Just for Fun

Savannah has to have pictures of happy memories from her childhood for one of her classes.  She pulled out the scrapbooks today and scanned these pictures.  I  have also been pulling pictures of her for her senior ad.  I actually have it finished now except that I want to switch out a couple of pictures.  I want a better picture of the four kids together and a better one with her friends.  

I remember this so well.  It was our annual trip to the children's museum, and Savannah was enamored with the the trains.

This is the only picture I know of with Savannah and her paternal grandpa.  Andy's dad died on Savannah's fourth birthday in an accident.  We had celebrated the night before, and she remembers how he tickled her.  I never forgot that I felt prompted all night to take a picture of the two of them together, but Andy's mom couldn't be there, and I decided to wait until we got together over the summer to take that picture.  That is why, to this day, I take pictures of my kids with every guest who attends their birthday parties.

Classic!

New Year's fun.  Aren't they cool?

Okay really, aren't they cool?

Children's museum.  I have another super cute picture of Savannah and Logan together somewhere.

Dinosaurs at the Children's Museum

sleepover with a bounce house

Birthday party

Just look at her now!  Senior photo by Derrick Dixon Photography

Since last Sunday

We said goodbye to summer swimming :(  Summer is my favorite season, so we soaked up all the sun and water we could on Labor Day weekend.

Wyatt prefers spending his time in front of a screen, so he mostly pouted and didn't even bother to change into his swimsuit.  He's acting like a teenager with the meltdowns and stuff, but we are a few months shy of starting the teen years with him.

Savannah and I squeezed in shopping on Saturday the 5th to hunt down a one-piece swimsuit for her senior retreat.  It made me sick to buy a suit that she wore for the retreat and will wear for the senior trip, and that will probably be all.  If she was easy to fit, I would have sought a $25 Dolphin Ugly on sale or something cheaper at Walmart, but Savannah actually has more success finding a modest two-piece than a modest one-piece.  We were successful in finding the one piece, and since she hasn't had a new suit in three years, I also splurged on a super-cute and modest bikini for her.  She actually got to wear it twice before the season ended.

We also gathered Labor Day weekend with the family at Tiffany's house.  Tessa and John officially announced that the new baby coming in January is a girl, and Tiffany provided the cutest reveal cake for the gathering.  We all breathed a sigh of relief and thanks to God when blood work came back normal for the baby this week.  They found a problem on the ultrasound last week that could have been nothing or a marker for some serious abnormalities.  It took several days to get the test results, but all is well.

After the long weekend, I endured a brutal four-day work week.  We went through testing administration prep at a lengthy faculty meeting on Tuesday.  We had open house on Thursday.  Doing those two things in the same week violates our contract, but I don't even care.  I did, however, pay for it on Saturday and even today.  I can't seem to get enough sleep.

Friday the 11th was insane.  I had kids going every direction.  I was on my own without enough vehicles and mom to go around.  I ended up spending $12 to get Julia and myself into a football game that we left 40 minutes later, and that was after arriving late so that we could pick up ponchos.  Savannah was drenched and exhausted when we left the game.  She had returned from her senior retreat that afternoon (she had a blast).  She was back before school dismissed,  so she and a neighbor sat with me in carpool for about 30 minutes waiting for Wyatt and Julia.  It was a brutal 30 minutes and ride home.  The smell of teenagers who had not showered but had enjoyed all kinds of outdoor team-building activity was pretty unbearable, and they were both anxious to get home to shower.  I was also regretting that I had not taken a bathroom break that afternoon.

Speaking of Friday the 11th, has it occurred to you that we have high schoolers now who were born after the attacks on September 11, 2001?  It's mind boggling.  We've had much discussion about that this week- especially with Zach.  He was in kindergarten and remembers learning about it, but we talked this week about the difficulties our nation faced and our initial reactions to that terrible day.

On Saturday the 12th I really tried to get a good picture of Austin serving us pancakes at a soccer fundraiser.  He actually did a very good job, and it was nice that most of the family showed up and enjoyed that together.

I returned home from the pancake breakfast and crashed in the recliner.  I planned to nap for an hour, but after an hour, I awoke long enough to ask Savannah to take Julia to tumbling.  When they arrived back home two hours later to find me in the same spot, Savannah suspected I was sick.  No, just really tired.  I took another two hour nap today.  The school year drains me, and because of Andy's current work schedule, I have more on my plate during the week and am up later than I normally would be.

I awoke just in time to load up the crew to go and celebrate Regan's fifth birthday. I had no idea what to get her, so just before Jonathan texted the group with some ideas, I went to Amazon and searched for best gifts for a five year old girl.  I do this every time I have a kid birthday and no ideas.  It works every time.  Regan is a precocious girl.  Her reading level is beyond anything her teacher has seen in decades of teaching, so when the Amazon results suggested a Melissa and Doug Sticker by the number set, I pounced.  Ironically, just after I made the purchase Jonathan sent the text and noted that Regan likes Melissa and Doug sticker books.   She opened that gift and was anxious to start working on one of the sets.  Regan was pretty exuberant about all her gifts except the clothes.  However, the grown up girls were all about the clothes, so we had fun with that.

