Hi, my name is Carrie and I am a teacher-dork.

The teacher-dork in me is out in full effect.  I want to give Cal as much as I can on my end to make sure he does great in school.  I said at the end of last year, I wanted to work with him on reading some this summer-- not a lot, but getting him to start recognizing site words.  I bought these flash cards:

From Here

I kept them in my car forever, and then as I realized that summer is starting to wind down and I better get on it, I pulled them out.  We started with 5 words. I would hold them up while at a stop light and he would sound out the word.  Once he got it without hesitation, it went into the "he's got it" pile.  If he hesitated or struggled at all, it went to the back of the pile.  He is up to about 30 words right now.  His issue is rushing through words.  If he would go slow and sound them out, he will get more.  But that's part of learning! I try to go through our pile at least once a day. Some days, he's super into it.  Other days, he is into the dump truck out the window-- and that is totally fine too.  I don't push him when he isn't into it.  I want him to be excited!

A friend also told me about BOB BOOKS. Have y'all heard of these?

From here

Each book picks a sound and focuses on it throughout the book: "Mat Sat. Mat sat on Sam...." I ordered these and we tried to read one a few nights ago and it was painful.  Cal was TIRED and not wanting to sound anything out.  He would look at the page saying "Mat sat. Sam sat." and would say "Scott sits with Mat...can we be done now?" ha! My cue that we were done! So we put the books away.

Until Tuesday night. Cal came to me and said, "can we do some reading tonight? Like me reading to you?" I took a deep breath and reached for some patience from my back pocket and was ready for another night of him making up sentences... then this happened:

He was doing it! Woohooooo! And, as you can see, he was excited about it! There are several "levels" to these books.  They come in a little box and levels 1-4, and each level has 2 books (level 1, book 1 and book 2)...does that make sense?  On this night, we read both of the level 1 books multiple times. I am sure there is a whole lot of memorizing going on here, but he is still stopping himself to sound out the words. It's a start, right??

 

Greensboro Science Center

The week before last, Sally and I were talking about doing something with the kids during the day and she suggested the Greensboro Science Center.  Y'all, if you are local,  you should totally take your kids here.  We loved it!!! It is a museum, zoo and aquarium all wrapped up in one.  We spent pretty much the whole day there and the kids totally ate it all up!

I dropped the ball and totally forgot to invite a friend of mine (SORRY, RF!!!), but now I see that as a reason to go back again!

We were all pretty smitten with the penguins there-- they are just too cute!!!

There was a spot to touch sting rays, which was a huge hit for the kids.

Pippa and Brooks ended up joining us, as did my friend Julie and her son Fenton for a little bit.  It was a wild group of boys and they all loved it-- that, to me, speaks volumes about a place!!!

Jane didn't seem to mind being the only girl.  She can totally hold her own in this crowd!

The boys went up into the bubble to lemur watch...

 Then we headed outside while it was really cloudy so it wasn't too hot-- at all.  We totally lucked out with the weather!

The petting zoo was fun and the kids all loved petting the different animals.  After the petting zoo, we checked out the animals in the barn. 

A quick stop for a picture!

Or two...

After we covered the entire outside, we headed in to the museum.  Andy picked a nose...

And then we touched a few snakes...

This is a sweet little crew! Their behavior was awesome the whole time--and I think it was because this place was so neat with so much to do and see.  

I will totally go back here again-- we all really had a fun day! We were WORN out by the end of the day!!!


 

A Blonde Ambition

I know this is silly.

I don't even know the girl.

But that's the thing about this blog world.  You feel like you KNOW people who pour their hearts into their blogs, opening up and letting you into their little world.

I have been reading A Blonde Ambition blog for years now, so therefore author, Leslie, and I are besties.  Isn't that how it works??  From her posts, she is just adorable-- look at this smile! Hard not to like her, right?



I have emailed Leslie a few times to ask random questions and she always wrote back quickly and was always super sweet.

Leslie had two baby girls within months of each other (I think they were 13 months apart...). Right after her second one was born, she was having some health issues... she checked into a hospital very soon after she was born (maybe 6 weeks after) and spent 90+ days trying to get better (she had a pre-existing heart condition). 

They were having a hard time fixing the issue, whatever it was....

She posted this post last week, letting her readers know she was going to another hospital to try to get it all right.

And then today, I found out she passed away. 

Again, I do not know her.  At all.  But I feel like I do.  I feel like she's my friend.  I know it's silly.  She doesn't know me from Adam. 

I loved the way she wrote and her positive outlook on everything.  I loved reading about her and Stephen, and how they met (on Kelly's Korner blog Singles Day!).  She was always so adoring of him-- if that's even the correct way to say that....she thought the world of him.  And you can tell from pictures that he feels the same of her.

 

Leslie ended every post by saying: "Be Blessed, Lovelies...." And I love that! What a wonderful reminder.... BE BLESSED.

I will say this one more time, because I need to reiterate it: I know this is silly to be sad for someone I have never met.  Maybe her young age has reminded me of Molly...who I have been missing so much lately... my heart aches for her two young kids, who are growing up without their momma...much like Molly's kids. 

Life isn't fair.

A good reminder to BE BLESSED....



 

Championship Swim Meet and Banquet

July 18th was the Championship swim meet at Koury Natatorium (UNC's pool).  Andy decided not to swim, so Cal and I were up bright at early to get there by 6:30...! It was an early morning, for sure, but it is worth it!

 I took a picture like this one above last year too...maybe I will get one each year with him in front of this UNC sign.

