Violin time

Karissa got her violin tonight and she is so excited. She can't wait to play it tomorrow. She wanted to play it tonight but the teacher told them they can't until they put the roslin on. They also told them not to tighten the strings and I looked over at her and she goes I know I've already learned my lesson. A couple of months ago Karissa decided to tune her guitar and broke the string and her grandparents took it to get it fixed! So now she knows NOT to tune her instruments.
She can't wait to take it to class tomorrow.

We've been very blessed this year because all of her teachers are very nice and they really enjoy having her in class. We got to tour her school on Sat and meet her teachers. Her homeroom teacher came up to us and before I could even introduce myself she goes Karissa is a very sweet girl! Karissa is a great kid and we are so proud of her.

Kathryn's adventure

Last week Katie had a sub on the bus. I was waiting outside and saw the bus turn around in our court and then flew past me. I started to panic because they forgot to drop off Katie. My neighbor saw me so I yelled to see if she got off the bus at her house and of course no so Kristy gave me the bus garage number and I called. The nice lady then radioed them and told me that they would turn around and bring her back. Sure enough the bus came back around and gave me my baby girl back. The guy said he was sorry, but when he called out Kathryn no one answered and down the street they went. I looked at her and told her, "your name is Kathryn and sometimes people will call you that, you just tell them you go by Katie." Plus I know she knows her name is Kathryn it just doesn't trigger her to go OH they're talking to me. I also said to her didn't you see your house go by and she responded, I wasn't ready to get off the bus yet.

Life raising a preteen girl

It is so nerve racking raising girls and the first born is the hardest because we don't have anyone to ask for advice and she's our guinea pig. She came home yesterday asking "again" if she could shave her legs. She said all her close friends do. I was planning on letting her if she made the swim team, but then yesterday happened. I remember being in 6th grade when I shaved my legs for the first time. So I talked to Jason and we're going to go ahead and let her.

Then she wants a facebook page so again Jason and I talked and we agreed that she could go ahead and have one but I need to be in the room when she is on it. We're going to talk to her about only accepting kids that she knows -not a stranger. This year so far has been full of challenges with her mainly letting her have more freedom. For example I let her and a friend ride their bikes to certain points in our neighborhood. It's hard finding the balance on letting go just enough so that we're not treating her like a baby but hanging on just alittle bit longer. Man it was so much easier when she was a baby and toddler.

The Southland Challenge

Lets just say that this didn't go over too well. I came up with the idea that the girls would buy a toy for a little girl and a little boy. So we headed to Walmart after church and they picked out a toy. We then headed to a hospital and we're told that we couldn't give it to a child. Karissa and Katie were confused about why and Katie was crying because she really wanted to give the toy to a little girl. We were told that we could just put it in a bin, well my girls know how to do that so that wasn't the lesson I wanted to teach them. I thought people were able to volunteer at Shriners so I didn't think anything about going and passing out a toy to a child. So after getting turned down by 3 hosptials we headed to downtown Lexington to see if we can find a child outside. We didn't see a single child. I then drove to Nicholasville and drove around and even went to a park and no one was there either. We did this for 4 hours and we were very discouraged.
I then decided that maybe this wasn't the challege for us so we decided to bake cookies for the fire department and sheriff's department. We delivered them on Monday evening.

I think in order to help out a family, it's all about who you know and if they know someone in need because I then called my friend and she was trying to do the same thing and they couldn't find anyone to give the toys r us gift card to.

2nd day of school

Karissa and I were so nervous about Middle school that I forgot to take pictures of the day so we captured the moment on the 2nd day. So far she likes middle school and she's excited to be learning how to play the violin. There are only 3 kids in her class and she's hoping it stays that way because the teacher has told them that it will be like having private lessons. She also said that she hopes it stays small because if she's good at it she doesn't want anyone to hold her back. She also asked that if she's good would we buy her a violin!!

She is also wanting to go out for the swim team which I think is great. She has had papaw teach her how to dive this summer and now she is diving off the diving board! I'm so proud of her, she has really blossomed these past couple of months. We've had alot of "firsts" with her this year, first time going to camp, going down the water slides, going on a zip line, diving, riding a roller coaster (not bad for a girl who is terrified of heights!) also a new school and starting a new program at church.

I hope this is her year to shine!!

1st day of school

I have always taken my kids (mainly Karissa) on their first day of school and when it was time to get in the car Katie decided that she wanted to ride the bus. I was shocked!! She was so excited to ride the bus. She had a great day and she couldn't wait to see the playground and even asked a teacher what it looked like!!

Tennis anyone?

The girls wanted a tennis lesson from Uncle Joe, who is a tennis pro at a country club in SC. Kendall even got a lesson!

Vacation in Myrtle Beach