Big Time

 This week brought some big moments for the kids.  The week started with Merrick going big time.  Monday afternoon he got called upon to play up on his cousin's 13u team.  He had a great game with a hit and playing first base most of the game.  In the second to last inning, the other team had the game in hand so the coach let Merrick pitch.  He had never pitched at the full 60.5 major league distance before, so it was a bit of a gamble.  The first inning he faced 4 batters.  He had 2 strikeouts, 1 walk, and a groundout.  After that inning the other team's coach came to talk to the ump.  He thought Merrick was in high school and he wanted the ump to talk to him.  Obviously, Merrick confirmed that he is just in 6th grade and he was allowed to pitch again in the next inning.  In the next inning Merrick got a strikeout but then hit the next batter who stole around to end the game on "mercy rule".  Merrick, however, did a fantastic job on his first big time pitching experience.

Carrigan also had a big moment this week as well.  Her "Activity Day Girls" group has had several activities in a row that have built on each other.  First they talked about styling themselves and talked about colors and hair styling.  The next activity, they talked about budgeting and went shopping for clothes in their colors.  This week was the culmination and they had a fashion show to show off everything they have learned.  They modeled in four categories, fancy, casual/sporty, night time, and budget.  She even got to model her new purse she just finished sewing.  Carrigan was a natural in her big time moment and enjoyed strutting her stuff.

Not to be left out, Elsie took her own big time moment walking the runway after the show was done.  Nobody puts baby in a corner.

GOTR

 Yesterday was a big day for Carrigan.  After 10 weeks of practice, she and her Girls on the Run teammates had their end of the year celebratory 5k.  C.C. worked really hard over the course of the season and by the time yesterday rolled around she had already run two full 5ks in preparation.  Unfortunately, when she woke up yesterday, she did not feel well.  We all have really been struggling with allergies and it hit C.C. hard yesterday.  She woke up with a cough, sore throat, and barely any voice.

The adrenaline of the day got her out to the race course and she was doing ok.  We started our prerace celebration with a dance party, tattoos, and glitter and chalk hair.  By the time we got through all of that and we were ready for the race to start, the adrenaline wore off and Carrigan was in tears.  At first she told me she just wanted to go home.  Then, when she found out one of her friends was just going to walk the race rather than run, she decided maybe she could try that too.

I have a real problem with competitiveness so it was difficult for me to walk with her and watch her walk when I know what she is capable of, but walk we did.  I did my best to encourage and support her as she struggled through. We did finish the race and I was super proud of her for pushing through when it would be every easy not to.

Unfortunately for her, post-race she didn't get to come home and rest, but spent the day out on the dusty baseball field while her brother played baseball.  Speaking of baseball, Merrick has had a great tournament this weekend.  Yesterday his team won both of their games by a large margin and Merrick hit his second homerun.  Today, Merrick missed his first game while we are at church and his cousin, Isabel's baptism, but his team pulled it out to advance to the championship game.  After the baptism, we ran Merrick down to Keizer for the championship.  Merrick was scheduled to be the reliever for that game but the starting pitcher was dealing so the coaches let him hit his pitch count.  Merrick ended up getting called in to pitch for the last out of the game.  He got his first, and only, batter out and the team won their first championship of the season! 

Definitely Not Summer

 It is definitely not summer.  The weather has been awful and we still have 6 (5 for me) weeks of school, but we are willing it to come our way.  The kids have been trying to work in pool time anytime it isn't raining (sometime even when it is). It will be 55 degrees outside and we are at the pool.  Those in the pool are ok because its heated to 87 degrees, but those of us out of the pool are bundled up in our winter coats.

We also have had some fun activities this week with a practice 5k for Girls on the Run (the actual race is Saturday) and the Fun Run Fundraiser at Carrigan's school.  The weather mostly held for both of those activities so that was a nice surprise.  We'll see what happens next week for our actual race.

I also got a chance to go with Emily, Ben, and Becca to watch Maude preform in some one act plays at the high school.  She did a fantastic job and it was fun to be out do something with grownups.

Yesterday the girls both got to have fun beauty/girls' days.  Carrigan went out with Emily to celebrate her birthday.  After primping in the morning, with makeup and treating her under eye bags with baby wipes (haha), she was ready to go get mani/pedis, go to the movies, and get lunch and ice cream.  Elsie was super sad about missing out on all of that fun so she went to nana and papa's to hang out and get her nails painted.  Before she left she wanted me to brush her hair and wanted me to take a picture so she could see how beautiful it was.

Despite the fact that summer is still a long way off, it was a fun week.  It hopefully was just a percussor for more fun on the horizon. 

Carrigan Turn's 9

 The blog a day early!?!? I know, it's unheard of but tomorrow is Mother's Day and between church, baseball, and family plans, the day is already slammed.  I decided to give myself a Mother's Day gift of not having to write the blog, so here we are a day early getting it done.

This actually was a pretty special week.  This week was all about our Carrigan girl.  On Wednesday she celebrated her last single digit birthday.  She planned and executed the perfect day.  We started the day with cinnamon rolls and presents.  C.C. got spoiled with tons of crafting supplies, an infinity cube, and roller skates from Grandpa and Lollie.  She then headed to school but not without a special birthday Lunchable for lunch.  She didn't make it through the school day, however, before I pulled her out for a special trip to the pool.  Not only did she get to leave school early to go to the pool, but two of her friends also left early to join us.  As soon as we left the pool, she went with her church "Activity Day Girls" group to go shopping.  They were having a lesson on budgeting, following a lesson on fashion and their "colors", so they went to pick out a new outfit.  She made it home with a new outfit just in time for dinner (potstickers per her choice) and then the family started to arrive for ice cream cake.  Carrigan chose a watermelon themed cake with yellow cake (dyed red and with chocolate chip "seeds", cookies and cream ice cream, and a green Cool Whip frosting.  She got a squishy ball and treats from the Browns, A "good for" for a mani/pedi girls' day from the Ioapa's, and a "good for" for a sewing experience with Nana and Papa.  All in all it was pretty much the perfect day!

As if the perfect day wasn't enough, we continued the birthday festivities today with a cakesicle making birthday party today for C.C.'s friends.  We made cakesicles, ate snacks and cakesicles, and opened presents.  It was the perfect crafty party for our crafty girl.

We are so excited to have had this time to celebrate our C.C. girl.  She is the best and we are beyond blessed to have her in our family.