Love this next picture-- champs is chaotic and stressful and loud and HOT...but it is also a lot of fun!!!

Cal swam hard-- he didn't do great in freestyle (hahha, he stopped mid lap and looked around...after the race I asked him what he was doing and he said he was looking for me! I told him to NOT look for me!). But he dropped 4 seconds in his backstroke so we were excited!

The coaches made a mistake in the relays assignments and Cal didn't get a relay for champs, which is totally no big deal.  Of course he wanted one, but he was fine with not having one.  Well, the morning of champs, a 7/8 year old boy was sick and couldn't swim...Cal swam up in two relays with 7 and 8 year old boys...! He did great-- except for the fact that he had to swim breast stroke in a medley relay and he can't swim breast very well....! But he swam his little heart out in that free relay! It was so fun to watch. 

Our team was told we placed THIRD, which we were all thrilled with! And then, we received notification that one swimmer's times were not entered accurately, and we actually got SECOND place!!! This was HUGE!!!

Sunday of that same weekend, we had the swim team banquet! The boys were dressed for the occasion...

I adore their smiles in this picture....I mean, seriously.... we were late getting there and I took this about as fast as I could get them to turn around...and I love it!

They started banquet with the head coach speaking and then each age group was brought up... here are the 6 and under boys! There's a LOT of them!

 I zoomedin to get Charlie, Andy and Cal...

Each age group got a coaches award, most valuable award, spirit award and most improved award. When the coach started talking about the most improved award, he said "this kid could barely swim at the start of the year...and I watched his first meet where it took him a minute and 35 seconds to swim a lap, but he did it, without a DQ!..." and I knew it was Andy....! He dropped 45 seconds (or something like that) off of his time from that first meet.  I was a proud momma!

With Coach Harrison after the banquet...

Really proud of him.  I have written on his a million and ten times about his struggles with overcoming this anxiety... he would cry and scream and be miserable.  The lessons in the "off season" tested my patience and made me want to never let him swim again.  He is improving.  And that is awesome.  What more could a mom want? He is really and truly enjoying it.  He went from the start of the season to crying his eyes out at every practice, to the end of the season, walking right over to the block and flying off into the water-- smiling the whole time.  

I love these two little swimmers and I could not be more proud of them for an outstanding swim season.  They make me a happy lady!

 

#carriedaway: week 28

Week 28:

 Day 191: hanging around

 Day 192: KID ROCK!!!

 Day 193: I have never been able to keep orchids alive more than a week.  These gorgeous flowers, a gift from some sweet friends after Molly passed, have been alive and growing since February! Love the friends who gave them to me and love that these flowers remind me of Molly every single day.

 Day 194: night night, boys...

 Day 195: sooooo much fun today-- these fools better be worn out and sleep tonight!

 Day 196: #ainthappening #noandno

 Day 197: summah time

 

#carriedaway: week 27

Week 27:

 Day 184: beach brothers!

 Day 185: Happy 4th!!!

 Day 186: surfs up, dudes

 Day 187: tell me you're bored again.

 Day 188: date night to celebrate 9 years! Thanks to Tricia and Tommy for keeping the wild things for us so we could go!

 Day 189: a great way to end the swim season!

 Day 190: bless his bored little heart.




 

Last (regular) swim meet

Last Wednesday night, we had our last regular season swim meet (we have Champs on Saturday!).

The meet started off rough.  Andy was cranky and difficult and he had cried 6 times before the meet even started.  I told him he wasn't swimming, he burst into tears.  I told him he could swim, he burst into tears.  It was really, really hard.  

But then he got chatting with his buddy and something clicked...!

He swam free AND back and did great in both! He dropped 38 seconds in his freestyle from the last meet...! He was PUMPED! And it built all this confidence to go and do backstroke, which he swore he wasn't going to do while he was in mid-meltdown pre-meet.  But then I looked over and there he was:

 Sitting in the chairs, ready to do backstroke like he had zero concerns in the world.  Then he stood up, hopped in and got ready to go!

 And he did great! He kept up with the boys in his heat the entire time, right up until the end when he looked for the wall and it turned his whole body and he hit one lane line, then he turned and hit the other lane line and then the other.  He was about 3 feet from the wall and went back and forth about 15 times before reaching the wall.  It was hilarious to watch-- we were all screaming like crazy.

CalBoy did GREAT in his backstroke and got HEAT WINNER! I went running over to his and he flew into my arms holding his ribbon.  He was SO proud and I was too.  His first heat winner of the season!

These sweet boys were all standing there when he got back-- love these smiles! And Andy was so proud of himself for doing so well in backstroke (and freestyle!) so he was grinning ear to ear.  

Eddie rewarded both boys with a big ol slush puppy for trying so hard and being such great sports (Cal reached over and shook hands with the kids in the lanes next to him at end of race.  I was about to pop,)

Many (MANY) people comment that swim team is such a big time commitment and isn't it awful? Truthfully, I really enjoy it! Mainly because I get to spend this amount of time with the ladies below (throw in Sally, please) and it makes it so much fun! Yes, it is a time commitment, but it's worth it! I am with friends, the kids are getting exercise and learning about competition and it's fun for everyone!

I am really proud of the boys this year and I can't wait to see what Cal does at Champs on Saturday! Andy decided before this last meet that he didn't want to swim in champs, and now that he did so well in this meet, he wants to swim again...! It's too late to sign him up, but he will be ready to go next year....we hope!

Cheers to another great swim season!