Spring is here!!!

Kayla invited Ellie to go get manicures for her birthday!

March is reading month... It's BLUE day today!

My sweet girl looking all grown up. I love you, Ellie.

This is happening! Luke has business cards and flyers that he has sent out and his roster for the summer is booked!! Ben taught him all last summer how to mow and trim. This summer he is ready! It was pretty cool to see him communicate with adults in a "professional" way.

Drew and his buddies did a flag football camp with the SCHS football coaching staff and team.

We can feel it. Spring is around the corner and this calls for a walk to play at the park!

St. Patrick's Day!! The trap is set!

Grateful for these three little leprechauns!

Oh, man. That Lucky escaped just in the nick of time!

Celebrating Harlow turning 5!! We love you so much, Harlow!!! Elle stayed for a sleepover!

The next morning, we wrapped up with Drew and Elle's last basketball games for the season and their team parties.

During prayer, Caleb put his arm around Drew. 💙💙

The best big sisters around! Yep, that is our little doing push ups in the background.

We love Coach Megan!

Coach Dad is our favorite though.

Besties. Drew & Caleb

Besties. Kayla & Ellie

Cousins came for Ellie's last game!

Gavin held Drew's hand most of Elle's game... So sweet.

All the little boys on my lap. 

( So sorry...I didn't get any clips of Ellie's game because of these two squishies!)

Coach Sydney is the best!!

Right after Ellie's game she got dressed and headed to Rochester High School for Rochester's Battle of the Books! This was the first time we had a kiddo compete in this and so we learned about the process as we went. Basically, you are on a team and between the team you read and know really well 12 different books. At the competition, you sit with your team and together you answer questions about the books you've read. Jodie coached our team and they had a ton of fun! They were dressed as "Readers are Leaders".

The team!

Each team was huddled together on their blanket. They were given a question out loud and one leader from the group would write the answer and wave their answer sheet in the air to be collected. (Take a guess who did this on their team??)

Ben and I, all the parents, had to watch from the stands. We gave our support and positive vibes and then scooted out after round 1. :)

They didn't win this year but had a lot of fun and read a lot of books. That's a win in my book!!

Living her best life, and now off to a birthday sleepover!

We finished the weekend with Ellie and I attending Oxford High School's Little Mermaid Spring Musical! It was SO good!! The cast were roped to fly in the air on stage (to make it look like they were swimming!) 

Drew Bear.

Luke started the week of Spring Break with an all night baseball tourney. Good thing they had the week to sleep it off! The first game started at 10:30 and they got home around 4 am. Only baseball coaches would do this!!

3 highlights from the tourney: 

1.    They won!!!

2.    Luke rocked being lead off batter

3.     Luke was called into pitch the last inning! (pics below of him pitching) He has never pitched on this team. EVER! As he was getting his catcher stuff on, Coach said, " You are pitching Big Luke!" Well, Luke went in and had 3 strikeouts in a row!! I was not there but Ben was and everyone went nuts (as crazy as a bunch of 40 something parents and coaches can get at 3:00 am)!!

Now off for Spring Break 2023!!

 

Power is out and Elle's World...We are all living in it! (Aladdin performance and Reflections Award)

 The calm before the first storm...

The kiddos had a half day on Friday and Drew and Caleb went roller skating! 

That night the storm came but Drew and I had big plans and we weren't going to let it stop us! Drew and I had a special Mom and son date together! Drew asked to have dinner together at Ram's Horn with a chocolate milkshake for dessert!

We lost our power. All the branches fell. And this happened two weekends in a row!!

Both Saturdays our power was out, we would go to basketball and then head to the library! This became our family spot.

Thankfully our power came back on both times within 24 hours! We love having power!

SO many sticks.

Elle is just killing it in her 5th grade year. Ellie, we are so very proud of you! After winning the school's Science Fair, Ellie came home with this invite the next day (see below). 

Ellie won her school's PTA Reflections contest with her essay on how to change the world with kindness!! OK. Confession. We did not even know that Ellie had written this essay. We did not even know that Ellie submitted this essay to be in a contest. We barely even knew the details about this contest. But she did. She wrote this essay all by herself. She made time to write it on her own, amidst our abundant schedule, with her daily Aladdin practices after school, travel soccer, basketball, Word Nerd club, and reading and preparing for Battle of the Books! No one proofread it. No one helped her think of an idea or assisted her in the writing process, nor did she ask. She just did it. And she won!!

 Ellie, you have such a high amount of self efficacy and confidence!!! Keep doing big things, keep taking risks, and keep going for it! 

On Wednesday night, we picked Ellie up early from her last dress rehearsal for Aladdin and celebrated her writing at the awards ceremony Stoney Creek High School!

The boys in the back having a ball before going into SCHS.

All of the winners from across all K-12 schools in Rochester were recognized and celebrated! Here Elle is with her essay on display. 

Reading her essay!

Ellie was called on stage with the other grades 3-5 winners! 

Aladdin was the big production at McGregor this year! Elle was casted as the Lamp Vendor, the narrator! They practiced most days afterschool until 6 and then starting mid-February they practiced M-F until 6 and sometimes until 7! All hands are on deck at the school to make this accessible for ALL 5th grade students who are interested. We LOVE our school and so grateful for our teachers and families!

Sara, is amazing, and makes all of the costumes handmade for every kid! She stopped by to show us Elle's costume and for a final fitting. It is made from a a used window curtain! Love it!

This was the District FB post after their last dress rehearsal to come and enjoy McG's Aladdin!

Elle's family gift before the big show...

Elle came home with her makeup on and ready to break a leg! That Thursday they had a school performance in the afternoon, and two performances that night at 6:00 and 7:30. 

These pics were shared with us from the stage manager's Dad. A little behind the scenes!

This Genie was fire!!

Sara helping Elle get dressed!

A cool fact about Elle's costume...Sara put a piece of material from every costume in the musical to make Elle's belt! She gave Elle the belt as a gift to keep after the last performance. 💜

The crew after the school performance! 

Now on with the night show performances...Presenting ALADDIN!!

Show 1, Elle's cheer squad!

Click here for a fun clip!

Watch this clip and try not to smile...Click here!

Kashmere is our Genie and he is a STAR!!

Ellie floating with glee (look at that smile) across the stage to give her final bow...A standing ovation!! It makes me cry just thinking about it!

Ellie, your family loves you and we are your biggest fans!

Kayla came to support Ellie on her birthday (sweet girl) and Nicole and Katelyn with their families!

Elle's church small group leader, Ms. Douglas, brought Elle flowers. 💜

Flowers sent from Papa and Gma Cooley. 💞

Elle, keep going! You are so loved no matter what. We are so very proud of you!

To sum it up, here is a text from Mrs. Plotzke, McG's amazing music teacher who puts on these musicals for our kids each year...Just because she loves our kids and wants each child to have an opportunity to shine.

 She texted this to me the day after the performances...