Celebration

We spent the last week celebrating Julia's 11th birthday! She loves her birthday (who doesn't?) and enjoys all the attention, love and gifts!

Family party

Her new soccer bag from the Giannotti family!

Our birthday girl- all grown up!

Even though we spent her actual birthday by swimming, her favorite pizza dinner and more gifts, I failed to take any photos- we were having too much fun.

A perk of having a summer birthday is a slumber party with all your friends!

After getting 4 hours of sleep, they re-energized with some dancing!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIA!

Ode to summer 2013

I think my last post said something to the effect of "can't wait until summer so we can slow down". Ha! We just got busier but it's the fun, easy going type of busy. Someone calls and asks us to join them at the pool- "sure!" No school projects or early wake up times so summer life is good! 
One of my goals is to stay busy with friends and activities in town instead of driving all over the valley. And we've done pretty well so far.

We usually start off our summer with something crazy (crazy for this straight and narrow mom) in our hair! The hair tinsels of year's past was fun but would fall out in days. This time the girls got semi-permanent hair color. My hair stylist who comes to my house (this is huge for me since Chet works late hours) came over and we invited our friends to join in. 5 hours and 20 people in our little house later, we had some happy and cute kids!

In the last 2-3 weeks since school let out, we have: 

Spent time at the community pool with our school friends. This group has become tight and we go through withdrawals without them. 

Lots of play dates and sleepovers!

 

 

 

Open gym for all 3 kids

Summer movie series at our new posh theater in town! 3 miles away- woo hoo! 

This fun group took up the whole row!

Brody and Camille- one of her BFFs

Lots of time with cousins! Camille and Keeley get along so well since they are both loud and bossy!

Even though Julia is almost 11, she loves the Children's Museum as much as her sisters! 

 What would a summer vacation be without a trip up north to see the grandparents! 

 My parents had the girls for 3 fun days spent swimming, swimming, swimming and playing outside while I worked on projects and spent some quality time with this cute guy.

 Next on my summer list is to work on Bella's room. We bought her this bed and stored it in the playroom until I was ready to paint the room and add a door. That was a mistake- what kid wouldn't move in right away?? She loves her room even though her walls are red, there is no decor or bedding and she has a sheet for a door. Bella is easy to please!

Amazed

The last few weeks before school ended left me amazed and exhausted.

Amazed because I watched my kids give it their all and never waiver (even when mom offered an temporary break), amazed at their courage, amazed that they do hard things that aren't required and amazed that we survived it all. There were days that we needed to be 5 different places after school and somehow it just energized us more. 

Now that Julia is getting older, her level of activities is growing but she doesn't want to scale back on anything so she just keeps adding to her list. I watch her in awe and realize that I am just not that kind of person. As a proud mom, I will say that this child will go far in life. All in one week, she had nightly (5!) soccer club try outs, talent show rehearsals, Academic League finals, 2 school projects due, and a soccer game. Phew!

Julia tried out of the Barcelona Soccer Club which is new for us. None of her friends were making this jump from rec soccer to club and she knew she would be one of the youngest at try outs, yet she showed up on the first day and jumped right in. She was a bundle of nerves and even got a little teary when she saw the size/age of her competition.

 

 Plank time!

 

Julia knew that being the youngest gave her a disadvantage but she stuck it out and told me that if she didn't make the team, she would use it as a lesson and try again next year.... 

 

but was thrilled when they offered her a spot on the 2013-14 team! Club soccer here we come!

That same week, Julia's 5th grade Academic League team was entering the city finals. Julia blew me away with her new found confidence (she usually second guessed herself and would hesitate to answer some questions). She answered every math question she buzzed in! Both the 4th and 5th grade Pima Butte teams won the city finals and were recognized at the school board meeting!

 

Julia, Academic League coach Mrs. Rakoci,  and Julia's close friend Jordan

 

Go 5th grade champs!

Both Bella and Julia tried out for the school talent show. Again, their courage amazes me and I wonder where they both get these traits?

Bella performed a tumbling and dance routine (that she made up on the spot, per Bella's style) to "Take Me to Rio". She did awesome! 

 

 (the lighting is bad since I was far away)

 

 Julia, Loren and Emma hula hooped a cute routine to "Round and Round". They did awesome and no one dropped their hoop!  

 

Can't forget driving these 2 tumbling cuties to their weekly gym class. I think Camille loves having something in common with her big sisters! 

And this is what happens after a long 2 weeks of non stop action!!

Books, books and more books

A new crop of books has taken over our house these days. It used to be difficult to find books that excited Julia but now we can't see her without her nose in a book.

To potentially re-live my childhood (ha ha!), I bought copies of some of my favorite books when Julia was first born. I found the first edition of my all time favorite series "Sweet Valley Twins" and it sat on the shelf for a few years until she finally took to it.What does any mom do after that? Finds the next 35 books on Ebay (one lot) and watch your daughter devour 1 book per day!

 

At our Mother's Day lunch- she spent most of the time like this!

 

Still reading

Bella reading another one of my childhood favorites.

I love seeing them read!!

Chaperone duty

Damara, Bella and me riding the big yellow bus. 

I love being at home being full time! One of my favorite perks is being able to chaperone field trips and helping in the kids' classes. Bella had been sick for 10 days and recovered just in time for both of us to attend the 2nd grade Shamrock Farms field trip.

Bella and all her friends loved the trip and Bella loved having me there (such a nice feeling for me).