M.I.A.

As you probably know I have not been posting a lot lately.  When things happen I always think I need to put it on the blog but I don't.  It has been a little disconcerning to me why I haven't posted when I enjoy it so much.  The other day I finally figured it out.

A few months ago I was messing around with the format of the blog and ended up changing the format of my blog.  Not sure how to get it back to how it was.  I am not happy with the format so I have avoided posting.

Cold weather is coming so hopefully I will soon be able to sit down long enough to "fix" the format to my liking.  Sounds like a good project to do while I am watching football on a chilly Sunday afternoon!

Here are some things that have been going on...

Girls started school.  Emily is loving middle school and Megan is loving 3rd grade.

We "broke" up with our babysitter.  Megan is now going to B.A.S.E. (Before and After School Experience).  Emily is doing her own thing now too.

I hit the 100 pound mark on my weight loss journey a few weeks ago.  No worries, I am sure I am back to 95 or less right now.  Need to get back on the wagon before it is too late!!!

My work has merged with another company.  As of now nothing has changed and I am praying nothing does.

Nothing else exciting has been happening.  We are keeping busy yet it feels like we never do anything.  I don't know where time goes.  I do know it is going by way to fast!

A very special birth…

11-years ago today I became a mommy!  It was one of the scariest days in my life yet one of the best days of my life!

In the past 11 years I have asked a lot of questions and have  learned a lot of things…some of the most memorable are:

• How can something so tiny make so much noise?
• Will I ever sleep again?
• How could I have helped make someone this beautiful?
• It’s ok to eat nothing but ranch dressing and ketchup for every meal for a month.
• There is such a thing as tears of happiness.
• I can never get enough hugs and kisses.
• How did you get to be such a wonderful big sister?
• How can I be sooooo mad at someone I love sooooo much?
• It really isn’t possible to take too many pictures!

 

Emily,

You are turning in to a beautiful young lady and words cannot express how much I love you.  I pray one day you realize I yell at you because I love you and I will never stop loving you, no matter what.  You are a very sweet, smart and caring girl, I hope you stay that way.  I am not a perfect parent and I never will be.  I can already see you and I are not going to see eye to eye on everything, but I promise you I will try to keep an open mind and try to see things through your eyes.  You are growing up before my eyes and I am the first to admit it is hard for me to let go.  Baby steps.

  

I love you Emily Grace Allen.  I hope you have a wonderful 11th birthday!!!!!

Love,

Mommy

Not much

Have been jam packed with SOFTBALL!  This season has had a lot of rain out games and the local Parks and Recreation department were nice enough to allow the teams to make up the games.

To the Allen family (and many others with multiple kids) this meant softball/baseball every night this week.  For three weeks straight we were at the sports complex for one reason or another.

Quick summary of how the girls regular season softball teams finished…

Megan’s team finished 3rd in the league but lost in the first round of tournaments.

Emily’s team finished 2nd in the league and lost in the second round of tournaments.  The game they lost was a nail biter.  I was at a scrimmage with Megan so Ron was keeping me updated on Em’s game via text message.  I could not concentrate on Megan’s game at all.  I was dying.  Emily was pitching the game of her life and I wanted to be there to see it.

Normal league rules are the pitcher can only pitch 3 innings per game. Regular season Emily averaged about 2 innings. Tournaments are unlimited innings.   The texts kept coming…Em was still pitching well past her typical two innings.  She was striking out the other team left and right!

Megan’s game was finally over and she and I flew over to the sports complex to catch the end of Em’s game.  There were quite a few parents from other teams standing around watching the game.  Some parents came up to me immediately  to tell me how well Emily was pitching.  I wanted to cry.  One because I was sad I wasn’t there and the other because I was so darn proud of her!  Emily ended up pitching all six innings of the game!!!  Wow!

The team lost by one run at the bottom of the 6th inning.  And of course, Em made the last out.  :(  She was very upset.  She had NOTHING to be upset about since she had just played the best game of her life!

No championship trophy for her for the first time in 3 years but she did get a trophy for 2nd place in the league!

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In other news…

We all volunteered at the St. Chris Festival in June.  This year we worked twice.  Saturday night Ron and I manned the ice cream booth.  Emily went off with a friend and Megan went to play games at the next tent over!

Sunday we worked in the funnel cake booth.  We had a good time.  I didn’t eat as many funnel cakes as I would have liked but I did get enough to cure my craving for awhile!!!