Five years of joy are wrapped in this tiny package.  This girl is beautiful, sweet, and well-mannered.  She will tell you that her brothers get in trouble more than she does because she listens, and she's right!  Not to knock her brothers, they are fun, rambunctious boys who keep us laughing.

After Regan's party we were in a quandary.  Andy did not make it to the party, so we had to alter our plans so that we could return home so that Savannah could use his car for her Saturday night plans.  Julia had a game, so Andy and I were taking my vehicle.  During our brief stop at home, we decided to check the mail, and low and behold, the mail that day contained Savannah's first college acceptance letter.  While we knew she would get into this school (she's got six hours of credit from them already and is currently taking an online class), it was still exciting to get that piece of mail.  For the moment this is also her first choice school, and we will be visiting there in a couple of weeks for a reunion for her summer program.  She's counting the days to the reunion and is so ready to finish senior year and move on to college.

Yale is really courting her.  She has no desire to attend Yale, but in the information we have received, it appears that we qualify for so much aid there that she can go for as little as we would spend on a state school for her with all of the guaranteed scholarship money she should get.  That's with preliminary calculations without listing our dependents.  She may be able to attend for free. I want her to apply just to see if she can get in, but its $80 to apply, so that's out of reach for a school she has no interest in attending.

While at Julia's game, I received this picture from Jonathan.  Regan had already completed her first picture by the number.  It turned out even prettier than I expected.

Saturday was just a joyful day full of good news.  I can't share details, but we have one member of this family who is really going through some major trials right now, and it impacts all of us.  I needed a good day.  I really needed it, and I'm so glad we got it.

Our next two Saturdays are going to require some help from friends.  Any takers?

Busy cheer week

There was picture day, and another game that was moved to a different location than the original plan, and then it was delayed.  They wore their red uniforms this time.  I am more a blue fan myself, but the middle school cheerleaders wear hand me down uniforms that the high school has retired, and the red fits the girls better.

They are working on full extension on this stunt - so the base girls will hold the flyer above their heads, and they are doing well with it.  Julia likes the stunts, so this is a good thing.

The girls ended up on their home field, so that was nice. Oh, and they got their poms...it was unclear last week whether the girls would have them this season.  There weren't enough old ones, and they were worn out.

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.

School starts again...sigh

The kids returned to school today.

One of these three was sick this morning.  Another was in denial.  If you don't put your feet on the floor, can you pretend this day is. NOT. happening?  The other felt the uniform was too loose and needed a safety pin alteration.  

This is not the most flattering picture of Savannah, so here's another senior picture that I really like:

 She's a SENIOR!

Andy experienced morning carpool for the first time at this campus today. I experienced afternoon carpool and waited well beyond my expectation when I arrived at campus more than 25 minutes after school dismissed.  So much for missing carpool by going late!

The kids all had a good day.  They like their teachers for the most part.  Julia thought it was downright fun!  Wyatt was glad to have his homeboys in two classes in a row (his words). Savannah's still disappointed that she could not make a creative painting class fit into her schedule, but maybe we can squeeze something like that in at a local business. I am really bummed that her senior year includes no art classes, but she didn't really have any options.

It was the first day for my students too.  It went very smoothly other than the crazy high heels I wore that killed my feet.  I put on tennis shoes for Jazzercise, and they have not come off.  Oh how I dread putting my feet through that again tomorrow!  A teacher friend of mine posted that she will be in tennis shoes tomorrow.  I am not allowed to do that at my school:(

This is happening! She's a senior!

All photos courtesy of Derrick Dixon Photography


Remember that you can click any photo to see it larger.  My favorites are changing constantly, so there may be more to come.

We started with a beautiful and perfect setting.

This one may be my favorite because this is how I see Savannah with a natural and ready smile.

Savannah loves this one.

I love how the colors pop in these photos, and her outfits coordinated nicely with the settings.

This one was daring and fun.  We saw the cyclists coming, and Derrick just had Savannah step out in the street.  The bikers had fun with it, and Savannah loved it.  She could feel the wind created by the crowd.

Savannah rarely spends her money as she is diligently saving for a car, but she's a shoe girl so she will occasionally splurge on shoes.  She bought those wedges just a couple of weeks before her pictures and likes the shots that show them off.

These photos were Savannah's favorite part of the session.  This is an actual working bridge, so she and Derrick ran out to the middle and took quick photos when traffic was clear.

I tried to figure out how to put this one on a canvas and then chucked the idea and did a collage instead, but I may have to revisit this one.  This is Savannah's favorite outfit.  There's just only so much wall space in this house.

We stopped by the studio, and I really thought I would like the yellow against the black background, but I actually like the black.

This shows off Savannah's fun-loving side.  She's always smiling.  It's candid.  I love it!

The only downer- is it just me, or does she really look grown up in this one?  I blinked.  Seriously, she was two yesterday.  I know you are reading this, Tessa.  Hang onto Kinsley.  She'll be seventeen herself tomorrow.