Goin' for gold

Ali had another swim meet this weekend...today and tomorrow. Today, she got a gold medal in her 50 free!! This was quite a surprise for her, as she doesn't usually place! She was beyond excited. It was a champ meet. She also got a 5th place ribbon in her 100 back. Her hard work is paying off, as she seems to be pushing herself more than in the past. We are so proud of her. We don't care whether she places or not, just that she does her best! But it was sure a nice bonus for her.

Just wanted to brag on our girl a little. Here are a few pictures of Ali's medal, the kids playing some indoor basketball (I know...crazy, this goal should be OUTSIDE!!), and Clark showing off his batman pj's!

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention our excitement on Tuesday...ok, maybe not "excitement." Ali was finishing up her breakfast on Tuesday when I came in to get Clark something to eat. She was taking her dishes over to the sink when we bumped shoulders on accident. She happened to loose her footing and fell over our trashcan. It was such a freak thing. Needless to say, she headed for the tile with dishes in hand.......glass was everywhere and she ended up slicing her thumb. (her cereal bowl broke in her hand when she hit the floor) We got her cleaned up and headed for the ER. She ended up needing 4 stitches, as it was a very deep cut. The doctor said she was fortunate it was in the pad of her thumb and not further down...it would have cut tendons. She did pass out on the last stitch...it wasn't numb and she felt the needle enter and exit...OUCH! She was such a trooper though! The doctor couldn't believe she didn't even flinch when he gave the numbing shot right in the middle of the cut. It was enough to about make ME pass out watching. (it doesn't take much) However, she just squeezed my hand and made a face. Never a dull moment around here......

swim meet

The season of Lent has begun.....

Growing up Southern Baptist, I was not familiar with the Lenten season at all. However, since becoming Lutheran, it has been fascinating to me to learn all about the traditions other denominations celebrate. This season has to be one of my favorites. We began the season at our Ash Wednesday service last night at church. We were all given the sign of the cross on our foreheads with ashes. It is such a beautiful remembrance of what all this season holds for us as Christians. You can read all about it here. Actually, the children entered and exited the church Sunday with the Alleluia banners. We will not be singing alleluias until Easter morning! Clark made a cute alleluia picture in Sunday School and he carried that, as did the other children in his class. It was so cute! I hope to spend this season reflecting on my life, and all Christ did for me on the cross. Ali and I will be participating in a program for the children called Journey to the Cross. You can read all about it here. We are going to be doing the palm branches station. Children will wave palm branches in the air and place them on the pathway. It will be the first time our church has done this, and we are so excited about it. It will give the children a tangible example of Jesus' journey. I can't wait for Clark to experience it all. The children will end their journey at an empty tomb.

Tuesday did not start out so well for Ali. She should have slept late and avoided the incident all together! But as it was, she was in the kitchen eating cereal when I came in to get Clark some breakfast. She finished up, and was taking her dishes to the sink. I was walking past her headed to the pantry when we bumped shoulders. No big deal, however, somehow she lost her footing...turned around...and fell over our trashcan...onto the TILE floor. Yeah, generally not something you want to face plant on. She, of course, instinctively tried to catch herself........but with her breakfast dishes in her hand! The glass went flying, but the cereal bowl broke in her hand. We didn't realize immediately that she had cut herself...I was more concerned with if she was hurt from the fall. I grabbed her to help her up and we realized her hand was dripping with blood. She had gashed her thumb pretty badly. After washing it off, we realized it definitely needed stitches...so off to the ER we went. The doctor said she was fortunate it was the pad of her thumb. If it had been the lower part, it would have cut tendons...NO FUN! It was a very deep cut, requiring 4 stitches. She was a trooper, the doctor couldn't believe she sat so still for it ALL...even the numbing shot RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CUT. I couldn't watch that part!!! I would have had to have been picked up off the floor....and hospital floors REALLY gross me out! Try keeping a 5 year old boy off the floor....yeah right! Clark definitely got a good scrubbing off that night! Anyway, when all was said and done...she was all stitched up and in quite a bit of pain. It seems to be feeling some better now. The stitches will come out next Wed. She went from an ear infection last week, to stitches...I do believe she is ready to not see a doctor for a while!

Clark is going to play on an Upwards Soccer team! He had his evaluation this past Sat. It is going to be so cute. We had to buy the smallest cleats that they make..oh, and also the smallest shin guards. Practices begin the week of March 9th. He are hoping he runs towards the correct goal. Haha!!

The most recent Clark funny is what he came out of children's choir last night saying. His teacher, Miss Stephanie, was talking to the kids about Lent and that yesterday was Ash Wednesday. So this was Clark's take on it after choir. He came running out to us after choir was over with a cute Lenten calendar page to color. It is in the shape of a cross, etc. and you color one number a day leading up to Easter. He proudly tells us, "today is after Wednesday." Me, "it is Ash Wednesday, honey." Clark, "oh yeah, Ash Wed."

Ali has another swim meet this weekend. T.C. will miss it, as it is drill weekend for the Guard. She hopes to improve her times even more than she did a few weeks ago.

Have a great rest of the week!