Haven’t had many opportunities to exercise like I should.  Now that we only have All-stars I can start eating better and working out more!  I am ashamed to admit this but I really do miss exercising. 

We have All-star tourney’s the next 3 weekends then the month of August is completely softball free!  YIPPEE!!!

Here are some misc pics..

 

 

 

 

 

Megan’s Birthday Party!!!

We were finally able to fit a birthday party for Megan in our busy softball schedule!  Megan hosted a slumber party for four of her friends!

It was nice for us because the girls are at the age where they can entertain themselves for the most part.  We only had to play referee a few times which is a lot less than expected.

After a yummy dinner of hot dogs and mac and cheese, Megan opened her presents and then we had ice cream cake…

Megan received some good presents…

Then they played Just Dance on the Wii.  If you have a Wii I HIGHLY recommend this game.  So much fun for children and adults!

Happy Birthday Sweet Megan! Hard to believe you are 8-years old!!!  Hope you enjoyed your party!!!

Another Chapter…

of life closed for the Allen family this past week.  It was Emily’s last week at Helke Elementary School.  Fourth grade is the final year in elementary school in our school system.  Next year Emily will go to middle school which is a whole new ball game!

This year was very special for Emily.  She had the same two teachers she had in second grade!  We couldn’t have asked for better teachers to have her final year at Helke!

The second to last day of school was the school talent show.  One of Em’s teachers rewrote the words to Black Eye Peas song “I Gotta a Feeling”. The whole blue pod went on stage and sang the song.  It was very cute yet I still managed to shed a few tears.

Here is a sample of the words…

 

I gotta feeling that today’s gonna be a good day,

that today’s gonna be a good day,

that today’s gonna be a good good day

Today’s the day

We’re packing up

I got my grade card

I’m moving up

We’ll go to Morton

We’ll go to Smith

Our time is done here

Let’s move, move on

I know that we’ll have a ball

When we get up to

5^th grade

We’re all movin on

I feel nervous

But I’ll let it go

Let’s go to middle school

And leave Helke behind

I got my gold

Purple too

We’re all for Butler

And middle school

So say goodbye

To what we know

We’ll start all over

And then we’ll do it again

I knew I had better drink a lot of water at lunch to prepare my body for the tears that would be shed later in the afternoon at the 4th grade farewell…

The walked in a single file line to the gym while the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” played in the background.  Once they were all seated the principal made a nice little speech about the class.

(I am totally tearing up typing this 2 days after the fact)

Then the school librarian read the book “Oh! The Places You’ll Go!” By Dr. Suess.  This would be the last time she was able to read to this particular group of kids. Each child was presented with their own copy of the book.

After the story the kids were presented diplomas.  They shook the Principals hand then went down the line and shook hands with all the 4th grade and specials teachers.

There was a slide show of the kids which was mainly pictures pictures taken at Camp Kern but there were a few that were slipped in that were older.  Then came the real tears.  The went up to the stage and sang “We Are the World” to the parents.  So many of the kids were crying and some were actually sobbing.  It was so sweet yet awful at the same time.  Emily was fighting the tears back but didn’t let any out!  As you can imagine I was a mess by this point in the day!!!!

 

Friday was a pretty good day…FIELD DAY!!!!

Ron and I worked field day again.  I think we have done it every year since Em was in 1st grade.  It is always a good time.  This year we worked the putt-putt station!  Right next to us was the Holey Bucket game.  The parents working the Holey Bucket game sent the 4th graders in the particular group over with a big cup of water to dump on either Ron or any particular 4th grader that was playing putt-putt!!!

At the end of the school day the entire student body lined the halls of Helke.  The fourth graders walk through the tunnel of students, teachers, and parents.  This is called the Fourth Grade Clap Out.  I didn’t get any snapshots of the clap out because I was taking video and trying really hard not to cry.  Didn’t work!!!

While the kids were leaving for summer break, Emily actually broke down and started to cry!!!  I was shocked.  Last year she cried the last day because her good friend was moving up to Morton and she would miss her friend.  This year it is because she knows her time as a Roadrunner was coming to an end.

Congratulations Emily Grace!  We  love you soooooo much and are so proud of the young lady you are turning in to.  We know you will make us proud in middle school.  A whole new chapter of life will be starting for us in September!!!

 

P.S. Megan is thrilled she will be “alone” at school next year!  She is hoping the teachers will stop calling her Emily!!!!!