Playful Rooted

Sawyer’s absolute favorite thing to do is build Lego creations. I’ve been trying hard to spend more quality time with just him lately, so that means I’ve ended up frequently sitting beside him, building a lot of Lego thingamajigs of my own. Yesterday, I built a Lego bookshop, complete with café and cozy (well, Lego-cozy) lounge chairs. It was a thing of beauty, and I was genuinely excited to show it to Ben – and I’m an adult woman with a very full, grown-up life. This gave me a little bit of insight into just how special Sawyer’s Lego creations are to him, especially as a four-year-old with not a lot else going on, and why he goes apoplectic when Pria accidentally (or Luca intentionally) destroys them. Legos are a big part of his life. He has the right to love them, celebrate them, and mourn their loss. And then he can build something new from the pieces. Wow, wait, are Legos a metaphor for life?

Moving on.

This post is going to be a big photo dump from the summer because, well, that’s what I have time for.

I’ll begin with the highlight so I can trick you into thinking I’m a way cooler person than I actually am. My sister and I went to see Ed Sheeran a few weeks ago, and it. was. AMAZINGGG.

Truly the BEST concert I have ever, ever been to. Ed was incredible, we had great seats, the weather was perfect, the company was so much fun – the whole night was just an absolute blast from start to finish.

I know absolutely nothing about football, I can name exactly two Chiefs players, and I can’t remember the last time I watched more than 10 minutes of a game, BUT I do absolutely adore Kansas City, and I have a lot of hometown pride. So when Ed came out for the encore wearing a Chiefs jersey, I have to say, it was pretty fabulous.

This was one of those nights I truly wish I could live all over again. It was the most fun I’ve had in years!

Also fun – but in a different way 😉 – Sawyer learned how to ride a pedal bike with no training wheels! I am so proud of him for working hard at this and conquering it. Also, I love this photo because I feel like Ben’s pose perfectly exemplifies Every Dad Teaching His Kid to Ride a Bike. (And yes, Sawyer’s seat needs to be raised.)

I think I wrote in my last Pria post about how she loves to shove toys down her shirt, and when I pick her up, they all fall out? Here’s a great example. 😉

Somehow, we had never been to the Anita B Gorman Conservation Discovery Center until this summer – what an amazing place for kids to play! (I also wasn’t mad that Sawyer still had his helmet on from riding his bike when they started climbing all over this precarious structure.)

Oh hey, just a cutie being cute.

We were at the park recently, and when it was time to go, I told the boys to each pick ONE more thing to do before we headed out. Here’s Luca whispering to Sawyer, “Tell Mom the one thing you want to do is everything on the playground!”

Nice try, pal.

Sawyer is joining in our school lessons this year, and that has been such fun! (In Missouri, the homeschool year runs from July 1st to June 30th, so we started lessons about six weeks ago.) S has his own list of goals and handwriting books, and while we’ve known for a year that he was left-handed, it’s delightful to see it in practice.

(Also would you please look at the miles-long eyelashes on this beautiful boy? Best ones in the family!)

Ben and I went on a rare date for our 13th wedding anniversary in July – Ethiopian food at Blue Nile Cafe (locals, it’s a must!). The kids love this food too, so it was a nice treat having it all to ourselves.

We went berry picking in June and harvested a bucket full of raspberries and tayberries, which we originally learned about from our dear friends in England, hiiii Alissa and Ingvar!! x (Tayberries are very boringly called “black raspberries” here.) I wanted to make pie or jam with our pickings, but they were too delicious and we ate them all up immediately.

The sweetest cheerleader in town cheering on Daddy’s soccer team.

Both boys tried out baseball for the first time this summer. Both boys decided it is not for them. 🙂

We discovered not one, but TWO, nests of baby robins in our cherry tree this summer! We’ve had the same thing happen in years past, and it always blows my mind how things are happening right in front of your face and you don’t even notice them. Like, both of those nests had to be built, bit by bit, the eggs were laid, the shells cracked open, the babies came out, the parents collected worms and fed their babies and guarded them, right in our front yard, and we didn’t know any of this until weeks later. How much is happening without our knowledge, all the time?

