I'm a Cheer Mama and I LOVE it!

Soooo, I had a LOT of reservations going into Cheerleading season this year.  We've never done cheer and I had no idea what to expect.  They have SO MANY RULES! And SO MANY FEES.  And they are pretty intense... Like, no joke.... The emails and messages sent to me weekly had me wondering if Cheerleading was another form of bootcamp for Lucy! But it really hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  Yes, the head coach is INTENSE.  She expects a lot from the girls and, to be honest, she scares me a little.  However, she's actually good at what she does because these girls look awesome out there on those sidelines and they all know exactly what they're doing!  Without her structure, we probably wouldn't be as clean-cut and uniform as we are.  Now, the assistant coaches are way more relaxed than the head coach and nicer than she is.  The girls are happy and they have lots of fun at practice.  And you guys.... the games?? I die.  I can't get over how amazingly cute these girls are.  They are ADORABLE!  The cheers are so much fun (even when they get stuck in my head all day), they look so dang cute, and they have a blast!  I wish I could upload videos on the blog because they're so fun to watch! I proudly wear my Cheer Mom shirt each game and I cheer SO loud on those sidelines! I did not know just how much I would love getting her ready from "bow to toe" each weekend and I love showing my Spartan Pride! It's the best!

Lucy's cheer squad has 46 girls on it.  They are divided into 3 teams most Saturdays to cover the 3 football teams that the 2nd grade boys have divided into, but today they were all together!  It was exciting to watch that many 7 year old girls cheer their hearts out.  It is worth every penny!  (Bonus: next year it won't cost as much because the shells of uniform will fit her again, and she already has the pom poms and the bow! Woo hoo!)  I love getting to watch her cheer every weekend!  In dance, they only have 2 performances that we get to watch the entire 9 months.  In Cheerleading, we get to watch them every single Saturday for 3 months! It's a blast!  It's crazy busy, but way fun. 

And also?  The little boys playing full-on, tackle football are also crazy cute.  They're wearing all these big, bulky pads and they play hard! That will be Sully in just a few short years! The Football/Cheerleading culture in the South is like nothing I've ever experienced before.  It's so cool to be a part of it all and I feel my school pride soaring up and up each week.  We start 'em young and we have SO much loyalty for our schools down here.  Football is life.  (So is cheerleading).  It's really intense.  And did I mention fun?! ;-) 

Anyway, change of subject..... Over Labor Day weekend we went to the Zoo with the kids and Piper got to ride a camel!  Lucy didn't want to, which surprised me, but Piper was SO into it! It was pretty cool.  We only go to the Zoo once a year because the kids get free passes from the library and once is enough for me ;-)

We also swam at our pool for the LAST time this season. So sad..... It's closed until Memorial Day:(

Next, can I just add something on here?  Something I put on Facebook last week that I actually think is worth putting in my blog book?? Sully is a handful you guys.  He's really hard and I'm not gonna lie- it's tough being his Mama!
"I was doing a workout DVD in my family room just now and heard Sully coming in and out of our back door throughout it. That’s normal though- we have a fenced back yard and all his toys out there keep him busy (usually).... I just didn’t know what he was DOING while I was working out (AKA, not paying any attention to him😬). When I was done, I walked into my bedroom and saw a HUGE pile of sand from his sandbox. We just refilled the sandbox over the weekend so it was very full. And now it’s all in my room. 45 minutes of him loading up his dump trucks and dumping it on my bedroom floor worth of sand is sitting at the foot of my bed right now... "😩

And finally- a few more "moments" I'd like to make note of.  Piper rode the bus for the first time in her life!  She was SOOO excited.  Lucy let her have the window seat and she was blowing me kisses and waving over and over when that bus pulled away. I didn't cry like I did when Lucy first rode the bus, but it was still emotional for me to watch that bus pull away.  When she got home from school she told me she "just couldn't stop smiling because the bus made her so happy."  And "it felt like she was on an airplane!" She loved every second of it!  

Lucy lost her 4th tooth- the 2nd top tooth- so now she's toothless in the front!  It happened the night before picture day, which is perfect because now she will have no top teeth in her school pictures... and that's one of my favorite looks on little kids, hehe!  The black and white picture below is them on picture day.  Don't they look darling?  My little girls are getting so big! 

This upcoming week is a busy one! (When does life slow down???) 

Have a happy day everyone!

Cheer and Sully :)

So, in my last post I was trying to post these pictures, but Blogger crashed and it wouldn't let me.  So a new post has to be made but it's a short one!

