30 June

The weekend Lens......

Tons of lacrosse this weekend......first there was a SYL select team game Friday evening.  A beautiful warm night for a game.  The boys had a real clock and scoreborard for the first time. They boys lost by one, but it was a real exciting end.

 

Then we were road tripping to RI for the Bryant classic.  It was a fun first experience.  We enjoyed hanging out with the other parents and having the grandparents come watch.  The boys played awesome, really showed that they are developing maturity.  even in a really tough game, they didn't give up.  they ended up second place overall.  So proud of them, and we feel so thankful that we get to be a part of it all.

27 June

{This Moment}. 

26 June

Being on the team. (photo above is T on the 207 team-blue and white vs his own home SYL team).

Middle school is a new age.  So many more choices.  More pressure for parents and kids a like.  More intensity in Sports and School and Friends. It's uncharted territory for us.   Most sports have an opportunity to practice year round at this age.  It's a Hard choice to make to let them do it or not (personally and financially).  We were just starting sports at this age, now, lots of kids have been playing a sport since they were two,  There are arguments for both sides.  The Sports are so intense, there is so much practice, lots of pressure to "be good", and the fun gets a  little lost sometimes .  We decided to have a go at the travel team thing this summer.  So here's the keeping it real pros and cons.
      The Pros:  Meeting new Parents from other towns.....There are a couple of Mom's from the Lewiston-Auburn Area that I really have got a long well with.  They feel like "my people" (probably cause I grew up near there).  Meeting New coaches, and a paid coach vs. a volunteer coach is a new experience (although some of our volunteer coaches were amazing).  Having T have to branch out and meet new kids that he would have NEVER met in school.  It's so good for a middle school-er to step outside their comfort zone socially.
     The CONS:   Playing at an "all star" level means you are sometimes not even close to being one of the better players on the team.  Sometimes you don't even play (cause it's not an everyone plays philosophy) This really challenges the maturity level of an 11 year old.  So he left lots of practices a little upset about how he made this mistake and that mistake and coach didn't even let him practice the offensive etc, etc......(lots of over thinking) or say he's not good enough to be on  this team etc....
      There was tons of reminding that you grow more from being one of the least skilled players on the best team than the best player on the worst team.  There was lots of reminding that we would love him just as much if he was the mascot or the scorekeeper than the game winning scorer.  Lots of reminding him that Michael Jordan didn't make his High School team, or Tom Brady sat on the bench for two years and only got his chance when the other QB was injured.  Lots of reminding him that the kids who will be the star players in High school may have not even picked up a stick yet.  There is still so much time.  He could either quit or work harder, Quit or learn to ask the coach questions himself, Quit or bring himself outside his comfort zone and grow and learn patience.    It's challenged him and it's challenged us.
      So we're about to go into our first of three out of state tournaments this weekend.  We're sticking with it, we're working hard.  (anything that makes a kid work hard and get over his ego I'm totally about).  We're all packed, snacks, drinks, clothes, folding chairs and sunscreen (and prayers for an injury free return are said).  I can't wait, bring on the fun.  You amaze me boy, we love watching you play, go #127!

24 June

Monday......the first day of Summer camp.  B is going to Farm camp and L Rec camp.  They were all packed up, sunscreened up and ready to go on this beautiful early summer day :)

23 June

The weekend lens......

We took our very first dip in the new pool.  It's a little COLD, but refreshing.  Probably the best money we ever spent, not regretting it for a second.

T and J headed down to Stanford, CT on Saturday for a swim meet.  They toured Yale, went out to eat at Pepes Pizza and toured all the fun spots from when we used to work and live in CT.  The swim facility was amazing, nothing like you see up here. T hasn't been swimming a lot this summer b/c of lacrosse, but his times are holding steady.   It was a fun father-son trip and they were glad they decided to take the drive.

  B had her last challenger practice/game complete with trophy and ice cream party.

Took them out to pizza on Saturday night after the game and then we went to watch Dock Dogs.

We rounded out the amazing weather weekend with some more swimming, Trevor finding out that he made the SYL "select" lax summer team, and a family bike ride into the sunset.  It's really feeling like we are making the transition into these more relaxed,  slower, summer days.  I love it.


 

Weekend links.

