BitterSweet

This was such a bittersweet season for Hailey. She got to compete level 7 this year and it was her first season of optionals. She had beautiful routines that showed off her wonderfully flexible 14 year old body. The beam, however, caused some pain and frustration. She had to scratch beam at 4 meets this year. That made her very sad. If you have been reading for a while... you know how I feel about her coaches decisions... UGH.
(For newbies...Hailey has been a gymnast since she was 6 years old. She had to overcome a serious social anxiety disorder to be able to compete in front of people. She has been with her same friends for 7 years. They are like a family. The head coaches have never understood quiet Hailey...they seem to prefer the cute little bubbly ones...and that has been hard for her BUT she has NEVER complained. She likes gym too much. Anyway...she had to scratch beam because she developed a fear of falling on a back handspring and her coach wouldn't allow a spotter. She "doesn't do that at level 7." So Hailey had to scratch until she worked through it.)

As it stands right now, due to her beam fear situation, Hailey has to repeat level 7 next year. All of her friends have been moved up to level 8. She was already the oldest...now she will be lots older. She has come to terms with it, I think. Like I said, she never complains. She says she is determined to get her skills this summer and train level 8 in the fall. I am keeping my fingers crossed for her. If she does do 7 again....she will get very high scores. Maybe that will be good for her too. (But honestly, it's never ever been about scores for her. Seriously. Not. It took her two years to even look at her scores once they were posted.)

So we went to the Gym Banquet last night. The coach gives out awards to the most improved, best athlete, most supportive, hardest working, and best attitude. Hailey never gets any awards like that. The coach also gives out individual awards. She speaks for a few minutes about each child. For most of the children, she lists several accomplishments, talks about funny things they did this year, or pokes fun at them at bit. When it comes to Hailey, all she ever says is that Hailey has the best legs she's ever seen. She did mention that Hailey seems to be "coming out of her shell some". She then gave Hailey her "Perfect Legs Award". .....for the 3rd year in a row. (other variations include....million dollar legs, and young philly legs...but you get the picture) Most kids get a different award each year. I never say anything to H first. I let her bring it up. And she did. She showed me her award and commented..."I got that last year. And the year before that." I asked her what she though about it and she said, "I think that she doesn't know me well enough to say anything else." Made my heart hurt. Chest pains. But I nodded and said, "You may be right Hai. She just hasn't figured you out yet....but when she does...she'll be happy to know you." And that was all we said about that.

Now here's the really good news ...the old coach...the one that ignored her and paid all of his attention to the young bubbly girls...LEFT!! AND SHE LOVES HER NEW COACH!! He seems to really like her too. In fact he followed Hailey out of the gym (on his first night) to meet me and to ask Hailey if she was mad at him for working her so hard on bars. She gave her quiet, eyes down, smile and said, "No not at all." I gave him way too many thanks and said that I was thrilled to have him at our gym. I wanted to grab that man and kiss him on the face. I AM SOOO EXCITED FOR A COACH WHO LIKES MY QUIET GIRL. When we got in the car that night she said, "Mom, I didn't realize how little they worked with me until the new coach came. And I swear I got better tonight...in ONE NIGHT!" She also added, "And he doesn't have favorites Mom! He treats us all the same!!" My quiet girl was sooo happy and excited it made me wanna cry. In fact, I did cry later when I was telling her Dad about it.

Fingers crossed. That girl loves gymnastics with all of her heart. It's not about being the best gymnast for her. It's about doing her best and feeling confident and happy. Those meets are a SMALL part of the process. For her, it's about training to be the best she can be with girls she loves.


She's the tall one giving a high 5.
2nd from the right.
First girl on far left.


I love these girls. They are all awesome and strong and brave. I am so glad Hailey has these little women in her life.

Allstar Generations

This photo cracks me up. I went to my Mom's one Sunday afternoon and Stella and I were wearing our Converse All Stars. Well, my Mom looked at our feet and said, "Hey! I have some too!" and ran to her room. She came back out with bright red ones on...just like Stell's. I laughed and laughed cause that is sooo NOT my mom's style. I found out that she had used them, at a book club that she hosted, as a table centerpiece!? OkeyDokey.

I am missing my Mom today and this photo makes me smile. My mom is going out of town a lot these days because her mom, my Granny, is very ill. We don't expect to have her around much longer. I can't imagine how my Mom must feel. I dread the day. As much as I think I have come to terms with this wonderful life and it's cycles and recycles...I still can't imagine losing my Mom.

I miss ya MamaLeo!! May you have peace in your heart!

Memorial Day

I had to take my children to school today...on Memorial Day...while everyone else had the day off. Luckily it rained on and off all day so they didn't really feel like they were missing out. We had too many snow days this year so we had to use today as a "make-up" day. Ridiculous. I would have kept them home if I could have found a good excuse but we really had no plans. Hailey has missed too many days as it is and Finn had play practice...(He's Max in his first grade play...Where the Wild Things Are) and Maddy just loves school and doesn't like to miss a thing. So off they went.

Luckily my little charter school WAS off today. So here I sat...watching the rain. I even got to sneak in a morning nap! :)

a RAINBOW of colors for Saturday....

