3rd Cheer Competition

For the past 2 or so months, Arabella and her Diamonds teammates have been working so very hard on their competition routine. Never once, has she complained about going to practice or tumbling. She loves it that much. She has 2 great coaches who have patience and dedication to the sport and it shows. So yesterday, we hopped in the car and headed back to Gardner Webb University for a cheer competition. The girls were super excited and were ready to compete! And when it was their turn, they ROCKED IT!!! The whole team did great. (The judging was a mess and even though they did much better than at least 2 teams in their division, they still came in 6th. I think us moms are more upset about it than the girls - they don't fully understand the scoring and are just happy to have been having fun and doing what they love. It just hurts to see how hard they work, how far they have come and to see them "hit" all the moves and score like they did.) Anyway, Arabella was so happy and proud of herself, and that is what matters. In 2 weeks, the big National Competition will be taking place in Wilmington, NC...until then, Arabella and her team will be back in the gym practicing and having fun.

Spirit Wear Friday...College T-Shirt Day

Arabella's school spirit wear Friday was a bit different yesterday - instead of wearing school spirit wear, the kids were asked to wear shirts from their favorite college. Arabella had a few shirts to choose from in her closet, but decided to support UCONN! That's my girl, supporting my university! Maybe her wearing their shirt was good luck since UCONN advance to the Elite 8 last night during March Madness!

Wordless Wednesday

(I know there are not supposed to be any words...but...the first picture is Mike and I at the beach house in Westbrook, I am guessing around the Summer of 1985. Obviously, the second is Arabella and Max. Funny, how some pictures look so similar.)

Mellow March

March has been a pretty mellow month for us...hence the simple title of this entry. I can't believe it is already the 25th...time flies when you are single parenting for most of the month...Jay will be out of town 21 of 31 days this month! We have been keeping busy with homework, cheerleading and tumbling, and just every day things...

The silly Leprechaun's made our milk green on St. Patrick's day! Arabella couldn't believe it! We might not be Irish, but it was fun to be silly!

Max doesn't always want to be in his high chair...so we tried out the booster seat at the table. He is getting so big and was so proud of himself when he was sitting at the table.! The booster seat doesn't always work and neither does the high chair but it is nice to have both options.

International Fair

Last Thursday evening, we took a family outing to the International Fair. (It was a rare occasion that Jay was in town!) The International Fair is put on by the schools in Arabella's school cluster. I am not sure how schools are included, but at the Fair, 2 elementary, a middle and a high school, we represented. Arabella was very, very excited to go and couldn't wait to show us the presentation that her class put together. Each class, I believe, learned about a different country and then had to present information about the country. I reminded me of what science fairs are like, but just with different cultures and not science. I was surprised at how many countries were represented - France, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, United Kingdom, Scotland, Peru, China, Japan - and many others. Arabella's class did their presentation on India...it was nice to see the art work and to hear her tell us about what she learned.

When we visited the other presentations, some had hands on learning.  She tried to make Stonehenge, she made origami and tried writing in Chinese! Along the way, she had her "passport" stamped and brought it into school to earn a trip to the "treat box".

She was very happy to see two of her classmates and they had fun running around for a bit!

First Bike Ride

A few weekends back, the weather was just perfect. I wanted to get out and enjoy the sun and warm weather before it turned rainy and cool. Jay and Arabella wanted to roller blade/roller skate while I put Max in the bike seat. He was excited to put on his helmet, although it took me awhile before he would actually let me tighten the chin strap. At first, he wasn't sure what to make of the ride...you can see how unsure he is in this picture...

But once we started going, he was into it.  He loved checking everything out and had a blast riding with me and following Arabella once she switched over to riding her bike.  I am sure we will be doing a bunch more riding this year.  Especially now that he likes the bike - Jay told me the other day, Max wanted into the garage so he opened the door.  When he walked out, he was babbling and then pointed up towards my bike, I guess he was telling Jay that he wanted to take a ride!

Southern Spring Has Sprung

It has been almost a year (how is that even possible) that we have been living in the south. I am still adjusting to the seasons and weather here...it is so very different from living in the north. It is only March 13th and we have had our share of summery weather already - I have been wearing flip flops the past few days! It was a bit chilly this morning when I took Arabella to school - but the weathermen say it is only going to be today and then we are going to back to more seasonal temperatures.

