Week 3 of Basketball Camp

David and the girls warming up!

Addy is proudly wearing her camp t-shirt.

The kids were practicing running and dribbling combined with jump stops and pivoting to a defensive dribble. Addy was doing great!

Cally screams, 'Go Big Red!' anytime she sees a red N. It doesn't matter where or when she sees it, she cheers regardless. Here the red N was from the NBA label on the rainbow basketball. David is so proud...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

From my turkeys to yours!!

My Fancy Nancys

For the first time ever, Addy was interested in being 'fancy'! Along with a few of her kindergarten friends, Addy checked out a book from the popular Fancy Nancy books. We read it all week, Cally loved it too, and by Sunday Addy was ready to make her transformation. The urge to be fancy lasted about 24 hours (including sleep time). This week, Addy brought home an insect encyclopedia, I guess she found being fancy too much work! ;) 

Decorating Addy and Cally style!!

The girls and I made a shopping trip to Hobby Lobby to do our first Christmas craft for this year. I bought Addy and Cally little trees to decorate. They both loved everything about the craft, shopping, decorating and admiring their creations. Addy spent a good 20 minutes talking Cally into leaving her tree in Addy's room. Cally stood her ground and still has her tree in her room. :)

Molly-made!

Molly is one talented woman!! She not only hand-knit this beautiful dress and hair bow Cally is wearing, but she made Addy a similar dress. Both girls love their dresses, in fact Addy asked me if she could wear hers everyday it was clean.

Family Feast!

Addy's school has family Thanksgiving feast every year. We were all so excited to join Addy at school this year for the feast! Addy ate her traditional feast of a bagel sandwich, apple slices and granola bar while the rest of us enjoyed the school's feast. Well, actually Cally came strictly for the social aspect and did not allow more than one bite of pumpkin pie to cross her mouth! :) 

Odds and ends

I don't have any photos to post but I will soon! We finally got the call that I can choose a new camera to replace my broken one. I probably shouldn't even comment on how long the whole process took (after all I knew that when I paid for the protection plan), but I could have sold my platelets and and earned the money in half the time. ;)

Addy was sitting at the table one day last week and announced, "I have stories in my head, Mom!" Addy went on and filled me in on some her favorite stories. It was such a sweet genuine moment and it made me think about all the times I have looked over at Addy and been amazed at her creative imagination. When she was two she used to use her fingers to make alligators and she had a million adventures with those friends.

I share quite a few funny stories about the girls. It is probably only fair if I share a funny one about me. I take Cally to the child watch room at our YMCA at least three times a week. The same two ladies are always working the room. They are very nice ladies and are great with the kids. One of the ladies also has two boys in Addy's basketball camp. It was obvious to me that at 'camp' she didn't recognize me, but I thought it was weird that she didn't recognize Cally, especially because Cally was playing with her daughter. But I figured she was caught up in watching her boys play basketball. The next day when I was dropping Cally off at child watch, she mentioned how my SISTER brought Cally to the basketball camp and how much fun her little girl had playing with Cally. Apparently, my workout/gym appearance is not at all compatible with my real-life appearance.

Feeding time

We used to feed Jiffy her medicine on lunch meat when she was a kitten. Jiffy still believes lunch meat is for cats.

Cally thinks lunch meat is for cats and people.

A silly like no other!

Clowning around before dance with David.

After school is definitely a cut loose time for Addy.

Addy makes me so proud at dance this year! I dreaded dance last year, but the new studio makes all the difference. Addy is always the first to get her tap shoes off and her ballet flats on.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!!

Look Dad! It's Superman!

Poor Cally, she has the weight of the world on her shoulders!

On a recent day off, David took our bear to the zoo. It was a short visit because Cally still believes the animals use their free time to figure out a way to eat her. I have NO idea where she would come up with such a crazy idea! Really, what kind of parent would let their children believe mountain lions are just lying in wait for an unsupervised girl to eat?!

