HOMESTRETCH!

We are on the homestretch people! Everyone else is out of school, but we are finally in our last week. I had one last lunch with Maddie and her friends.

She had her last field trip - this time to the Children's Museum. I was out of town so Tia was her chaperone.

Sydney's preschool is wrapping up as well for the summer. They still do a lite curriculum throughout, but a lot of her friends are leaving to head to their elementary school's summer programs.

Both girls are doing awesome at gymnastics. They both moved up to the next level for summer. Maddie is one step away from competition team, so we'll have to see if that's something she's interested in when the time comes. For now, it's excellent at building their strength, discipline and coordination. I am 99% sure I could never climb a rope like this. Maddie does it all the time!

In addition to gymnastics, Sydney has started her private swim lessons.


Swimming is such a critical skill in my opinion. We are literally surrounded by pools and swim several times a week. 

Chris had his BIG race and we headed to Chattanooga with another couple. 

He did awesome!! It was a much harder course than the one he did last year, but he kept his same time. As a spectator, I much preferred this course. Chattanooga is beautiful and Lauren and I were able to shop and eat during each leg while the boys were racing.

Spectating is more fun with a friend!

As I was pulling in pictures for this post, I had to laugh. There were about 6,148 of us eating ice cream. 

Other than eating ice cream and swimming, we're spending a lot of time with our neighbors.There's a great sense of community in our neighborhood and we really love it!

I'm soaking up my last Friday this week with Sydney. Starting next week we will have Maddie with us on Fridays. Lots of summer adventures to come, I'm sure!

Three more days girls - it's almost officially summer!

Stella

We said goodbye to our sweet Stella this weekend. It was very tough, and continues to be. 

I take comfort in knowing she didn't suffer very long though. On Wednesday, she jumped on the counter to eat my lunch I made (pulled pork) while I answered the door. She was her usual mischievous self. On Saturday we knew something was very wrong. She wouldn't move and, for the first time in 9 years, she didn't eat her food. We took her to the animal hospital and found out she had cancer and was bleeding internally. 

*****

When Chris and I got married he immediately wanted a dog. I asked him to wait a year thinking he would forget. He didn't. And, right around our one year anniversary, we went to pick out Stella. Chris found a breeder in Tennessee and we drove to meet all of the pups. We played with all of them but only one stayed by our side the whole time. It was obvious which one was our dog.

We picked her out but didn't get to bring her home for a few more weeks. And y'all. She was the CUTEST puppy that has ever lived. I mean look at her.

She was a total rascal though. Mischievous to her very core. She was playful and silly and kept us on our toes. She ATE everything. We got dog toy after dog toy and she destroyed all of them. 

She loved to dig. She dug up until last week!

Having a dog made Chris so happy.

We took her to the dog park to burn off energy. We also took her to Swim Day at Tom Sawyer Park which she thought was the best day ever. 

Most of our girls friends were scared of her (she was a big gal) but not Maddie and Sydney. They loved their Stella. She was here before they were and loved them so much.

No matter where we were, Stella was right there with us. She loved sitting under the swing set while the girls played or at the trampoline entrance keeping a watchful eye over them. It could sometimes be difficult to play hide and seek with her around. She was a loud breather!

She loved chasing bunnies, eating ANYTHING she could find and car rides.

Before her arthritis set in she loved taking walks.

She loved the snow!

Mainly she just enjoyed being around us.

The house is very quiet right now. With working from home, I talked to Stella a lot. We ate lunch together almost every day. It didn't matter what I was having, she liked it and wanted me to share. There is a space under our kitchen counter that is empty - she laid here every morning while we were all getting ready and out the door. 

Stella, we miss you so much!  

Leader Day, Strep Throat and Friends!

Maddie's school had Leader Day this year and M was so excited to be chosen as one of the three leaders for her class. She welcomed parents to the class room, gave them a tour, talked about their WIGs (wildly important goals), reviewed the 7 Habits (her school is big on the 7 Habits for Healthy Children), and more. 

She was so proud!

And so was I! I took the day off work so that I could see her in action.

Celebrating with some fro-yo after!

Maddie has been doing tremendous with her reading. She's up to a 4th grade level and reads constantly. It makes me so happy! She's reading Box Car Children now - I used to LOVE that series and think I might re-read with her now!

Maddie is our early riser. It's nice because now she can read for a bit before waking up the rest of the house. 

It was Derby here in the Bluegrass and we went to a neighbor's house for a party. It was raining a large chunk of the day but that didn't stop the kids from swimming. The pool was 85 degrees so it was actually warmer inside the pool than out! 

Cheering on Justified!

In typical KY fashion, we have completely skipped an entire season. We've gone straight to blazing hot. Kids have been enjoying all of the extra out door time!

On Tuesday of this past week, Chris woke me up complaining of a sore throat. Five minutes later Maddie came in our room crying of a sore throat. I took them to Little Clinic where they both had positive strep throat tests. Lovely.

I played working mom and doctor mom for a few days and thought we were in the clear! We had the craziest day planned for Saturday and about 10 minutes before we left the house Sydney said "my mouth hurts."

Syd is a work horse. Her pain tolerance must be high or she just doesn't get things as extreme as Maddie. We barely knew when she had the flu a few months ago. With strep, she was still playing hard but would regularly interrupt us to tell us her mouth hurt. No fever. 

We had dinner plans with some friends so she went to grandma's for some snuggles. 

And a popsicle.

Since Sydney was still contagious she had to miss our crazy busy day.

We walk in the March of Dimes every year with our friends Ronny and Kristin, whose daughter was born at 24 weeks. 

We went to Hudson's Nerf Gun Party.

 They had targets set up all over the yard with buckets of darts. 

Then we went to Lizzy's Tennis Clinic Party. 

 Maddie loved it! (And now wants tennis lessons, of course.)

It's Mother's Day. It is not lost on me the privilege I have of raising these two young ladies.

 The days are long, but the years are short!