7.75 years and growing

Lately, everyone has been commenting on how tall Summer is getting.  She has grown about an inch since school started and has finally reached 4' 1", at least that is how tall she was when we went in for her EKG & echocardiogram a few weeks ago.  She's a whopping 54 pounds and as much as I hated to see the rock-a-bye baby end before I would leave her classroom every morning in kindergarten and half way through first grade go, it's probably a good thing she out grew it.  I do still pick her up and carry her at times, but it is very infrequent now that she is approaching 8 years old.  She has not last any teeth since the end of 1st grade when she lost both two front teeth bringing her grand total of lost  teeth to 6.

My sweet girl started playing basketball for her school, St. Peter's Episcopal School, through the YMCA recreational league in early January.  She absolutely loves it which is a dream come true for her daddy.  He's always wanted a child in sports, and he's so glad she did not opt to be a cheerleader.  He has been working with her at home and she seems to not be able to get enough of it.  It is awesome to see the excitement she has for basketball.  Her games are on Saturday mornings and this week we have a double header.  Her team is 2-2 right now which is pretty good considering they only had one practice before there first game when looked like they had no idea how the game was supposed to operate.  They just learned there first play yesterday at their once a week practice.  I can't wait to see if they can actually run it on Saturday.  Go Storm!

She also started back to aerials in January which she also loves and hopes to never take a month off ...at least that's what she is saying at this point.  It, along with basketball, seem to be her passion right now.  She has that class once a week and also a jazz/hip hop class once a week.  Dance will culminate with a big recital at the end of May.  She's got her dance down and can do it without music which she showed me the other day when we were visiting Lexie.  I was so proud of her as I did not know she already knew it since they don't show off their dance at the end of class like they used to.  

School is going amazing for her although her and her best friend Abby "broke up" yesterday on the playground.  She was pretty upset about it at bedtime last night and had a hard time getting to sleep because she couldn't stop thinking about it.  We will see if they are able to get past this and rekindle their friendship.  I think it will be just a matter of time, but sometimes kids surprise me.  Her parent teacher conference went amazing, and I am feeling so blessed that she has not had any learning disabilities after having gone through  such hard chemotherapy treatments.  SOOO BLESSED!!!  Her teacher had only great things to say about her and actually thanked me for letting her be Summer's teacher.  Now that makes a momma feel good!   Oh the joy she brings my soul!  I love being her mom!

A new year

It's hard to believe 2013 has come and gone.  Summer became a pretty good roller skater over the year.  We love to go skating together, sometimes with friends.  We are actually going to meet up with some later this week for a skate date.  I love the fact that she holds my hand as we skate around the rink.  We rarely fall, but we did have a tumble last week that involved her falling and me landing on top of her.  She was the more injured one, but after a few minutes of sitting and holding her ice water up to her red cheek, we were back out on our skates.  Good times!!!

We have been enjoying relaxing at the house over the Christmas break.  I only wish it could last a few more weeks! She will be starting basketball next week.  She has one practice before her first game so it should be interesting.  Her daddy has been teaching her some skills, and she's getting to be pretty good at dribbling.  I can't wait to see her out on the court. She may also be starting up aerials again soon.  That is her true passion as she currently uses her air pogo for practice, making up dances to Justin Bieber songs.  So adorable she is!!!

Christmas was good to her again this year.  Santa brought her a remote control helicopter, but it lasted less than 48 hours out of the box before the propeller broke.  Bummer!  She got more things than I can remember, but one of her favorites was Blokus.  Being the nature girl she is, I got her a bird call, a lighting bug lantern, shell collecting bags, and a bird house.   She also got the electric scooter she asked her daddy for.  Oh and, let's not forget Sparkles her new bunny build-a-bear that she just had to have when she saw the sales ad. 

One of the current crazes going around are Rainbow Looms which she received a few months ago from her friend Abby.  She got several new colors of bands for Christmas and has been trying to come up with new bracelet designs on her on in the mornings when she gets up.  I think I will be getting her the how-to guide at some point in the future as her designs often do not end up making a bracelet.  She doesn't get as frustrated as I would, but just gives it more thought.  I love her determination!

I love her soooo much! Her sweet face just melts my heart. I can't give her enough hugs and kisses.  Snuggling with her on the couch is amazing.  I feel so blessed to be raising her and watching her grow.  I can't wait to see what this new year has in store for us!  Hopefully more blogging so I can capture all the wonderful memories.