Bump, Set, Fizzle….

Matthew has been playing volleyball at the rec center again. He has gotten pretty good. His overhand serve sends the ball clear across the court. The best overhand serve I ever developed send the ball clear down to my feet. 😉 In spite of (or perhaps because of) his own increasing skills, he has become frustrated with the ability level of most of the other rec players as well as the lack of focus on teamwork in his current team. He would love to play with a more serious, more skilled group but unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any community volleyball leagues around here. We’ll keep looking but he might not be able to step up his game until high school.

Another Rite of Passage

Participating in marching band makes late summer and fall very busy for Daniel. Not only do they rehearse regularly during the week, but there are competitions nearly every weekend. As such, marching band kids usually miss Homecoming. By some random fluke of fate, there was not a competition on the date of the Homecoming dance so Daniel was able to go. They played board games in the morning and then watched a movie as the after-dance activity. I don’t think I ever went to Homecoming, but I’m glad he was able to attend once during his high school tenure.

The Lights of Home

Malia is enjoying her house. She has pulled her little table inside and does her homework in there. And she loves to turn on her desk lamp, turn off the big light and read in her beanbag chair. It makes the time spent making it time well spent.

 

This is What Happens to Your Tongue When You Eat Leftover Black Fondant

Let’s Get This Party Started!

Malia has been celebrating her birthday for over a week and honestly, she has been loving it. The party started ten days ago when I took her to get her first pedicure. I had my annual patriotic pedicure with my sisters in June and she has had a hankering to have one of her very own ever since then. She absolutely loved the foot soak and massage chair part and chose nail polish is two very glittery colors. My choices were a bit more sedate, but she was thrilled with her selection and that’s all that matters!

On her actual b-day, we had a little celebration here at home. She was (not unexpectedly) overly eager for her presents. We made her wait until after dinner and it almost killed her. She managed to pull through, however, and received Hot Wheels from Matthew, colored pencils and crayons from Daniel and Nathan, and a nice sketch pad, colored pencils and a great dot to dot book from Kevin’s folks. When she opened her first package from Kevin and I, she was mightily confused. I can understand why. It was command hooks and drapery rings.

She was not any less confused when she opened up the rest of the present.

It wasn’t until we took it into her room and got it all hung up that she realized that she had become the proud owner of her very own under-the-loft-bed playhouse. And then she was excited!

Her friend party was on Saturday. She wanted white tiger cupcakes and cake so we went with a zoo themed party. We played pin the tail on the tiger, made toilet paper roll binoculars and did a zoo themed scavenger hunt. Malia helped make the cupcakes and they turned out super cute. We had a really great time.

On Sunday we celebrated with my family. I am totally proud of how her cake turned out! Not only did it look super cute, but it was tiger striped on the inside as well as the outside. Malia wanted raspberry filling with a vanilla cake and while it was super tasty, once it was cut it looked like the tiger was bleeding. That was definitely an unplanned visual!

The official end of Malia’s celebration was today’s Birthday Table celebration at the school. The PTA had extra tables and decorations like always and (of course) Malia asked me to pick up lunch from Carl’s Jr. Acie, her best school friend since Renee moved, had a birthday this month as well so they got to enjoy their lunch together.

Malia is such a fun, crazy, creative kid. She is not afraid to jump right in with all the boys and has definitely taught them a few new things (Barbie, My Little Pony, princesses, etc.). We are so glad to have her in our family!

Quantifiably Funny

Malia loves the water. She loves to take a bath and will stand in the shower all day if we let her. This evening I told her to get out of the water (something that happens every single time she is in there) and she responded with, “Ok. I have about ten more bubbles.”

Fingers Crossed

Today was Matthew and Malia’s first day of the new school year. Malia was excited to go back because she is a very social creature and gets lonely and bored when she is away from her friends for too long.

Matthew was excited to go back because this year he is a mighty sixth grader!

In addition, he is hopeful that he will have a more positive experience this year. Last year there was a personality conflict between him and his teacher. It’s not that he got in too much trouble or anything (although it was more than he normally would which was kind of a warning sign for us), but his teacher’s teaching style and personality was definitely not a good fit for Matthew. Some of the kids and parents really liked her, but neither Matthew nor I had much love for her. It turned out to be a very negative and stressful year for him and we’re both hoping this year will be much, much better.

Party Animal

The yearly Pioneer Day block party has become one of those things Malia really looks forward to. It is like one last big blow out before the new school year starts. She was super excited this year. I mean, what’s not to love? The road is closed so she can ride her bike right down the middle of the street. She can run around with all her friends and eat her dessert first. There are games, fireworks, and an entire section of road set aside for sidewalk chalk. She gets to stay up past bedtime. And there is face painting, which she loves. 

This is another of those events I don’t love because of the heat, but I’m really glad my kids enjoy it. I have fond memories of the many ward parties I attended in my youth and hopefully Malia is creating wonderful memories.