saturday hoops

{Carly #4}

Basketball season is half over. Carly had another good ballgame. Each week she shows improvement - learning more and playing aggressive!

Saturday, Kenny even bribed her to try and get her to play more aggressive - it cost him $16! This was Carly's only game on the weekend, so Grandaddy and MamMam got to come up and catch a ballgame.

wordless wednesday

field trip - earthquake version

A couple of weeks ago, Carly's enrichment class (ACT) went on a field trip to University of Memphis's Earthquake Research Center.

Kenny was able to go which was a real treat for Carly

(and possibly Kenny too!) Field trips with her ACT class tend to be more enjoyable typically because there are fewer kids (12) and most kids have a parent. Possibly there are fewer behavior problems too.

Carly and I talked about the field trip when I picked her up from school. She told me what she saw and about a demonstration that the presenter did. It was a reminder of how much kids learn visually and by doing rather than listening. Kenny probably got more out of the presentation than Carly. I heard him passing on information including a website where you can check for daily earthquake action.

Carly took her camera and these are some of her shots.

I think think lunch at Garibaldi's might have been the highlight!

life's a beach

and then you have to come home to the real world!

It was another great trip to the beach. Due to other vacation plans, we moved the beach trip to Spring Break. We are use to sunny and sometimes sweltering days where you spend from 10-4 inside playing games, eating, reading, shopping, watching movies. Days where the best beach times are when the sun is coming up and when the sun is setting.

This year we had some rain and some cool temperatures but it is hard to beat staying on the sand all day and not sweating. One day I kept my long sleeve T-shirt on all day!

Carly had big fun. She made friends with kids in the 2 neighboring beach houses. They played hard all day including swimming in the frigid water. She was even invited to join their bonfire one night to make s'mores and then go crabbing (aka playing on the beach with a flash light at night).

There was kite flying, castle building, digging in the sand (who knew how much fun a full size shovel can be), shell hunting, and so much more. Carly played so well that it reminds me again how easily she fits into situations. She talks easily with adults, holds her on with older kids, plays hard with active kids, teaches younger kids, involves everybody, and has no trouble jumping right in with any group. She did not think twice about going to watch a movie with the family next door or joining them for their bonfire. When a kid Carly had met the day before wandered over to the group, I heard Carly introduce her to the kids she was playing with followed up with "you want a turn?" There was dolphin watching. One morning there was a huge group that had at least a dozen dolphins in it including a couple that looked like babies.

More things to remember about this trip....

ate at the Original Oyster House for the first time and everyone agreed that it was a good experience and we should try it again sometime,

ate breakfast at Tacky Jacks II (YUM),

read 2 1/2 books and about 10 magazines,

colored in Carly's quilt pattern coloring books,

played lots of games including 2 new ones called "In a Pickle" and "UNO Flash" and an old one "Progressive Gin",

got LuLu's smoked tuna dip recipe (score!),

after a stop at a souvenir shop was thankful that we were staying out at Ft. Morgan and not "in town", and

did not take enough pictures especially of anyone besides Carly!

{Spring Break 2009}

the play by play

the score is 16-17 .

. 2 seconds left on the clock .

. Carly's teammate goes up for a shot .

. she's fouled .

. she goes to the free throw line .

. shooting 2 for the chance to win the game .

. the first one bounces around and bounces off .

. she shoots the second one .

. again it bounces around and rolls off the rim .

. Carly goes up in the group .

. she actually goes after the ball .

. like it's hers .

. comes up with it in the paint .

. turns around .

. takes aim .

. lets it fly .

. the buzzer sounds .

. final score 18-17 .

.

what it looks like when you are the player of the game

. doesn't get much better than that

. she was still smiling this big when I put her to bed

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friends that rock together

First up, Miss C and Miss MK...Carly was giving pointers. The guys were rocking and MK was trying to keep them straight!

.

Ginny and I even tried one song and made sure our picture got taken too.

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Watch out because he has "serious skills".

.

We need a large bonus room that doesn't have any furniture. Before the night was over, the whole den had been rearranged. The couch was pushed back to the dinning room.

It was a fun night with friends. We missed you Elizabeth, Hugh, Jan and Edmund. We could have had serious back up singers!

wordless wednesday

carly's cooking

More and more often, Carly wants to be in the kitchen with me. She is interested in doing everything from using the can opener, to heating things in the microwave, to reading the recipe, and probably her favorite thing stirring. Tonight she even delighted in making jello.

I wish I would have taken pictures of her Sunday night when she helped me make mashed potatoes. Her using the potato peeler made me hold my breath, and I am sure I told her a dozen times "be careful, it's hot". But, mostly what she wanted to do was add the ingredients and mash with the potato masher.

But in the absence of pictures of that night of cooking, here are a couple pictures of her helping me make lasagna.

{"the finished product"....photo by Carly 2/28/09}

snow friends

We took our friends up on an invite to join them on their "hill" for a little sledding and inner tubing.

Thank you for inviting us over for lots of fun!

Too bad the snow melted so fast but it was a blast while it lasted.

my snow angel