Harper – Last weekend, Harper’s VYS Team played in a single elimination tournament.  They were a great team all season in the number one slot, only having lost one game.  The morning of the tourney was cool, a few occasional sprinkles, but overall a nice day.

Harper wanted it; she was hungry the whole game and her passing and footwork were on point.  She scored the only goal for her team; the moment was electrifying. They were prepared for penalty kicks unlike last Fall when the game tie resulted in penalty kicks.  Their practice paid off and they won in the penalty round advancing them to the game championship!  Harper had a great penalty shot and I was so proud of her. 

Game 2 Harper again was hungry. Annie’s mom was behind us and we continually heard her say after Harper’s plays “I could watch her play all day long.” She was on fire!  They were down 0-1 almost the entire game.  They had a few shots on goals, none of which went in.  With only about two minutes left in the game, Harper made a ridiculous kick from the side of the goal and scored to tie the game 1-1.  It came down to penalty kicks again.  Harper had a great kick in the air, which the goalie caught in the nose.  I happened to have it on video and while we felt bad for the girl, we may have watched the replay of the ball to the nose several times with painful commentary each time.  The girls were overjoyed with the win!  They played hard all season, both games, and it was an awesome end to the season.

Avery – Avery had been talking about wanting to get her ears pierced for at least a year since Emerson had hers done last September. She wanted them pierced, at the same time, she wasn’t ready. After talking about whether she was ready for it or not on a daily basis the last month, she finally mentally convinced herself she was.  I made the appointment only the night before as we couldn’t allow too much time between making her decision and the appointment so she wouldn’t change her mind.

We turned it into a date night, going to Silver Diner first for dinner.  She ordered pancakes with bacon and an oreo shake, which she excitedly shared with me.  What impressed me most about our dinner experience was how darn polite she was.  Her “thank you’s” to wait staff are so confident and sincere.  A manager who must have overheard as he was walking bye, even stopped to compliment Avery on how polite she was, to which she said a loud confident “THANK YOU”.

She remained calm and composed about getting her ears pierced the entire evening, from dinner to the car ride to the waiting time at Craig Pokes You.  We were hoping for two piercers; however, only one was available and she not only handled the news like a champ, but also the actual piercing one at a time.  Amy, the piercer, was great…talking through every step along the way.  Avery was so calm and poised that I even took a video of the second piercing as I wanted Avery to remember her composure and bravery. She came home proud to show off her studs!

Emerson – Emerson made VGSL All Stars a second year in a row. Her team played down for the tourney at the 10U level.  They practiced all week and really gelled as a team. Her team dominated their two games on Saturday and the first two games Sunday.  They made it all the way to the championship where they played the other Vienna All Star Team.  While they were ahead most the game, they let a bunch of runs come in one inning and were down by 2 in the last inning. Emerson was first to hit and nailed an incredible double into left center over the outfielders head to start the inning off.  Her team ended up tying the score back up.  In the extra innings, bats were alive on both teams, but in the end the girls couldn’t pull it off and lost by one.  Emerson was actually the last batter and struck out to her disappointment as there was a runner on third and a little hit would have tied the game again. I reassured her she did not lose the game for her team…and that is the truth!

Emerson had a strong weekend.  She hit two solid singles…one shortstop area and one straight up the middle.  She had two legit doubles into the outfield. And she had an amazing double play while playing first.  The runner was going home so after getting the girl out at first, she threw home and catcher made the tag. The girls were disappointed with the 2^nd place finish, understandably so.  The girls played their hearts out over the weekend and it was awesome to watch.  Emerson’s bat came alive this weekend and man was I proud.  

Each of these events left me invigorated for days!!

Two upcoming 6^th graders and one upcoming 4^th grader!  I blinked and here we are!  All three girls had a good year in school.  While they still wore masks and had Covid restrictions and precautions in place, we are ending on what seems like a “normal” year.  The girls benefited from in person teaching and caught up on some years prior topics as well as learned new material.  Emerson wrote quite a few amazing stories and an essay that placed in the OES Reflections Contest.  Harper learned multiplication, which she found to be easy.  Avery dabbled in a little bit of everything and learned how to demonstrate her negotiating and legal skills on paper. Emerson played clarinet.  Harper always had a story to tell about the kids in her class.  Avery eagerly participated in chorus.  

They each found likings to different things in school and in extracurriculars.  Outside the school hours, Justin and I shuffled kids to and from constantly.  

