Parenting Moment #4,654

The other night for dinner, our family polished off an entire 2 pounds of meatloaf along with a salad and a big bowl of fruit.

#howdotheyeatsomuch
#noleftovers

Truth

There are few certainties in life.  Briggs leaving his shoes on the floor right by the kitchen door is one of them.

They Say...

Zach and I are doing a book study in our current Sunday school class about parenting teens.  I had left the book on the dining room table after church last Sunday.  Staley picked up the book, started thumbing through it, and then asked, "If I read this, can I just parent myself?"  As easy as Staley has been making our transition to teenage parenting, she kind of already is.

For 8th grade night for cross country, I had put together little gift bags for each of our 8th grade runners from the team.  Each bag had a picture of the runner taped on it and then I had written their name on the bag as well.  After the kids received their gifts, Staley came up to me and asked, "Why didn't you put my name on my bag?"  I said, "Oh, sorry.  I must have accidentally skipped yours.  I didn't mean to."  To which Staley replied, "Oh, I just assumed you didn't write my name on my bag so we could reuse it."  I think she might know her mother too well.  Although that hadn't been my intent, it totally sounds like something I'd do...and would have done intentionally if I had thought about it.  Guess I'm even subconsciously frugal.

The other day Staley had a cross country meet with a bunch of teams there.  One of the grandparents was asking what teams were going to be at the meet.  Staley named a few of the bigger schools that she knew were going to be there and then she said, "And a bunch of small schools with names that either start with Saint or end with Lutheran."

Briggs was asking about having a friend over the other day.  He was explaining to me about why he wanted to invite his friend, Jackson.  Briggs said, "Jackson is really nice.  And he's tall.  And he likes Harry Potter so we can talk about the books."  There are definitely things that make someone a good friend.  Not sure tall would make my list of friend criteria, but to each his own.

Briggs' room is by far the messiest room in the house.  The floor, dresser, and desk are always covered with Legos and Magnatiles and books and craft projects and drawings and markers and clothes.  The other day, Briggs proudly told me, "Mom, I picked up my room a little bit without being asked.  I mean, it's still a mess, but it's not a hot mess."  I guess we'll call that progress.

Ummmm...Okay.

Briggs had another soccer game the other day.  It was the best game he has played.  He had an assist and also scored an almost-goal.  The ref didn't actually count it as a goal, but it definitely broke the plane of the goal line, so we are counting it as a goal.  (Don't worry.  I made sure to heckle the ref.)

Briggs was excited after the game, and we had this conversation in the car on the way home.

Briggs: "That was my best game ever.  I scored 2 goals!"  

Me:  "Well, you made a goal, and you had an assist."  

Briggs: "What's an assist?"

Me:  "You kicked the ball to the kid who scored the goal, so you helped him score.  That's an assist." 

Briggs:  "So basically I scored 2 goals."

Ummmm...okay.  

Back to School

School started up just a few weeks into August.  I bought school supplies, got the kids registered, scheduled haircuts, and we squeezed in the opportunity for the kids to meet their teachers before it was time to start back to school.

Briggs is in 4th grade with Mrs. Mickna as his teacher.  (Grammie took him to meet the teacher night since Zach and I were both busy with a cross country meet at the same time, so I don't have a teacher picture this year.)  Both the girls also had Mrs. Mickna in 4th grade so we are familiar with her and already know she's a good teacher.  Briggs is excited to have his friends George, Jadon, and Jennings in his class this year.  Fourth grade brings about lots of opportunities-Safety Patrol (which Briggs was chosen to do for the first quarter of the year), Drama Club (that just started this week), and Hornet Buzz (which Briggs is really hoping he gets chosen to do).  It's going to be a good year.

Adelie is in 6th grade, so she has different teachers for each subject, but Mrs. Blunier is her homeroom teacher.  As they move from class to class in 6th grade, some of the kids in each class change.  She has friends in all her classes, but is extra excited that she and her best friend, Stella, have the same homeroom this year.  They've never had a shared homeroom before.  Adelie is still playing the clarinet in band and has already decided that Mrs. Zehr's ELA class is her favorite.

Staley is in 8th grade this year.  Her homeroom teacher is Mr. Trout (and she wasn't about to let me take a meet the teacher night picture with him.)  Just like Adelie, Staley switches around classes and teachers throughout the day so she has different friends in each of her classes.  She has homeroom with Lilian and Noel, and she and her friend Charlotte have the exact same schedule.  Staley is still taking chorus, but is not doing band this year.  Her early favorite class is ELA with Mrs. Hobbs.

We are off to a good start with another school year.

Where Did August Go?

Just like July, August flew by so quickly that it was hard to keep up.  We fit in some final summer activities before school started back up.  And then it was time to adjust our schedule, go to bed earlier, and try to get back into the swing of school days and fall activities.

