Oh to be a tween...

Its been a good week. Ally had her over night to Farm School and she had a blast. She took care of cows (brushed them, cleaned their stable and fed them - but didn't have to pick up poop!), had lots of time with her classmates, chopped onions for chili and proudly told us she cried. The only bad thing she said (when I pressed) was that there were so many mosquitoes and she got a bunch of bites. We all know a mosquito bite is a big deal to Ally - she swells up like a golf ball at the site and it gets all red for a few days. She was really annoyed with the one on her forehead right at her hairline!

She got back Tuesday at 3 - went to practice for a few hours that night, at the request of her coach. Had Wednesday off school for Yom Kippur, so she slept in and went to her friend Colette's house for a while and then came home and went to evening gymnastics practice.

By Thursday morning she was a little tired and not feeling great - she ended up staying home with Becky who was home sick with a terrible migraine. Ally woke up - freaked out a bit at how crummy she felt and went back to sleep for 4 hours! By the time I got home she was in better spirits. We baked cookies and she went to ballet class. She didn't miss much school, yesterday and today the whole grade is taking a bike safety class with the local police department so there are only a couple hours of academic work happening. It was a good day to go back to sleep and rest. 

At her request we made sugar cookies - and at my request she cleaned up afterwards.

Ally LOVES these cookies.

I call this picture "Portrait of a fashionable athlete"
She loves it - and all the name brands - Ivviva shirt, Athleta jacket, Zella pants, Nike shoes and she proudly exclaimed Under Armour socks!
I think its hilarious. As you can tell she is happy and healthy and feeling good this morning.

She'll only be in a school for a few hours today - she is not participating in the bike class so I will pick her up at 11am for the day. I told her she can come to my office and do home work and read while I wrap up my work for the day. Hopefully I can get enough done to take her out for Fro Yo before the Friday activity craziness begins. But maybe not.

Overnight trip to Farm School

In our district all students do an overnight trip to The Farm School. It’s a camp/educational facility about 90 minutes from here. They put on an educational program for kids about farming and the students will work the Farm; hunt for eggs, milk cows, pick fruit and vegetables, clean up areas etc and cook their food with the chef/cook onsite.  I’ve only heard fantastic things about it from everyone who has gone. 

This year it’s Ally’s turn. Her class of 6th grade leaves today. They will be back tomorrow afternoon. 

I made her practice getting her sleeping bag into the stuff sack. She was not pleased to do it or that I took her picture.

Packing was a challenge. But we did it together. Then she was a little freaked out at the quantity of stuff. We had a school issued packing list to follow and we followed it exactly so it’s not like she has extra stuff. I don’t know how we could have managed less.

A giant (to Ally) backpack and a supplemental bag that held her sleeping bag, pillow, towel and lunch bag.

 She was annoyed I wanted a 3rd picture. You can tell from her pose and look. But I still love her. And I will

miss her.

It was a busy weekend as ususal:

Pointe class & gymnastics on Friday

Gymnastics, packing and Willow’s birthday party on Saturday

Private gymnastics session (to make up for time missed while at Pointe class), church, more packing, time with school friends and dinner with Newtowne friends on Sunday.

Sunday evening wasn’t the best. We were all tired and frustrated. But this morning we’re all in a better place and looking forward to the week ahead. 

Ally blew the biggest bubble on Saturday:

She was pretty excited and now we know how she won the bubble blowing contest at camp this summer.

One week in

Or 5 days down 175 more to go. We made it thru the first week. Crazy schedule of after school activities. It was a little dicey on Friday driving from ballet to gymnastics when Ally asked "mommy what do I do if I am too tired....?" A bit panicked I told her calmly just to do her best and we talked about how sometimes your best does not always look the same. Some days you might not be capable of doing things as well or as fast as other days, but the important things are #1 to have fun and #2 to try your hardest. She did and she had fun for the 3 hours she was there - In the 1st 2 days of team practice she regained a major skill she had lost the month of August while taking some time away from gymnastics to focus on dance and our vacation and her health. But she proudly told me she has her back-walkover on the balance beam back.

