Pictures

As usual I did not buy school pictures.  When I saw them, however, I regretted my choice as both Wyatt and Julia took really good pictures this year.

I opted to take the two of them out for their annual "school" picture.  I wish I could afford a good photographer as I am rarely satisfied with my work, but I only need one good one, right?

one of my two favorites of Julia

I really like this one.

my favorite of Wyatt

another of my two favorites

I don't usually like photos of people laying on the ground, but this was a natural pose for Wyatt.  He did this himself, and I actually like the result.  Wyatt was not exactly a willing participant, so I am happy to have one good image.

Out of the mouths of babes

A day or two ago, Julia expressed this sentiment:

I hope that boys don't like me when I get older.  They seem like such a hassle.

Like any good mom would, I confirmed that her theory is correct.

I know.  I know.  We will barely blink before she changes that tune.

Carpet Shirts

I have dubbed these the carpet shirts because they remind me of those old fringe trimmed rugs that people used to put in their doorways. When the girls wore these for the same event, I had to snap a picture. I knew they would never purposely do this again. Austin chose to participate. He was not forced, so I cannot explain his sullen countenance.  

She's lovin' it!

Julia is loving middle school, making new friends, and can't wait for cheer practice and game days.

She cheered her first football game today.  The girls did great!  They were so pumped for the game, and much confusion surrounded the game.  We planned our entire day around a 1:30 game only to learn at 12:50 that it was postponed and relocated for 7:30.  We arrived at the field which happened to be at my alma mater thirty minutes prior to game time only to find that a lightning delay during an earlier game threw off the schedule so much that the game prior to ours had not even started.  

The girls got to cheer under the lights.  They cheered non-stop and fit some tumbling in too.  They have great stunts, and they only had two weeks to prepare.  Impressive!

Better yet, this is one sweet group of girls.  Julia loves them already.  Julia is a pretty amazing gymnast, so she did a tumbling pass with eight back handsprings (I am sure she will figure out soon enough that that is overkill).  The girls cheered for her, and Tiffany left the game following one of the girls and heard C say to her dad, "Did you see how good Julia did?  Wasn't that really good?" Tiffany said there was not a hint of jealousy, just sheer happiness for her friend.  I think we are in for one fun season.  I am so grateful to the friend who made it possible for Julia to experience all of this.  

The final piece to the uniforms arrived yesterday.  Wow!  You've never seen so much excitement over white tennis shoes.  They arrived neatly packaged in a handy shoe bag, and that just put the whole team over the top.  The insoles even say touch on one shoe and down on the other so they can get them on the right feet - as if that is an issue at this stage!  The moms were certainly chuckling over the enthusiasm over shoes at the game.

Julia's coach is new to the school and our town.  Mrs. T hails from down south, and I could tell that from her very first email.  She has lots of experience coaching cheerleading at all levels, and she happens to be Julia's math and science teacher.  She's super!  Mrs. T revealed to me that someone from the high school (I am guessing the high school cheer coach) saw Julia at practice and approached Mrs. T to inquire/ state that Julia would be cheering with the high school team this year.  Mrs. T quickly told her no and let her know it's not happening next year either.  I told her that is a-okay with me.  She can't move up until 8th grade anyway, but can you even imagine a 6th grader among girls discussing important high school topics such as homecoming plans and prom dates, not to mention the drama?  Um, no thanks.  What fun would that be for Julia to miss getting to know these sweet girls in closer to her own age?

It was a late night.  The girls could not wait to get out to that field and cheer, and they were really tired when it ended. We arrived home close to midnight.  I am sure Zach never played such a late game, but it was very cool for the girls to cheer their first game under the Saturday night lights.

Elementary School is moving behind us

Julia's fifth grade celebration took place today.  As I pulled these pictures, I must admit that I am disappointed in myself for not taking more.  Julia leaves this campus as a lifer.  She started there at two years old and admitted today that she's very sad to leave her friends.  They will move on to the big campus, but she is switching schools.

The celebration was nice.  I loved the class video.  I can't imagine how many hours went into that.   We celebrated her class and then had lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen. It was a great time with her friends and mine.  I had hoped my other two lifers (Zach and Savannah) would be able to make the ceremony, but Savannah's award ceremony took place at the same time, and Zach returned home from school sick, so he scheduled a doctor's appointment at the same time.

No tears from me today.  I cried lots on Tuesday last week when I withdrew Julia from school.  In fact I cried so much that I did not call the school to withdraw her because I knew I would be unable to speak.  I sent an email instead.  This is painful, and we got here so fast.  Really?  Shouldn't I be dropping her off at preschool instead of preparing to send her to middle school?

