Art Camp and Theater Camp

Fine Arts Institute

Once again, we decided to try something new. No only to see if the kids were interested, but I needed child care as well! 

When Zane was at Art Camp, Avery went to GG's to have some girl time!

Zane got more excited about his work than I had imagined. He's so chill that he is rarely impressed with anything. I think he did amazing and enjoyed listening about every single piece!! I love the chalk moon and earth that we "have to be VERY careful with," but he was most proud of his "Really REAL looking" cup he drew! It looks real. If you missed that.

I guess I didn't get a picture of the clay bowl he painted, but I love the accordion book with characters hanging down with string!

Avery went to Theater Camp when Zane went to GG's for some sister-free time!!

She liked this camp a little too much I'm afraid. They had many different classes like improve, stage makeup, doing tricks (balloon animals and magic tricks), etc.

Her favorite was memorizing lines and acting them out. She did great remembering it all and it was fun watching! These kinds of productions are on my level and what I can handle! Unfortunately, I think her dreams are set higher where the waters are unchartered...and filled with alligators....

The kids loved these camps but I think it was more expensive than I prefer. I've already forgotten how much...and that's probably a good thing.

July Happened

Softball is finished! 

Like every year, at least three games and most practices get cancelled because of the weather. I think we might have to switch to EASI when the weather is a little nicer.

 Avery made it to first base almost every time and Zane did a great job catching! It was a very fun season to watch!!

For the 4th, we went to my parents and rode around in the back of PaPa's truck to see several different firework shows. They live out in the country and at one point there were three different shows on both sides of the road!! The weather was perfect. We'll definitely have to do that again.

Apparently we forgot to take any festive pictures except these beauties aunt Brittany painted...

This summer I have worked pretty much full time, so play dates were much less in number. However, the few we had were so much fun!!

I had another birthday. Here's to the last year in my 20's!!

When you put these three together, it's always entertaining! On a side note, my left butt cheek is still sore from bowling this past Saturday. Ouch!!

 I had the kids go to a 2 week program at a local elementary school. It was less expensive than paying a babysitter and it included breakfast and lunch and kids and activities. Pretty perfect in my book!! There were several different classes available but we chose "Kid's Just Want To Have Fun"

This is some of the things the kiddo's made in that two weeks!! One week was Ocean Theme and the other was Rainbow Theme. They made a shark t-shirt and also a Sharpie tie dye shirt. Great program!

I got tickets to Toby Keith's Tornado Relief concert. It was tortuously hot. I was thinking it would be from 3-6, so when a friend wanted me to paint at 6:30, I agreed! However, it started at 4 and I only got to see Garth and Trisha before I had to leave! Good thing I like the person I painted with... ;-)

To be continued...

Tried Something New

 Tennis Camp

Summer is the best time to try new things. If they hate it, they aren't stuck doing it for 8 long weeks. Last summer, Avery tried golf. She hated it. This summer, we thought we would try tennis. 

 I'm not sure it was super fun to them (it was a lot of learning the different ways you stand/swing), but at least they didn't hate it!

 Zane kept getting confused with lifting his front elbow instead of his back. However, he looks cute when he is concentrating!

 Avery actually caught on quickly and may have enjoyed it. It's not really a sport that brings a lot of enthusiasm with it, so it's hard to tell the difference between being totally bored and being a good tennis player!

  Zane thought correct form was completely overrated and figured he could get away with just pretending it was a baseball. He didn't really care about getting it over the net or lobbing it to a teammate. Forget about trying to be perfect, just swing as hard as you can and call it good!

We might actually do this again next summer. In the meantime we definitely should dust off our garage sale racquets and play tennis as a family sometime. If for no other reason than to ensure my arms don't become flabby, it will be worth it. 

OC Baseball Camp

The kids have enjoyed softball the past few summers, so I asked if they would like to try this camp. I have to work part time, so I thought it would work out well for all of us! 

It didn't quite turn out as planned. Avery turned out to be the only girl (after we were told there was others) and that is apparently a BIG DEAL.

After the first day, she cried the whole time saying it was hot, horrible, it wouldn't get better, she would hate it every single day, and she was NEVER going back. I just let her vent while I sounded empathetic.

