My Amazing Middle

Parenting is hard.

Many days I feel like I am barely keeping my head above water. 

The last few weeks have been worse than normal. Maddie had a horrible October, as most of her October's in her life have been starting with her very first one at five months old sixteen years ago! She was sick every day of October. It was scary.

In the midst of this, my healthy girls get less than the best of me. It's not that they get forgotten, but everything slides. Homework, chores, bathtime.. the routine goes out the window and we all suffer.

You would think by now I could have figured out how to parent a chronically ill child as well as how to parent healthy children.

I haven't.

My heart's desire this fall is to learn how to be a better all-in mom to my middle child. Lexi is my "mini-me" and she is at a crucial age that needs me to be focused on her.  Sixth grade is tough enough on a kid without having a mom distracted by the continual health needs of an older sibling and a vocal little sister!

So how am I going to be all in? I don't know. But I'm going to start tonight by inviting my girl to go out for Starbucks after I teach my evening class. It may just be a few stolen minutes here and there, but I have to be intentional about these moments or the years will pass and I will miss the opportunity to get to know my amazing middle.

Art and Soul Painting Class

On Saturday afternoon I had a painting class at church (First Presbyterian Church, Stephenville). I invited my friends to come paint a nativity scene. And boy did they show up!

I had 40 people painting. It was so much fun!

We had moms and kids, friends and church members. 

Here are a few pictures of everyone painting.

It was a little crazy.

Thankfully Doug and Maddie didn't paint and helped by taking care of refreshments and ran interference with Kylie!!

And here are some of the finished products.

Everyone did great!!

I LOVE this picture!! :) :)

I realized this morning at church that I didn't get a picture of Lexi and Kylie together with their finished pieces, so here they are.

This event was such a success that I can't wait for the next one. 

I'm thinking February...

A 4H Seamstress

During the month of October, Lexi learned how to sew!  She under the guidance of her mentor, a retired seamstress Linda, made a dress for the local 4H competition!

Lexi did incredible!

Lexi learned about the entire process from picking out a pattern and choosing fabric to sewing seams and putting in a zipper.

I was and am amazed at her work ethic and ability.  Miss Linda didn't sew this dress. Lexi did!  Can you believe it?!

After the dress was made, Lexi wore it to the local 4H competition. We have never been to anything 4H, but I have been watching 4H and FFA kids for years and am always so impressed with their public speaking, their work ethic, their manners and just their way of handling adversity.

I want this for Lexi. ( I also want scholarships for college.. but we are a little young for that as of yet.)

Anyway, Lexi competed in the Junior Construction Dressy category.

She not only had to interview (maybe the hardest part of this entire process for her) but she had to model her dress as well. She was MAD at me about this as she was blindsided. But so was I! When I say we didn't know what we were doing, I'm not joking.

But she did FABULOUS.

Here Lexi is at the competition.

 Lexi won a 1st place ribbon and advanced to the District round. (We didn't even know that you could do this!)

Here are all of the local competitors.

And then it was time for the District 4H competition. As a Junior, Lexi was not eligible to advance to the state meet. (Good to know.. something to prepare for when she gets to high school!)

The competition was 2 hours from home and it started at 9am. I'm glad I got this picture of Lexi as they were calling role as this was the last time I saw her until she was finished at noon!

She then had a break as she wasn't competing in the other events. (shock.we didn't know about those either. next year...)

Then it was time for the fashion show. This time Lexi knew what to expect, but she was still very serious. She did think having a raised platform to walk on was rather cool.

 

Lexi won 1st place in her category!

 

 Pretty cool stuff.

And what will she be sewing next year? No clue. Lexi and Miss Linda have a great bond and I'll leave it up to them!

It's the little things that are the big things

My children are my daily mirror. If I want to know about life, my attitude and my habits, all I have to do is look at them, see what they are doing and what they are interested in to know what I have been busy focusing on.

So this week, I am trying to look in the mirror of their eyes more. 

But first, I have to share this.. 

I can't believe that my baby is about to complete kindergarten. 

I love her drawing of herself!

And because I know that I will blink and she will be ready to graduate from high school, I am trying to document some of her little girl moments!

I love that she loves writing stories and reading.

Moving on..

People ask why I do challenges, I do them because:

• it keeps me accountable to complete the task
• it makes me try new things
• it makes me try HARD things

And teaching my girls to complete hard things is one of my jobs as a mom.

So with this handstand challenge and healthy eating, there are days when I don't want to continue the journey. Some days I want to sit on the couch and eat potato chips. But you know what, my girls are great at reminding me to get up and get going. 

Lexi is eating salads with me and is my official handstand photographer. Kylie is working hard on handstands too. 

So even though the other night I had tons of chest congestion and a bad headache, legitimate reasons to take a day off the handstand, you know what? I did that stupid handstand. And Kylie sat there and watched me, and afterward, I felt like I had accomplished something!

Cause look at my girls.  

They will follow my lead, whichever path I take them on.

And this is last night. 

I'm getting stronger.

And relishing in a few moments with my baby girl who likes to draw butterflies on her face. 