Having fun at putt-putt

Last weekend, the kids and I met some friends at Putt-Putt Fun House for a day of goofing off. They had a blast. On Saturdays, they have a great $10 deal that we had to take advantage of! The kids played putt-putt, some games, Ali and Sierra rode the bumper boats, and had lunch. We will definitely be doing that again soon! You should have seen Clark playing putt-putt. It was hysterical! He didn't care if the club was turned the right way or not...he just started swinging! :)

Nothing new around here really. We are trying to get estimates for our fence. We need our entire fence replaced. Can you say it with me........cha-ching!! Yikes. We hope our neighbors are willing to pay their portion. We are supposedly only responsible for half of the fence, but we seem to be the only ones READY to get it replaced! I am a little tired of the ghetto look in our backyard. The orange plastic temporary fencing is not so cute.

Clark seems to be doing well with his speech therapy. I love the therapist, she is SO patient and sweet. She is really trying to get him to focus on the hypernasal sounds. It is going to take some work on his part...we'll get there.

He loved exchanging Valentine's at school this week. He brought home a bag of goodies. He has been taking huge Reese's hearts to all of teachers. He loved doing that. He wanted to bring flowers to his music (hand bells and choir) teacher at church. Isn't that funny? (but we just stuck with the chocolate) A girl in his class wanted to give Clark a special "big" Valentine. The mother thought it was so funny that she had to stop me the other day and tell me. She said when they were shopping for the class Valentine's, the daughter said "I want to give Clark a big one." I thought that was too precious! Such a ladies man....haha.

Ali is just swimming her heart out. She has another swim meet in 2 weekends. She is also thinking about playing in the "strings" band for the Lenten season at church on Wednesday nights. She is going to take a look at the music this week to see if she can play it. Our music director was so excited to find out that she plays the guitar. It will be good for her to play in front of a group and to get comfortable with that. God has given her a talent that I want her to learn to share for His glory!

God gave me the MOST precious moment this morning. He does things right when we need them the most. Ali has swim practice on Saturday mornings from 8-10am, and this is one of my days to drive (we carpool with another family). I usually take Clark to a McDonald's playland to play for a while during the wait. This morning was a little rough, he got in bed too late last night...and I had to wake him up too early this morning. Needless to say...he was a little whiny! I was trying to do a little of his speech therapy homework in the van before we headed to McDonald's...there were a few tears shed...and a little frustration coming from the mom, I admit! However, we make it to McDonald's, order our food, and start eating. After a few minutes, a nice man (maybe early 50's or so) comes up to our table and rubs Clark's arm. He told me what a precious boy I had, and what a blessing he was. The entire short time he talked he was just staring intently at Clark...it was beautiful. He almost looked like he had tears in his eyes. It was very touching. I just told him thank you and that yes, he was a blessing. The man then just walked off. It left me wondering if this man had gone through something sad with a child, but I will never know. However, it also instantly reminded of this wonderful blessing that sat right before me eating his sausage biscuit. He is SUCH a blessing, and I was very thankful for that reminder! We will always be grateful for the children God has entrusted to our care.

I am posting some pictures from our outing last weekend...and our furry babies.

putt putt

Ali....the serenading swimmer

Ok, maybe she can't REALLY mix her two interests. However, she was in a swim meet this past Saturday, and also a guitar recital. She literally hopped out of the water from her last event, and ran into the dressing room to change for the music recital. We made it in time, thank goodness. She was nervous about the recital, as she doesn't like to play in front of people. However, once she started, you couldn't even tell. She did a great job. I will post some video clips at the end. She played a duet with her teacher. Her teacher considers her one of his "advanced" students...so after only playing for about 3 years, that isn't too bad. She really loves it.

As for the swim meet...we were blown away. She improved SO much from the last meet she was in. She shaved 30 seconds off of her best 200 freestyle time. That is awesome! Her second best improvement was shaving 24 seconds off of her best 100 backstroke time. We were so proud of her! As her coach said after one of her events, "if you can do this well at the meet...don't be farting around at practice." Hahahaha!!! Ali thought that was pretty funny. I must say, the girls can definitely do some talking at the practices. Ha!! (to be expected) As Peter Pan says, "girls talk too much." :)

Clark is coming right along. He began speech therapy a couple of weeks ago. His first actual therapy session was today. The last 2 weeks were evaluation. They are working on his hypernasal speech. The therapist is hopeful it can be correct. She said a little time will tell if it is actually a medical issue that doesn't allow him to cut his airway off when saying some sounds. Hopefully it is just a matter of retraining. We will wait and see. Each week we will have "homework" to work on prior to the next weeks session. He did just fine today...was a little distracted with some toys that were in the room. Of course, the boy lives to play!!! The therapist was impressed during his evaluation. She said he has a great grasp of the English language after only 1 1/2 years. We have been trying to do a little more schooling at home. He is doing so much better on writing his letters. He started out behind the curve, but we are hopeful that he will catch up. He would just much rather be riding his bike than sitting in front of some school books. (of course) Another funny I can add to the list...the other day Clark comes out of our bathroom holding MY toothbrush:
Clark: Someone left their toothbrush on MY sink
Rachel: Well actually that is OUR bathroom and that is MY sink...so I left my toothbrush by my sink
Clark: (with a confused look on his face) You need to put your toothbrush up.
hahaha!!!

swim meet and guitar recital