View from my dinner spot last night. Sky was beautiful. Doesn't represent as well was I would have liked...
My purse in a chair at Ben & Jerry's after dinner!
Hailey's fingers. She is a competitive gymnast and their colors are pink, white and black. GO IGA girls!!
Someone on our school grounds had a taste of the rainbow and left the evidence!!
My classroom. Child art hanging in my window. Notice the no smoking sign a child made too..hehe!
Window in an older church downtown. Loved the colors and the birds of peace!

What a lovely colorful week it's been!!!

FRIDAY FINALE...PURPLE!!!

Princess Lilly Belle. A little flower fairy that plays with my Stella a lot!
Lilly Belle's sister Kylie is in purple...in the middle. She is also my student...(the one that's perched so perfectly under that lovely green tree for green day...pouting.) Sweet girl.
My favorite flowers are tulips. I was lucky enough to get some bright purple ones not too long ago.
My first child. Hailey. She is 14 now. Sometimes she cooperates with my photography...other times she's "So over it." Today she had to pose...because of the shirt...she knew she couldn't argue...it was purple...on purple day!!
Leftover Easter egg found in the back yard! Held by teenage hands...where only a couple of fingers are painted black. Just cause.
Maddy's (child 2) soccer team. This is actually last season...but hey....they were purple!!!! Maddy's a great athelete. She loves sports. She has always been called a tomboy and she just recently, at age 11, started wearing girl's clothes....but no girly girly colors. When she saw these purple jerseys at first....she was totally disgusted. This past season she was Carolina blue...and much happier. Unfortunately...I forgot about her recent soccer pix on blue day!


This has been so much fun. Of course I can't end here completely. I decided to go for a Rainbow Saturday. I will be searching for rainbows of colors all day...just to keep me smiling!

Purple is a color that I love...but was hard for me to find! I was a little surprised by that! I have three girls and I thought for sure purple would be stashed in there with the pinks....but not so much! I did manage to find a few older photos with purple though. Hope you enjoy your day!!!

THURSDAY PINKS AND REDS...

I wish I'd had more time for pinks and reds!! Wednesdays are long around here and I had very little time with the camera today! Here's what I got:
Self portrait that cracked my kids up, roses from a student for Teacher Appreciation Week, neighbor's lovely pink hydrangea, strawberry frappuccino from SB, and little Stella toes inside of her new shoes...that are still too big.

I am still enjoying all of this color! I will be sad the week ends. I hope to continue my color searches over the weekend!! Thanks again CuriousGirl!

A sweet compliment to ORANGES and YELLOWS...

Just got this little note from one of my students....made me cry. And wouldn't you know....it was filled with yellow sunshine. So happy.


DEAR ms. Suzy,


I have been so happy to be in your class for 2 years! I love you alot! I am going to miss you sooooooooo much! I am a
sad about leaving your class but I know that every little thing will be ok. I am a little nervous and sad.
Mom say's it will get better.
I hope that I can be a reading buddy, a class helper, and I hope I can play the drum for your class next year!

You ahve shown me that writing is good for your feelings.

When I become a proffessional football player and president I will remember you and buy you a house.
You alwas have time for a hug even if you are frustrated.:O
You always calm me with a book.
You always care.
We have fun.

You support my love for drumming.
LOve,

Clinton

WEDNESDAY ORANGES AND A LITTLE YELLOW TOO...

This is not something I see everyday...but it is one of my favorite photos ever! And it's orange! I met this little flutterby at the Nature Museum!


I find that I like orange a lot as well. I have said for years that I like orange and green the most and let me tell you...I can find so many orange things in my house that it must be true. Orange was so easy to find! Yellow was a little tricky but I tried to snag all the yellow splashes I could find! So here are my oranges and a few yellow bits....
Stella got caught in the wind!


My couch, orange flowers that I've been playing around with...(I got new watercolor crayons), and a broom!

The candle is a Mother's day gift from Finn and the last photo is a piece of art he brought home from school last week.

So there ya go!!! Can't wait to see all of your sunny colors today!

TUESDAY GREENS...

Still following color week with CuriousGirl. So much fun!!! I had a hard time choosing for this one...


Here is one of my sweet students...not so happy...reflecting in the park!


Souvenir from Disney!


That little boy that I LOVE!


One of my favorite parts of town...only a couple of blocks from my wonderful little school that could.

I have to say that green is my FAVORITE color. All shades of green. I think green does a lovely dance on the border of warm air and cool breeze! I love it. So I got a little carried away...but here are some more
!
The butterfly is on a vintage quilt that I found on Ebay. And my sleeping babe...on my green bamboo sheets. I love the combo of crisp white linen pillow cases, yummy bamboo sheets, and a fluffy down comforter.

MONDAY BLUES

I was so excited about COLOR WEEK that I had to post this morning but in my mad morning rush, I had no time to write! So here I am writing...hours after I posted pix. Oh well!

I decided to take photos of things that I see everyday. Hoping to see things that may have become mundane in a new light! And you know....it worked! Thanks CuriousGirl!

The blue vase has been sitting in my kitchen window forever. I love it. So there it stays!

I have been doing a lot of painting with water colors lately and I love the pallet of blues.

We also have tons of sidewalk chalk and don't you know...when I went outside on a blue hunt, I found a piece of blue sidewalk chalk in the grass!

The blue house is three doors down. I love it! And my kids call it the "cookie monster house".

This is too fun. Can't wait for greens!