They are growing up for sure.  While I am always on top of the First Day of School signs, the Last Day signs are something I know I should do, but never materializes.  Thankful their personalities shine through to fill in. Emerson had prepared in advance a sign for the last day in Art class symbolizing freedom.  She anticipated all three of them would share the sign.  

The sign was a little too formal for Harper, so she brought in her love of art to represent the last day with a graduating dog.

While Emerson suggested that Avery hold her well thought out manicured sign, Avery chose to march to the beat of her own drum.  Could we really have expected anything less?

I am so proud of these girls.  School is for learning and growing both academically and socially and sometimes the social piece can be harder than the academics.  I am so proud of my girls for persevering.  While I am not in a rush, I can’t wait to continue to watch them expand their wings!

That smile! 

Watched my girl in her chorus performance last night!  She was the only one who didn’t read the music and memorized lyrics and notes.  Not sure that even reading the notes benefited the performers!

After a few of these songs, I caught this very smile on stage.  Justin and I turned to each other and smiled upon seeing her genuinely happy.

The movie star shades….those were the result of having her eyes dilated two hours prior to the performance!  

By the way, her vision was measuring at 20/50!  The best she has had to date!  And eye pressure was down…at 11 and 13!  

Guess she had a lot to smile about last night 🙂

Viva Vienna, the much anticipated event of the year.  I used to love Viva Vienna!  Not that I don’t love it anymore, BUT even better….my kids now love it more than me!

They are at an age now where they can pretty much ride all the big kid rides, though they still chose not to go on some of the scarier ones.  I don’t blame them. 

Avery was actually scared to go on the ferris wheel.  She said she would go on it if I went.  Despite my fear of heights, I said yes!

All three wanted wristbands this year, which meant they could ride as many rides during the day as they wanted.  While Justin and I knew monetarily it made more sense to purchase tickets for Avery and Harper, they felt strongly that the wristband was the way to go and it wasn’t worth the bickering. 

We met up with the Workmans and the O’Neills and the girls had a great time going on the rides with each other and their friends.

We stayed for five hours, the longest we have ever stayed at Viva Vienna! The girls got sunburned and by the end of the five hours were exhausted and felt accomplished.

Harper made the decision to be baptized.  She approached Justin and I with it on her own a few months back. VPC was great working with us to make it happen since it was atypical in the sense that Harper made the decision on her own vs. Justin and I making the decision for her. 

She can officially become a member of the church around age 12 or 13 and until then she has accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior and to obey His word and show His love.

Harper Paige – We support you and are so proud of you! 

Another wonderful month of my sister, Gabriel, Noah, and Elias visiting Virginia.  They came for my cousin Katy’s wedding and were here for so much more.  They were here to celebrate my dad’s 72^nd birthday in a private room at Pazzo Pamadoro.  They were here to celebrate Passover and hear the four questions read by the girls.  They were here to celebrate Easter and join in on some fierce Easter Egg Hunts.  They were here to cheer on Emerson at her softball game, Harper at her soccer game, Avery at her dance recital, and Emerson playing the clarinet.  We spent time riding scooters and bikes; watching a movie, shows, and eating ice cream; going out to eat; going for walks, playing on the neighbor’s swing set, reading books, and playing made up games like Smelly and Monster. We spent time smiling, laughing, and loving.

Noah spent the night at least six times and Elias spent the night three times.  It was wonderful every time. My heart is full.  I feel complete bliss around those boys.

A friend who saw me at Emerson’s band concert in late April texted me a few weeks afterwards asking what face cream I used.  She said for weeks, she couldn’t stop thinking about how great I looked.  While I gave her my skincare regimen, I told her the true reason I looked so great was likely that Noah was with us that night.  He sat on my lap; I was beaming ear to ear and I felt pure bliss as my whole family, including my “four kids for the night” enjoyed the impressive performance.

She receives all the hand me downs, plus often gets her own.  Her drawers barely close and when closed, they often have some clothes peeping out through them.  But with all the options, she routinely selects a nightgown every night!

She did it!  Despite not being able to actually dance due to her foot injury, she got on stage.  She was a great tree, took a wonderful bow, and showed some great acting skills in her parts of the Sleeping Beauty Spring Ballet. 

I am so proud of her showing up weekly to class and rehearsals, and her commitment despite her injury and having to do a lot of watching.