I could have written this, especially the First Five sentences. She is so full of wisdom.
Love her script writing.
Can't miss fun stuff to do this summer.
Kids summer plans.
The Dos and Don't of running your first Marathon. funny stuff.
5 Minutes in a Mom's Head
101 Non-Electronic Things for kids to do.
Lower risk of Alzheimer's
Toxic Sunscreens
10 Ways to give your child a 1970s summer
Let me explain this thing called summer.
19 Signs you are doing better than you think
The real reason why children fidget

21 June

Oh this boy of mine.....three days into summer vacation and already he has.....

built a boat out of tinfoil
Read five books
Watched many episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy
Ridden bikes, scooters, and big wheels
harvested things from the garden.
baked molten lava cakes out of a kids cookbook with only a little help.
built a slingshot out of pencils, string and duct tape that shoots a paper ball
turned a bucket of chalk into paint
Drawn a design for his reading fort which includes a locking sliding glass door with a code locking knob. (Which apparently they don't make those type locks for sliding glass doors b/c he looked it up on lowes.com when he was making his materials list...how upsetting!).
built a pulley system using buckets, yarn and duct tape to carry things up and down the stairs and another to carry things across the patio.

20 June

{this moment.}

18 June

Last evening....

The boys 207 travel team had their first scrimmage against an area all star team. It was so, so fun to watch the boys play. Probably the most fun I've ever has at a game. The younger siblings were all running and playing so nicely on the side of the field too.  This team has so much talent and the parents are all so fun and respectful of the boys still learning (they are only 10-12 year olds after all). Can't wait till the next game Thursday against our own home team:)

17 June- School is out for the summer!

Rounding out another year.....

Oh, how much they have grown.  Watching them bloom and blossom,  overcome challenges, and find joy in successes.   Saying goodbye to teachers and principals, bus drivers and school buildings.  Today we will clean out the backpacks and pack away the memories from another year, it's bittersweet.  Summer we are ready for you!

16 June

The weekend lens.....Father's day edition......

You guessed it, more lacrosse.  The last games of the regular season for the SYL team.  WE have two games next week for the travel team and another tryout for the summer team after that.

In baseball, L was B's buddy.  She was mad at first but then loved it.

Saturday night Mom and Dad came up, we went for ice cream and dinner.  (I'll leave out the child meltdown at dinner part....they are so tired!) I've never been to Orange leaf...it was so yummy!

Father's day started off with our 4th annual 5K race.  My mom got 4th place in her age group! Trevor got a PR of 26:59.  Always such a fun time.

Then back to the house to wire for the new pool.  Dad always loves a good project.

Then BBQ, kids playing inside and out and just hanging out on the back patio.  Fun, Fun weekend rounding out the school year :)

13 June

{this Moment.}

12 June

This week.....
The First CSA pick up of the year at the farm....

The last full week of school means spirit week (Wacky Wednesday!)  and lots and lots of special events planned for the kids.  I spent the Day Thursday playing nutrition Bingo and making smoothies with eight elementary classes.  The Vitamix is a serious workhorse, So Fun!

We finally Lost that Dangling front tooth (at lunch), and then promptly lost the tooth but they gave him a treasure box anyway (then he lost that on the bus).  I think getting hit in the face with a soccer ball playing goalie the day before definitely helped.  Right now he's into Minerals (any rock he finds is a mineral that he has to promptly try to identify), and making Rainbow loom bracelets for all his friends.  He made the babysitter one too for her "Great effort" Playing yard soccer with him.  You just never know what to expect with this boy, he really keeps me on my toes. Love him.

T is spending lots of time with friends after school these days as we round out the year.  I'm really seeing the future before my eyes with this one, the letting go process is beginning.  His experiences, opinions and personality are all his own, not so much mine to share anymore (sniff, sniff.....)  Love how he always has to still hug me goodnight though, I'm not letting go of that quite yet.  He's such a good kid.  To think of how fast time is passing for all of them...well I can hardly breathe thinking about it, and how good (and hard!) it all is.

We rounded out the last piano lesson of the year (and thus the last waiting in between at the library) with some hard songs to practice for the summer.  L is excited that his song has use of the pedal and he has already learned it by heart in one day (sigh..).  This girl is going to a brand new school next year, in a brand new building, with a brand new teacher, program,  and special ed teacher, and principal!  Oye......I'm holding my breath.  But Summer, We're ready for ya!

9 June

The weekend lens.....

Six and a half days of school left (but who's counting?!?).

Lacrosse and baseball and all that Jazz....

He was tired after two games and it was WARM!  Great practice for his July games....

Sunday was the big Piano recital....T had to miss it for....you guessed it, more Lacrosse!  He didn't know where to put his hands at first on a strange piano, but did awesome (and he loves it!)  It was fun to watch some of the adults play who also take lessons.....maybe that's something in my future.   Video to follow.

  The weather this weekend made it easy to forget the last 7 months of crap.  There was going to the beach, getting ice cream, grilling and eating outside and making this fun new corn salad (recipe to follow).

