Bailey's Graduation

 Talk about feeling old- last year my ring bearer graduated- this year it's one of my flower girls.  Brian, the kids, and I attended Bailey's high school graduation last weekend.  Bailey is graduating from the high school where I teach, so I got to take this great shot from my seat (on the field).  We are so proud of Bailey and all of her accomplishments.  She has dedicated herself to academics and to her golf- and both are paying off for her.  In the week leading up to graduation, her golf team won the state championship.  She will be attending Armstrong State on a golf scholarship next year.  I am so proud of my baby cousin.

Honor's Day

 Olivia and Owen's school recently held their Honor's Day Program, and both kids were recognized.  Owen received an award for having all "A" honor roll.  He also got a t-shirt for having perfect attendance.

 Olivia received awards for having all "A" honor roll and perfect attendance.  She also scored the highest in her class on the end of the year math and science assessments, so she was recognized for that as well.  We are proud of the academic accomplishments of both of our kids this year, and we hope that they keep up the good work.

Softball / Baseball

 We have just wrapped up our softball / baseball season.  Both kids were on the pitching machine this year.  This was Olivia's second year on the machine and she did pretty well.  She hit more than she missed, and got on base most of the time.  She volunteered to play catcher, and she loved playing this position. She was also really happy to be on the same team as Ava and Claire.

 This was Owen's first year on the pitching machine, and it was a definite learning experience for him.  A lot of the boys in his age group are already playing year-round or travel ball, so there were lots of kids in his league with more experience than him.  Still, he enjoyed himself and did get better as the season wore on.  Owen played in the outfield and did a good job of fielding the ball when it came to him.

Both kids received a trophy for participating in ball this year.  They have both said that they would like to play again next year, so I guess that means that they had fun this year.

Blast

 The kids participate in the church's Blast program on Wednesday nights.  During this time, the kids attend a class and choir.  The focus of the class this year was the Parables of the New Testament.  The kids learned about a new parable each month and completed activities related to each story. The kids also completed several service projects this year- including goody bags for the nursing home, raising money to buy a sheep for a family in a developing country, and donating teddy bears and blankets to a local home for abused women and children.  Even more recently, the Blast kids hosted a car wash to help raise money for redecorating the Blast room.  The kids raised over $400 at the car wash, so it was a success.  Olivia and Owen had such a great time at Blast this year and can't wait for it to start back next school year.

Hitting the Pool

Back in September I signed Olivia up to be on the swim team at the local YMCA.  There were several options for her participation, and we chose the option where she practiced with the team and competed only in inter-squad (practice) meets.  We didn't want to go off or spend a lot of money for the out-of-town meets because she did not know anything about competitive swimming or about the different strokes.  Olivia has enjoyed swimming immensely and has learned a lot.  The summer/rec swim season is approaching and she will be participating in the some of the local swim meets.  She is pretty excited about this.

Olivia is not the only one who has been hitting the pool.  I also did not know how to swim properly, so I took a triathlon swim class.  Quincy and several of my friends were also in the class, so that made it really fun.  I learned a lot in the short time I was in the class, and I can really tell that my stroke has improved.  Hopefully this will pay off and I won't finish dead last in the swim portion of my next tri.

Color Run

Olivia and I participated in the Second Annual town Color Run 5k.  Owen was suppose to go with us and run the 1 mile, but we overslept.  He wasn't that upset about it.  Olivia's friend Hannah was also running the race, and these two girls stuck together on the course.  Getting "colorful" was loads of fun.  I did notice that they used a new type of color powder this year-, and it took days to get off.  

 You may have noticed a decline in the racing posts lately.  I'm not injured, but have been so busy with kid activities that I haven't had much time to train or race.  I am seriously out of shape.  I did do two races back in March- The Gate 15k (1:31:26), and the Swamp Run 10k (59:01).  Hopefully I'll be able to dedicated more time to running once the school year winds down.

Olivia's Field Trip to Jacksonville Zoo

Olivia's class recently went on a field trip to the Jacksonville Zoo.  Here, they saw many animals, fed the stingrays, and took a train ride.  Granny Mel was able to go with Olivia, and she reported that the trip was a success.

 It's always interesting when I send the camera with a kid.  I never know what kind of pictures I'm going to end up with.  There were a lot of- um- interesting photos taken.  Here is the only picture of Granny Mel.