Rachel's Recital

Rachel has really excelled in piano this year (which is good because it's costing me an arm and a leg) but it's been great to see her improve and how much she loves it. 

 She got a little nervous when she learned she was going to be second on the program.  I say it's better that way, so you don't have to sit very long with butterflies in your stomach.

She had a little trouble with the pedal in the beginning and then starting her second song, but she pulled through it beautifully.  I'm very proud of her. 




And this lucky girl got to have her Grammie and Pop watch her perform.  They visited us for half a day when they volunteered to be bumped from their connecting flight back to Brussels.  And they were lucky for having an excuse to duck out early.  It was a looooong, 2+ hour recital (pretty torturous) and sad because these kids are amazingly talented...it just all starts sounding the same.

And here are just a few pictures of her with her friends from 3rd grade.  She is now moving on to a new school, an "upper elementary" as they call it.  A school just for 4th and 5th grade, before they go to middle school...whoa, what a crazy thought...only a couple years away?!

For the first time ever she is a little nervous to begin school again.  Only half of her grade is going to the same school and it's also a much bigger school.  I'm sure she'll be fine.  She is really growing up, and it's killing me.  But I have really been enjoying having this bright, inquisitive, creative, fun-loving, adventurous girl around this summer.

Kate the great

So after Tommy's last Tee ball game we headed over to Katelyn's dance recital. 

I love her little wave to me before she starts, and then her little crazy head bobble when she gets off balance.  This video is of the dress rehearsal when they were having problems with their lighting :( but she did just as great for the real thing.  I was proud of her, considering back in January she spent the first two or three classes in my lap, too shy to do anything.

"I'm happy I'm alone if you feel that happiness is the truth" :)

Love those curls

So then on Sunday (Father's Day) we went to church, and then Rachel's piano recital.  Luckily Jake arranged for a friend to stay home with the rest of the kids because it ended up being 2+ hours long.  Anyway, when we got back we said goodbye to Jake's parents who were here for half a day on an extended layover, and then I went to the back patio to feed Lily.  Afterwards I told Jake I needed to go upstairs and tell Kate she needed to be finish up with the iPad because she had probably been on it for a while.  I went up only to find Rachel.  I felt a slight urgency to find her because I knew she wasn't in the house.  By the time I got to the garage I heard her crying.  I ran across the street to see she had fallen off her bike.  Little Miss Independent had put on her helmet (thank goodness), taken her bike out of the garage and down the driveway and got on by herself and was riding it around the court.  I'm not sure how she fell, or how long she was sitting there crying :(.  When I got to her she looked at her knee and I saw that it was barely scraped.  I picked her up and carried her inside.  We got her blankie and snuggled on the couch.  As she continued to cry I asked her where it hurt, and that's when she lifted her left arm and it was completely bent in a C shape!  I quickly found Jake, we put her in the car and he decided to go with her to the Emergency room so that I could stay with Lily.  It killed me not to be with her, but Jake kept me up to date with texts and pictures.  He even called to have me talk to her before she had been seen and she was even giggling.  So it turns out that she broke both bones in her left arm.  They had to put her out so that they could break it all the way to align it right.  Talk about a mother's broken heart!!!  But, she was awake again real quick and a fabulous patient.  She wowed all the doctor's and nurses with how good she was for the x-rays, the shot, everything.  She woke up from the anesthesia, looked at Jake and said, "I love you 29."  On the way home from the hospital she said, "They gave me a drink in my arm, but I wanted it in my mouth."

The kids and I spent a very quiet and somber afternoon.  It was very endearing to watch these kids care about their sister.  We had an idea to make her bed real nice and to give her Lambie a cast too (after all, she was on the bike too)

This girl was ALL SMILES, giddy, and silly from the moment she walked in the door, proud to show us the splint and sling on her arm.  What a relief it was to see her so happy!  She loved the cast on Lambie and the medal Tommy gave her.

The first day I let her stay in her pajamas all day and watch a couple of movies.  I was a little paranoid as she was climbing chairs and counters to get snacks.  The doctor told we shouldn't let her run wild for risk of re-injury...yeah, right!  You cannot contain a 3 year old!!  She seriously never skipped a beat.  She continued to be stubbornly independent about things like getting her shoes on and getting buckled in her car seat.

 

I think she's been loving all the attention.  Although, whenever somebody asks her about he cast she gets really shy and won't respond.  But sometimes after we talk to somebody she'll say, "they didn't ask me about my cast."

"Katelyn, you don't have to do your chores."

Pinkalicious!  Perfect.  Because taking baths is so easy

Later that week we went to the doctor's office to get it x-rayed again to see if it was still aligned.  She was cute as she smiled for the "picture" of her arm.  Then they casted it, she chose red, her favorite color.

I went to the dollar store the day after she fell because I thought our summer was ruined.  I felt horrible that she would have to watch Rachel and Tommy having fun in the pool.  Well, we got this waterproof cast cover and it has saved us!

This girl has been watching the clouds for months.  For some reason when she sees no clouds in the sky, it means we should go to the beach.  She seriously had been asking me everyday when we could go, I kept telling her in the summer when Rachel and Tommy were done with school.  Then the day before school is over she breaks her arm and they tell us she needs to be in a cast for 6 weeks.  Once again, thank goodness for the cast cover!!!

And the weeks have flown by...she'll get her cast off on Monday!

T om my Ball

So now we're into the end of school year craziness.  Each of my kids did only one activity, and it was only once a week.  Oh my goodness!  I don't know how I'm going to handle it when they really start getting involved!  Seriously.

First, the highlight on Tommy: 
I know I already posted a little bit about his tee ball this year, but he really enjoyed it and looked forward to it every week.

 What a great looking assistant coach...and fan.

 Bookworm

 Collecting dandelions for me because yellow is my favorite color

 He was so excited to get a trophy

At his Kindergarten celebration

Yes cute boy raising your hand?

He had a fantastic teacher.  She could have been my Kindergarten teacher, but she looks like she could be 30 and has energy and enthusiasm like she's 20

Yay Tommy!

Kindergarten was a success.  I was told he really liked the social aspect of school.  Writing workshop was a bit of a struggle, trying to come up with ideas of things to write about.  Reading has been slow but coming along.  He does well in math, and really enjoyed science.  Next year he is really looking forward to finally getting some play time on the playground.  It'll be interesting to see how well we adjust to school full day!  I'm sure going to miss my little buddy!