June has nearly worn us out completely! Between the end of the school year, swim team, camps, WILLPower events, First Communion, family visits, and so much more, we are having fun with Little Sweetie but running on fumes!
Little Sweetie's school career has been quite the experience. With the end of her kindergarten year being shut down by Covid and her first grade year having strict safety procedures to protect the students and staff, her second grade year got to be a little more "normal" and she shined! She was happy to enjoy activities again and has a great group of friends. The end of the year consisted of parties, engineering games, and awards!
She loved celebrating a year of choir and chess!
Girl Scout end-of-year pool party!
Bittersweet tea party before G moves to Ohio!
Simple household items turned into great engineering activities for school AND at home!
Really impressed with her paper sculpture of a dog water park!
Proud of our Girl Scouts who completed their Brownie Family of God Award!
And here we are, the last day! Can't believe we have a rising 3rd grader!
We'll miss our school friends, but are excited for summer adventures!
Little Sweetie finished school a day and a half before Big Brother, which meant we got to have some special time together!
We started off with flower and blackberry picking...
...then headed to a delicious lunch with lots of pita and tzatziki...
...and then finishing up with swimming with friends before picking up Big Brother!
Daddy was off the next day, so we got to cross another item off the summer list while Bubby was at school: swan boats!
Once Big Brother finished school, we enjoyed Memorial Day and then began trying to find our summer routine.
Happy Memorial Day!
Summer means lake time! Enjoying our new boat and trying out water skiing!
But lake time makes us tired!
Ready to help with errands!
Lunches and splash pads and park time, oh my!
Helping take care of the garden!
And don't forget pool time!
And then the camps began! We started off our summer camp fun with VBS. Little Sweetie had a great time with her godsibling and making new friends (and enjoyed seeing Big Brother and I as the volunteers in the Games station).
Hanging with Aunt S and L!
Little Sweetie and her buddy, R.
Enjoying VBS games!
We also had a really great surprise during VBS week! Our friend, Mr. R, works for the Seattle Mariners and sadly couldn't come with the team when they traveled to Houston this month. However, when Mr. R told one of the players he couldn't come and told him he was sad to not to see Little Buddy and Little Sweetie, this pitcher said, "Well, I want to meet them!" So that's how we got a personal invite from a major league pitcher to batting practice and a game!
A fun night at the ballpark (and on the field!) with Mr. P!
We then finished out our VBS week with Big Brother's birthday, our annual WILLPower Lemonade Stand, and a visit from Mimi and Pop-Pop!
Little Sweetie came straight from a swim meet to the Lemonade Stand and was so happy to see her old friend, G!
Spreading some WILLPower!
Time with Pop-Pop and Mimi!
Saying goodnight to our favorite TWELVE year old!
Speaking of swim team, that was a HUGE part of our summer this year! Little Sweetie really blossomed in her swimming and swam five events each meet, using placing in her events. Her best stroke was breast and she could do butterfly without disqualifying so she ended up having to do that a lot (even if it wasn't her favorite). She even qualified for her first invitational meet this year!
Love our swimmer girl!
The 7-8 year old girls, representing!
Being a beautiful nerd and doing math between events!
Momma and Little Sweetie!
Another successful meet in the books with her new friend, H!
Got to see her buddy C at Sizzler!
Fantastic job in her breaststroke heat at Sizzler!
But swimming wasn't her only sport this summer...this girl is desperate to play basketball! After a lot of searching, I found an evening weekly clinic at the Y for this month that fit around her other camp schedules. She loved it and was especially excited that Mamaw and Papaw were in town so they could come watch her!
Triple threat!
Working on dribbling and shooting!
Excited to have Papaw and Mamaw cheer her on!
We got some pool time in!
Special pottery time with Mamaw!
We even got to have Father's Day dinner with Papaw!
And even with all this going on, we still managed to get some cooking time in!
Finished our eat2explore India box with he Kofta meatball curry with naan and sauteed cabbage!
Fried bee hoon with shrimp and summer vegetables from our Singapore eat2explore box!
And some Spritz cookies to satisfy our sweet tooth!
Height and Weight
Little Sweetie is at 62 lbs. this month and up to about 51 3/8 inches!
We have noticed someone eating a sleeping a bit more. I think we have some growth coming!
Personality
We have been riding the emotional roller coaster yesterday as Little Sweetie continues to navigate growing up. She's really finding the balance between growing up and independent and still just being 8. Fun and happy, but can be quickly sensitive. We remind her to be kind and try to model our kindness in return, pointing out when she may need to rethink how she acts or speaks in a situation.
Very happy-go-lucky most of the time!
Developmental Milestones
Besides all of the cool things she did at camps this month, she's also been busy with her first piano recital and creating things when she gets "bored" (the best gift I can give her!).
So much piano progress! Very proud of her!
Give this girl boredom along with some cardboard and great things happen, like dragon wings!
I also caught her writing out the Alexander Hamilton lyrics and it cracked. me. up!
Fun Tidbits
Next month, it's finally time...Girl Scout Resident Camp, here she comes! Little Sweetie picked a half week of camp at Misty Meadows and she is so excited. Excited, nervous, and jealous are the mommy feelings I'm having too!
Our busy summer continues, but I can't wait to see all the ways this girl grows!
Good night,
LSM
Little Sweetie's Momma
