Radish Kit

 Oh my! The girls were certainly excited to tackle this. For the past few months Hattie has told me all about neighbor Bella’s radish kit. It’s a monthly subscription that comes with recipes and kitchen tools and an apron to introduce your kids to working in the kitchen. Leah and Kiersten are already pretty comfortable in the kitchen so I signed up, mostly for Hattie. Her sweet little heart wouldn’t have it, though. She decided since there were three recipes they should divide them up. Since it’s October it had a bit of a Halloween theme. Creepy corn dip for the appetizer. Mummy Enchiladas for the main course followed by Tres Leches Cake for dessert. Hattie tackled the appetizer, Kiersten handled the mummies and Leah’s tres leches was fantastic! Highly recommend if your kids like to cook.

Go Gators!

 The girls are back at it...hard at work in the pool. This morning was our first official meet of the season. I miss the normalcy of a swim meet. Having the girls huddle together with their friends, snapping pics of all their big smiles. No spectators are allowed to be present. I’m fortunate to be on deck because I’m an official. But even that is strange this year. We aren’t allowed to fill out disqualifications on paper and shuffle it around. All DQ’s have to be radio’d in to the Deck Ref. I felt like secret service with my ear piece today.

The girls really had a great meet. Leah swam some really hard races. She dropped over 3 seconds in her 200IM. Then she tackled the 100 butterfly and then with about a 10 minute break she swam her first ever 200 breast. Her time was 3:17. She said she didn’t pace it right because she still had gas in the tank...she’s learning. Hattie had an impressive 5 second drop in her 50 free and Kiersten looked good but it still making up for a long cross country season. The season may not look the same but we’ll take what we can get!

Spirit week 2020

 This week should’ve been Homecoming for Mt. Zion. Okay, well it WAS homecoming in Mt. Zion...just no celebration because 2020. But we still did spirit week with a different theme each day. Monday was ‘Merica Monday. Tuesday was Superhero day. Wednesday was crazy hair day and Thursday was throwback Thursday. No school Friday but kids were asked to wear their MTZ spirit wear.

Leah really got into it for her first year of Junior High. I even joined in for a little bit of fun. On Monday she dressed as RBG-Ruth Bader Ginsburg and I was a suffragette. It’s the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote! On Tuesday she wore an Incredibles T-shirt. Her wacky hair ended up being her old Hocus Pocus wig and on Thursday while I dressed as a 50’s housewife she crushed it with her 40’s war time look. Love that we got to do this together!

Cross Country Kiersten

 This kid has been running with Mitch for a few years now so it was a no brainer that she would run Cross Country this year. In Mt. Zion, girls are allowed to start participating in 5th grade. So of course this 10 year old was all in. The team started practicing in July. By early August she had her sights set on Varsity. Yes, we have so many 5th -8th grade girls participating, there is a Varsity and a Junior varsity team. I tried to explain to her that she would be running with Junior High girls that have a bit more experience, but she didn't like that explanation. So this girl went out, ran hard and got herself a varsity spot, like no big deal! She's had several great finishes this season. Her best time is 15:22 for two miles. Super proud of this kid!

Creepy Dolls

 There is something so very special about co-workers who will help you torture your kids with their biggest fears. Like for real! Mr. Kendall has enjoyed teasing Leah about creepy dolls on more than one occasion. This year, he's really out done himself. He found a window cling that was perfection. I was happy to set it up in her bathroom after she went to bed one night. Her reaction in the morning was so priceless! She yelled "Oh my God...Are you kidding me?!?!" Mitch and I laughed and laughed. And then made sure we got pictures. Parenting WIN!

September Swimmer of the Month

 We are full on back in the swing of things...in-person for schools, while many of the communities around us are remote learning. We're back to swimming 3-4 days a week. Leah and Hattie are tackling Junior tennis on Thursdays, followed by tumbling for Leah while Kiersten is going from Cross Country, to Piano, to dance. The girls are taking it all in stride. Doing great at school and enjoying what seems normal to us, even though we're doing it all in a mask. 

A wonderful surprise was when Leah was named the YDSC Swimmer of the month. She can tend to be a little more negative, she can be really hard on herself, and doesn't give herself enough credit so I hope this recognition was the pat on the back that she needed. Can't wait to watch her in the pool again soon!

Quarantine Birthday!

 

So not at all how we thought this birthday would go, but it’s 2020 so apparently anything goes! On Saturday Leah woke up not feeling good. She quickly went from bad to worse with fever, sore throat, coughing, chills and vomiting. After phone calls to express care, Health Department, our pediatrician and finally Illinois Department of Public Health they decided she needed a covid test. And lucky us, the nearest testing station was in Springfield. While Carle gets your results in 24 hours we had to wait 2-5 days. So here we are on Tuesday, still quarantined to our house, celebrating Mitch’s birthday. You can’t beat Jenga and I e Cream cake from DQ! Oh, and around 7:30 pm we got the call that she’s negative. Happy Birthday, Mitch!!!

All About Hattie

 The school year is off to a good start. Hattie has adjusted so much better this year, than years past. Especially considering how different things are with Covid. I'm so proud of her. She's loving 3rd grade and of course we adore her teacher Mrs. Swartz. One of the first projects of the year is an "All about me" poster board. Hattie had so much fun working on this. I penciled in some lines so her words would appear straight, but otherwise she took the lead on sharing about her life. Love her little spirit!