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. 

First Place

She did it.  Savannah brought home the trophy.  This girl has had her eye on this trophy for four weeks.  Each Sunday she runs her heart out for a half mile which ends up being a fight for first each time.  There is always a girl biting at her heals.  In fact, that girl ran faster than Savannah ever had last week and finished first.  Fortunately, the trophy is given to the girl with the most points.  By finishing first three out four times, Savannah was that girl. 

This is our first experience with true competition.  Savannah proved that she does have a competitive bone in her body - I have proclaimed otherwise in the past.  Even after a long day at school which leaves her tired, she strapped on her sneakers and sprinted a half mile once or twice with her daddy each week.  She wanted to win!

This last week, we were all on pins and needles.  Savannah had to finish first or second in order to take home the trophy.  I tried to prep her for both scenarios - being a graceful winner and loser.  After all, a trophy is just a bunch of cheap plastic.  That cheap plastic had my girl a wreck last Sunday.  Those nerves paid off and she ran the race of her life.  Her best time yet.  3:18!  She ran a smart race as she hung in the front pack but didn't push to be the leader.  She knew the other girls would eventually drop back.  Such maturity for an eight year old.  She knew when to conserve and when to push. 

What I didn't prepare for is the trophy ceremony.  Both little girls were upset that they didn't get a trophy.   They did, in fact, run just as hard as their big sister.  In their eyes, they were in the running for the "beautiful, sparkly, trophy."  After the last name was called, Adeline burst into tears.  She came up to us and said, "They said Savannah but not Adeline.  There is one more trophy in the box.  I want them to call my name."  My heart broke for her.  She really thought they were going to call her name.  I can see why.  She has a huge crowd that cheers for her as she crosses the finish line.  Adeline is a BIG deal at these races.  It was hard to explain that only the fastest runners get the trophies because she knows, that will never be her.

The beginning of many hard lessons.

Here is Savannah right after crossing the finishing line.  She was over joyed.

Here is the source of her joy and her sisters' disappointment.

Miss Lila after finishing her last run.

And because she is so amazing, here is Adeline crossing the finish line one last time.   I absolutely adore Jeff Long.  He waits for her every time on bended knee.  After the trophy ceremony, he sought her out, got down on one knee, and said, "Adeline, do you know who my favorite person is at these runs?  It is you.  Do you know why?  It is because you come each week and try your best and work so hard.  You make me so happy.  I am going to miss you.  I look forward to seeing you each Sunday."  Love him!!





Finally, here is Jeff with all my girls and a friend.  Savannah was sweet and let Adeline hold her trophy.  This made her very happy.

Before I forget, I have to describe a conversation I had with Adeline once we got home.  She was still moaning and groaning about the trophy and asking when she could win one.  I dug deep and came up with a response that more than satisfied her.

Me:  Adeline, did you know that astronauts get a really big trophy when they come home from space?

(eyes double in size)

Adeline:  They do!  How big is it?  Is it blue?

Me:  Well, everyone is different because you get to choose your trophy.

Adeline:  Oh Yeah!  Can I get two?  I need one for astronaut Jet too!

That's my girl.  She honestly thinks she is taking a trip to space. 

Dance Recital

Lila Grace loves to dance.  She has been in a Creative Dance class this year and they had their recital this weekend.  She was so excited to finally get to perform on a stage.  This girl dreams of a future when she is singing and dancing in front of large audiences.  It's so not me but, it's pretty cute.

While I wasn't the biggest fan of the costume, I knew I had to sign her up for the recital component of the class.  I am glad I did.  Lila and her friends looked pretty cute in their fluorescent fishnet gloves on stage.  Here is a clip from the rehearsal.  She is the second from the right.  Her class consists of four girls and had to join a much larger class for the performance.  This run through is pretty rough because it was the first time the classes were put together.  I am proud to say that my girl, who has a host of motor planning and clumsiness issues, nailed the dance!

The girls pulled it together at the recital and looked like a cohesive group (videos aren't allowed).  It was fun to watch my music lover dance and skip her hear out.





Here is Lila at her in-class rehearsal, belting out their last "We Had Fun at Dance Today," song.  They were four happy little girls.