Grateful & Proud

I thought so much about what to title this post.

I could have written so many things. "Go Cassi", "Great Job Cassi Raye", "Wow, What an Awesome Cheerleader" but what I want to convey is that I am SO GRATEFUL and SO VERY PROUD!

Sometimes I think you, who live so far away, don't often know my children very well. And it is hard for you to really know *who* they are. Because of that, I'd like to tell you a little about Cassi's character.

Around the middle of January her coaches (Kayla and Jen) decided that if there were cheerleaders who'd like to participate in individual competitions at the competition, they could. 3 girls chose to do so; Cassi was one of them.

The last week of January her music and routine came in. She had 2 weeks to learn it! She has cheer two nights a week and that is for her team practice. This year, rather than going in for a private lesson the learn the basic routine, she received a video and the music. The girl who wrote the routine walked through it in the video. Cassi was very stressed and I admit it looked like it would be hard to learn this way. We received it at 8:00 pm on a Monday, less than two weeks from the competition.

Because Cassi was stressed and it was so late we decided that Cassi would learn the last 16 counts of her routine which was her cheer section and go to bed. It was the best we could do and I was afraid she would make herself sick over it.

The next morning I came down stairs about 30 minutes after she did. I thought she and her sister were getting ready for school. She JUMPED into my arms and proclaimed she had learned her entire routine! I tried really hard to explain that once she was on the spring floor and not in our kitchen she would likely have to adjust things to meet her count. But I was very proud of her and amazed at her determination.

After school that day, I took her to practice. I pulled her coaches to the side and told the what happened. I was a little concerned that Cassi would be disappointed in herself if she was off which I figured was inevitable.

When I picked her up, the coaches were grinning and Cassi was screeching that I had to watch! She did in fact, HAVE IT!

This leads me to why I am so grateful. Not because she had it but because she works so hard that when good things happen for her it fills my heart. She is incredibly determined; almost to a fault. She expects a lot from herself and you never wonder whether she is giving it her all.

Now, lest you think I am boring you with details, (which I probably am) there is an ending here.

And that ending went something like this:

Announcer: Junior division, individuals
Cheerleader A, receives a medal for recognition!

Cheerleader B, receives a medal for recognition!

Cheerleader C, receives a medal for recognition!

Cheerleader D, receives a medal for recognition!

Scott and Christie look at each other with a small amount of panic and wonder aloud, will they give everyone who doesn't place a medal?


Announcer: Cheerleader E, receives a medal for recognition!

Cheerleader F, receives a medal for recognition!

Again Scott and Christie look at each other and start to figit their seat!

Announcer: And 5th place goes to cheerleader G!

4th Place goes to Cheerleader H!

At this time Christie expresses pure panic and nauseous stomach.
Scott: It's now or never!

Announcer: 3rd place goes to Cheerleader I

Christie: turning to her friend Michelle, Certainly they are going to give my daughter something!

Announcer: 2nd place goes to Cassi Raye!

Scott screams like a madman, Christie starts crying, So very PROUD of how hard she worked to get what she wanted AND so very GRATEFUL that she ended up earning recognition for it!

More Valentiney Love...from Grandma

Ooooooh, what a happy day it was today! We ended the day with a very special box arriving all the way from Alabama. Grandma sent lots of love packed in a very heavy box.

The girls were so excited when they saw it. I wouldn't let Cori and Cali open it when it arrived; Cassi was still at cheer practice. Finally we made it home at the end of a very busy day and the girls dug right in!

There were giggles and squeals and cries of "I know that's for me". Cassi was amazed Grandma found things SO different but still SO special to each girl individually. Maybe I coordinate too much. :)

Cori loved this mermaid. It suits her (and her room) perfectly.

And light up blankets; who knew there was such a thing????
No joking, see the light at the bottom of the 'I" in Tink. Crazy!

Cali had no trouble figuring out whose gift this was.


Can feel the excitement oozing from these pictures? Cori, Cassi and Cali, you received a fabulous box from Grandma, what are you going to do now? We're going to TARGET!

Contain yourself! :)

I Love, Love, Love These Girls

During the summer, the girls and I started occasionally having muffin tin lunches. We don't do it all the time but when we do, the LOVE it.

Last week while we were shopping (and passing some cute little heart shaped muffin tins) Cori asked me if I would bring her a muffin tin lunch at school. Of course I said "yes" at which point she coerced me into buying Valentine muffin pans.

They have field trips tomorrow so they will be eating on the run. I decided to surprise them today with Valentine themed lunches.

Cali wanted to help so she cut tiny little heart cheese. I put those in a pocket with pepperoni. In another I put Ritz crackers and added a couple red bell pepper hearts. I used mixed berry yogurt in one and raspberries in another. We also gave them teeny tiny peanut butter and jelly heart sandwiches. And 1 really beautiful yummy Valentine cookie.

Since I had to get them to school somehow I wrapped them in red cellophane tied with pink curly ribbons and gave them a pink Sobe life water in the cute new bottle. (Not to worry, we are recycling them for something because they are so fun.

