Check out her new shoes and socks!

Lyn has official volleyball shoes and socks for tonight's game.  Thanks Granny for the shoes (birthday present). And thanks coach for the socks!

Learning at the park

Lyn and I spent some time at a local park learning about several different things. We explored the area and discovered the insects and plants of the park. Lyn focused a lot on the clay deposits in the area. We learned about how clay is formed and what it is used for. We took some clay home and Lyn is working on an original sculpture made of clay. She took what she saw around her and turned her interests into learning opportunities. And since we were hanging out in the Frisbee park she tried her hand at a few "holes". (It is Frisbee golf.) 
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Happy birthday Eliot!

My baby girl is 3!

Scary pumpkin

Brightens my day

The weather has been hot lately and the heat has been almost unbearable at times.  It has been a long hard week and this afternoon the sun actually brought me comfort. I sat with Annika and Ben in the backyard in the shade and gazed up at the clear sky.  I was finally able to breathe. Life is good. 

Lyn's 3rd win of the season

You can't judge a book by it's cover. The team The Riptide played tonight was huge! The girls were tall and big. I was sure they were going to give us a run for our money. Lyn is the youngest on her team and looked tiny compared to these other girls. Well, we showed them. We won with no problems. Lyn has developed a lot more control. Her serves are good and her aim is good. She could stand to be a little more agressive on the court but they are all that way. No one wants to hurt anyone's feelings so they let everyone have a turn at the ball but sometimes you just have to dive after it. Way to go girls!

Fall is here...

Today is the first day of Fall. It is still very hot outside but we wanted to celebrate in a small way. The kids collected leaves and made leaf prints. It was dusk when they started working on their project but they had fun.

She can hear!

Annika checked out fine with the audiologist at the ENT's office. Her hearing is fine. No we still need to get to the bottom of some of her quirkiness. Some is bound to be seizure related. I am sure we are due for an updated EEG.

Annika at the ENT

Annika showed some hearing loss at her last well visit. So here we are at the next step.

Look what I just bought!

Of course I only went into the dollar store for one thing.  This was not it.  But it is so cool. I am putting it in my purse. I can never find a screwdriver when I want one.  Now I don't have any excuses.

Birmingham's Railroad Park

We have been hearing about the building of the railroad park downtown for some time now. Some people think it is a waste of money and not really needed. Some people think it will help revitalize downtown and stimulate growth. I'll keep my opinions on that to myself.

The park opened up a few days ago and we took some of the kids there this morning before church. It was already warm. (The high today was 97 degrees.) There were a lot of people already there. We saw joggers, dog walkers, families with children of all ages, park workers texting as the rode bikes on patrol, and Birmingham City policemen on bikes.

It was actually a bit surreal to see the city skyline behind the kids as they played. The soft playground had a collection of climbing structures that I haven't seen before. The wall around the playground was something I haven't ever seen before. It was heavy wire holding large stones together in block form. We had a great time. If anyone is looking for something to do downtown outside go check out the Railroad Park. Click here to see the park's own website.

   

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The Riptide wins their first game

The first game of the season and the Riptide won the first two matches of their first game. It was quick and easy. Lyn is the youngest girl on her team  but she is keeping up just fine. At 5'1'' tall I always think of Lyn as pretty tall for her age but there are quite a few girls a lot taller than she is on all of the other teams and her own. Maybe this year she can play in both seasons. We will see. Way to go Riptide!

First volleyball game of the season

Lyn has been practicing for a few weeks now with her volleyball team. Tonight is her first game of the season. We thought the team colors were going to be purple.  Oh well, orange goes good with Lyn's hair.

A day of service on Sunday

It was a work day at church this past Sunday. Lyn helped paint a bookshelf for a classroom. Evan and Eliot helped me out on the playground. OK, I swept and pulled weeds and they played. After all of the assigned clean-up work Lyn went off to the preschool class. Lyn is really excited that she will be working in the preschool classroom. She had her first training session today. She will do great. She is going to start out working at least one Sunday a month. I am so proud of her. She is growing up and becoming so responsible!

Bowling

I took Lyn, the little kids, and Lyn's friend bowling on Saturday. Evan and Eliot wanted to help soooo bad. Lyn and her friend let them "help" a few times. Baby Ben was in a really good mood. He just watched the world around him. He nursed while I was watching Evan and Eliot climb all over the video games. After that we dropped a few books off at the library and headed to Sonic for sundaes. Lyn called her Granny on the way home after dropping her friend off to let her know how much fun she had and of course Granny let her spend the night. I dropped her off at the grocery store to meet her Granny and she ended up spending the night with her.  All in all a pretty decent Saturday.

Check-ups for Annika and Ben

Ben and Annika had well visits this past week. Ben weighs a little over 18 pounds. Annika is doing OK but with some concerns. We are headed back to the neurologist to discuss her seizures. She has a couple of seizures a month. They aren't really interfering with her day but I worry about her as she gets older. They happen mainly at night and one day she will grow up and be on her own. I can't imagine what will happen when she is alone when she has one. We did find out that she has hearing loss in one ear so we are off to the audiologist too to see what is up with that. Never a dull moment in our house.

What you put out in the world comes back to you

A friend and co-worker had a very trying day this week. She works hard and truly enjoys her job working with children. She is highly educated and well respected by her peers. (She knows her stuff!!) She works with children under three and those children come with parents. And sometimes those parents can be very difficult to work with. And then there are parents that are an absolute treat to work with. My friend explained her role to two separate families. One chewed her out and one bought her her favorite food for lunch even before they met her for the first time. You are loved and appreciated Sara! You can play with my kids anyday! Oh yeah, you do!

Sara enjoying her Taziki's for lunch!