Staley and Adelie attended a Worship Camp at a local church with some friends, where they got to learn about worship and then lead worship through music.

Cross country practices started the first week of August with meets starting just a few short weeks later.  Staley and I have cross country practice or a meet 5 days every week which filled up our August calendar quickly.

We also had a cross country pasta party before the first meet of the season.

We hosted it at our church, and the kids had a great time playing and eating together.

I know I'm biased, but I'm convinced that it's just good kids that go out for cross country so it's always a fun group to be around.

The girls and I went to help Kaysen celebrate his 2nd birthday with NTA friends.  It was a full, circus-themed party complete with bouncy house, piñata, cotton candy, popcorn, yummy food from Childers, and a bunch of NTA friends.  We all had a great time!

We fit in one final State Farm Pool swim of the season with cousins.  We swam, played on the playground, mini-golfed, and closed the pool down.  We were the last ones to leave.  It was a great way to say good-bye to State Farm pool for the season.

Briggs started another season of fall soccer, so we've been fitting in a few games each week of soccer as well.

Staley's Singapella group put on a 'Night with Singapella' concert that was really fun.

They did all their regular numbers, some new ones, some old ones revisited, and then they also did a competition between the girls (Singabellas) and boys (Singafellas).  Spoiler:  the boys won.

Staley loves being a part of this group.  Most of her closest NTA friends are in this group, so it's a fun opportunity to see them on a weekly basis.  It's also a great way to grow her skills as a singer because acapella singing is HARD.

And although our free and open days are few and far between, we took advantage of our Labor Day to check out the shark exhibit at the Riverfront Museum in Peoria.  I typically like to plan week-end trips when the kids have a long week-end off school, but with cross country, soccer, and NTA activities already on the schedule for Labor Day week-end, we just kept it a chill week-end at home.

We enjoyed the exhibit, I napped through the planetarium show, we walked on the riverfront, and just enjoyed a little family outing that we don't get all that often.  We also had some time over the week-end to watch a family movie, eat dinner with Uma and Papa, go out for ice cream, and just spend some quality time at home.  And it was good!

The story of August:  Summer ended, and school and cross country and fall activities all started.  The switch to the school schedule has us going a little crazy, but it's all good.

Moana, Jr.

NTA's summer Stage Kids show this year was Moana, Jr.  Just like Lion King, this was the second time both Staley and Adelie got to perform this show with NTA.  It was fun to see them grow from ensemble to Ocean and from Hei Hei to Tomatoa.

All 3 kids were in the Eureka cast as their primary cast for the show.

Briggs was a fisherman and a villager in the ensemble for this show.  Although he didn't have any lines, he did a great job knowing his songs and dances and performing them confidently.  He does a great job creating his character on stage with each show that he does.

Adelie was Ocean in this show.  She also did not have any lines, but the Ocean dancers were on stage for the entire show.  Adelie knew all her songs and ocean dances.  My favorite part of Adelie's show was when she returned the heart to Moana after Maui threw it into the ocean.  She had the perfect sassy little way of walking, smiling, and giving it back that really helped create that entire scene.

Staley was an Ocean lead (which meant that she was Ocean who did some different dances and moved the boat around the stage).  She was also Tomatoa, the giant crab.  She had one scene with lots of lines and the solo song 'Shiny.'  She killed it!

Staley had also signed up to work tech backstage for most of the other casts.  She ended up being an Ocean lead for most of the other casts as well as playing Teka for one of the casts.  Staley loves being at the theater and teching backstage, but she loves it even more when they put her into the show to help out the other casts.

The kids always love having people come see their shows.

Grandparents can always be counted on to be there.

Zach's Aunt Sandi and Aunt Jan always make time to come.

The kids were super excited that my cousin, Emily, came from St. Louis with her daughter and brought a friend.

Although Emersyn (Junie's big sister) was sick and couldn't come, having Junie in the audience was a lot of fun.  She loved playing with Adelie on the beach in Pentwater, and my kids loved having a little fan in the audience.

And having Avery and Isla get to finally see one of the shows in person after watching a number of them on DVD was super fun as well.

My kids love their NTA friends, and they love when their Eureka friends become NTA friends as well.

Each show is just another opportunity to do something they love with people they love.

I never get tired of watching my kids take the opportunity to grow their skills and expand their circles through theater.

Moana, Jr. was just another chance for my kids to learn, grow, and have fun while doing it.

Hooray for Moana, Jr. 

Next up...FROZEN!

What Happened to July?

Yes, it's September 4th.  Yes, summer ended and school started.  Yes, there were shows and activities and cross country and family fun that happened.  From a blogging perspective, I need to rewind all the way back to the beginning of July to catch up on our summer after Pentwater and all the things that have filled our time between then and now.  So back to July...

