of the meal and turned herself toward the wall instead of looking at us. No idea why she was mad except that maybe I mentioned a text I received from the parents of her group of friends and they were planning some meet ups this summer and riding bikes (obviously this has and will become a bigger thing since Hailey refuses to re-learn how to ride a bike but has not told any of her friends she learned but doesn't know how to ride a bike now).
Anyway, trying to pull Hailey into the conversation many times was fruitless until Austen and Peyton started talking about all these YouTube influencers. Hailey's eyes lit up and she could finally participate in a conversation. The three of them jumped in yapping about some guy or gal, and for the first time Tom and I sat there like the ones who had nothing to contribute. But it was nice to see them all converse and relate to each other. When we got in the car the discussions continued but now it was about music. They all played DJ in the back of the Tesla and told Tom to turn the music louder.
We arrived home and thought the party was over but the three of them decided to get into Austen's car and go for a drive with the windows down and the music pumping. "Where are you going?" Tom started to ask them. "Let them go," I said. "It doesn't matter where they go. They have few of these moments left before Austen leaves for college. Let them just enjoy each other."
They were only gone for about 30 or 40 minutes but they all came back happy. Austen may not have known how impactful that night was for his younger two siblings, but I could see how special it was to them to share that moment with him before he's gone...and those moments become even more fleeting.
At our high school, senior year spring break is a big thing. Some parents get together and plan a trip for the senior class (and parents/families). It's typically been in the Dominican and I've heard mixed reviews on whether this is a fun trip or not (for the parents). The kids, of course, all have fun. We asked Austen if he was interested in going but he said he'd rather do "our" spring break and chose to spend his last high school spring break with his best friend and our families in Belize.
We departed on a Saturday (first year we didn't leave early for break and I heard about it from my kids!) and took a quick 4-hour flight into Belize City. From there, we had a private shuttle take our party of 10 through the Belizean countryside to our rented house on the water. When we arrived, the staff met us outside. Yes, staff. Now, I've rented many beautiful houses before and this house was spectacular from the all ensuite bathrooms to the pool to the beach. But what really set this place apart was the staff that was present for us during our stay. We had Juan the chef. Marvin the landscaper and Consuela the housekeeper.
Juan made us all of our breakfasts during the week we were there (our favorite was the Belizean breakfast of eggs, bacon and fry jacks) as well as a few lunches and two dinners. It was so nice having a chef for a big group especially in the mornings to have breakfast ready for us when we awoke and even to prepare us two dinners after all day excursions when we didn't feel like going out again. His food was delicious and the best part was he did all the dishes too! Marvin was great too and raked our beach daily and kept our pool clean. One day he scaled the palm trees on our beach for us and knocked down some coconuts so we could all have fresh coconut water. Delicious. Consuela came and swept and cleaned our place almost every day and stocked us with fresh towels as well as made spa appointments at the house for us. We were truly spoiled all week and we will miss the pampering of this amazing staff.
Aside from being pampered at the house all day, the girls and I indulged in massages while the boys went reef fishing to catch our fish for grilling by Chef Juan that night. They caught a Barracuda and Yellow Tail Snapper. Austen learned how to filet a fish too. But I felt bad eating those poor guys.
Our Weekly Menu
Another day we ziplined, went tubing down the river and jumped in a waterfall (well, Hailey tripped and fell in which really freaked out Tom because there was a big rock below where she fell). She was fine aside from the big red mark on her stomach because of her bellyflop. The girls conquered their fear of the zip line (heights) probably made doable by the other tween/teens in our group.
We rode ATVs. Peyton tried to manage one by herself but the shifting of gears was old school and difficult so she rode with me while Hailey rode with Tom. I don't think I've ever been so dirty in my life! We were filthy! But our guides were awesome. Cut down some sugar cane for us to eat and brought us some fruta de pan or breadfruit which Chef Juan grilled up for us for dinner one night and it tasted just like french fries.
Dinner at Inky's 19th Hole
We spent one whole day at an island off Belize. We traveled through the crystal blue waters in a small speed boat and the waters were a bit rough that day so that ride out was certainly an adventure for 45 minutes or so. We swam, hung out on the swings in the water, drank, went down some slides, played some chess (large piece game), putted some golf balls, ate, drank some more and got ourselves nice and tan before boarding our boat back to the mainland.
We went to dinner at a few of the Belizean restaurants made possible by the two golf carts we had to get around town. We played mini golf one night; got in more than a few games of pool volleyball; held some dance parties; and retired early some nights due to the sun and the amount of activity we had in a day.
It certainly was an "unbelizeable" vacation coupled by the 80 degree and sunny weather we had all week. Austen said he had a good time and more memories were made with good friends. Peyton said she would have preferred a more posh vacation as she thought the town and restaurants weren't quite up to her standards but she did like the house! Of course because I picked it! Hailey enjoyed herself too and loved that we had a ping pong table where she could practice her game (she's quite a player now).
Our final spring break with Austen is one that we'll always remember, Of course Peyton is already planning what she'll do on hers.
It's Official - Austen Accepts His Admission to Illinois
What a ride it's been - this college application and recruitment process. I'm so glad that I have a few years before I have to do it again with Peyton.
