Basketball 2022
Ava not only tried dance for the first time this year, she also tried her very first team sport, basketball. Our pastor’s wife, Allison, was coaching the 7-9 year old girls team for a different church and asked us if Ava would like to play. Ava said she would like to give it a try. Little did we know, we were starting her out on the best team in the league. They finished their undefeated season by winning the championship game! They even had some shut out games. Ava had a great time playing for Allison, she was an amazing coach! She made some sweet friends on the team and we were so proud of her for getting out of her comfort zone and doing something like basketball for the first time. She even scored a basket in the last 2 games she played, even making a free throw in the championship. She had quite the cheering section in the championship game because Nana, Papa, Grammie, Uncle Eric and Piper were all there to cheer her on. We are not sure if she’ll stick with basketball but she had fun on her very first sports team.
Lucy
Exactly one week after we lost Kate, we had to say goodbye to our precious golden, Lucy. This loss came as a complete shock to us. Sunday morning before we left for church, Lucy fell going down the steps in the garage. That evening we noticed her breathing seemed off and knew we’d need to take her into the vet the next day. When we woke up Monday morning, Lucy’s breathing was very shallow. As we were doing things to get ready, DJ went to check on Lucy and got a huge shock that she had passed away. It was such a shock and we all hated that we did not realize what was going on or we would have been surrounding her with love. But she died peacefully at home and we are thankful we did not have to make any hard decisions. She and Kate are buried side by side in our back yard. Lucy (aka Lucy Goose, Goose or Luce) was the best dog. We could not have asked for a better first dog. She was a therapy dog for the girls when they were scared to sleep alone and she knew just how to comfort them. She loved us as much as we loved her and we all miss her every day.
Kate
Unfortunately, our snow days were also filled with a lot of sadness. The Friday before the snow hit, Kate was acting very strange. She was extremely lethargic and she started eating her cat litter. We knew something was up. Our vet was completely booked that day, as were all other vets we tried calling. So that evening, I took Kate to the emergency vet hospital. We waited a long time to be seen and then I had to leave her there for them to actually check her out, which was so hard to do because I knew something was really wrong with my kitty. We got a call in the middle of the night from the vet saying she was 99% sure Kate had very advanced cancer. She had never seen levels as high as she saw in Kate’s blood. We were left with some decisions to make about what to do next but ultimately decided to bring Kate home after she got some fluids, steroids and an appetite stimulant. We knew she probably didn’t have much time left and we just wanted her home. With the impending snow storm, we realized there was a good possibility we wouldn’t be able to take her to our vet but we wanted to be with her. That Monday, she passed away at home. She was 13 years old and was apparently stronger than we even realized because she hid her illness until there was no way she could hide it anymore. I’ll be honest, she wasn’t a very nice cat but we still loved her. She was our first baby and she spent many hours with me curled up in my lap while I worked from home. We all miss Baby Kate, the Duchess of Fieldgate (as DJ and I called her) very much!
The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyways
When you have epic snow (for SC) and you have an Elsa dress….
Snow 2022
This year, we got the best snow we’ve had in years! It was amazing to have so much snow and for it to stick around for a few days and be able to play in it so much. The first day, we even walked through our woods to Paris Mountain State Park. It was so beautiful to see the park and the lake all covered in snow. We enjoyed sledding down our hill, a campfire with marshmallows, made snow cream, drank hot chocolate, built pretty epic snowmen (complete with Olaf, Chilly from Doc and Kate) and a snow slide. Lucy and Winnie were living their best life romping through the snow too. Because of new rules, Ava still had to do e-learning but they were very kind and did not give her much work to complete at all so most of the days were spent enjoying the snow. We had a great time with our first snow at our new house (but were also very glad when it went away, one big snow was good, now we’re ready for normal life again).
Ava is 9 and a
Ava turned 9 and a half in January and I am going to try to sum up how Ava has changed in the past 6 months. I cannot believe she will be double digits in just a few short months! She is growing up way too fast.
Ava is getting so tall these days. She is 4 ft 7.25 in tall! She is really going to catch up to me soon, I think. She is still wearing size 10/12 clothes but her size 10 jeans are starting to look a little short. We are ready for warmer weather so she can put away the high water jeans, ha. She needs the bigger sizes for length but not for her waist so finding clothes that fit is a little challenging sometimes. She’s also already outgrowing some of her fall/winter shoes. She is into size 4 for the next season. The crazy part of how shoes fit is that she can actually wear some womens shoes if they are small enough! How that’s already possible I have no clue!
The past 6 months brought on some new changes for Ava. Back in the fall, she graduated from Occupational Therapy! That was a big deal since she had been in it for 6 years. We were so proud of all she accomplished and how much she grew in OT. She also stopped tutoring in the fall because her tutor took a full time job at the school. She loved working with Mrs. Tessmann, who was her 2nd grade teacher (long-term sub, turned teacher) and was a long-term sub in 3rd grade when her teacher was out for surgery. Mrs. Tessmann helped so much during our e-learning days and helped Ava understand the new math concepts that are taught so differently than DJ and I learned. We are so thankful for all the time she spent with Ava!
