Nina Turns 11

I am a week (almost) late on this post, but we have an 11 year old in the house!  I know I say this every year, but it’s hard to believe how quickly the years are passing as the girls get older. I can’t believe we have a daughter who is eleven!  She enjoyed starting out her birthday with a colossal Boston Creme donut (her favorite), she did have to go to school, but Mousey and Poppy visited after school and brought her an awesome new tumble mat, then she got to open some presents, have her dinner of choice (chicken tenders, mac n’ cheese and watermelon), and of course her double chocolate cake.  She said she had a great day! We’re so thankful God gave us Nina - she’s fun, she’s smart, she loves to talk, she’s sweet, and she has a kind heart.  Happy late birthday to our favorite firstborn!

 

 

Mother's Day and May Activities

It’s a little late, but we had a really nice Mother’s Day a couple weekends ago.  May is a busy time for everyone with spring sports, and the Williams had two games on Mother’s Day, we had one, and Bo had one, but we all found time to meet up for a great lunch at the Williams house.  The girls had a fun time playing, as always, and we mothers enjoyed sitting back and enjoying a nice meal prepared by the guys.  

Since Mother’s Day we’ve been busy with the ending of the school year and activities for the girls.  Nina’s best friend has Type 1 diabetes, and each year for the past 3 years, Nina has been a part of the JDRF Walk for diabetes with her friend, Grace.  It’s a great event to raise funds and awareness for Juvenile Diabetes with the added bonus of face painting, bounce houses, and other fun activies after the walk is completed.  This time we picked up another puppy to take home from the walk!  :)

  

During 5th grade in Loudoun County Public Schools, the students get D.A.R.E throughout the year.  I’ve been impressed with how the program was run at our school, and it seemed like the deputies did a great job educating the kids about the dangers of drugs, alcohol, and peer pressure.  After a year’s worth of D.A.R.E, the 5th graders had their graduation from the program this week.  It was nice to hear from the deputies that worked with the students as well as some of the students themselves about how the program has impacted them.  We are defintiely going to miss having Nina at Legacy.  It’s been an awesome school with great teachers, administrators, and kids.  She’ll be going from being a Legacy Labrador to a Brambleton Bear (middle school), and we can only hope her next school is as good of an experience as Legacy has been.

  

For all those wondering what Cayenne has been up to, she’s still busy stalking squirrels, getting plenty of baby dog time, and she even has her own Instagram page.  Feel free to follow her at @cayennethevizsla 

  

Sports Weekend

This past weekend was a pretty busy one for the girls’ sports.  Nina’s cheer season came to a close with their last competition which was held at 6 Flags in Maryland.  The event was supposed to be on Saturday, but it was the only outdoor competition of the year, and of course rain was heavily in the forecast for Saturday.  The organizers of the event opted to move it to Sunday, and it was a sunny and dry day for their last competition.  Lyla and Mark both had games on Saturday, then on Sunday, Mark and I had to split duties since Lyla had a soccer game and a birthday party to attend on Sunday. Since Mark was excited at the prospect of riding rollercoasters, he took Nina to her competition and I stayed back with Lyla.  The girls did a great job and finished their season with their best performance yet.  They won first place in their group and Grand Champion of all the Level 2 teams in their bracket.  

 

Mark took a video of their performance.  If you’d like, you can watch it via the link below:

https://youtu.be/17TDtgNTdFw

 

So, while Nina and Mark were in MD, Lyla and I were here for her game.  Earlier in the season we weren’t sure if she still had her desire for soccer or if she was ready to try something else, but we asked her to consider what she wanted to do, and she came to the conclusion that she really wants to continue playing soccer with her team.  Her renewed commitment has shown in her play recently.

  

This was a great shot on goal which the keeper stopped, surprisingly, but her next shot went in...

…and she was very happy about it!

 

As part of the birthday party Lyla attended later that afternoon, she received a $5 gift card to a very cool/unique candy shop that was next door to the trampoline park where the party was held.  After much deliberation, she settled on a large swirly lollipop to spend her $5 on.  She couldn’t believe that there was a lollipop bigger than her head, and of course that was the one she really wanted, but that’s a $25 lollipop!  Needless to say, we went with the smaller version.

   

Special Day

Last Thursday we had the awesome experience of meeting Simone Biles!!!!  She was on Capitol Hill to speak to a group of kids about staying away from drugs and alcohol for Take Your Son or Daughter to Work Day. Our good friend, who had a connection to attend the event, invited us along as well. Even better, it had been arranged ahead of time for us to be part of a small group that got to meet Simone before she gave her talk.  The girls were SO excited!!!!!  She was very nice to them and even signed her book that they brought along. It was definitely a day for them to remember!

 

And then because they both did great on their 3rd quarter report cards, we took an afteroon walk up to Sweet Frog.  I can’t believe we’re already closing in on the end of the school year.  It has literally flown by!