First Day of School - 2015

It's already back to school time at the Wagner household.  

We had such a wonderful summer and I am sad to see it end.  I truly enjoy having the girls home with me during the summer.  I feel like a big 'ol mother hen, having the chickadees at home with me.  That's the way it should be... or at least, that is how I feel.  There are days that I feel that I would have been perfectly content to have homeschooled them, but then I realize that I am not equipped to teach. So, off to school... and the world they must go.

I enjoy the summers because it is a time for them to get back to the basics.  By the end of the school year, it seems they are so tired, stressed out and moody.  Plus, we get the added bonus of attitude and mouthiness, to which I blame their friends.  It's true as I've seen it time and time again.  Once summer hits and they've spent the first two weeks at home, the attitude and mouthiness completely disappear.  Like, it's a stinkin' miracle!  So, yeah... I'm never too excited to see school start up again.

The last couple of weeks I have watched Elisan talk incessantly about high school.  She is so super excited to be a Freshman!  I'm glad to know that she loves school as much as she does.  Granted, her graduating class will be less than 30 students so her "idea" of high school is a bit skewed.  A friend of mine said her kid's 9th grade class at Round Rock High School was over 900 kids.  That just blows me away.  JUST THE 9TH GRADE CLASS!  I think Elisan's hair would catch on fire if for some reason we had to enroll her in public school.  I just feel blessed that we are able to continue her in private school where she can receive a solid CHRISTIAN education, that values morals and Christ-like behavior.  

Kyla has been a bit reluctant to starting school again.  Although she's a really smart kid, she had an incredibly busy year last year with her school schedule, school sports, club soccer and additional training she did.  She literally did not have a break all.year.long.  It was maddening for me to watch, but she and Randy were all gung-ho about it.  However, by the end of the school year, she was done.  She was done with her extra training, done with her select team (they weren't a nice group of girls to spend time with - on or off the field...) and the school work seemed never ending.  She was tired and I feel, we, as her parents were to blame.  I think that is why she was reluctant to start up again. Not necessarily school as much, but the crazy schedule that accompanies it.  But, this year, Randy and I are working to make it not as stressful on her.  Plus, we encouraged her to take study hall as an elective this year to help with the homework/study load.

All in all, I think it will be a great year for both of them.

This year, I am planning on taking off from most of my volunteer roles I have accumulated over the the years.  Last year, I was homeroom mom (3rd year in a row), Booster Club board officer (2 years in a row), track coach (4 years in a row) and graphic designer of all things Booster Club related (two years in a row). 

In my now free time, I've signed up for a new Bible study called "Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When He Speaks" by Priscilla C. Shirer.  I'm excited about it, because let's be honest, we could all hear from God a bit more these days.

I'm also going to focus more on my photography business and I can't do that if I'm spread too thin.  It's something I enjoy and think I'm getting pretty good at.  I've already had 4 parents say they want to book me for senior sessions and that is AMAZING to me.  It's exciting.

I would like to find a volunteer/serving role that uses my gifts and talents, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for that opportunity.  Until then, I'm going to be an official homebody and that's okay!

Photo Dump

Here's some pictures of what we've been up to...  

Randy's brother Andrew got married.  He married a gal named Larinda... which, incidentally is my middle name.  Weird.

Kyla was inducted into the Elementary chapter of the National Honor Society.

Elisan was inducted into the Junior High chapter of the National Honor Society.

Kyla had awards chapel. She was awarded the award for outstanding performance in Physical Education, the highest average in Bible Memory and the Presidential Achievement award for maintaining all A's for the entire school year.  Great job!

Here I am congratulating my girls' track team for finishing FIRST place in the district track meet!  We had such a great meet!

Also, Elisan's award night was a big success for her.  She was awarded highest average in Bible, Math, Science, English and Spanish.  She also received the Presidential Achievement award as well.

Kyla's team recently had a soccer tournament and finished first place in their division.

Her team also finished in a three way tie for first place in regular season. 

During the tournament, Kyla crashed the goalie.  It was pretty intense.  (She's the one in black... flying over the goalie.)

Kyla also recently had tryouts for her new team.  She made the TOP team in her age group... basically in the top ten group of girls out of 200+.

Here's Elisan diving for the ball.  She had an amazing soccer season this year.  Her coach actually told her that she was the best goalie in the league!  WOW!  That's amazing... especially coming from her former professional soccer playing coach who once played with the world-famous Pele'.

And that seems to be about it.  Only 1.5 days left of school and I could not be more excited for some down time!  (If only that were true...)

Um, yep...

....it's been a whole month since my last blog post.  It's not as if I haven't thought about blogging... I just haven't carved out the time to do so.

Lot's of stuff happening around here and as usual, the end of school has us swamped with track, school field trips, all things soccer related - games, practices, etc., and end of school projects, reports and events, etc.  Fun, fun!

Throw into the mix a few photography sessions and you have the makin's of one busy mama.

But, probably the biggest news (for me, anyway) is that Randy surprised me with a new vehicle about three weeks ago!

The girls and I pulled up to the house and I hit the automatic garage door opener and there sat my dream car!  A brand new Toyota 4-Runner 4x4 Trail version.  It's black with black interior and super cool!

