The Summer She Learned to Swim

The day after Brenna's birthday, she and I packed up and headed to Mom and Dads for a few days.  Like always, Brenna enjoys her visits to Mississippi because she never hears the word "no" while we're there.  She gets to do all the things that she enjoys with an ever attentive audience.  Mawmaw says yes to things like eating Chef-Boyardee in the living room while watching her favorite show and drinking pink lemonade (big no-no at our house).

Brenna's 6th Birthday

I can't believe how quickly the years are going by!  One delay in this post was because of some necessary maintenance that forced me to work on some early posts from the beginnings of this blog.  Knowing that I had this posting waiting in the wings, I've been looking through the pictures and videos of when she was two and wondering where did that kid go?  How did she get so tall and independent?  Has that much time gone by that she's really changed that much?

At 6 years old Brenna is a beautiful and smart little girl!  Her personality has blossomed over the past year! She's loving and compassionate with her friends.  She still gets excited about even the smallest things and she loves to laugh.  She's very engineering and enjoys building anything.  She has an ability to take random items from the around the house and use them to create something new!  She stays active in every sense of the word, since still and quite time is not on her to-do list.  She loves playing with her friends and since we have so many that are so close we spend alot of time in the street, just having fun.  When she's on her own she likes to put on different shows that include dancing, jump roping, skip hops, and the ribbon dancing.  She loves music and frequently makes up her own songs.  She's become very independent and wants to manage all the small stuff on her own, like making her own sandwiches, washing her own hair, and getting her own snacks and water.  She's such a gorgeous girl inside and out and she's the biggest blessing God has given me and Jacob.

This year Brenna has a love for all things My Little Pony and it was easily chosen as her party theme.  At her request, we had her party at a bouncy house called Monkey Joe's.  The kids loved the bounce stations and a herd of girls with a sprinkle of boys ran from bouncer to bouncer with Brenna in the lead laughing all the way.  After a lengthy play time the kids headed into the party room for pizza and presents.  Brenna was one happy little girl with all her friends there to share in her birthday celebration!  Here's some pictures from her big day!

It Made It!

At the end of March, Brenna picked out a Marigold grow kit as a reward for a good report card.  For the next four months it was over watered, under watered, left in the freezing cold, left in the scolding heat, and generally mistreated.  However despite all odds, we finally got a bloom! It made it!

Cookie Maker

A few months back Brenna chose a cookie making kit as a reward for her report card.  We made cookies that week and then I stowed the kit away on a high shelf in the kitchen in hopes she wouldn't remember it again for a long time.  Well, it hadn't been long enough when she started asking to make cookies with her cookie kit again.  It's not that I don't enjoy making cookies with Brenna.  I love working with her in the kitchen and she really enjoys cooking too.  But, this cookie kit has what feels like a million tiny pieces that all have to be hand washed.  Then we have to add food coloring to the dough which means at least a half dozen bowls and spoons to get different colored cookies.  Add all that to one excited little girls and you get one big messy kitchen.  But she sure did have a good time and she made some very interesting cookies!

Turtle Rescue

Recently the turtles of our community have been on the move.  One friend's explanation was that its mating season.  I'm not sure if that's the case, but turtles have definitely popped up in unusual places.  About a week ago, I was making a late afternoon run to McDonald's for a nutritious meal for my family.  After crossing the bridge at our big 4-way stop a turtle ever-so-slowly made his way across the intersection.  After evaluating the likely hood of him making it back to safe terrain on his own, I put the car in park, put on my hazards, and hopped out to retrieve him.  I had on no make-up, no shoes, and a t-shirt with holes in it!  At the moment I picked up the turtle, three cars met at the intersection and kindly waited while I made my way back to the bridge and walked down to the creek to release him into a more friendly environment.

Later in the week, I looked out my front door to see another turtle cutting through my yard, crossing into the street, and heading up Andrea Park in the middle of the road.  At the same time, Jacob was driving in from work and had to stop the car to let the turtle pass.  Brenna and I captured him and walked him back down to the creek.  Just call us the Turtle Whisperer!

Our Little Swimmer

I didn't want the summer to go by without making note of one significant achievement.  Last year even after taking two weeks of swim lessons, Brenna still struggled in the water.  She was deathly afraid of putting her head underwater and not a fan of getting her face wet in general.  She was terrified to be in water where she couldn't touch the bottom.

