Father-Daughter Dance

 The father-daughter dance is always a much-anticipated event at our house. This year was no exception.  Olivia chose to wear one of the dresses that her Nana sent her for Christmas.  I think she was as excited about finally getting to wear the dress as she was about going to the dance.  Brian arrived at the door in the 5 o'clock hour with a corsage to match Olivia's dress.  We snapped a few picture and then the two set off for dinner and the dance.  (While Owen and I got ready to go see Kung Foo Panda 3 at the movies).

Olivia had a great time at the dance.  She saw her cousins and several of her friends from school and church. The girls (and dads) danced the night away.  When Olivia came home she was all-smiles.  I'm so glad that Brian and Olivia have this special even that they can attend together each year.

Team Special Kay

Team Special Kay

 In the Spring of last year my Aunt Kay was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She has been undergoing chemo and radiation for several months.  At Thanksgiving dinner, some of my cousins and I decided that we wanted to form a relay team to run the National Breast Cancer Marathon Relay (aka the 26.2 w/ Donna) in honor of Aunt Kay. 100% of the funds raised by this race go to funding breast cancer research and to financially helping women who are undergoing treatment. We had so many in our family who wanted to participate that we ended up forming TWO relay teams which we named Special Kay 1 and Special Kay 2.




The race day came, and it was such a wonderful experience. Our relay was made even more special by the fact that Aunt Kay finished her last treatment four days before race day. She and Uncle Bobby were able to attend and were present at the start, finish, and along the course.  I know that it meant so much to my cousins and I that we were able to do this in honor of our sweet aunt.

Leg 3 runners

Hunter and Bailey crossing the finish line

Basketball

 The kids participated in rec basketball again this year.  This was their second season participating in basketball, and they both had a lot of fun.  Olivia moved up to the 9-10 year old division, so the referees were a lot stricter on making sure the players followed all of the rules.  Olivia gave it her all whenever she got into the game, and she improved as the season went on. We were happy that she was placed on the same team as Ava, so we were able to cheer for both girls at the same time.

 Owen moved up to play in the 7-8 year old division this year.  It was his first time playing "real" basketball, and he also did a good job.  Owen is an easy-going kid, and he was stand-offish when it came to going after the ball.  Being aggressive was one of the main things that we tried to work on during the season.  He did get more comfortable as the season went on, and he learned a lot about the game this year.

Each team had 2 to 3 games a week and on different nights, so for the last month we have been at the gym five nights a week.  We were not alone- there was a large crowd present to cheer for the kids at each of their games.  Gigi and Papa rarely ever missed a game, and all of their Aunts and Uncles made it to at least one game.  The kids received a participation trophy at the end of the season.  Now that the season is over we can get a break- at least until softball/baseball season in the spring.

2cellos

 My friend Anna and I recently saw 2cellos in Jacksonville. These Croatian cellists blend classical music with classic rock and roll.  They are super-talented.  They played music from bands like U2, Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, and ACDC on cellos.  Both Anna and I enjoyed the concert. I would love to take the kids should these guys come back.

Robotics Team

This year, the kids' elementary school started a robotics team for kids in grades three and up, which Olivia joined.  Olivia absolutely loved participating on this team and looked forward to her weekly practice.  During the first several meetings, the team worked on learning about robots, STEM, and the correct terminology that would be used to assemble the robots.  After a month or so of this, the students began working in small groups to assemble the robots.  Once the robots were assembled, the team met to practice the skills that would be needed for competition.  The sponsors had hoped to host an elementary competition, but there are no other elementary robotics teams in our area, so it was a no-go.  Instead, they decided to end the year by having a skills competition with all of the members of the team competing against each other.  The kids took turns driving the robot through an obstacle course.  They received points for completing each obstacle.  Olivia did well on her run (below).  She did hit one cone, but had a clean run other than that.  She and another kid ended up tied for first, and they had to defer to time to see who completed the course the fastest.  Wouldn't you know they had the exact same time.  So, they had to run the course a second time.  Olivia's had a perfect second run, and she ended up in first place.  She is really looking forward to participating in this activity again next year.

Region Tech Fair

 Back in December Olivia entered a project in her school system's tech fair and placed second in Multimedia for the 3rd-4th grade band.  The top two contestants from the county were able to advance to regionals, which took place last weekend.  Knowing that there would be tough competition at the region fair, Olivia went back and "spiced up" her project.  Her hard work payed off because she placed first and will attend the state competition in March. She also took an Online test (the "Technology Literacy Challenge") and ended up receiving a second place medal for that.  We are so proud of Liv's hard work and dedication to her project.

Paris Room

We have been talking about redecorating Olivia's room for over a year now.  She wanted to switch from a "princess" room to a "Paris" room.  The three-day Martin Luther King weekend day seemed like a great time to go ahead and complete our project.  We spent our time repainting (a slightly darker shade of pink), rearranging furniture, and hanging new decorations.  Olivia is very pleased with the finished product, and now Owen is putting in to have his room redecorated.