I realize a lot of kids don't attend a school like my kids do; where parents are encouraged ( and almost required) to be an active participant but it really made my kids' day to have such a special lunch brought to them. They were glowing! You can always ask your principle or administrator if you can be cleared to do something like this.





We are also even considering making this a school wide activity once a quarter, having each student bring their own muffin tin and one item that will fit in the pans, to share with their class. Bringing 1 item times 25 makes it fairly simple for parent to plan but having 25 students participate almost guarantees a variety.

Hope your day is rosy pink and all Valentiney too.


*****(And in case your thinking your child would sooner beat you with a stick than have you bring a lunch like that; Think again. If I was asked once today I was asked a bazillion times if I would do it again for everyone!)

It's Really Working

Cali has been doing preschool with friends once a week. It's sort of a traveling preschool; we go to each others houses rotating amongst 4 friends. It's much like a play date with structure.

Most of the time we incorporate a letter into the days activities. In addition to that, I have been really working with Cali on the letters of the alphabet at home too.

As a Valentine's surprise I have been working on some fabric magnet letters for Cali. I had some scraps left over from a few of the letters that are finished so I stuck them on the fridge the other day. I didn't really mention them to anyone but I thought Cali might decide to make some pictures from the shapes when the day came she noticed them.

Today is that day. Although she didn't make a picture, she spelled her name. She was so excited and so was I. It makes me smile seeing how much she is learning and how thrilled she is with herself when it happens. Doesn't it make you smile too?

Too Cute not to Share

OK, once again I really should be making Valentine's that didn't get finished this weekend, gathering more donations for our school carnival, and WASHING clothes, since we are all going to have to go naked here shortly. Instead, I am sharing with you this darling birthday gift we made for Cori's friend from school.



As you might know, I have NO sewing skills, really, NONE! So this project was right up my alley.
This darling purse is made from fabric, staples and duct tape. Whoo Hooo!

Come on, pretty dang cute isn't it?

Some Quick Fun with the Girls

This past Wednesday was our week to host preschool. We were on for the previous week but had to cancel due to how sick Cali's been. It seems as though we are moving forward and getting over it but it's been slow. And she is still very grumpy!

At least while friends were here, she was happy. Whew!

Our theme for the day was Snowmen and the letter "s".

We played this fun game I made up. I cut pictures out of some old magazines. Since we were focusing on the letter "s" I looked for more of those than anything else. In fact, I did not include every letter of the alphabet although I may add on to this game later for Cali. Mostly I threw in a couple other letters to make them have to specifically look for "s". The idea was that they first found an "s" snowman then they chose a snowman with a picture that started with the "sss" sound. I think Cali could get a lot more of the sounds down after watching her play, which is why I will likely add all the letters here soon.

To check their work, I wrote the words for the pictures on the back. This way, if they were unsure if the picture started with "s" they could turn it over and look for a hint. I tried to stick to pictures that offered little interpretation. I think they understood it well and liked it. They even used the fact check plan a time or two.

We also made more snowmen out of the glittered snow playdough. It is a no-fail activity so no stress there. I wanted to show you some of the cute ideas the kids had however I missed getting a picture of the one I loved the most.

This one had a sword and a huge hat. Later that hat was exchanged for some spiky hair but I didn't get the picture. It was pretty stinkin' cute.

These two were holding hands.


And lastly, doing hair and make up has been a big deal 'round here lately, Oh, and fashion design! Here are a couple pictures of Cori and Cali who did makeup for each other this afternoon, then designed some glamorous outfits. (Cali was a little shy about the photo-can you tell?) Hot Stuff!

What we were doing when we should have been doing something else

Well, I need to make some snacks for testing later today at school. I also need to work on collecting donations for our upcoming winter school carnival and I need to clean my house since preschool friends are coming over tomorrow; but instead we made one of these.

This project actually started yesterday but Cali is still sick and after covering the whole thing, almost, she decided she wanted to rest.

She was happy with her accomplishment at the moment.


She likely would have finished it in the evening had I not been gone.

Regardless, I asked her this morning if she wanted to finish it and she did. I had pre-cut some hearts for her yesterday and she decided those could go on the sides today. It wasn't exactly like I thought they'd look best but it was her project so I let it be. *sigh*

After she finsihed it I told her I would make the first love note to go in it. I was hole punching dots to glue to my heart and I suppose I was talking too long. We decided we needed a way that she could tell there where notes in the box. I suppose I could have put a flag on it but we decided a bell would be more fun. I tied the bell to the side of the lid you pull to open the box and with a little extra effort the bell can be heard.

She took checking her mail very seriously and loved it! Then happily traipsed off to make me a love note of my own. So...I will get to make my own box too! :)

Got any idea's for some cool love notes? I've got a hunch the big girls are going to like these and want to make their own mail boxes. And those love notes have to be kool! 'Cause right now they think I am a bit of a nerd! Ha!

Hope love is abundant for all of you; my cup is overflowing!

Hugs and Kisses!

*Forgot to mention- I originally read about this type of project here at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman . We have made similar things before but hadn't thought of doing it for Valentine's, so truly, she inspired this lovely project!