T-Ball...We Will Miss You!

T-ball has come to an end.  Miss Adeline was very upset when her coach mentioned her last game was on the horizon.  She would play everyday if she could.  It has been such a positive experience for her.  We were so lucky to stumble upon a format that isn't competitive, doesn't take much of our time and is fun for the players.

Here are some pictures from Adeline's last game.  She holds her glove out the entire inning, just waiting for the ball to magically drop into it.  Eventually, her other arm has to help hold the glove arm up due to fatigue.  It is just so adorable.

 Adeline is so darn serious about this game.  She keeps her eye on the ball at all times, never plays around and listens intently to the coach.  If you tell her she is the last batter - the batter that gets to hit the home run as seen in the video below, she will get her helmet and sit at the very end of the bench.  She just knows what to do.  She is the most serious girl on the team and possibly the cutest.  I realize I am biased.

The stance. . .

Playing pitcher and throwing to first (they have to wear helmets in this position).  Did I mention every player gets a trophy?!

Home run off the T.



She hits a real pitch!!!

Last Day of Second Grade

Where did the year go?  They just keep going faster and I am in a state of panic as I type this.  My big girl is almost 9 years old and is technically a 3rd grader.  It troubles me.  However, I push my panic down and remind myself to celebrate who she is.

Savannah came into a new school this year and made an incredible name for herself.  She is known to be sweet, kind, and very smart.  Staff that I don't even know, confirm that my girl is unique.  I love it.  Not only does Savannah work to make sure these are the characteristics that define her, she seeks friends that are cut from the same moral fiber.  She found a good one this year.  It took time and patience, but by the end of the year, Savannah had done what I have always hoped for.  Savannah surrounded herself with a friend that shares her values. 

Savannah loves her new school and says it feels like home.  I am proud of her for making her transition to public school successful.  I am so lucky to have such an easy, sweet and successful girl!  She makes this world a better place.

Last Day of Kindergarten

Although Lila was attending "fake kindergarten" this year, I still found myself choked up on the last day of school.  She changed so much over the school year.  It is hard for me to watch her grow into a school aged girl.  She looks so much taller, acts older and knows more than we ever dreamed she would learn.  It wasn't a perfect year but when we do the math, all signs point to success.

Here she is at her end of the year party and on her last day.

Savannah walked Lila Grace to class for the last time.  They will not attend the same school next year.  It kind of makes me sad.

Stitches

Seems like forever ago, but a it was only 12 short days ago that Miss Lila went flying into a door jamb. She wasn't doing anything she shouldn't have been or even being careless.  She merely caught her toe under an area rug and, with her momentum (she was running), went right into the door jamb.  My heart still sinks when I think about it. 

I picked her up and saw the blood.  I know heads bleed a lot so I reassured her and told her that I would hold her until it stopped hurting.  I pressed a thick towel on her wound and cradled her like a baby.  Quickly, the tears were gone.  Since I hadn't really seen the wound, I decided to pull the towel away and that is when I realized it was soaked and my sweatshirt was pretty saturated too.  I knew the ER was in our future.  When I stood up to get the ball rolling, Lila became quiet, still, and very unlike herself.  It drove a wave of panic through both Alex and me but we put our brain before our emotions and knew that she couldn't be seriously injured.  I will say the blood was unbelievable.  Ten times more than what we saw from Adeline's stitches on her eyebrow.

After five and a half hours in the ER (she was fast tracked but it still took forever), Lila was stitched - 12 of them to be exact.  It was a deep and wide wound which made stitching a little more tricky.  She was so patient and brave.  Not a tear nor a moment of resistance came from her body.  Somehow, she just sucked it up and let them stitch her.  I still don't know how a five year old just lays down for something like that, especially when it is our so called Drama Queen.

The silver lining goes on and on but the more important points are this. . .

We got to spend five undivided hours with Lila Grace.   She was brave, happy and pretty darn funny with her head bandaged and princess garb.

Her wound could have been right on her cheek and instead rests in her hairline.  It will definitely scar. 

They didn't shave her hair thank goodness!

No concussion.

Lila was proud of herself (she isn't our most confident kid so this is a big deal!)


The day in pictures. . .

Her wound was actively bleeding for hours which required lots of unique bandages in the waiting room. We had a very attentive triage nurse.  Such a blessing.

From Tadpoles to Frogs

Back in April, Lila Grace went on a field trip to a pond. Her teacher scooped up a bunch of pond sludge and had the kids sort through the gooey mud in search of tadpoles. Guess who was the ONLY child to fully put her hands in and help her class out. Miss Lila, of course. When the principal was helping my girls out of the car the next morning, she mentioned that she had heard about my mud loving daughter. It was quite a shock for Lila's teacher because because Miss Lila is usually SO reserved in class.

Since digging through mud obviously tapped into Lila on a pretty deep level, we purchased nets and had a family pond night. YUCK! That mud is so stinky and gross. There was no way any of us were getting our hands dirty. It wasn't a problem because Lila Grace came to our rescue.

Here she is with her class. . .

(notice the pearls and mud)

Here she was with us the next day.

After a month of watching our biggest tadpole grow and develop into a froglet, Lila couldn't take it anymore. Over the past two days, she's been digging into the water and can't keep her hands off the poor frog. I think the frog was in her hands, or falling out of them onto the hard deck, more than he was in the water. His tail was shrinking - possibly, because I caught my daughter holding him up to the sky by it, and Mr. Frog was getting his hop on. He needed to be set free.

Today I let Lila bring the frog in the house for some observation time and she still couldn't keep her hands off of him. He was so tolerant. Could he possibly like her attention? The frog just took it, over and over. Here he is hopping around. Before motherhood, I would have never dreamed I would let a frog hop through my house!




We packed him up, along with another very small frog who was ready to be re-introduced to nature, and released them into the pond. Here are some farewell pics.

Bye bye Mr. Frog!

We still have five more tadpoles to go. . . Lord have mercy!

Word Ring. . . Done!!

Lila Grace completed her Word Ring in April.  Thank goodness that is done.  Every night we went through her Word Ring.  Some nights were better than others.  There was a lot of push back.  I wanted her to try hard to reach the goal of completion.  It is an optional program but I knew she could do it.  Lila didn't know she could do it though.

Lila Grace isn't a confident reader but when she puts her mind to it, she reads very well.  Her 147 sight words from the Word Ring have definitely helped her along.  One doesn't realize how many "wh" and "th" words there are in the English language.  It's so frustrating for little five year olds. . . trust me!

I am so proud of my girl for sticking to her goal and finishing her Word Ring.  Only half of her class did.  She was very proud of herself.  We had a little celebration to let her know how proud we are of her.

(Miss Lila was randomly wearing Adeline's astronaut suit the night of the celebration.)


 I am sure Lila never wants to see her Word Ring again.

Happy Memorial Day!

This year, I took the time to pause and give thanks for all of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.   I sat on the deck and watched my girls play carefree, with complete joy and happiness.  I don't know if it is because we spent some time learning about the Revolutionary and Civil Wars earlier this year or if it is just that piece of being a mother that changes one's perspective, but I value our country and its everyday freedom on a deeper level these days.


Thank you to those that gave their lives so my daughters may have days like these.