Bre had her end of year girl scout party and bridging ceremony (to juniors!) at her friend's pool!  What an amazing space! The girls had a blast swimming and dipping sweets and fruit in a chocolate fountain. So Fun!

Like I said.....6 and a half days to go!  I can't believe it.....so much stuff and so many changes coming up, with a husband traveling to boot, makes for one tired Mama!  I'm so much looking forward to some downtime, hopefully in the near future :)  Summer in Maine...here we come!

6 June

{This moment.}

2 June

The weekend Lens.....Hello June edition.
The best part of this weekend was that I got to work Day shift on Friday so it was like having a whole extra day added onto my weekend!

Saturday started out with cloudy skies and challenger baseball, and a new friend.  The afternoon celared up beautifully and there were errands and gardening.

We're going to get tons of strawberries in the garden this year.  The trick, apparently, is to not do anything to them, don't worry about covering them in the winter (let the weeds that overtook them the year before do that) and let them grow like weeds.  Who knew?

The lilacs are blooming.....and I had to bring some indoors, which didn't help my little allergy sufferer (sigh...)

And the weekend wouldn't be complete without a leave the house before 8 AM Lacrosse Tournament (Sunday), and a 2 mile walk with all our gear to get to the field.  The weather was amazing though.  It's so cool so see what an amazing time he's having with this group of friends.  He says he is going to be so sad when the school team ends (2 more weeks!)  It goes by so fast.

We were out by noon so we headed down to the beach for some time in the afternoon to test out some new shovels.

Love the beach (people were swimming!....we were in sweatshirts...)
We topped the weekend off with 2 awesome cookouts and we tried 2 new salads (will share later), and ice cream.  Its going to be crazy couple of weeks with J traveling and the kids  rounding out this school year.

A Day in Our Life May 29, 2014

30 May

{This Moment}

27 May

The Weekend Lens......

Our long weekend started with a VERY early Lacrosse game on Saturday.......a Leaving the house at 6:45 AM early.  My Kid is the one with the pants under his shorts.  Smart move, it was COLD!

I love watching the little ones play.  They all love it.  They feel like superheroes dressing up in all the gear.  The parents and coaches are so good about encouraging both sides.  It's a hard game.

He's so excited when he "gets the ball"

The coach helping L with the face off his T's Travel team coach from a close by town.

Then on to the big boys games on the next field over (two games).  They played a small field game. Notice how some of the boys are taller than the coach.  T is number 25.

They played awesome.....best I've ever seen. He Scored three goals.

They all played pretty much the whole two hours.  The sun even peeked out for part of it!

It can get physical.....

SO love watching this game.....

OMG!  He's so big.....I'm trying not to blink.

Then we were quickly onto the first challenger baseball practice/game!

T was her buddy for a while  helping with skills. Such a good big brother.

It's really amazing to watch.....these kids.  After a while you can't see the wheelchairs and walkers and disabilities......all you can see are kids having fun playing baseball.  So many smiles :)

After the sports were finished, all the cousins gathered at our house for the weekend in celebration of four special birthdays, and a 50 MILE trail race.  WE took all the kids out for Pizza on Saturday night.  Hello party of FOURTEEN!  We put  all the kids on one end.......they were great.

We came home to some seriously good cake and presents......

The kids christened the new backyard with a family kickball game and ran around in the front playing basketball and riding bikes and scooters.

Then on to the slumber party.......girls in one room boys in another :)  They all slept way better than expected!

Sunday....J and K left at 4:30 AM for their 50 MILE race.  The kids played ALL day, I mean seriously awesome cousin time.  Kickball at the baseball field, hide and seek at the playground, red rover, Red Light Green Light, corn hole, basketball, bikes, and scooters!  There are really no words to describe how awesome the day was (and the sun even came out!)

There we no rules about shoes apparently.....

There was some adult Fun in the sun too....

occasionally I hang out with this guy....here's the proof.  I'm the worst Corn Hole Player ever.

The kids were so wiped that some of them had to take a Movie break....

Nine kids in my yard and living room makes my heart full. Love them all so, so much.

The guys got home, finally, feeling a little weak (just a little).  They had finished the race in 10 hours and 21 minutes..  seriously crazy (Did mention they ran  50 MILES!)

After that we had an amazing BBQ (even though it rained!)  and pack ups and goodbyes.  Just an amazing day......all those memories are going away in my little vault to carry me through my tough times.  So, so  blessed with this amazing family.

Monday, the Girl Scouts were in the Town Memorial Day Parade.  We had never done it before and It was super fun!

Then onto plating plants and the usual Memorial Day stuff.  SO , SO thankful for this life.  Seriously, best. weekend. ever.