If I love how cute she looks just going to practice, imagine how excited I’m gonna be at her first game when she’s in her official cheer uniform on that football field!📣😍 Her first game is THIS Saturday! I. Can't. Wait!

And, P.S.

Sully had his 2 1/2 year well-child check up this week and he just looked so cute in this little "gown" thing so I had to post! He hated it and had it yanked off as soon as I took this picture, haha! But he weighs 33 pounds (83%), is 36 1/2 inches tall (67%) and his head is 50 1/2 cm (79%).  So, all of his percentages have gone down a bit from his last few check-ups but he's still a big boy.  He's a crazy boy and the doctor told me he's a handful (duh). But man...he sure is cute! He can turn on the charm instantly and all is forgiven.... every single time.

P.P.S.  Blogger has been having issues for awhile now.  So forgive me for the weird colors and sizes of my fonts in all my recent blog posts. I can't seem to figure it all out but at least the content is getting posted!

First Day of School

Summer has come to an end.  No more sleeping in for 9 looooong months.  No more lazy days.  No more easy nights.  School's back and I'm a little bit depressed.  Yes, the freedom during the days is really nice.  But I already miss doing fun stuff with my kids.  I like the fact that I can get more done now that they are at school, but I don't like the homework at night, the fights to get dressed quickly when they wake up, the crying because of who-knows-what and just the crazy schedule that each school year brings.  But it's here and there's nothing I can do about it!  The good news is, my kids LOVE school. They have great teachers and are genuinely excited to be there.  So that's a blessing.  Sully misses his sisters though.  For 4 days now he has said (at least 10 times an hour) "where's Sissy?" And my answer is always the same, but he still asks.  He's also my messiest, busiest, most destructive kid.  So even though I only have one at home, my house isn't gonna be clean any time soon and it's still going to be loud all day everyday (except those blessed 2 hours of nap time).  But I only have 2 more years with him before he goes to Preschool so I'm gonna make them count!  Love that little Monster.  Even if he does physically abuse me ;-)

Anyway, We LOVE our teachers this year (Mrs. Bain for Lucy and Mrs. Sumler for Piper). We are so thankful to belong to a school that is VERY concerned with placing students in the best possible environment for their individual needs. Lucy’s teacher is soft-spoken and uber-organized, which is the environment her teacher from last year specified for her for this new year (she thrives in that setting). And Piper’s is the warm, hugs-for-everyone, enthusiastic type which also was requested for her by her teacher last year, for this year. Both teachers were handpicked for these girls and perfect for them and we are sooooo thankful to have them!📚✂️📝

But on August 17th, 2018, I definitely cried hard. I know Piper was in Pre-K last year, but it was only 3 hours a day- she didn’t eat lunch at school AND she had a little bathroom inside her classroom. I cried just as hard as I did when Lucy started kindergarten because I worried about them being in school ALL day-7 hours! 😥 I kept thinking "She’s gonna get so hungry and probably be SO tired too." Ugh! My heart was so sad.

Everyone said the first and last child starting school is the hardest for Moms but I was just as sad on this years' first day of school as I was 2 years ago.

I know she will love her teacher though. She walked into her classroom on the first day and jumped at the teacher and said “BOO!” Hahaha- it was so unexpected, it made me and her teacher laugh. I knew she'd have fun. But I still worried about the little things that I wouldn't be there to help her with. 

Lucy too. No snack time this year. They only do snack through the 1st grade. I just kept thinking about their tummy’s growling. I know that sounds dumb, but it’s all these little things that make me sad. We dropped Lucy off in her class first and my eyes teared up... then we dropped Piper off and I started to cry when we walked out of her class. When we walked back out of the school we had to pass Lucy’s class and she saw me crying. She waved and was happily coloring something. I smiled but I know I couldn’t hide that I’d been crying. I’m so emotional on the first day of school!

However, we are on day 4 and feeling good. The first 2 days I walked them to class. But day 3 they were on their own. They were ready and they told me after school that they found their classrooms easily.  Lucy told me last night that the school days have been going by fast for her because she's having so much fun and Piper just ADORES her teacher.  We love our school and are glad to be back!

After school, it was our annual "here's-a-slurpee-for-being-so-brave-at-school-now-tell-me-EVERYTHING" hour.  They had so many good things to tell me! :) :)

Now, look at these: I’ve got some real gems right here 😂 Kindergarten in 1992 vs. 2018 and 2nd grade in 1994 vs. 2018. I really miss perms and wearing clogs with socks😅. I also would like to point out that I vividly remember asking my Mom to make SURE the cat was in the picture (crazy cat lovers, unite✊🏼)🤣

It's gonna be a good year, you guys.... a really good year :)