In preparation for summer, we put Brenna in Aquatots swim lessons in April with hopes it would improve her comfort level in the water.  My child, who was seriously frightened of going underwater, was dunked every day for 4 straight weeks!  When I made this statement to someone who asked how things were going, they responded "Isn't that water boarding?"  The coaches were fantastic and she quickly moved through the paces and was swimming on her own by the end of the 4th week.  After returning from vacation, she continued to progress by enjoying playtime with her friends at the pool.  Now, its like the fear never existed!  She's swimming in the "big" pool with no worries that its 6 ft deep, she's diving underwater for rings without hesitation, riding water slides, and even doing flips in the water!  I know that she's not a marathon swimmer, but she can doggie paddle like a champ!  Her new found courage has definitely improved our fun-time at the pool.

Mom and Me Day

I was inspired by a friend who dedicated a entire week to her daughter while her youngest son was away at camp.  While every day is a Mom and Me day at our house since Brenna's an only child, I realized that we've never had a day to do just what she wanted, at her pace.  Usually its a comprise of my errands backed up with some kind of kid friendly fun that's convenient to wherever we are.  Also, Brenna's reached an age where her thoughts of fun usually consist of friends and Mom is the method of transportation.  So I thought it would be nice to have a day just to ourselves to enjoy some things that she likes.

We started our day bright and early by summer standards.  Brenna picked out her new favorite dress to wear and we made our way to Town Center in Sugar Land.  Town Center is a very nice shopping and entertainment area centered around the Sugar Land Court House.  The area is beautiful with fountains and brick paved streets that follow along fun shops and restaurants.

The Run Down

It's been a while since I had an Instagram run down.  Here's what we've been doing in June and July!

Pottery and Donuts

Last week we got together with a sweet friend to paint pottery.  After a quick tour of the options, the girls decided that mermaids were the way to go.  I didn't realize that picking what to paint was the easy part.  Leaving two 5 year olds to decide what colors to paint their mermaids took much longer.  They picked each paint color with careful thought as to which part of the mermaid it would be applied.  After everyone had a rainbow of colors on their palette, the little artists got to work!

Battle of the Bangs

For nearly 7 months we've been trying to grow out Brenna's bangs.  It hasn't been easy!  For the longest time we were in the "Peeking Through the Bushes" stage where her bangs just hung straight over her eyes.  Recently we've moved to the "Sweep to the Side" stage, which is an improvement, but they're not long enough to tuck behind her ear.  So she's always leaning to the left to keep her hair out of the her eyes.  This has created a major styling issue, since we can't do pig tales, a pony tale, or braids, because her bangs are left hanging out.  Her hair is very thick and soft, so we haven't found a barrette that will stay in.  To manage the situation we rock a side pony tale of just Brenna's bangs!  I sweep them over to the side, tie them back with a tiny band, and then pull her hair over the band so that is doesn't show.  I wonder how long this phase will last?!?

Can't I Just Sleep!

Pickles was trying to take an afternoon nap on the couch.  Then Brenna finds him!  She wanted to love on him, but I told her not to bother him.  She says "But he always wakes me up in the mornings to get lovin'!"  I really couldn't argue with that since most mornings he does get impatient waiting for her to wake up and often goes up to her room, hops in bed, and does the job himself.

The 4th of July

This year things were low-key and easy going for the 4th.  We enjoyed just being home and having nothing to do.  It seemed like a nice way to kick off the long weekend.  Jacob grilled steaks and Brenna and I worked on some My Little Pony craft projects.  As the afternoon wore on, we decided to meet up with friends for the La Centerra Fireworks Show.  The low-key attitude carried over to the afternoon.  Instead of fighting the crowds that packed into La Centerra, we all met up in the parking lot behind Target and backed the vehicles up to an open grassed area.  We threw out the blankets and popped open the lawn chairs!  The kids entertained themselves with Go Fish, tag, and hide and seek!

