Spring Soccer

We signed Ruby up for another season of toddler soccer this spring. Not only did she enjoy it so much last fall, but it helps her stay physically challenged, and she gets to interact with her peers in a very typical way. (Special Needs Criteria Trifecta for the win!)

Our good friend was going to coach his daughter's team, so Lehr teamed up with him to assist, making it very easy for Ruby to participate meaningfully. She loves the drills, and she follows the directions as much as can be expected for a 4-year-old on a soccer field. Her friend, Madison, is on the team too, so the extra hangout time is awesome.

Towards the end of the first practice and game, Ruby's coach from last season ran over to her and Lehr to say 'hi', and check in with them. I love that he sought her out!

School Stuff

Ruby loves school. Have I mentioned that? Because it's awesome...really awesome to have a kid love school as much as she does. And I'm sure I've blogged about many of these things already, but I love that they happen, so I'll write about them again:

• When she comes back to school after a break, sometimes only after a weekend, she hugs her friends and tells them, "I missed you!"
• When she gets in the car to go to school each morning, she recites their names and the letter each starts with, and sometimes she sings "Happy Birthday" to one of them.
• When she and I are waiting at the front office for one of her teachers to come get her in the morning, at least as many kids say "hi" to her as she does to them, and if they can get a hug, their day is made. (And that makes MY day!)

Last week I was taking photos of some of the classes at the school for some upcoming projects. When I got to Ruby's class, they were in the middle of a Valentine's Day activity involving an obstacle course. It was SO fun to see the kids participating and loving all of the extra movement. Ruby, of course, smiled the whole time and couldn't get enough.

Father-Daughter Dance

Maddux and Lehr attended teh school's annual Father-Daughter Dance last week. Maddux chose to wear a very fancy dress that Lehr found crazy cheap online for last year's dance again. Aaaand she wore her Air Jordan tennis shoes with it.

The two of them had a great night, dancing and eating cookies. Lehr said she spent more time with him than she usually does at the dance (it often turns into her running around with her friends). The were invited to hang out with friends at a pre-party, which also turned into a post-party.

Mother Daughter Bible Study

Just before Thanksgiving last year, Maddux and I started attending a Mother-Daughter Bible study. A friend and I were walking around the neighborhood one morning when she told me about how God had been putting something on her heart. As she spoke about this idea to do an intentional mother-daughter group, I was blown away because it was something that had been stirring inside of me as well.

So the two of us got together for a few planning sessions with journals and Bibles, and we planned out three or four 'lessons' with ideas for many more. The other mom already had a group to invite in mind; we wanted to stick to girls/moms very close by (like, in only two neighborhoods) that were all right around 10 years old. We sent the invites, created journals for the girls, and prepared for the first meeting. Low and behold, 10 girls and their moms showed up! That first night, we had great discussion, Bible-page-flipping, and lots of girly giggles (and hot cocoa, of course).

Since then, we have met twice a month, and I am so so grateful for it. Maddux loves going, and she is an awesome participant when we are there. In fact, one of the times, she voluntarily led us in a closing prayer. I love the intentional time I get to spend with my girl, I love the way we're able to connect to other girls and moms in our immediate area, and I love how God is growing both Maddux and I in leading, participating, and planning.

Middle School Soccer

At this time last year, we were getting ready to start Eli's first golf season. He enjoys golf, and he was very excited to have the opportunity to work more on his game, but truth be told, a spot on the golf team was a runner-up prize. After spending many afternoons on the fields of his middle school, attending every pre-tryout workout they offered, he had a week of official tryouts with no callback: he didn't make the team. And had he known that he wasn't going to make it, he may have played in the rec league, as he has since he turned 4, but the sign-ups and evaluations for that team passed prior to this. At the end of the day, Eli had a great golf season and really enjoyed all the practices and matches.

With no baseball last spring, Eli returned to rec soccer and really found a new passion. He played again this last fall, and when tryouts came up last week, he picked soccer over baseball, without hesitation. We talked through the tryouts each day, with Eli reporting how he'd performed and his perceived ranking in the pool of players. At the end of the week-long tryout, Eli was rewarded with a spot on the team. He was elated!

After only a few practices, the boys had their first game during which Eli had an assist! After the game, the coach picked three captains for the next game, Eli being one of them. What a huge honor! Since then, he's started many games, played more minutes than he hasn't, had a few shots on goal, and made some great connections with his fellow players, all while improving his overall skill. Eli is not the fastest kid, but he's learning how to use his sprinting speed and his (smaller) size to his advantage.

More Tattoos

The Lucky Few Tattoo movement has remained strong in Atlanta. After our initial group-branding, there were many moms who were sad they missed out. And we had lots of dads that wanted in on the action. So some of my fellow moms organized a second 'tattoo party' with four artists (instead of the two that we had), and they planned for it to take place at Gigi's Playhouse. I was asked to take photos and was more than happy to oblige.

Lehr and Ruby were out of town, and Eli was at soccer tryouts all afternoon, so right after school, Maddux joined me, my back-up camera in tow. The event was slotted from 4-8PM, with local news coverage, both on Facebook live and on the 6PM news (with teasers in the 5-6PM hour). Maddux and I moved around the whole time, trying to take shots of it all, while also taking it all in.

I am often amazed at how well Maddux composes herself in new situations. We've obviously talked a little about tattoos in our house, but for some reason Maddux didn't totally get the process until this night. Thanks to the lens she was using, she was able to see the needle up close, and she saw how it went in and out of the skin. Later she told me how much that surprised her, though you would have never known by watching her.

Below are a few of the shots she got; she's a natural!