We celebrated the 4th of July with our traditional parade viewing and lunch at Uma and Papa's house.  Cade and Olivia were the only cousins in attendance, but it was still a fun time.

We did a little swimming in the Lind's pool after our 4th of July lunch...

and then had Uncle Rob and cousins over for dinner, hanging out, and fireworks viewing.  (Although because of Lila's allergic reaction to something outside, my 2 littles and Lila stayed home with me and just played Wii MarioKart instead of watching the fireworks.)

We took multiple trips to State Farm park with cousins...

and friends,...

on different days with different combinations of people...

to swim, play, picnic, and mini golf.

Adelie finished off her swim team season.  She only got to swim in 3 meets throughout the season.  Her individual event was typically the 50 free and her relay events were the 200 free relay and the 200 medley relay.  Her best time in the 50 free was 57.99 seconds.  She enjoyed swim team, even though her season was a bit disjointed with all the practices and meets she had to miss because of vacations, camps, and other obligations.

The girls and I enjoyed NTA's summer teen show, "Six."  It was fabulous!

Staley had cross country camp two mornings each week in July.

Staley had dance practice for her dance team 3 days/week. (It was actually scheduled for 4 days, but she had to miss Mondays for NTA classes and rehearsals). Staley's July schedule kept her hopping.

She also attended a 3-day long overnight dance camp in Bloomington with her dance team, where she got ribbons for showmanship, as well as for learning her routines and performing them well.

The girls performed in their summer Shakespeare show, "Romeo and Winifred."  It was a comedy take on Romeo and Juliet set in 1970's New York.  Adelie was Prosciutto, and Staley was Petruccio and Peter.  

Both girls had a number of different lines in a number of different scenes.  They did a great job memorizing their lines and performing on stage.

Of course, grandparents can always be counted on to support the kids as they perform.

The girls had a lot of fun with this cast.  They got to spend time with many of their NTA friends while getting to know other NTA friends better.  They weren't necessarily excited about Shakespeare when I initially signed them up, but they both really enjoyed the experience again this summer.

The kids also performed in Moana, Jr. for their summer Stage Kids production, but that will have its own post.  Suffice to say, many hours were spent at the theater this summer.

Christie and her girls spent most of July here, and the kids had a great time spending LOTS of time with Avery and Isla.  Avery and Isla got to come see both the summer theater shows, swam with us, played with us, ate with us, and hung out with us.  Probably the most time that the kids spent together, however, was used choreographing and performing a few new dances.

VBS filled a week of our summer as well.  I taught the 4th grade class with Staley as my helper a few days before she was gone for dance camp.  Briggs and Adelie both enjoyed the week of learning and fun at 'Breaker Rock Beach.'

The St. Jude Run was another July highlight.  Because of the summer Olympics, the run was moved up a few weeks and run in the middle of July instead of the first week of August.  The weather was PHENOMENAL this year.  Low 80's, cloudy, slight breeze.  We've never had a day this nice for the St. Jude Run.

The St. Jude Run is always a favorite day of the year.  It's inspiring to spend the day with a great group of people for a great cause.

The Eureka run again surpassed its previous fundraising record by raising $175,000 for the kids of St. Jude.

The St. Jude Run has brought so many great people into our lives.  Not only do I love the day for what it provides for St. Jude, but it also fills me in a way that no other day does.

The St. Jude Run was a great day!  Zach and I raised $25,000, ran the entire 30 miles, and enjoyed the beautiful day with beautiful people.  I'm so proud of how much Zach pours into the run to make it a success year after year.

Adelie and Briggs also did some running this summer.  They both participated in Red Devil Racers running camp on the few Thursday evenings that they were available to join in, and then Adelie did the Red Devil Racers end of summer race as a buddy runner with her friend, Rory.

Briggs did the Kid's Mud Run for St. Jude with his friend, George.  It was an obstacle course run where they got to climb under, over, and through various obstacles before crawling through a huge pit of mud.  He thought it was great!

Staley did a 5K over in Roanoke that Zach was timing.  She ended up being the overall female winner with a new 5K PR of 22:52.

There were Rising Stars and Singapella performances that had the girls performing in different venues around the community.

Both girls have had the opportunity to perform their summer solos with Staley singing 'Happy' and Adelie singing 'Walking on Sunshine.'

The girls also had a great time with NTA friends at the NTA picnic.  I love how their circle of friends has expanded so much to include all these friends from different schools and different towns.

Wow, just typing this makes me realize how much we fit into our July.  But between dance practices and running camps and performances and St. Jude and swimming and time with friends, we did find some moments to just slow down and be...ice cream and reading and playing outside with neighborhood friends and Legos and library trips and going for walks.  We squeezed some of those summer lazy-day items in between the not-so-lazy day schedule.