Catching up on the kids

Lately my blog has been all about the kitchen and pinterest.  I admit that I have been lazy with my posting.  Life is busy and some weeks it's all I can do to post anything at all.  I know a post featuring the kids is long overdue.  

 

Harper has been taking Tae Kwon Do for a few months now.  She won a free month and a uniform, so she decided she would give it a try.   She is loving it.  She was named student of the month for September. She is testing for her yellow belt on Friday.  She has class on Tuesday and Thursday.  Then sparring on Fridays, plus another optional class on Saturdays.  I think it has been great for her, but it is time consuming.

 

I had a conference with Harper's teacher a few weeks ago.  The teacher only had positive things to say.  She said that she was a very hard worker, well behaved, and gets along with everyone.  She is doing great with reading and spelling especially.  Math doesn't come as naturally, but she works really hard.  I left the conference feeling so proud of my sweet girl.

Harper is also a Brownie Scout this year.  She is still with the same troop.  I have been helping out more with the troop this year, which has been really fun.  She is part of such a great group of girls. 

The transition to Kindergarten has been much smoother for Miller than I had anticipated.  He definitely seeks comfort in having Harper around, but is also gaining more independence and confidence.  If you ask him what he likes most about school, P.E. is always his answer.  They are running in gym class to prepare for a fundraiser and mile run that is scheduled for next week.  He loves running the track.  He told me that he always comes in first when they run.  The Spanish teacher confirmed this when I dropped him off last week.  When she saw Miller she said, "Miller is the fastest kid in Kindergarten."  I knew he was fast, but I wasn't sure how he would do with pacing himself for a long distance.  I can't wait to see him run next week. 

I have a conference scheduled for next week with his teacher.  I am a little anxious to see what she has to say about Miller.  He doesn't provide much feedback when I ask him questions about his day.  When he gets a card pulled, he can never remember why (of course).  He has only pulled his card a few times, so I am hoping this isn't an issue.

Miller is playing baseball again this fall.  He is playing twice a week.  He has improved so much since last season.  I think he is finally catching on to how the game is played.   He even caught a pop up at his last game.  Mitch, who is coaching his team, gave him the game ball.  He was so proud (me too).

Harper and Miller continue to have the typical relationship.  They either love each other or hate each other.  They still hold hands most days when I pick them up from school and they are walking to the car.  It is the cutest thing ever. Most of the time they play really well together, which make the afternoons that we are home much more enjoyable.  Since we are on the go so much now, they seem to cherish the time we are home more. 

Catching Up on the Kids

Here are some random shots of the kids I took last week.

A bowl of water + straws = hours of entertainment.

Miller had a Pre-K Prom at his school on Friday night. I tried to take some shots of the kids since they actually looked nice. This is what I got.

Nice, huh?

Then my camera battery died and my back up was also dead. Uggghhh.

Miller's baseball game on Saturday.

Let it be known that I did not have anything to do with this outfit.

She is such a ham.

Creek Stompin' and Pickin' Up Trash

On Saturday Harper had some friends over for a play date, so my husband took Miller to the park. Once at the park they decided to wade in the creek and look for crawfish. They only found one and it was dead, but Miller was in heaven. He kept begging to go back for some more creek stompin'.

Yes, he did bring it home with him. He had to show Harper after all.

Mitch found this old plate too.

So on Sunday we packed up and headed back to the creek. Mitch grabbed a garbage bag to take with us because he said there was so much trash in the creek. The kids really got into picking up all the trash. It really makes you understand why we need to avoid plastic.

We only covered a small section of the creek and filled up this trash bag. We even found some crawfish that were actually alive. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

The First and Hopefully Last Bike Accident

Harper had her first very bad bike accident last night. It was one of those moments that seemed to be moving in slow motion, but it really happened so fast. I felt like I should have reacted differently or sooner or something. She was obviously not feeling really comfortable riding, yet she started down this hill anyways. I wanted to stop her and should have stopped her, but I didn't.

If she had just put on her brakes or if she had just glided down the hill, she would have been fine. The problem was she couldn't decide what to do and ultimately crashed. I watched the whole thing and it was horrible. I was too far away to know for sure, but it looked like her face smashed the street. She was screaming instantly. Mitch ran to her. He grabbed her and the bike and started back up the hill. All I could say was, "did she hit her face?" He said very seriously, "yes, she hit her face." I couldn't see her because she was faced the other way, but I could see Mitch's face and knew it was bad. As he passed me, I saw her and there was blood every where. We hurried home to further access the situation. She was still screaming. Mitch took her to the bathroom while I grabbed some ice. After we got her calmed down and Mitch took a good look at her mouth, he decided she needed to go to the ER. My gut was telling me she should go so I was glad that he felt the same way.

I stayed home with Miller and Mitch took her to the ER. It's a good thing I have a calm and collected husband. I truly don' t know what I would do without him.

I took this photo this morning. She kept ice on it the whole time she was the hospital so the swelling had gone done considerably by the time they made it back. As you can tell, she was not really excited about me taking a picture of her big, fat lip.

This is the worst injury that I have had to deal with so far as a parent. You feel so helpless, so much guilt, and so much pain. You wish that you could trade places. You wish that you could rewind time. It makes you realize how easy it is for something to go really wrong. You replay the scene in your mind over and over again. You want to just hold them in your arms and comfort them forever.

I know at the end of the day this was pretty minor. She escaped with no stitches and all her teeth intact. She is sore and swollen, but she is okay. I hope her confidence isn't shattered by this accident. She told Mitch that she wasn't riding her bike again until she was sixteen. To be honest at this very moment, I am ok with that.