We are trying to spend as much time outside as possible before it actually gets too hot to be outside. I am sure those temperatures will be here before we know it. Last weekend, Arabella found a frog on the patio - he looked like he had just hatched - his green color was not as bright as some of the ones we found last summer. He was just hopping around and Max was so curious about him.

Arabella picked me these "flowers" when she was at recess at school.  She filled the pockets of her coat up because she thought they were beautiful and that I would like them.  It was so sweet.

We have been playing with pin wheels and blowing bubbles.  These kids love bubbles!!

And Max, who is turing out to be a water baby like Arabella, found a new favorite place to play in water...the bird bath!

More Messy Max

I think this photo speaks for itself...

March Lowes Build & Grow

Last Saturday, Max and I got to join Arabella at her Lowes Build & Grow session. Jay was still in Arizona and Arabella loves these projects so we were not going to miss this one. And the project was something that she had been looking forward to building - a birdhouse. I amazed at how many kids are there when I am able to go with her. She knows exactly what to do and gets right to work. She loves hammering away and in no time the project was finished. She was so proud of her work. Great job Arabella! Thanks for letting Max and I join you this month!

Wednesday Wine Wisdom

Dr. Seuss Week Wrap Up

On Friday, Arabella and her class dressed as your favorite Dr. Seuss character. She said that people dressed up like the Lorax, Cat in the Hat, and Cindy Loo Hoo. She loves the book Go Dog. Go! so she wanted to be the yellow dog. It was a win-win - she dressed like the character she wanted to and I was able to use clothes we already had in our closet. I did have to make her a sign and some floppy ears, but that was easy to do. She loved Dr. Seuss week and was especially excited on Friday to dress up. I love that they do fun things like this at school...it helps the kids have fun while learning and it helps keep their interest going. So without keeping you in suspense, here is my adorable, little yellow dog!

(It is so hard for me to get a picture of her with the flash and her eyes open...the flash is too bright and I have no idea how to fix that...)

Feeling Crafty

This coffee table had been taking up space in our bonus room/office/playroom/workout area...

I didn't want to get rid of it, but I also wasn't too sure what to do with it either.  I had been searching for a bench or something else to put at the foot of our bed.  And then it hit me, why not turn this into a bench for that space.  It is a little wider than your typical bench, but since our bedroom is bigger (a bit too big and kind of obnoxious) than some NYC apartments, it works. 

I started the project on Sunday and finished it yesterday. I had to sand it down, paint it, attached the foam seat and then the fabric. And in the grand scheme of things, it was pretty easy. I love the fabric - it was on sale and pretty inexpensive so if I ever want to change it out, I won't feel bad about doing so. The whole project cost me about $50 which is much less cheaper than a brand new bench. I'm not sure what Jay is going to say when he gets home on Saturday...he has been gone for 10 days and I just went ahead and did the project. Although, the other night I had to ask him where he keeps the staples for the staple gun and he was a bit concerned that I had the staple gun out, but he didn't ask any questions.

Here is the finished project. I am pretty happy with the way it came out. I think it fits nicely and brightens up the room a bit. Now I just need to figure out what, if anything, to put underneath it for storage since I am over the old baskets that were there....

I think Max likes it and Arabella said it looked pretty and was comfy to sit on!

Wacky Wednesday

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday this week, Arabella and her class have been doing fun activities to celebrate. We love Dr. Seuss books and she read me all of "Go Dog. Go!" last night at bedtime. So any activity that involves Dr. Seuss is welcome. She came home with a Cat in the Hat hat that she colored and wrote on yesterday and today, being that it is Wednesday, they are having fun with "Wacky Wednesday". Each child was supposed to dress a bit wacky and wear silly shoes and socks. Arabella was so excited and had fun last night picking out what she was going to wear.

Her outfit kind of matched...in her words, the dress is Christmas because it has snowflakes, the head band is for Spring because it has flowers and the leggings are Summer because they look like water.  As for the socks and mismatched shoes...that is just plain wacky!!