That’s a road I probably don’t want to go down. But look how cute!

I took Sawyer and Pria to the children’s museum a couple weeks ago, and it is 100,000% easier now that Pria can stand up and walk! I don’t have to carry her around everywhere, and I can set her down in a protected area and spend a few minutes focusing on Sawyer instead of constantly worrying about Pria getting stepped on or getting stuck in a certain position. I am SO excited about this, and I’m planning for this to be our weekly activity on the days Luca goes to his enrichment program.

Both boys started their new season of soccer, and Ben is coaching both their teams! This has been sort of a dream for him since I was pregnant with Luca, so it’s really special that it’s coming to fruition. Here’s a picture from Sawyer’s first game (he’s on the far right). 😉

And here’s a picture from last year. Ha!

So it would appear not much has changed. He actually was way more into it during his next game, and I think he’ll make a lot of progress this season, but it was super cute and funny seeing him hanging back from the crowd again in that first game.

Luca is definitely following in Ben’s soccer footsteps – he looks JUST LIKE little Ben in his uniform – and I have a feeling this might be his sport. He’s already made a best buddy on his team, and they spend every second together on and off the field. Luca has never met a stranger – he enthusiastically likes everyone – but it’s still nice when he forms a bond with a fast friend.

I came across this gem in my photo roll the other day, and it never gets old.

My little miss sporting her first tiny ponytail! I never knew I needed a girl until I had a girl. I am L O V I N G all the girl clothes, hair bows, painting the tiniest of toenails, etc. What a joy it is to have a daughter. Most of the time. 😉

Our garden has been a little hit-and-miss this year with the torrential downpours and insane heat waves, but we’ve managed to get a pretty good haul anyway.

I took the boys to Trader Joe’s recently, and Luca was cracking me up pushing his little cart and leaning over to check out everything on the shelves. He looked just like a grownup doing his weekly shopping trip. He is such a foodie, and I loved seeing all the funky novelty things he picked out for himself.

We picked apples on the second Thursday in August, which was quite a coincidence because we also went last year on the second Thursday in August! Thus, an apple picking tradition has begun.

We braved the horrible heat wave last weekend to hit one of our favorite Kansas City events – the Ethnic Enrichment Festival. This is such a fun annual tradition with booths from a ton of different countries showcasing their food, clothes, and culture. We tried a bunch of yummy food from Kenya, Laos, Japan, India, and many more – and of course we had to hit France for some Nutella crêpes.

It was HOT AS HADES, and we were all sweating our faces off, but we had a good time, and I’m glad we decided to go despite the heat.

Now, I’m sharing the following photo for two reasons:

1. To show you what I deal with. I asked Ben to take a photo of me and the boys by all the flags, and here’s what he took. Eye. ROLL. I feel like you can tell even with the hearts over their faces that both boys are wearing horrible expressions. Thirteen years of marriage, everybody.

2. To give you visual context for this story: There was this girl there, early twenties, wearing just a hot pink sports bra and cut off shorts. She was flanked by two very nerdy looking gentlemen (like, from the looks of it, not people she would actually be friends with) with cameras. They approached the flags, and the girl hopped into the middle and struck this kind of rock star pose with her leg popped, tongue out, and one arm thrown up into the air. She then ran over to the boys to check the photos they had taken. Obviously dissatisfied, she then repeated the whole affair – same pose, same run to make sure they had captured what she wanted. This went on for about 10 tries until she was finally satisfied with the images. And then, they just WALKED AWAY. They didn’t even go in.

This was all clearly posed for her social media, and then she didn’t even attend the event. What??

The lesson, kids: don’t believe everything you see on the internet.

I will leave you with this. Luca was writing a story a couple months ago, and he asked me to read it and let him know my thoughts. I told him it could benefit from a stronger ending. Here’s where he went:

My man.

xo!