Ava also started some new activities. She played on her very first team sport, playing basketball. She got to play for our pastor’s wife and with a few girls from our church as well as some girls from the church they played for. Ava learned so much about basketball and playing on a team. She made some sweet friends and loved playing basketball. Their team won the league championship game, finishing off an undefeated season! Ava scored during their last 2 games of the season, which was so fun to see! Ava also started dance in January (right before her half birthday). She is taking jazz at the same studio that Zoe goes to and she is loving it. We love the studio because they have beginner level classes for all the dance classes/ages so an older kid like Ava can start and not feel super behind. Ava’s class is a sweet group of girls and she really likes her teacher, Miss Iris. They just started working on their recital dance, which they will perform in June. It has been fun to watch Ava take on these new things and do really well with them!
Ava is really enjoying 4th grade! It has been nice to have a slightly more normal year this year, without the e-learning days (except for when we all had COVID and the snow). Ava has a great teacher this year and her class also has a teaching intern from Clemson, who is super sweet. Ava’s made a couple new friends this year as well. This school year has been a shift in being a little more challenging and the teachers expecting a lot more out of the students, so that has been an adjustment but she is doing so well and maintaining A’s and B’s on her report cards. She loves social studies but is not a fan of math. She also loves eating lunch at school and we love that the free lunch benefit from COVID has stuck around. Her favorite days are the nacho bar and the breakfast bar days.
Ava is still a pretty picky eater. Her favorites though are still pizza, chicken pot pie, any breakfast for supper meal, black bean and potato tacos, chicken tacos, and lasagna soup. Chick-fil-A and Mexican are still her favorite places to eat out.
Ava’s favorite things to play with these days are her Barbie style Disney Princess dolls. She recently said she doesn't’ like playing with her American Girl doll or her baby dolls anymore. She is growing up so fast! Her favorite thing to do when she has down time is any sort of drawing/craft. She still loves that type of entertainment. And she is still an avid reader and loves books. She and DJ have gone to a bookstore a couple of times to spend Christmas/Birthday money and picking out new books is probably one of her favorite things to do.
Ava still loves music and sings all the time. Her favorite music (and movies) is from Descendents. She sings those songs all the time. Encanto is also a big favorite in our house these days. Ava’s favorite song from Encanto is Surface Pressure, and we hear it all the time and it stays stuck in everyone’s heads. Finding movies/tv shows to watch is a little challenging these days because the things Ava likes are too much for Zoe. But they can usually agree on things like Elena of Avalor, Disney kids bake-off, Trolls, and Pup Academy. If Ava has time to watch something on her own, she likes Descendents, Carmen Sandiego, Hannah Montana and Izzy’s Koala World.
Like I said, it does not seem possible to me that Ava is almost 10. She is growing up to be such a special young lady. She is definitely hitting those pre-teen times but we can also see her sweet, caring heart through the hormones. She cares so much about her friends and never wants to do anything to hurt them. She is a big feeler and is very empathetic. She loves big and we are so blessed to watch her grow into the young lady God has planned for her to be. We have the front row seat to watch that, a privilege we never take lightly.
A Couple Random Pictures
Because I can’t resist when Zoe actually asks me to take her picture, here are a couple of really cute random photos from my phone.
First Day of Dance 2022
The new year means a new semester of dance. Zoe is continuing with her Tot Hop and Tumble class this semester. She loves this class and will be sad when she ages out of it at the end of the semester. She has made some sweet friends in this class and looks forward to dance day every week.
This semester, Ava has decided to give dance a try. The nice thing about the studio is they have beginner classes for all ages so you can still start dance at age 9. Ava did some trial classes in the fall and decided to go with jazz. We are happy to watch her try something new and see how she likes it.
Christmas 2021 - Part 3
Our final Christmas celebration was spent with DJ’s side of the family. The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins (lots of dress up), crafts with Nana and playing with their kitten, Ashley (who kept us all entertained). And the Christmas miracle was that I managed to get some pictures of the kids and the kids with Nana and Papa where all 5 kids are looking and smiling! Of course, after the normal pictures, they had to take silly face pictures too.
We are so thankful for all of our family, who helped make Christmas such a special time for us all. We loved celebrating Jesus’ birth with each of you!
Christmas Lights 2021
We had the day after Christmas to spend as a family of 4 as well, so we planned our Christmas light adventure that evening. We decided not to go to Hollywild again this year because they were not having the petting zoo again. Instead, our zoo had their first ever Christmas light display. It was so much fun! We got to enjoy the lights and see most of the animals (the lions were awake and very active, something we rarely see in the dayime). Afterwards, we drove around to a few spots we knew had a lot of lights. The girls had a blast and we loved watching their joy at the lights.