Bermuda Vacation

This year there were several failed attempts to schedule a summer vacation.  This was mostly due to the renegotiation of the Union contract and the pending strike associated with it where Jacob works.  I had all but given up hope that we would have a nice relaxing vacation that we all were in dire need of.  Finally the stars aligned, the Union compromised, and the strike was avoided.  So, in a mad dash I managed to book a Bermuda Vacation with only 3 weeks to spare.  For most people, it's a very common occurrence to book a vacation 3 weeks out.  For me, however, this goes against my true nature.  I like to plan!  Especially vacations!  I plan vacations months in advance and comb through all the details so I know I'm getting exactly the vacation I want.  I do all the work up-front, so on vacation day all we have to do is show-up and everything is taken care of for the week.  So in 3 weeks, I managed to find a fantastic suite on a new cruiseline, book airfare, airport parking, hotel stay, transportation, shore excursions, make all on-board reservations, and schedule a cat-sitter!  All the while I still had to manage my Room Mom and volunteer duties at school with Teacher Appreciation Week, Frost Field Day, Book Fair, Kindergarten Graduation, and End-of-Year Parties.  For me those final three weeks were total chaos and insanity!  This vacation became the light at the end of the tunnel!  Brenna finished up school on a Thursday afternoon.  We packed up Friday (which is usually a week-long event in itself), and left for vacation on Saturday!

We flew to New York to board the Celebrity Summit for a 7-day cruise to Bermuda.  Besides this being to the first time to book on such short notice there were lots of other firsts involved in this vacation; my first time in New York, our first cruise with Celebrity, and our first time to Bermuda.  Going into this vacation, we had lots to look forward to!

Packed up and ready to go!

Fogel's Future Stars

Brenna was recently invited to a birthday party at Fogel's Future Stars, which is a local children's theater.  It produces plays with all kid actors from around the area.  They also offer drama summer camps.  For birthdays, they give the kids a backstage tour and allow them some fun in the dressing rooms.  They get to pick there favorite characters from nursery rhymes and fairy tales and put on a fashion show.  The kids had a great time and with the exception of one child, all the others never seemed to have an issue with stage fright.  Brenna chose Little Miss Muffit as her character.   They told her Miss Muffit was shy and polite and I thought she did a really good job "acting" out her character. After a few rehearsals the parents were invited into the theater to enjoy the show.

Practicing her "Strike a Pose!"

Brenna's Kindergarten Graduation

It's been quite a year!  I had no idea what we were getting into when we started school!  It has been an adventure for both Brenna and me.  Brenna loved every bit of kindergarten!  There was never a morning that she woke up and said "I don't want to go!"  And even on mornings when she was sluggish, all I had to do was say "I guess I'll call Ms. Franklin and tell her we're not going to make it to school today!" and she was up and at it like lightening!

Now, I know I complain about people who get on facebook and carry on about how fabulous their kids are at everything they do.  In most cases I know those kids personally and have an insider knowledge that they are not the saints their parents have professed them to be.  Given that information, I have a disclaimer.  Since this is my personal blog with a limited audience I chose to toot the horn of my very smart, yet very stubborn child who has done so well this past year.  She excelled in her studies!  For 4 straight semesters she mastered every skill with perfect report cards.  We were all green smiley faces all year which earned us a Good Citizenship Award.  She blew through her reading levels and by the end of the year she was reading DRA level 18 books when only a DRA level 4 is required to pass kindergarten.  Her writing quickly moved from chicken scratch to neat and legible and she mastered basic spelling using phonics!  Just to brag alittle more, all the kids were given the CogAT test shortly after the beginning of the school year.  CogAT is Cognitive Abilities Test which tests a students general reasoning abilities.  Brenna scored higher than 92 percent of children in her age bracket nationally.  She's always been a good thinker and has a natural ability to learn.  I hope this continues to carry us through the our many years of school.

Given the amount of time I spent at school I had the opportunity to get to know and see all kindergarten teachers in action.  I have a whole new respect for the teaching profession.  I also realized that like in any other profession, there are those that are especially talented in their career choice and there are those that just get by at what they do.  I have no doubt that Ms. Franklin was an answered prayer for us and we were blessed with a fantastic teacher!  I consider this one of the reasons Brenna enjoyed school so much.

Kindergarten Graduation was held the last week of school.  The kids put on a short program and then 110 kindergartens were called one at a time to receive their diploma and awards.  Brenna received  a medal for learning and reading all her sight words for the year, a trophy for participating in the Science Expo, and awards for Good Citizenship, Good Attendance, and Library Reading Club.

She looked very grown-up in her pretty dress and high-heel shoes!