Austen's journey was a bit different than most as he thought he was going to play college soccer so we went through the process of doing highlight reels, sending emails and attending ID camps for most of his junior year. We visited other schools too and tried to narrow in on his major. He thought likely business or architecture. By late summer he knew for sure that he wanted to pursue architecture so that really limited his choice in schools and forget it if he wanted to play soccer. Having those two align was a pretty slim chance. He wanted a big school anyway and wasn't willing to trade on that in the end. He wanted to go to football and basketball games and cheer on his school on TV when he's an alumni.
He applied to a lot and got into a little. This year, being a record number of applicants for colleges due to the size of his graduating class was an especially brutal year. However, he handled the acceptances with glee and the deferrals and denials with grace. There is only one that he really was disappointed he didn't get into that he really wanted to go to (even though its architecture program only has 85 students per class and is ranked way lower than U of I's but still he wanted to go there - it was Tennessee). There's a reason, I told him, why you didn't get in there. You're not supposed to be there and next year at this time, you're going to be so happy that you got into where you are going.
That was a tough one to swallow but he handled it well. That's the thing about Austen, he doesn't dwell on the bad stuff. He lets himself feel it but that kid never truly lets anything get him down. Not soccer, not school, not college denials. He's strong, he's confident and he's happy. What more can you ask for? And, he did get into a tough school that many did not - University of Illinois. And, while it wasn't his first choice (I think more because his Dad went there and he wanted to have his own thing and it was a bit closer than he wanted), I think he's going to be very happy there. They have a great architecture program (as we know) and he is going to investigate the club soccer program. His soccer bestie is also going there for architecture and he found out some other good friends he knows are also going there and will be in the same dorm as him. He did the admitted student day tour with Tom and he's all in. Officially, accepted that offer.
Tom is excited to have Illinois in common with Austen (he did shed a tear when Austen told him he was accepted). I'm hoping one of my next two decides on going to Indiana so I get to go back and visit too. But, I'm excited to see U of I through Austen's eyes over the next four years.
Congrats Austen! You worked hard the past four years to get into this school and I'm sure you will love college just as much as I did. It was meant to be.
As the time starts to wind down on our time at Prospect Elementary, we start to experience many of our lasts ever at this school. Recently, it was Hailey's 5th grade music program. If you know Hailey, you know much she does not like music. In fact, she is one of only a handful of 5th graders who are not in band or orchestra. No surprise there coming from our family considering Austen and Peyton also did not participate and I refused to force them to try either as I knew it would be a constant battle to get them to practice if they didn't decide themselves to do it. (Peyton did think about it briefly as she learned that in middle school the band got to go on a trip to Disney and she wanted to go. I told her that shouldn't be her sole reason for joining band.)
Anyway, back to Hailey. She did not volunteer for any solo parts considering she said music was her least favorite class. But she looks just thrilled during the entire performance. So much so that a few days later, I was talking to one of my friends and she mentioned Hailey's enthusiastic performance that day. Ha ha. She surely made an impression. One that we will clearly remember long after we leave Prospect for the final time.
There's one thing that my kids did in 5th grade art class that I absolutely loved. Austen came home with it at the end of the 5th grade and I couldn't believe how he could create something so beautiful in just the 5th grade. It was a cherry pie. The level of detail on that pie was astounding from the carefully rolled cherries to the lattice work crust to the carefully placed circles of whip cream with the cherry on top. Not only was I very impressed with his eye for detail but I thought it was a huge credit to his art teacher, Mrs. Tiemstra, at the time.
Austen's Cherry Pie
A few years later came Peyton's piece of pie. By this time Mrs. Tiemstra had retired and we had a new art teacher so we weren't sure if she was going to continue the tradition of having the 5th graders make these pies. We found out the good news that she was going to continue the tradition but the bad news was since it was COVID, they weren't allowed to use the kiln that year. So Peyton didn't make a pie. But Peyton was artistic so she took art classes in middle school and did join the afterschool art club so she had an opportunity to work with clay and she knew that I really wanted another piece of pie. And, one day she did surprise me with her lemon pie (I don't think it was a meringue so not sure where her idea for a lemon pie came from). But, I was thrilled to get another piece of pie. You look at Peyton's pie and it really represents how I've seen her work when we've been paired together doing gingerbread houses. She doesn't like to come up with a plan beforehand, she just likes to see where her art will take her. And, without a teacher guiding her to think about all the details of the pie, she threw all her ingredients in the bowl and came up with something that was very much her.
Peyton's Lemon Pie
Hailey knew how important the final piece of the pie was going to be so she told me halfway through 5th grade that they were working on their pies. She not only had a great teacher guiding her in Mrs. Andrilik but she also had two examples which sat on our island every day and she could study. She chose to make a blueberry pie. But she had studied Austen's as making a blueberry pie is similar to a cherry one. She rolled the clay into little blueberries and painted them after they were fired. Made a crust (not a lattice one) and remembered to put a dollop of whipped cream on the top too. She was so proud when her piece of the pie was complete. And, while I don't have all three at home yet, I'm confident that they will sit somewhere in my kitchen as a reminder of their 5th grade (or middle school as in Peyton's case) years.
