The School Year is Done and Swim Team Starts!

Wow, I can't believe this school year is done already.  It really seems like we were just taking first day of school pictures and gearing up for the big Kindergarten year for Cole and 2nd grade for Reagan.  This pictures shows the first and last day of school.


Reagan had a great 2nd grade year with Mrs. Arthur.  She kept a few friends from last year and made several new friends.  It was a tough year from a curriculum standpoint because there were many new concepts.  They started fractions, learned about mass and volume and studied the Indian tribes. She also had an increase in her reading and writing expectations.  Weekly word study continued this year and although she complained about it daily, her handwriting has gotten much better and she got into a rhythm.  She also transitioned from being pulled out for testing with a few peers to taking tests in the classroom.  This was a tough decision, but she asked for that change and we decided to try it.  She's looking forward to third grade next year and we are hoping to keep up with her skills over the summer by doing daily worksheets and reading.

Cole had a very good kindergarten year but it was not without some issues.  He learned a lot and got much better at writing.  They worked on spelling and writing sentences.  I often struggle with how much to include in my posts, but I also believe that through struggle we learn how hard we've worked to get where we are.  Cole did an AMAZING job as a kindergartener but had a really tough class. There were several kids who made the class a behavioral challenge despite having special needs support, and several others who are not yet identified and (in my humble opinion) did not have the resources they needed in the classroom.  His main teacher, Mrs. Bretcko went out on maternity leave in March and he had a full time substitute teacher, Mrs. Helmer.  Despite the hard work of both teachers in implementing behavior plans and expectations in the classroom, it was just a tough group of kids.  I had numerous meetings with the teacher, the substitute teacher, the principal and the counselor to discuss how we can make things better.  Cole received yellow "think sheets" regularly and it was very hard on him.  Each time I was told that he doesn't instigate the situation, but struggles to stay out of it.  He would get frustrated when kids would cut him in line and angry when someone stole his crayons.  And the other children were often breaking his magnifier.  One day someone called him dumb and he got a think sheet for telling that child to "shush it".  Most of this is normal kindergarten behavior, but it really started to break my heart when he said two weeks ago, "Mommy, when you get to Heaven will you wait for me? I'm such a bad kid I may never make it there."  He told me the best part of Memorial Day was that he knew he wouldn't get a yellow sheet because he wouldn't be at school.  And yesterday he said "mom, I had a horrible dream yesterday that everybody except Kendall hates me because I'm so naughty."  He is so sensitive and such a sweet boy. I truly hope he realizes what an amazing child he is and how proud of him we are.  I had a meeting with the principal to discuss next year's placement and truly hope next year brings good things!  When I see his developmental path, it has always been a little different than other children, despite being extremely smart.

In other news, Reagan had her 8 year check up with the pediatrician.  She's doing really well but the doctor ordered blood work and a bone age test because she is worried about her development.  We've completed all the testing and visited the endocrinologist.  Luckily all the tests came back within normal range and the endocrinologist said she looks great!  Super excited there is one less stress for us right now.

So with that we have moved into summer.  I've been traveling and working full time but they have their cousin Allison watching them and they are having a lot of fun!  The kids are doing swim team for the first time.   Reagan is swimming with the Cascades Rapids and Cole is with the Cascades Riptides.  It takes a lot of dedication with practice at 8am every day but they are both having a lot of fun and love seeing their friends every day. There are Wednesday night "developmental" meets that all swimmers can attend and Saturday meets for those who qualify.  I'm excited to say Reagan had her first meet last week and although she was very nervous, she did really well with both freestyle and backstroke.  Then today they had a Swim-A-Thon and Reagan swam 74 laps and Cole swam 30 laps.  I have to say - I'm SO impressed!!  They will both swim in the meet Wednesday against the Armfield Stingrays in Chantilly.  So excited to share some of the summer fun we will be having!

2017 Lacrosse Season is a Wrap!

Reagan had another great season of lacrosse this year.  She definitely saw a lot of progress from the beginning of the season to the end.  She seemed to have a lot more fun this year because she knew a little more about what to expect and knew the basics.

Reagan played on the K-2 team again this year for the Algonkian Tribe. The girls ranged from ages 5 to 8.  There is such a huge developmental difference in that age range but the girls had a great time, played well together and learned a lot.  There were so many girls they divided them into two groups.  Soccer is definitely much more popular in NOVA so it's great seeing the increase in girls who are interested in the sport. You still have a lot less selection in girls equipment than boys, but seeing as I remember the year our high school added a lacrosse team we've come a long way since the 90's!

Johnny was able to be an assistant coach this year and said it was much tougher than coaching U13, which he did with his brother before we had kids.  All the coaches did a great job and worked really hard to keep the girls focused and having fun.

At the last practice the coaches gave all the girls a game ball with their name on it and a special title.  Reagan was voted "Cradling Queen."  She was very surprised since they didn't do the awards last year.  She was super excited.  They ended the season with a tournament on Saturday with almost all of the Loudoun Girls K-2 teams.  She played four 20 minute games over three hours.  They had a lot of fun and Reagan got a lot of action in the last game.  Not only did she carry the ball a lot, she was the top scorer on the team! She was pretty excited to find out that all the girls got trophies at the end of the tournament.  Again, something new this year and it even had her name engraved on it!  She was so excited!  Although lacrosse is a Spring sport, there is a "box league" in the Fall that she may try.  Apparently it's all games (no practice) and because it's inside it's a very fast moving game since the ball never goes out of bounds.  We love giving the kids the option to try different activities to find something they love and stick with it!

Reagan Rose Turns 8!

So this post is a little delayed, but Reagan chose to have a low key birthday this year instead of a big party.  She was super excited to turn 8 although she was really hoping her dad would let her get her ears pierced.  The bad news is that he is still saying no, the good news is that we've worked him down from 18 down to 13 years old.  We're still hoping to get him to 10 :)

Reagan decided to invite a few friends for dinner and then a sleep over.  She invited her friend Emily from her class this year, Maggie from her class last year, Hailey who lives up the street and Tori from Tae Kwon Do.  They are a good group of girls and they all got along really well.


Dinner started at Otani's Japanese Steakhouse.  It's Reagan's absolutely favorite!  She ordered her usual shrimp and fried rice and didn't want her ice cream or cake.  She's just not a sweets kid I guess.  But she loves when they drop the lights, play the birthday song in the restaurant and let her bang the gong.

After dinner we headed back to the house and the girls decided to play on the moon bounce and monkey bars.  They played for while and then decided to open presents.  She asked for chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and I think she ate half of one.  Luckily the other kids liked them!

They decided to all bunk in Reagan's room and there were blankets and pillows everywhere!  Although it took a while for them to settle down, they did get to sleep eventually.  Unfortunately they were up far earlier than they should have been but they were excited to go back to the basement and continue playing.  Mom ran to get donuts for breakfast and then we took a long walk to the park and played for a while before they all went home.

We celebrated her birthday with the Bischoff family Saturday and celebrated with the Schweisthal's Sunday.  As expected, Reagan was an absolutely disaster from not getting enough sleep Sunday but we tried to get her to bed on time so she was ready for school the next day.  Luckily she was feeling much better on Monday !