somehow the girls 4 day school week has felt like the longest week of our lives. coming off the birthday high and last weekend's roadtrip and jumping right into school (for the girls and me!), and long nights of activities, we're all completely wiped. my mom has been in virginia helping my gramma for 3 weeks now, with 3 more weeks to go, and the girls are really missing her! she helps so much with the girls activities- driving and having food ready, which we are so lucky for! and for me, just keeping up with all the things- the backpacks, homework, reading goals, dance classes (including tiny 2's which i'm teaching for the 6th year), school and dance studio emails, my own school program (which i absolutely am loving and finding such purpose in!), art and trampoline classes for eloise, american heritage girls (catholic girl scouts) for betsy, voice and agency stuff for lucy, therapy appointments for me (life-changer)... it's all good and well. but as jon said yesterday "here we are... we're in it". he is the A+++ dad and teammate. he takes the girls while i do schoolwork on the weekends, picks up from late night activities, keeps the fun alive, helps with math homework, funds our lives, grocery shops, makes sure home projects get done, takes care of the dog, and this weekend is helping the girls with an optional library project that all 3 are insisting on and that i just don't have the mental space for right now. life is so much better together!

i giggle when we go from here for this one-

to here for these 2 within the same hour-

life is full-

xoxo,

-ivy

t e n !

 lucy jane is a whole decade earth-side! she's left sunshine along her path every dance step along the way. 

we  celebrated with her friends last weekend, and spent this weekend roadtripping to oxford, ohio for a family wedding. we made a pit stop at the crazy st louis city museum, and spent the rest of the weekend dancing, hotel swimming and loving love. jon and lucy leave for DC in a few weeks for her big ten year trip, and she opened her long-wished for hoverboard last weekend then went up to hang in her new tweeny room. life is good for this double-digit dolly.  

"i feel like i was born the day my kids were and that my life before was only there to gain wisdom for them" -drew barrymore

xoxo, 

-ivy

fun week over here! the girls had school picture day, which always means days of preparation followed by continued clothes drama at 6am the day of. this year, no one wanted my input and everyone chose their entire outfits head to toe. these sweet girls are growing up, and despite the dramatics, it's super fun having a household filled with opinionated fashionistas!

eloise started her long-awaited trampoline class, and she has quite honestly never enjoyed an activity as much! she bounded out of the gym with flushed cheeks and the biggest smile you've ever seen. her second week of art class was great, too. the whole class painted sunflowers, but she opted for roses. always doing things to the beat of her own drum. 

happy moments-

gramma celebrated her 90th birthday with my mom and aunt chalon by her side. amy, my mom, chalon and me have a trip planned to visit her for her 91st, including tagging on a weekend at the dirty dancing lodge where the movie was filmed. we were so surprised to learn it's only an hour's drive from gramma's!! cannot wait.

next weekend, jon's cousin courtney is getting married in indiana, so we're pulling the kids from school friday and making a roadtrip out of it! we've heard such great things about the city museum in st. louis, and that's our first stop! this also happens to be the weekend of lucy's tenth birthday!! i can hardly believe a whole decade of dancing through life. we partied with her closest school and dance friends with an urban air celebration last night-

and in other lucy news, she signed with a talent agency this past week. she's been asking for months to try on-camera acting and print work, so after lots of research and many discussions about the financial responsibilities and expectations that come with this work, we submitted her headshots to a local casting director, who put us in contact with a local talent agency. she was beyond excited to interview, and was poised and well-spoken throughout. it's fun to see her come into her own! after good conversation, they offered her a contract. it will be fun to see her get some cute jobs!

jon brought the girls to manhattan for the weekend for college gameday, so i have an empty house and a long list to tackle!

xoxo, 

-ivy