the harper & crosby project - july 2013

can't say enough about swim...and an open house

if you've been settled here for a while, you know how oh-so-happy i am with our swim school.  goldfish and our swim teacher, maggie, have been so good for us the last 2 solid years.  tonight, we saw how truly speedy harper is, as she zoomed across the pool 6 times in a circle swim with her fast-kicking feet.  and we witnessed crosby swim from the ledge to the underwater table mostly on her own with only some guidance.  it was a pretty awesome day of swim class.

there is so much i love about goldfish, but i mostly love that my girls love it.  nary do i hear a complaint or a grunt when they realize it's swim day and they get to see maggie.  these teachers are all so enthusiastic and supportive, and i can't talk enough about it.

and a heads up...if you're interested in swimming at goldfish, consider joining them for the back-to-school bash on saturday, september 14th from 2:30-6:30 pm.  this is a completely free event open to everyone, complete with face painting, a bouncy house, family swimming, food, beverages and prizes!

even if you're already a goldfish swimmer, join in on the fun!  and if you bring a new friend and they enroll, you get a referral reward!  how awesome is that!?

a summer road trip, part one

i have been a rollercoaster of internal emotions lately.  i started back to work on monday, and it seemed this year more than in the past i just wasn't ready for it.  then last night, we took harper to walk through at her new school.  seeing her little self walk the big halls, meeting her principal, peeking into her classroom, showing her where she was going to play at recess, eat lunch, have computer and art class was a bit overwhelming for me!  harper seemed pretty ok with it all.  i am preparing myself for next week with kleenex and big sunglasses.

there are still so many good memories of our summer that i'm hanging on to, and will be updating here as we roll into the school year.  here's one of our trip to virginia at the beginning of august.  we were set to vacation for a week in north carolina, and planned to make a stop at my brother and sister-in-law's house for a few days on the way in order to break up the long trip to nc and to spend some time hanging out with family.  we did this last time we made the trip to outer banks, 4 years ago, and it worked out well with drive time.  bonus that we got to spend several days catching up with my sib.

we spent a day at the national zoo, where harper pointed out all the animals we saw and the ones we might see in her board-book-turned-guidebook.  we ate lots of froyo.  we swam a whole bunch.  we visited chris and stephanie's new house, and took a stop at a national park with amazing views.  we made a must-stop visit to georgetown cupcake beacause it's just not a trip to virginia without a stop there.



we had a wonderful 3 days, and from here we ventured to the outer banks.  more on that to come.

the harper & crosby project - june 2013

jersey shore, baby.

i have a best friend from 3rd grade.  mary and i have been through everything.  she moved from california and i immediately knew i'd like her.  i invited her to my birthday party, the first she was invited to in michigan, and my dog gave her the warmest welcome by peeing on her sleeping bag.  nice.  i thought the friendship was over.  surprisingly, mary stuck around.  like, for 25 years and counting.  

we survived grade school, middle school, high school, new cars, testing our teenager limits, siblings, parents, college and accepting the fact that we would be at different schools freshman year.  and then the bomb dropped.  mary's family moved to florida right after her senior year of high school and she went with them, but she came back up in the fall to try college up here.  she realized over that year how much she missed her family, and decided to transfer to a closer school, like hundreds of miles away and at the complete end of the continent from me.  we lost the opportunity to see each other more often, but not the strong friendship we had built over the years.  i realize now that those kind of friendships can never be broken.  she has seen me at my worse, and she is still my friend.  what we have will always be.  

enter jersey.  mary got engaged on new years.  to a boy i had only heard of on the phone, through emails and texts.  they are getting married in october in florida, and of course, a shower and bachelorette party needs to happen.  mary's extended family on her mom's side takes up half the jersey shore, it seems like.  so a family shower was planned on the east coast.  it gave me the perfect chance to celebrate, see her and meet her boy.  except she didn't know.  i coordinated with her younger sisters, her mom and sis picked me up at the airport, and i walked into the shore house like normal and up to her room to hug the heck out of her.  it was pretty awesome.  tears, hugs, smiles, a joyful reunion.  and then it rolled right into just how it always had been.  all of her siblings were there, and i got teased by her older brother, just like old times.  here mama was there, and i was loved and treated as her 5th child, just like old times.  it was like we'd never been apart.