Social time with friends is also a huge priority for Ally - she has started texting friends and wants to see them outside of school. Totally understandable and I remember this time in my life talking on the phone to friends. And I wasn't any where near as busy as Ally. But we work at social time - having friends over on the weekends and even a quick after school play date before ballet.

Homework starts this week - looks like a gradual ramp up but as with everything else - we will figure it out.

   




































On Saturday after practice Ally had fun playing in her room by herself - trying out make up taking selfies for Instagram. Typically 2018 behavior for a tween. And she was in such a good mood she let me take the two pictures above.

Then Sunday it was time for church - we took most of last year off from Church. It just didn't feel good to me to be at Church. Ally had a hard time there as well. We supported our church in many ways and Becky still co-lead youth group but we took a year off of attending services. But we still feel its an important part of Ally's upbringing that she attend church school and learn more about our faith.

Typical pouty tween - she so did not want to go and was even less impressed with me taking her picture before hand. Oh the body language; hair covering her face, arms crossed and standing in that pose legs straight.

So of course Becky mocked her.

Which forced some giggles and smiles.

Her hair is back to being very long - I'd love to cut a few inches off again - but its really up to her. She LOVES this shoes - they are silver high top / booties with a wedge heel inside - so they look like normal shoes but really are not. And they make her about 2 inches taller.

Today was a gym and instrumental music day at school. And its raining.
But still I made her pose for a before school picture - year 2 of violin.

I take her to school every morning right now but she walks home and lets herself in the house. Sometimes Becky or I are  home, sometimes not. She is happy with the independence after school. And it feels good to let her have some.

1st Day of 6th Grade

Middle School. Ally's first day of 6th grade is today. Her school is JK-8 but they operate the 6-8 grades as a middle school and she will have different teachers for each subject. She is pretty excited and a little but nervous of course. She arranged to meet her friends Colette, Cata and Willow at 8AM at school. From now on her arrival will be closer to 730AM so I can get to work sooner - but I agreed to 8 this morning.

She had a relaxing morning and was really well rested. Its hot and humid here today - 80 degrees at 8AM.  Special thanks to Aunt Beth who helped pick out the first day of school outfit this weekend.
No black or gray!

Close up picture inside.

Outside in her usual spot for first day of school pictures.

And a back shot - long straight hair which she LOVES and her new sporty backpack.
I hope she has a great day. She will walk home from school by herself or with friends and has her 1st 4 hour gymnastics practice this afternoon. I'll get to hear all about school in the car on the way to the gym.

Edited to add: Ally had a great first day! She said she thinks she will like Science class best this year. And the only think she would change about the day is that it wasn’t so hot. 

She came home, changed and headed out to practice.

Here she is in the car, 5 for 1st day of Level 5 team practice.

The last bits of Summer

Today is Labor Day. Ally said today how it was the last day of Summer. Essentially it is. School and practice starts tomorrow.

This post is a mush mash of some stuff from Summer.

We visited my dad aka Grandpa Frank:

Had lunch at Jumpin Jacks.






Ally and I and Cloey drove home and Becky stayed a few more days to help the movers pack things up to go to my brothers’.

Slime was made all Summer:

I still don’t like slime and Ally keeps asking me “why don’t you like slime?” The stuff is gross to me.

Cloey got a bath:

And lots of cuddle time

Yesterday we hosted 40+ people for dinner at our house. We invited all the girls in Ally’s 6th grade and their families to dinner. We had 14 girls and their families attend.

And today Ally went to get her very first pair of pointe shoes for ballet. She and a couple classmates met their teacher and went together. She had fun but said she had to try on 8 pairs to get the right fit. The other girls only needed to try on 2-3 pairs! 

We are preparing for the routine that starts tomorrow. School everyday 745-255 and this after school schedule:

We are ready. 6th grade here she comes!