The performance was impressive.  The best part was seeing Avery’s confidence, commitment, and witnessing the friendships that are blossoming as a result of dance.

We went to church in person for the first time since COVID as a family and it felt wonderful.  The atmosphere was alive and it really felt joyous to be amongst so many others celebrating.  While I know COVID is still going around, I no longer have any anxiety over us getting it.

Despite a chill in the air, it was a sunny beautiful day.  The Easter Bunny arrived in the morning.  The girls are barely able to sit across one stair anymore!

We captured a family pic on the way out.

A walk to Whole Foods through the Town Green led us to a Town Green Easter Egg Hunt that the girls participated in for a few minutes.

My parents, sister, and the boys arrived around lunchtime, and we had our first Easter Egg Hunt.  We modified the color scheme that we normally do as we didn’t think a 3.5-year-old would grasp the concept of only picking up select colors.  Anyone could pick any eggs they found up to a certain number in which they had to wait for everyone to get that number before running off for the next round. Avery re-injured her foot during one of the last races.

First the obligatory Easter Basket picture with the girls.

The boys joined them. 

Added a few more to the mix. 

And then they were off!

My mom was just as into it!  I think deep down she wanted to join in the hunt!

Chocolate and candy were sampled.

A little playtime and bike riding and a lot of afternoon cooking.  Emerson wanted to make beef bourgeoise, which is no simple task.  Her and I spent most the afternoon in the kitchen.  The downstairs was bright and airy, and we watched everyone outside while we prepped and cooked. 

A second smaller hunt occurred in the evening.  This time jellybeans were the surprise.

My parents came back in the evening, and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner cooked by Emerson and myself.

It was so great to be celebrating another weekend with my family.

Happy Easter!

The 2^nd Annual Baking Challenge occurred this past weekend.  Whether we were going to make it was TBD for a few weeks as the date was the Sunday after Katy’s wedding and we had originally been planning on spending the night in Leesburg after the wedding.

This competition proved to be fierce last year and the girls were all in for this year.  As such, I cancelled the Saturday evening hotel reservations, went ingredient shopping Friday, and the girls started baking Saturday.

Emerson – Emerson chose to make a lemon bundt cake with lemon icing.  Her first one was delicious but the top stuck to the pan!  SO, she had to make it a second time.  The good news is that we were able to taste the first one and make a few slight modifications (slightly more lemon zest) and it took her considerably less time to make the second cake since she knew what she was doing.  She made a delicious icing Sunday, and her cake earned her 3^rd place!

Avery – Avery originally wanted to make a zebra cake as did Harper.  Avery does not generally help me out much in the kitchen or even know where a lot of the stuff is located in the kitchen so I felt like she shouldn’t make something so complex.  With the wedding, I didn’t know how I was going to help their girls make three separate things in the time we had.  So Avery ended up going to my parents’ house and making my sister’s famous chocolate chip cookies.  They made the dough and she shaped and baked the cookies Sunday just before we went to the event.  They were delicious as always.  The cookies were a hit!  When Jack went for his second cookie, he said “these cookies are out of this world”.  Rumor has it that the judges were also disappointed that they only received one cookie to share!  The crowd devoured the cookies…there wasn’t a single one left.  To my surprise, Avery did not win a prize.  Perhaps because it was just a cookie…but it was not just a cookie…it was the world’s best chocolate chip cookie!  If there was an award for crowd favorite, she would have secured that in a second!

Harper – Harper made a zebra cake. The recipe was somewhat complex and the amount of batter that the recipe should have yielded came up short and I’m still not sure why.  With my guidance we split the two batters but the chocolate was so much thinner than the white batter.  To thicken it up we added flour, which changed the consistency.  There was leftover chocolate batter so Sunday morning I made a small cake with it so we could taste the cake.  Harper said it was good, but truth was it was pretty bad!  I was almost about to tell her we were going to make a new cake to go along with the delicious cream cheese buttercream frosting and raspberry filling she had made.  But I quickly realized it was her cake, not mine, and she was happy with it.  I helped her ice the cake…I probably did more than I should have with actually icing it…the perfectionist in me really wanted to test out my skills on the turntable!  Turns out the competition cake was better than the one I made that morning with the leftover batter. Harper earned herself 2^nd place!

We had a sugar high all day.  I froze the remaining cake for a special treat another day.    All the participants did great. The girls had a great time and I’m sure are already looking forward to next year.