The next morning she pretended to sleep in thinking surely I wouldn't make her wake up and endure such torture again. I did.

The coaches were great at encouraging her, pointing out her strengths, and making her feel like she was just as good as the boys!

She ended up having a great time. Of course, she couldn't admit it, but I could see and hear the confidence and excitement grow each day!

Her favorite was batting and she's pretty good at hitting it about every time. She ended up getting two awards and winning some baseball cards. She enjoyed rubbing that in Zane's face, but he recovered by buying (with his money) a Thunder plaque. I wish I knew how to slip this girl some emotional Xanax when it comes to being in situations where she feels inferior. She's naturally good at sports, but very self-conscious and self-critical. We'll have to work on that. 

Zane on the other hand has never been one to take things seriously.

If there is a race, he doesn't mind prancing and coming in last.

 He is more about the socializing, but I was able to capture a few shots of him in action!



He is cool and confident with wearing the same pair of pants everyday but is a tad sensitive when people call him a girl.

I'm pretty sure this kid would be fine with never playing sports, but I love how he is so laid back and will try pretty much anything.

Avery's First Level 4 Gym Meet

Intersquad Meet.
11-17-11 5:00-9:00pm.

This was a very informal meet that was just for practice. It may be her only meet this year, depending on if she gets a couple skills she doesn't have yet. The coach said she is allowed to compete the events she has, but I'm not sure I want to pay a meet fee ($90) if she isn't ready to compete on everything.

She got her best score on vault...it was an 8 something
(The coach kept score cards to record them and planned to give them to us today, but we are skipping to watch a friend perform in Annie!! We'll get the score card Monday.)

Next best score was beam. She get's so nervous on beam and is a little less confident up there. She got a 7.8 I think? She went overtime and had a few missteps.


Floor is her favorite and would be her best score, however a few weeks ago she decided she could no longer do a round-off back-handspring without spot. It's so frustrating to me since she used to do it all the time. She will do it when they are practicing, but when she does it with the routine, she wants a spot. Erg. Hopefully she gets over this quickly, or I might go crazy!! Her score was a 6 something.


She got a 6 something on bars also. Its the hardest event for most of the girls in level 4. Once we get these two skills she needed help with, we'll compete at a real meet!


I realllllly wanted to be a kid again and run out there and tumble on that floor. Being out there brought so many fun memories to my mind. I LOVED watching her and I think she did great!!
Good job Avers!!

Tball Parties!!

TBall was a success!
Avery enjoyed it and Wes got to help coach! I can't imagine her doing coach pitch next year (if she wants to), but it was fun to watch them!She started out SUPER nervous, but ended up being right in the middle of the action and even got this runner OUT!! Enjoying some ice cream at her end of the season party!!
I see some crazy girls!

His way of picking up girls... This was Zane's third year but the first year he actually understood it. Instead of standing there watching balls roll by, he actually ran up and grabbed them...so exciting!! He would count and let us know how many balls he caught each game and was very proud of himself. We did have some crazy weather this summer though. We missed three games because of temps over 103. We also had a game with extreme winds blowing dirt everywhere... His end of the season party was a cookout at the park. Here is his coach of two years! Coach Billy is GREAT with kids. Wes also helped coach Zane's team and there were no complaints with him either!

It was hot. Very hot. But good times. I'm a sports addict (if you hadn't noticed).
2.6 days of summer left...

Some FIRSTS!!

So, this is actually a third...Hopefully the tooth growing in will scoot forward or my poor girl will have some crazy lookin' teeth!
We have gone to the science museum one hundred and four times, but we've NEVER got to meet the robot!!! Zane and my little sister got to cross that off their list this past week!

Speaking of science museum. When Zane met his swim teacher, he told him he looked like the guy from the Science Live show! I do indeed agree.

We have a new swim teacher named Logan. I've heard good things about him, but he sure does have big shoes to fill!! We loved Miss Rachel last summer! Hopefully I'll be able to blog about how awesome Logan is also!Avery did great with her friend Avery! Here she is being a torpedo...She has learned to jump without holding her nose and she can now swim all the way across the pool! She'll be learning to dive next time!

Lastly, Zane has learned how to ride a bike with NO TRAINING WHEELS!!