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a few things

Thursday, April 3, 2014
I am working on a few posts but wanted to share these few things in the meantime....

Kate got moved up to Level 3 in her competitive gymnastics on January 1st and her training hours have increased.  She LOVES it and never complains but it means that she will be leaving dance after her recital this year.  This will be her 6th dance recital and I am so sad she is quitting.  I get it and I totally support her decision but I am still sad.

In Level 3 gymnastics, they have to do a round-off back-handspring and Kate has been working hard to get this since January.  She got it about a month ago and her coach was kind enough to send me a video.



Also, Harry has been involved in an organization here called Positive Works.  It is a FABULOUS community initiative started by two women I know from church and various circles to end bullying.  Harry has been involved from the very beginning and was even in Redbook Magazine when they did an article on +Works.

This year they invited Harry to emcee a rally on having courage.  It was a beautiful night of performances (music, singing, skits, poetry, etc).  Harry said yes when they asked him because he loves the organization.  But the truth is, the night before he was pretty nervous.  He almost did not want to do it.  He has never emcee'd anything and was a little nervous about being onstage at his middle school.  But in the end, he had courage and he did it!

+works_4172

+works_4177

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Well, he was AWESOME! And he enjoyed it too.  I would not be surprised if we see him doing more public speaking in the future.  I wish I had a video or better photos.  I am trying to live more in the moment so I use my phone for photos a lot now and it is not great in low light.

Harry has also been babysitting lately too. He took the Red Cross babysitting class online and last week he babysit 3 little kids under the age of 5!  He did so well, they have asked him back next week.  He is incredible with young kids.  I am happy for him but sad for me because he is my main sitter for Kate and pretty soon he will be booked by other people (who pay!)

Will is a busy, busy teen these days.  He is a captain of the JV water polo team and a planner/leader for next year's freshmen retreat at his school.  Between school and work and water polo and his social life, we rarely see him.  Sniff, sniff.

Finally, this just amazes me.  Harry and Kate won these goldlfish over a year ago and this lil guy (or gal?!) is still swimming around.  How long do these things live?  We keep it alive but I am telling you it is a pain in the neck. We never even named it because I did not think it would last a week let alone a year!  It lives in a big vase and we change the water once a week.  This one hardy fish!   I never thought he'd live this long.

photo


Tomorrow is Kate's "special" day (what she calls it).  It is the day I met her. 
 It is the day our whole family was together for the first time. I am sure I will post about it very soon.


13 comments:

  1. Congratulations to Kate! My daughter took gymnastics when she was young, but she eventually wanted to stop and pursue other interests. You must be so proud of Harry and Will too. Lovely family. I loved traveling to China, and I have a friend with two adoptive children from China. I hope you have a wonderful "special day."

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  2. Great job Kate and Harry and Will and fishie! Wow - the kiddos are doing so great. I'm sure you and Dave are so proud of them! Hope you have a fun forever day celebration !

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  3. Go Kate and Harry! Have a great Special Day!

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  4. Love reading about what is going on with everyone. So my sister's kids won one of those fishes at fun fair and he lasted for like 5 years!

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  5. wow! kate's roundoff back handspring if absolutely flawless! she's going to go far in the gymnastics world! sounds like will and harry are doing well too!
    too funny about your fish! my brother and I once each one a fish at a fair and mine died that night, but my brother's lived a whopping 5 years. we didn't name it either because we kept expecting it to die. it was fun to have a fish, but also such a paint because cleaning the bowl is NOT fun!
    xox
    chloe
    http://popcosmo.com

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  6. Great job Kate and Harry! My daughter is Level 3 too and we also added a few more goldfish to our collection this weekend after our local town fair! We have one that she "won" last Fall that is still alive. I was shocked!

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  7. Congratulations to Kate moving up! It looks like her hard work is paying off! That is so great that Harry is babysitting!

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  8. Way to go Kate! Kerry was just asked to join level three pre-team which means shell be going from one hour practice to three hour practice. Harry looks lie he's gotten taller recently!

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  9. Hi Kim. I've been following your blog for several years since a couple of my friends/neighbors (whom you know) decided to adopt their little girls from China. This post touched me because I can totally relate to the dance/gymnastics dilemma that you are feeling. My daughter was doing both dance and gymnastics for years when she first decided to go 'competitive' in gymnastics. After a couple of years it just became too much and she wanted to quit dance (I believe it was 2nd grade). It broke my heart that I would never get to go to another dance recital again and I thought I would be so sad when I would see pictures of her friends at the recital, etc. However, I have to tell you she has NEVER looked back or regretted leaving dance. She still laughs about it and tells me she was so happy and relieved when I let her quit and she remembers skipping out of the dance studio. Now she is in 5th grade and she just completed her 3rd year of gymnastics competition and she was just moved up to Level 8. And trust me, there would be NO time for dance. We had 7 meets this season and 6 of them required long distance travel, on top of practice 5x a week, h.w., etc. Gymnastics is her life and she absolutely loves it! PS - The dance recital pictures never bothered me - I have plenty of exciting meets and expos to enjoy :-)! I was over it as soon as I recognized how happy she was and how committed she is to her sport. Good luck :-)

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  10. So cute ... Kate is becoming quite the gymnast! Take care.

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  11. Kim - I just found your blog and I love it. Your family is beautiful. I'm so happy to find another mom with teenagers who is blogging. Can't wait to read more. Have a great weekend :)http://twoteensandtheirmama.blogspot.com/

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  12. great kids! congratulations on next steps for both. Sorry to report though, we had the same issue with a goldfish my mom bought from a church fair for my daughter - 8. years. ago. seriously. had to remove it from it's quarters in a Southern Living vase when it got too big and purchase a regular fish bowl. Goldy, really?? lol

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  13. Hi from Canada! Congratulations to all three peanuts. Just wanted to pass on this link to an award-winning documentary of a set of Chinese twins adopted by two families worlds apart, which aired on the CBC. Thought you might be interested to seek it out to view in the US. http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeye/episodes/twin-sisters

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Thank you for your kindness.