Earth Day 2013

Spring is in full bloom around here. It's time to till the garden and get some things growing. In the spirit of the warmer weather, I've been urging Devin to think about a shorter haircut.  Although her hair is very thick and beautiful, it's a nightmare to care for.   And, I was WAY over the screaming and fighting about her hair.

Luckily, two of her friends at school had major cuts recently.  This seemed to inspire and give her confidence, that a "summer cut" would be ok.

So, it turned out more than ok.  She was thrilled!








This weekend, her school celebrated Earth Day with bounce houses, face painting and tie-dying.  She had so much fun...bounced and played with her friends for 3.5 hours.

This is Devin with one of her "BFF's."  These two are so funny together.  "S" is a year older and a grade up from Devin, but they get along very well.



Dev loves to climb trees & the ones at school are perfect!

Almost Seven

Every time I remember I need to blog, something gets in the way.  And, I don't want to give up this record of her early childhood.  So, I'm going to try and blog once a week or more to get back in the swing of things.  Honestly, she's changing & growing so much...it's hard to keep up.

She's just a few weeks away from being 7 years old!  She's 50" tall & 57 lbs, which puts her in the 80th percentile for both.  (Meaning she's taller than most kids her age)  She loves school, piano, gymnastics, her friends and many other varied things.  We spent a huge amount of time this winter being sick & are very (very) happy Spring has sprung.



Here's a sample of her cursive writing.  (Which continues to interest her)




Devin was SO excited to see her cousins and especially to meet the newest member of the family.





She's generally NOT one for babies, but this one is very hard to resist!




This age is wonderful.  She's so independent, but still needs "mama" sometimes.  She knows what she likes, but is willing to try new things.  We are witness to a full-on obsession with piano and gymnastics.  Her tenacity is paying off, as she will practice piano for several hours a day on weekends.  Same thing with gymnastics.  She does handstands and backbends all day.  It's exhausting to watch.




Mostly, we just sit back and watch her grow and be happy.  And, savor every moment of this age.  It hit me this morning that in just five years, we'll have a 12 year old on our hands.

One Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I can't believe I haven't posted since the 1st of the year.  What a bad mommy blog this is.  Oh well:)  I've been incredibly busy doing a few things, mainly caring for this almost 7 year old who's been sick (off and on) for nearly 3 weeks.  Also, her school's annual benefit was Friday night and I was the Chair of the event.  All of this, while working some and playing tennis most everyday.

This poor thing has been put through the ringer this winter.  And, I suppose we were due.  She only missed a day of school in the Fall, while others were out sick.  But, we're getting pay back for sure.  She missed an entire week of school with the flu, Type B.  It was awful to watch, she felt miserable.  There was a 48 hour period, where I basically never left her side.  She just needed to be held and encouraged to stay hydrated.  Tylenol and Motrin were amazing at giving her just enough relief to drink and eat a little.  Her fever was as high as 103.7, she was a hot mess.  

After 3 days of school, she sprouted a new (and high) fever with terrible congestion and runny nose.  A quick trip back to the Dr. said no flu or strep, just another nasty virus.  Thankfully, her school is off this week and we needed this break.  We're purposefully laying low, avoiding crowds and trying to rebuild her immune system.







I rarely see Flickers and this small one was trying to stay warm on one our coldest days.  Poor thing.  He couldn't figure out our squirrel proof feeder:(




The school's benefit was a big success, raising over $16,000.  In a crazy twist, I won the "Split the Cash" raffle we held.  Our Director tumbled the thing around and around and slowly said my name!!!
Trust me, we can really use the $2000.00.  My poor Mazda wagon needed about that much to get her back in shape.  It all works out I guess!!

Christmas Catch Up

It was a very busy couple of weeks to say the least.  But, we all stayed healthy and enjoyed the nearly 2 week break from our regular schedule.  My friend Debbie loves to buy Dev clothes & found this at the Target/Neiman Marcus display.  She wore it for the school's Holiday Performance, which was quite a treat.  The elementary class sang, "All I Want For Christmas."  Very fitting, since most are missing at least their two front teeth!  They also played the violin for two songs and performed a skit.

 

I made so many sugar cookies this season.  Like, I was officially OVER baking and icing cookies by Christmas Day.  But, these turned out really cute for one of my tennis Christmas parties.
 

I think officially, we had 2.6" of snow last week.  It was a perfect snow.  It stuck to everything and we had lots of fun playing in the white stuff.
 

I nearly died rolling these snowballs, the snow was so wet and heavy.
 

I was so proud, until she immediately wanted to knock it over.  I couldn't believe it & tried to persuade her to keep our devil snow person for a couple of days.  But, she literally begged...and I wasn't about to ruin this kind of fun.

  



 

Then, we decided to use the rare stretch of time Matt had off work to install 800 square feet of hardwood flooring.  It was an unbelievable amount of work.  Very, very hard work.  We started before Christmas Day, ripping up the carpet and padding in strips.  There were 100's of staples and nails to remove.  Our goal was to get everything prepped by Christmas Eve.  So, I suppose it was a Holiday to remember....the Christmas tree on bare plywood.

We had a lovely Christmas morning.  About 45 seconds after the last gift was opened, Matt started taking decorations off the tree.  And, that signaled the start of our very big project.

She was actually a very good helper & extremely patient while we worked all day on the floor.  My Mom helped a lot by entertaining Devin for a few hours most days and cooking some meals.  Our house was absolutely upside down, as we needed most of the 1st floor somewhere else.  There was a point when the kitchen looked like an episode of "Hoarders."  Every inch of counter space had stuff stacked high.

We hauled in 47 boxes of Acacia wood.
 

This is the prep work.  No wonder our legs, backs, knees and just about everything else hurt.
 


 

Devin took a spa break:)

 

Baxter took a plastic wrapping break.
 

The finished product!




We were so proud of ourselves.  Many spots took several hours to figure out & I would watch the time just clicking away.  The right tools were also essential.  Our friends, lent us the pneumatic staple guns and compressor.  We had the saws, drills and nail guns.  And, my Mom bought us two more saws/tools that helped tremendously for the door jambs and fireplace.  So, we didn't end up spending a whole lot more than we budgeted for.  For once.