Julia wrote us a letter thanking us for her years at Rock Creek.  She reminded us that she made lots of friends and worked under supportive teachers.  She has lots of memories, and thanked us for waking her and getting her to school and to her activities.  We leave behind a precious campus at the end of this week.

Today also ended Savannah's junior year.  The AP tests she took a few weeks ago count for finals in her AP classes, and she was exempt from her other finals. Savannah only attended school today to pick up her artwork and return school materials.  She was recognized at her award ceremony for being awarded a spot in the summer program she will attend in a few weeks and for making National Merit. We are preparing to paint our dining room, and we love one of Savannah's art pieces so much that we may have to change the color we have chosen to be sure it will coordinate because that piece is going up.

Lasts and New Beginnings

On the same day that Julia performed her last elementary school concert, we made the painful decision to withdraw her from the school that has become our community.  You can see from the pictures that she is very invested in this community that has been her home away from home for eight years now, so while there is hope and joy in this decision, there is also heartbreak.  Please pray for me as I struggle to make peace with this decision.  It is purely financial.  If there were a way around it, we would not withdraw her.  Pray for Julia and for the jealousy that may ensue as she watches her friends move on and as her siblings continue at the school where she has had many good years.  Julia has great opportunities at her new school, but she has made her mind up that this will only be a one year break because we only need a one year break from her tuition.  We would rather she go willing to invest herself in this new school.  Julia makes friends easily, and we hope that will be true for middle school too.  If she ends up having a lonely year, it will be painful for all of us, but there are lessons learned even in that.  We are raising adults here, and life does not always give you your dreams.  It often disappoints, and if our children never face disappointments, adulthood is much harder.  I am tired of hard, but we can do hard.

As usual the kids did not disappoint.  They have a pretty phenomenal music teacher, so these concerts are always a joy.

We love Julia's teacher.  She could not have had a better fifth grade school year.

Julia also happened to be student of the week this week.  I guess we did alright on our video for her.  We were new to that process, but it has been shared with the principal and may also be shared with another teacher or two before she brings the flash drive home.  I plan to show it to family at her birthday party but hope there are no hurt feelings.  We really didn't include extended family in the video despite their huge importance to her because we were already running long on it.

Of course the kids then convince the parents that an after-party is necessary at a nearby ice cream shop.  It's not so hard to convince us.  They have the best ice cream in town.

We've spent fourteen years on this campus.  We're gonna miss this place, but we hold on to many sweet memories.

Julia's art

For whatever reason, Julia has taken to drawing this fish. She has drawn him twice, and I like the Asian feel of her work as she rarely embraces her Asian heritage.  The scanner split the image so you don't really get the full effect of the water splashing all around him, but he's still pretty cool, I think.

She built a machine!

Julia came to us about two weeks ago and revealed that she built a machine.  She spends hours in her room watching how to videos, making squishies and making wallets out of duck tape.  We are pretty impressed with her latest accomplishment. Her machine dispenses squishies.

If you click on the picture, you can probably see the price for playing the game.

Pushing a duck tape covered card into a slot on the machine pushes the squishy into the shoot.

You can collect the squishy from the door.

Opening up the back of the machine reveals the shoot where squishies travel to the door.

A homemade squishy complete with packaging.

We were snowed in again on Thursday and Friday.  After Wyatt spent 20 minutes vacuuming the living room and I saw no improvement, I surrendered.  My vacuum cleaner would not be returning to the shop for the upteenth repair.  Instead, it would be retiring.  I purchased a Shark Navigator which required some assembly.  Julia was quite excited about helping with the assembly.  She told me she likes to build things....hmm, do we have a future engineer on our hands? A home renovator? Contractor?  We shall see.

They keep coming!

Just a couple more pictures from the dance--rumor is that Andy was a dancing machine.  His motto: Go BIG or Go home!

An Enchanted Evening Part 2

Now that Andy and Julia are home, I have pictures from my actual camera and from the camera of my friend Sara who generously shared. Andy and Julia had a fantastic time, and Andy admitted that at the end of the night when they played Butterfly Kisses, he got emotional.  From that first dance to Butterfly Kisses with Savannah to this last one with Julia, time flew.  Childhood is indeed fleeting.

What a gift to have a picture of these precious girls under such an amazing sunset!

Everybody limbo! Oh yeah!  I almost won the limbo contest at my ten year high school reunion.  That's where Julia gets it.  Ha!

Check out their ride - a party bus!

We face another last tonight as Julia cheers her last game. I can't go as I am working in the nursery, but I will attend the banquet afterward.