Torrential Rain

Last week with all the flash floods we had rivers flowing down our street and in our yard. We let the kids loose and they had a blast running and playing in the water. Nothing like playing in the rain on a warm spring evening.

Author Share

Last week I got to go in to Zachary's class for their author share. All the kids took turn reading a book they had written, published and illustrated. I just love being in the classroom. This guy has had such a great year. He loves reading and writing and learning in general. This book was titled "The Aliens and The Witch."

Soccer, Ballet, and T-ball

It's the end of May, and that means the end of another season of spring sports. Regular season soccer is over, but they are playing in a tournament in two weeks and so have practice twice a week until then. They had an incredible season and only lost one game. McKenna scored at least once in almost every game Abby had multiple goals as well. It was really great for these girls to be on the same team together. They enjoyed cheering each other on and I enjoyed how it simplified things a whole lot! :) This coming fall I'm anticipating three different soccer practices in the week and three different games each Saturday. These are some of my favorite shots from the season.

McKenna strikes fear into the heart of her opponents..."Don't hurt me!"

Abby is head and shoulders above the competition

McKenna played one quarter of goalie each game...she was a good little goalie and only got scored on one time.

Going in for the goal!

I love this shot...both girls together going after the ball.

Abby making a great defensive stop

Another goal

Abby has been taking ballet now for two years. It is amazing to see her dance and the natural grace and beauty that she has. She is our beautiful ballerina.

After the three games we have this week, t-ball will officially be over as well. Zachary has had a great season and really showed some amazing improvement from last year. He can hit the ball all the way out to the fence, catch and throw the ball so much better, and run the bases 4 seconds faster then he did last year. He loved to play first base this year and usually played it at least once each game. He also made great plays and got at least one out each game as well. Not to mention, he just looks so handsome in that little uniform!

Note To Self:

When my dog suddenly jumps out of the car and chases the kids into the school it's important to at least have three things:

1: Not be in your P.J.'s

2: Have shoes on

3: At least be wearing a bra

None of which I had.

McKenna is running down the halls chasing her.

Kids are screaming with excitement. After all, a dog is running through the halls! That doesn't happen every day.

The principle is on her walkie-talkie saying, "There is a dog named Sadie running down the halls, someone try to stop her."

As mad at as I am at that little dog, I have to just laugh cause it's pretty funny.

Faith Building Experiences

As a parent I want these for my children.

Opportunities and experiences that build their faith and testimony. Times when they rely on the Lord, seek Him in honest, fervent prayer and know that He is aware of them regardless the outcome.

But there is also a conflicting emotion. I want to protect and shelter. Shield them from disappointment and heartache. I want things to be easy and to go their way.

As hard as it may be, as much as I might stew and fret over hard things, I'll take those faith building experiences. Not only for the lessons it will teach them and the strength they will gain, but for things I will learn as I watch my children go through them.

And now for the experience....please bear with me as I work my way through this long story and the emotions that go with it.

McKenna loves soccer. She has dreams of continuing on through high school, college and even coaching when she's a mom. She talks about it all the time. And she's good for the little eight year old girl that she is. She is blessed with raw athletic talent. This week we have been involved in Challenge Tryouts for soccer. She is in the age group of girls 8-10, so is the youngest of the pack. It is a two day event, with rotating coaches grading their play. Bret took her to the first day earlier in the week, pulled up and thought he might be in the wrong age group because a group of girls were dribbling the ball of their knee about 10 times in a row. He said the atmosphere was very intense, with parents jocking for what scrimmage team their daughter would be placed on. Then they played for an hour and a half straight with no subbing. They did stop however to time a foot race.

While Bret was with McKenna at tryouts, I was with the rest of the kids at a going away party at a friends house for MBA students who are graduating and moving on. It was a blast. Good food. A giant bounce house. Great friends. Yet the whole time my stomach was in knots. I was having a hard time focusing on conversations because my mind kept drifting to McKenna and wondering how she was doing. I was so stressed. And because I was feeling that way my mind kept coming back to two main thoughts:

Thought Number 1: What was WRONG with me! Am I really so competitive? I have got to learn how to manage this because I have years of my children's sports ahead of me.

Thought Number 2: How sad that society has come to the point where kids have to pick a sport at so young an age and play it year round and at club level in order to play at the high school level. What happened to the days where they played a different sport every season? How sad that my little eight year old daughter was in such an intense environment, being judged if she was "good enough" over something that she loves so much.

We kept telling McKenna leading up to these tryouts that the worst case scenario is that she still plays soccer next fall and spring, just on a recreation team. That's not a bad worst-case scenario if you ask me! But she really wants this, and I have to be honest, I want it for her as well. (There's that competitive side of me coming out again!)

After the first day of tryouts she was pretty pleased with herself. She was on a dominate team who won their game 8-0 and she had 2 of the 8 goals. She was the fastest at the foot race in her group. But she thought she made some bad passes when people weren't open and passed sometimes when she should have tried to score instead. She was really looking forward to day two where she was going to play hard, have fun, and work on the areas she thought she could improve at.

And then it rained. And rained. And rained some more.

Day two of tryouts were rescheduled...to this coming Sunday.

Now as part of our religious observance and faith we do not participate in athletics on Sunday.

I was just sick. Pit in my stomach, the whole thing. I was worried about telling her and how she would take it. I made phone calls to the organization explaining the reasons she would not be there and asking if there was some other way for her to be evaluated. I sought reassurance that she still had a chance, or that they thought she had done well the first day. I was told she would not be penalized for not coming to day two of tryouts but that it is always better to have more exposure to be evaluated on. And that was it.