it was a quick 2 day trip, but it was fantastic.  i am so thankful for this friendship and so happy for my mary.  i am looking so forward to this wedding.  

the harper & crosby project - may 2013

the harper & crosby project - april 2013

tiny dancer.

oh, this post is way overdue.  like, overdue in the fact that harper started her first official dance class, a mix of ballet and jazz, about 50 weeks ago.  yeah, you read that right, last september.  i've had it in my mind to write a post of 2 or 3 about her dancing since then, but just never got around to it.  so because i had too many photos to choose from, i compiled a montage into a video.  from the beginnings of class to the costumed video week in studio to the rehearsal to the final performance.  enjoy.

and to note...there wasn't always happy excitement to go to dancing.  there were a few nights of tears and having to leave class early because "i just can't stop my cries."  there was a countdown for the last 5 weeks to how many more dance classes she had til recital (so that she could be done.)  and there were nerves for in-studio rehearsal performing in front of another class, which made me think she wasn't going to go through with performing on stage.  but come rehearsal night with full costume and make-up, she pushed through those 10 seconds of initial nerves and she danced her little heart out.  i watched from stage left during the afternoon performance, in charge of the 10 adorable little girls decked out in their perfect buns, rosy cheeks and stained lips.  i armed myself for the 2 hours of sit time back stage with sofia the first videos on the ipad and coloring books, and watched as they so patiently waited their turns to take stage.  and they all were amazing, receiving nothing but awws and smiles and giggles from everyone who was watching.  it was pretty stinkin' adorable.

and because she loved recital so much, she made the decision to dance again this year, but only ballet, because her jazz shoes are just "too big and black" for her taste.  she much prefers the tiny pink ballet shoes.  promise that this year, dance posts will be more regular and timely.

Harper dance 2012-2013 from Emily Petrous on Vimeo.

swim!

a couple videos i took of the girls' swim class.  they make me so proud.  goldfish is one amazing place, not to mention our stellar swim coach, maggie.

the harper & crosby projects - march 2013

the harper & crosby projects - february 2013

reliving our valentines day and chicago trip.  so fun, but i am not looking forward to the impending snow that will be returning very shortly.  summer seems to be coming to a close, with me going back to work next week and harper starting kindergarten in just 2 short weeks.  {sigh}

moving on

i don't have a ton of pictures to share, but i do have a few.  the weekend of june 15th, and the weeks leading up to it, were emotional.  we packed up our home, the only home we ever knew.  the home we closed on 11 days before our wedding.  the home we brought our two babies to.  the home that comforted us through so many ups and downs...sewer backup and basement flooding, renovated kitchen, two miscarriages, family deaths, marriages and babies of our family and friends, patio updates, re-stained hardwood floors, countless smiles and laughter and tears.  this home saw us grow from a married couple to a family of four + dog.  we put heart and soul into this home, and while we learned in the end that we just needed more space, my heart will forever ache for what this home meant to me, to us.



the drawers lay empty.  the carpets rolled up.  the closets purged.  the cupboards bare.



as we walked through the house one final time, and said goodbye to the memories we made there, my throat closed in and my eyes welled up.  i knew it was a good thing, and that we would love our new home, but it didn't make it any easier to leave.  it still isn't, even as i sit and write this post and look back on these photos two months later.



we may have left our house behind, but we took our home with us.  and we moved into a new space, with room to spread our wings and grow.  goodbye little house.  thank you for serving our little family well.  you done good.

for the love of maximus

did you know that when a dog sees its owner its brain secretes the same substances as ours when we are in love?



my kids love this big-hearted fella, especially crosby.  always wants to know of his whereabouts, always wants to feed him and give him treats, typically sneaking him food from her plate under the table, always uses his soft, furry body for a relaxation station and pillow.



maximus is so well-loved.  he is truly an amazing pup.  he's coming up on 9 years of age this november, and i can't even bear to think of the day, nope, not gonna do it.