Happy Birthday, Miss Independent

It's no coincidence that celebrating independence and this girl go hand-in-hand every year! This year we wised up and held her party on the weekend before the big holiday, so people could actually attend. She wanted a swim party, so we held it at the neighborhood pool. Unfortunately, they had just dipped into the pool when distant thunder rumbled. And for a lifeguard, that means a 30-minute person-free pool! Just what you want at the beginning of a two-hour party... So they ate some snacks and waited as patiently as they could, even playing on the playground in their swimsuits. Then, they could finally get back to swimming and had a blast.

We're not supposed to have parties at our pool unless you go through a reservation process, which is ridiculous, so we headed back to our house for presents and cake. They had fun, even with the awkward thunder-break, and no one wanted to leave. Sweet girls! Most were from her class last year, and hopefully we'll see them again in class next year!

A friend has a side-business of making cakes, so she made us these pretty swirl cupcakes in Hadley's favorite colors. They were beautiful, but also delicious!

When her actual birthday rolled around, she requested the famous chocolate cake again and helped me make it. 9 years old for this big girl! She didn't really have any requests for her birthday other than the party and cake. She's still saving money for her first apartment, though she would also accept Harry Potter legos or books.

We had a low key 4th of July this year with just a few sparklers and fireworks at home.

Then the kids and I ventured out to catch the city's firework show. Happy birthday, 'Merica!

Nothing like summer!

Ah, summer! Nothing like the unfettered schedule and endless hours of freedom. It sure can lead to some incredible feats of imagination, like this puppet show...

or this adorable Red Witch...

And it's definitely hot enough to spend time in the water! We were so happy to be able to go to Typhoon Texas again.

I guess 'unfettered' isn't exactly correct, since the kids still went to swim team practice every morning. Hadley's practice was at 7am once there was no school, and she diligently set her alarm every night to wake up earlier than she had to for school. Talk about dedication! Adjustments were made to have 'virtual swim meets' where each swim team swam at their own pool and then compared times with another team swimming at their pool. It still required a lot of volunteer efforts from parents, as we had 4 competitive meets and someone still had to setup/clean up, herd the age groups back and forth to the pool in the right lane, time them, feed them, etc. Here's what it looks like on Swim Meet Day.

H swam 6 races (freestyle relay, 4 strokes, and medley relay) at each meet this year, and O swam 7 (added the IM), so they racked up a lot of ribbons! Owen also bumped up to race with 11-12 year-olds, and had to swim 50m distances this year (down and back). At least meets were on Thursday evenings (slightly cooler than Saturday mornings?), though kids were there from 4:30-10pm.

Also, with my new full-time working gig, we sprinkled several summer camps in our schedule to stave off workday disruptions and sibling fights. These included basketball camp, art camp, Camp Invention (STEM), and dodgeball camp (at church). Here's Hadley with her week of 'under the sea' themed paintings from art camp. She still loves painting!

Throughout the pandemic, (well, starting in the fall of 2020), my MoMs group held small group meetings to continue our support of each other through this trying season of life. We met in our mentor mom's backyard once a week to talk, pray, and commune with each other when we didn't have a lot of other face-to-face interactions with people. It was a lifesaver! We got the kids together one afternoon once school was out. Notice how my kids tower over the other kids - I guess we're at the end of random playdates, although mine still enjoyed the water slide in their clothes!

We saw the cousins a few times. Here, they're all watching a movie together, and Will actually fell asleep right where he was sitting.

Lastly, June is for fathers, as we all know. We love this guy, and we're always up for cake!

End of the Weirdest School Year Ever

What a school year! From 9 weeks at home virtually to going in person with masks and new procedures, 2020-21 was a different experience, to say the least: 

• The kids got used to the social distancing and limitations quicker than we thought they would. 
• They were champion maskers, although Owen had to circle back home more than once for the all-important mask in the morning. They wore them all day, every day, except while eating at lunch or snack time.
• Hadley had all five 3rd grade teachers at one point or another, as kids filtered back in to school and classes were shuffled around to even the numbers of at-home and in-person students. 
• Owen had to stay home for potential exposure to COVID, but a negative test result the next day allowed him to go back the following day.
• No candy was allowed with Valentines.
• Recess was split by classes and the playground was segmented into zones to minimize student mingling.
• No parents were allowed to help in the classrooms or visit for lunch.
• End-of-school parties and celebrations were virtual for the parents.