Fall basketball camp!

Addy and Cally before bball camp. I still haven't gotten my pictures and wall decor hanging. My personal deadline is next Friday, if you feel like holding me accountable. 

Addy and her new best friend!

I love the action in this shot! Notice there is no one behind Addy but the coach! ;)

Here the kids were partnered up to practice passing.

Addy had her first real lesson in playing basketball today. Our local Y has a month-long 4, 5 and 6 year old basketball camp in November. The coach was really great. There were 25 kids, mostly boys, but there were 8 girls. He had them all doing what they were supposed to be doing, I think his secret was effective use of his whistle. I know what I am going to ask Santa for this year! ;) He really helped Addy with her shooting and passing and she is thrilled to go back next week. All in all, it was quite successful!

Yellow!

Broken hearted...

I guess it was bound to happen and today it did... Addy came up to Cally and me at pick up time just broken hearted. She didn't want to tell me what happened so after I suggested I ask her teacher instead, Addy spilled the beans.

Addy had to move her clothes pin to YELLOW! Yellow means no candy (that would be beloved purple) or no sticker (green). All the kids start on green and if they are caught being good, they get to move up to purple and if their behavior is less than desirable, they are asked to move to yellow. Below yellow is the way serious land of red. Red requires a call or note home from the teacher.

When I asked Addy what she did to merit moving her clothes pin to yellow she insisted she didn't know what to call it. I had a feeling it involved her silly, quirky sense of humor being inserted into her kindergarten day in a place it did not belong. It was a bonus to find out that she was 'messing around' with her name twin. How fitting! BUT, name twin had to move her clothes pin to RED! I think Addy really thought she was off free and clean with that revelation!

All in all, I think experiencing the pain and trauma of putting her clothes pin in yellow land is good for Addy. Over all, Addy's behavior has been really good at school and other activities. She earned the highest marks for all of the social/rule criteria on her first quarter grades so now I think she can learn the importance of keeping those marks high. After all, candy and stickers rule!!!

Side note, check out Bear in the pants!! She even asked to wear them! :)

Sniff, sniff....

Cally is helping to make pasta here. She is still in the funny smile phase!

Both girls love to bake with me, but Cally's favorite part is smelling the ingredients and the final product. Cally also loves to tell David that she made it too!

Note to self...

I love our new neighborhood. I love that there are lots of kids the girls' ages and that they are good kids to boot! Addy's closest buddy (Cally loves her too!) is three years older than Addy, but is such a sweet girl that I do not have to worry for a second about her influence on Addy. Today we were outside playing hopscotch (and enjoying a beautiful fall day) when DNG (dear neighbor girl) commented that her mom always tells her that she doesn't know. DNG said it doesn't matter what she asks her mom, the answer is always the same, I don't know. DNG said she asked her mom what she thought her newborn baby brother's favorite animal was and her mom said she didn't know. DNG was just astonished that her mom couldn't just make a guess, any guess! I chuckled, but at the same time my mind was flash forwarding to three years in the future. Addy will be able to find fault with anything I say rather than blindly believe my every utterance. I wonder if this change occurs earlier for girls than for boys? As a side note, I totally understand DNG's mom's response, she has a newborn, a new house and probably a million other things she is taking care of. Her newborn's favorite animal is not likely to cross her mind.

Thanks to the good weather, Addy had another neighbor and also a kindergarten-sister over for a playdate. Hopefully, these new friendships will last for years!

My little insects...

The girls chose to wear their costumes from last year for trick or treating this year. Most of our evening was spent passing out candy. Cally was not a fan of all the scary masks, but she did better at our own house. She certainly surprised quite a few kids by screaming and running in fear!

Eventually I got too cold so we moved our treat station inside. The trick or treaters kept coming and coming. I had kids banging on my door (well after I turned out all the lights and decorations) while I was trying to put the girls in bed.