Grand Champion Rabbits

This weekend was the Erath County Junior Livestock Show. 

Lexi showed her rabbits on Thursday. It was nice knowing what to expect this year. She is still tiny compared to most of the competitors. You can barely see her face above the pen!

Thankfully they have workers in the arena that help the kids get set up. And our FFA advisor, Mr. Clarke is the guy in the standing at the fence watching Lexi. Man, he was awesome!

                        

The show itself is rather boring. The kids put their rabbits in the pen on one side and the judge takes them out of the other side and checks and compares them. The highlight of the judging is watching for bunnies that get out of the pen.

One of Lexi's strengths is her ability to focus in on the judge and remain still and poised. She might be incredibly nervous, but she looks great out there.

This year her pen was the second to the lightest in the heavyweight class. Her total weight was 11.8 pounds compared to the heaviest pen which was 14.7. We were nervous as that is a really big difference. But...

She won!!

The judge liked that her rabbits were strong and not "fluffy!"

Amazing! Last year she won Reserve Champion (2nd place) and this year she won Grand Champion!! Two buckles in two years!!

She had a big group of supporters too! Her best friends Emma and Emily came out to watch. 

Here she is with Mr. Clarke. Proud kid and proud teacher!

Then on Saturday they have the Premium Sale. That basically means a scholarship auction as the kids keep the animals. I remembered to get proof that I was there! :)

One of Lexi's friends (another Emma) helped Lexi carry out the rabbits for the auction. They were adorable!!

Lexi's rabbits went for $2750!  AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so thankful to live in a community that so actively backs the kids.  Kody King with Citizens National Bank of Texas bought her pen!!

I would have never imagined us being a stock show family.. but two years in and we are.. we even bought "real" boots for Lexi this year! Today we sell the rabbits and clean up! This process is amazing. Lexi is not just learning about the raising and showing of animals, but she is learning to be an entrepreneur and to to make responsible decisions! I love that. That is the gift of FFA.

Oh life, how good, but how busy you are.

Whew. We are so very busy that I can't catch my breath much less blog!

This week was crazy, plus more! Our beloved Yellow Jacket football team played on Thursday night instead of the normal Friday so that they could be broadcast LIVE on ESPN2! It made for a truly crazy week and a long, long week.

But here is a recap.

Kylie loves school, soccer and playing. Her imagination knows no bounds. Here she is figuring out tricks on Lexi's skateboard.

Lexi loves to read and is the top reader in 4th grade at this point in the year with close to 10x the AR points of most of her peers!

She also is playing volleyball and really improving. I'm her coach. Her improvement is despite my coaching.

This past weekend she went to church camp for the first time. She LOVED it! 

Maddie is tearing it up on the football field as a colorguard member. This is HER THING! How fun to watch her excels at something physical.

Maddie is also doing great in school.  She is seeing a new specialist in a couple of weeks and we are hoping that will help one of her ongoing health battles, but overall, she is doing better than we could ever have imagined at this point in high school!

I've tried to post her performance from Friday night. If you click on the link, it might take you to the video...Post by Emily Maxwell McLemore.

And what have Doug and I been doing besides driving children from place to place? Well, we have been considering a lot about life. We are in that midpoint of our lives and have to ask ourselves if we are the people that we want to be. Are we the people we have been called to be? Are we doing what we are meant to do? Lots of questions. For me, this means going back to school. I'm going to work on getting an additional advanced degree in Education. No, I have absolutely no clue how this is going to fit in our lives. But I do know that I was created to teach others how to teach and at this point in my life I'm not doing that. So I'm going to work on that. 

And what about running? Well, I'm feeling great and so strong these days. Not fast, but my running and fitness base is solid. And sadly, there is no time to race. We have commitments every Saturday from now to Christmas and beyond. So I'm looking for a fall 1/2 marathon on a Sunday that's not too far of a drive! I'll keep you posted cause man am I feeling great!

That's all I have time for.  Hope to post again soon!

A very busy, but very good life!



We are so busy. With Kylie starting Kindergarten, this just added to the insanity!

 

Here is what we have been up to.

 

Kylie has been painting on her easel that she got for her birthday from her grandparents. She LOVES it!

 

And we are working on sight words and readers. Kylie loves school and Lexi is really enjoying playing school with her and being the teacher!

 

 

We also have a soccer girl. Two practices a week and Saturday games are going to be interesting!

 

Lexi is busy with volleyball. She is a great passer. I'd provide pictures, but she won't let me take them and I'm too busy being the coach!

 

But I did get a picture of her tshirt quilt that I made for her. No, picture of her with it. I'm soo documenting the efforts I make to take pictures cause one day when she complains that there aren't any pictures of HER doing things, I will point her to my blog and say I TRIED!!

 

 

And Maddie is staying crazy busy with colorguard practice. They performed at the first football game last Friday and she did FANTASTIC!! It was soo much fun watching her do something that she is not only good at but obviously loves!

 

Doug and I are doing well. Just trying to keep our heads above water!! I've got a painting in the works and a triathlon in a couple of weeks.