How was I going to tell her? How would she take it? How was she going to feel?

When she got home from school I pulled her aside and said I needed to talk to her about something. She said, "I already know, Challenge was changed to Sunday." I asked her how she felt about it and she said, "Well, I'm not going to do it. I feel sad and frustrated."

I told her I was proud of her for being obedient. We talked about how blessings come to those who are obedient. I told her that maybe that blessing will be she'll still make it. Maybe she wont make it and she'll be blessed with a stronger testimony. We don't know what blessings will come, only that they WILL come. We talked about what a great opportunity this was to exercise faith and trust in Heavenly Father's plan for her.

Not only is this a good experience for her, but for our whole family. When Abby learned what happened the first words out of her mouth were, "I'm going to fast for her." I later told McKenna that and she paused and asked, "Can you fast for yourself?" We've had such great discussions from this. We've united in prayer and faith on her behalf.

One thing I love about McKenna through this is how positive and joyful she has been. She never once asked to make an exception and still tryout. Later when I asked her how she was feeling she said she was feeling good and that she had faith things would be OK. When I look at her and see her calm inner faith and strength, I feel an overwhelming gratitude for her and the strong daughter of God that she is.

There is another single day tryout in the fall as each team will be left with one opening to fill. If she doesn't make it now, she can work hard and try again then. And she would do just that. Already the past two days she has spent hours after school in the back yard. She has set up cones to work on dribbling and ball control. She's moved the cones into goals and practiced her kicking and goals. Not making it right now could actually be a good thing because that would motivate her in to really working on some skill development this summer. And knowing this girl, she would work HARD!

This morning as I was getting ready I was thinking about how truly grateful I am for this experience, even though yesterday I was so upset about it. I thought back to when I was eight years old. I'm sure I must have realized that not everyone was members of our church and held different values. But at age eight I was never faced with a situation where I had to make a hard choice. I never had to take a stand for what I believed in. I never had to choose between something I loved and wanted to do and keeping the commandments. These kids are so good and so strong. They learn early on how to make hard decisions even when everyone around them are doing different things. They learn about what it means to truly live their faith and how that makes them different. They learn that sometimes doing the right thing can be very hard. They learn about how much their Father in Heaven loves them.

McKenna is right in the midst of this faith building experience.

I couldn't be more grateful.

And come what may, this fall she will still be playing soccer.

Field Trip to Jamestown

Last month I was lucky enough to go on a field trip with Abby's class to Jamestown. We met at the school at 6:30 a.m. to board charter buses for the two hour trip down. Abby was so excited for this field trip. The night before she woke up at 1:00, got up and checked the time. Did the same thing at 3:30, and then was up and started getting herself ready at 5:15. She said she kept telling herself "trust in Mom, she wont sleep in" to try to get herself back to sleep but to no avail. :) Sweet girl.

I LOVED Jamestown. It was so fun to go with her and spend the day together. As we were walking around she would always grab my hand to hold and I thought to myself that I needed to cherish such moments. In one year she will be entering Middle School and I'm sure will NOT be wanting to hold my hand on field trips then!!!

One of my favorite things was seeing the replica's of the ships. We got to go on board two of them and I had no idea how small they really were. Man oh man, not a pleasant journey.

Abby, Malina and Jade

Abigail and Evelyn

One thing that I really loved about Jamestown was all the hand on learning stations that were everywhere. Here the kids learned how the native Indians carved out canoe's and then got to try it for themselves.

A window at the back of the church...I loved how the light streamed in to the dark building.

After staying together as a class and then eating lunch, I got to spend a few hours with this group of kiddo's. I always love going on field trips with my kids. It's fun to see them with their class and friends. But most of all I love that they want me there with them.

Zero to Fame in 1 Minute 25 Seconds

One minute twenty five seconds.

That's how long it takes McKenna to run a quarter of a mile.

She is FAST!!!!

In her words she has told us, "I'm famous because I can run so fast." We smiled and laughed to ourselves.

This week they were timed again so the school could form teams for a city wide relay race. She was two seconds slower then the fastest boy in second grade, making her the second fastest in second grade and fastest girl. The school is forming two teams so she gets to be on one of the teams. Each team has an 6, 7, 8 and 9 year old on it.

Yesterday I happened to be at school and saw a first grade teacher I know. She stopped me and said, "I heard about McKenna's time. Is she going to do the dash?" I started laughing and repeated the words of McKenna that she was "famous." The teacher stopped, grabbed my arm, and said, "Oh yes, she really is. She is the talk of the halls from first grade all the way up to fifth grade. The first graders are saying, 'Did you hear McKenna Crane is only two seconds slower then Joseph and faster then most the fifth graders?' and the fifth graders are saying, 'Did you hear about that girl in second grade who can run so fast?'"

I just had to laugh. I guess McKenna was right.

And there you have it, fame in elementary school!

Cars and Trucks

Gavin loves "parking" his cars and trucks all over the house. I find them lined up on the floor, the coach, and our bench all the time. Many times they are grouped by color or size. He just loves them.

Cole

I can't believe it's already been 3 1/2 months with this little guy in our home. 3 1/2 months and I haven't even put up one picture of him. So here he is. The cute adorable little 20 month old that spends four days a week with us. It has been a joy to have him around. He is good, sweet and kind. He has been so good for Gavin, teaching him valuable lessons about sharing and watching out for younger little ones. Not to mention the play mate it provides for him. Cole loves our family, especially the kids. He and Gavin have a close relationship, their own secret little language and inside jokes. Cole has been a blessing for our family in multiple ways and we'll miss him next month when he moves.