We've talked about getting a new vehicle, but I had it in my mind that we would wait for another year or so.  But, Randy had other ideas.  He already knew exactly what I wanted, so he just went and got it for me.  Pretty cool man I've got there, don't ya think?

The girls are out of school (Friday & Monday) for Easter break and I could not be more excited!  We needed a break in a bad way.  I think today we'll stop by Sonic, get a big drink and head to the park for some much needed down time.   

Brain Dump (1st ed. 2014)

Y'all, if I had not experienced the relief myself, I wouldn't be a believer.  Because how on earth does a strip of stretchy kinesiology tape (or KT tape) make your muscles feel better?

But, one day Randy brought home a roll of KT tape to use for his plantar's fasciitis (which I also suffer from) and he swore it worked.  So, I tried it out too and it does!  I have been able to run pain free since I began using it.

So, the science fair is today and I'm sad to say that Elisan did not require any help from her mama.  What?  Last year, we worked side-by-side for many hours making sure her project board was interesting and balanced and visually appealing.  But, this year, she refused to let me help or offer my opinion.  That stinks!  I mean, that's great.  I'm glad she's taking initiative.  

Speaking of Elisan... she placed 2nd in area-wide competition for "reasoning" in Math Oympics.  She goes on to regionals next month.  (Last year, she took first place in the regional competition, so she's hoping she can hold on to her title!)

Kyla has become a rainbow loom bracelet making expert.  All weekend long she watched rainbow loom tutorials online and practiced step-by-step with the instructor on making new and fascinating bracelets.  She can now whip out an intricately detailed bracelet in no time. 

Randy told me he'd consider cutting his beard and hair on the first day of Spring.  Y'all, that's 2 months away.  What?!  I'm not sure what's gotten into him, but I'll have to post an updated picture of his bear and hair soon.  He doesn't even look like himself anymore.  It's a little disturbing.

You may have noticed my "budding photographer" button on my blog.  Well, that's because I have decided to offer my photographer services for hire.  This is a huge baby step for me, but I feel good about it.  My rates are really low right now... I already had a friend chastise me about it (hah), but I set the rates low enough so that as I hone my skill/talent, I will have room to raise my rates when the time comes.  I'm excited to see where this road takes me.  In the meantime, check out my website here.

Oh, and an update to my last post about Elisan running track this season.  Well, as it turns out, a little (positive) peer pressure has made her decide to run track this year after all.  There will of course, be soccer conflicts, and soccer is the priority right now since she is the goalie, but I think track is such a fun sport, I'm glad she signed up!

And finally, a bit about what I've been doing at the gym these days... Jumping Rope!  Love it!  I've always been good at jumping rope.  Must of been all of those "Jump Rope for Heart" fundraisers we did every year in elementary school  (Thanks Coach Hammerly).  But, nonetheless, I've really enjoyed adding another layer of cardio to my workouts.  Jumping rope is a full body workout and it takes a lot of endurance.  So what I do is jump rope for one minute and rest for one minute.  I do this for 10-15 minutes.  By the time I'm done, I'm done... literally.

Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'...

It's already June 10th.  Heck practically June 11th from where I sit.  Did y'all know that?

Goodness, it's been a busy couple of days... Randy's in Taiwan, heading back tomorrow and we've been busy with our summer vacation planning.

But, in the middle of all of that, we've had lots of fun.  Been swimming, biking, running and hitting the local parks.

Randy bought us girls mountain bikes about a month ago and already twice this week, I've loaded the bikes in the back of the van and we've hit the biking trails around town and the nearby town.  LOTS of fun.  I never thought I'd enjoy bike riding so much, but I truly have.

Last weekend, my friend Cyndi and her kids Joey, Suzie and Elizabeth came for a visit!  We were so excited to see them.  Even though, they only live in Houston, we still don't get together but about once a year.  Sad, I know.

Anyway, I've known Cyndi since her oldest was 6 months old, so not only do we go way back, but the kids go way back as well.  What's nice is that their friendship (much like Cyndi's and mine) is seamless and we all pick up where we leave off every time we get together with them.  That's the mark of a true friendship!

Some exciting news on our front... Elisan made the TOP soccer team in her age division.  In two years, she has worked her way up from the third team to the first team.  That is virtually unheard of around here... but I tell you what, she has put forth the work required to make the leap she made and we are incredibly proud of her.  Her new coach is a fellow by the name of Wolfgang Sünholz a former professional soccer player.  (He even played with Pelé, probably the most famous Brazilian footballer of all times, back in the 70's.)

Speaking of Elisan, for posterity sakes, I wanted to publicly commend her for a fabulous school year.  This year, Elisan received the HIGHEST AVERAGE award for 5 of her classes - Math, Science, English/Language Arts, Literature and History.  At one point, they just asked her and another boy to just stay on the stage as they passed out her awards!  Talk about a proud mama moment!

Kyla was in the school's talent show the last day of school.  She was part of a trio of girls who danced and sang on stage!  She was so cute and I'm very proud of her for getting up there and performing.  (She says she suffers from "stage fright".... um, okay?)

And finally, I leave you with this... we had a free weekend morning and I brought the girls out to have their (better late than never) Spring pictures.

My girls are growing up... sniff, sniff.  (And, yes, they are wearing a smidgen of make up.)