Hadley had her 2nd grade teacher (Mrs. Cashion) for most of 3rd grade, as she looped up with them. We loved her, and she broke protocol and hugged Hadley on the last day of school. It brought a tear to my eye to think of these teachers with the struggles they had on a daily basis, and not being able to hug their students! This is Hadley's class' Celebration of Learning - each kid get academic and/or attendance awards as earned, and then an award voted on by their classmates.

Owen's class awards were bittersweet, as they were his last in elementary school! His teacher had a slide show of the kids throughout the year, and I snagged a pic of the screen when Owen showed up. He managed to keep the same teacher (Mrs. Reese) all year, and she was great! The 5th grade did their Celebration of Learning awards all together in the gym-itorium and each class posed together at the end. (O is in front in dark shirt.)

Hadley received the 110% (voted on by classmates) and Exemplary Performance (Honor Roll) awards. Owen got History Buff (voted on by classmates), Exemplary Performance, and the Hall of Fame Award for getting 100 on 3+ math tests. The State of Texas made them take the STAAR tests this spring, even after the year they had!, and I have to brag that they both did extremely well and Owen got a perfect score in math! He claims to not like math, but he can do it!

And Owen gets a special comparison of his first and last days of elementary school. He's grown quite a bit in these six years, no?

At least 5th grade got to have parties this year, both at school and at the neighborhood pool.

And the other end-of-year tradition - going through all the papers brought home through the year and deciding what to recycle or keep! Woohoo!

  

Working, Wet May, and Water Sports

The end of April saw a big change to our family in my return to full time work. At least I get to work from home, but it's still an adjustment for everyone. For one, my office is in the cat's room, so at least once a day, I get a lap visitor at my desk. She hasn't made it on camera yet, but there's still plenty of time. And look at what my sweet boy thought to get me for my birthday - a laptop stand!

In other news, it's been a very wet May...

which has led to some interesting sporting events. Hadley usually brought a book or two to her brother's soccer games. Here she's reading under the cover of her jacket on the sidelines.

Owen played his final soccer game in the rain. The team came in 2nd place out of 8 teams in their age group. Their last game was nearly forfeited because his coach and assistant coach were ejected from the game prior. Luckily, some dads stepped up in the nick of time and the boys played probably their best game of the season. Other than the coach drama, we enjoyed watching the Dragons play!

May also brought the start of swim team season. In between rain cancellations, the kids went to swim practice every day after school. Hadley was in the 7-8 group, and Owen had to practice with 11-18 year-olds! The excitement of the pool reopening this year led to the largest swim team ever, so the pools were quite crowded at practices.

The pool has been a welcome addition to end the pandemic school year! Check out the kids "dives"!

Someone was so excited for swim team season that she took a couple of months of swim lessons beforehand to practice up. They both put in stellar performances at their practice meets, particularly in backstroke times! (Note: the pictures only show the top 4 to save space, but there were 12-15 kids in each age group.)

 

Family Reunion

 We got lots of family time in late April, starting with cousin fun on the playground. 

Then Oma and Papa arrived! It was so good to see them after 14 months of pandemic separation.

They stayed with us for a week and got a lot of quality time with the kids after school. Games were played, meals were shared, and cat's cradle was introduced.

Headbanz made for quite a few laughs - something about a yellow bird..? It's kind of like 20 questions, but you are trying to guess the card on your own head that everyone else can see and, inevitably, your card is the last thing you can think of.

Houston always has plenty of restaurant options. Yum!

Another weekend, more cousin time. They enjoyed playing with the Nugget - they made good shelters and even a car wash (one of Will's favorite things!).

The kids went around and around for a LONG time going through the car wash. There were washers, dryers, spinning brushes, and ticket takers.

Hadley made an official agenda for Mother's Day. How cute is that? I think we accomplished pretty much everything on the list, including a delicious Italian meal.

We had a great visit with Oma and Papa, but they had to eventually return to Ohio. Thanks for coming to see us!