Winding down and moving up!

This time of year is so busy with end of year activities and it is even busier when people are graduating or getting ready to change schools (dances, parties, field days, awards and promotion ceremonies). So, this post is all over the place but  it's a re-cap of some of our end of year activities so far.

Well, here we are and Harry will be finished middle school next week.  I am SO GLAD!  I don't usually wish away years or phases. Typically,  I try to enjoy each stage of parenting as it comes my way.  But I will say that having gone through it twice, I think middle school can be really rough.  Harry was plagued with stress and migraines in 6th grade and it was such a hard year for us.  He even transferred schools in October of 6th grade.  There were days that I was not sure we would make it.

But he did.  He managed to get through with straight A's even though he missed a ton of school due to illness in 6th and 7th grades.  He also took the most advanced classes available.  He played three years of lacrosse and was a real leader on and off the field.  And he was a good friend to others. He was also in the National Junior Honor Society. And finally,  I have loved working in the school store with him every Wednesday morning for the past 3 years.

This past weekend was the 8th grade dance.  Harry is not one who usually likes things like this but he had fun with his friends.  They are all going to different high schools so this was bittersweet.

And I took these pictures before the dance....

I am really thrilled that all three of our kids are well rounded and involved kids.  But, it makes it extra hard this time of year to get to all of their events/recitals/games.  Dave and I often have to divide and conquer (as most parents do). And sometimes we don't make it to everything.

Will just finished up water polo season and I am very proud of him.  He was really a leader on his team this year and one of the captains.  He has made so much progress in the last few years.  Often his games are at the time of day when I am picking up Kate from school or driving gymnastics carpool.  Often they are very far away too.  So between gymnastics, violin and lacrosse, I did not make as many of Will's water polo games this season as I would have liked to.  I am going to work really hard next year to get to more of them.  I really like watching him play.

Love this shot of Will about to score.  

He played really well this weekend and was happy to see us all there cheering him on.

I  think their teams took 2nd and 3rd in the championship tournament.

Kate had her violin recital a few weeks ago and it was awesome.  I cannot believe how far she has come. She trains 16 hours a week in the gym every single week for her gymnastics team now. So with homework, there is not a lot of time left for violin.  Her teacher schedules her group lesson for Kate's day off from the gym and Kate has the drive and determination to stick with it.  I am not sure how much longer she will be able to do that.

I did not video the recital because I just wanted to watch and for her to see my smiling face NOT the back of a phone.  But I did ask her to play a little Ode to Joy before the concert.  I posted it here on Instagram.

And Harry had his last regular season lacrosse game. It rained so I did not get a chance to take many photos.

That is Harry front and center #18.


Finally, Will had his Junior Ring and Cross Mass.

Kate could not go because it was her last CCE class before First Holy Communion.

We love Father Bravo.  He has been an awesome mentor to Will the past few years.  We are sad he is leaving Jesuit this year for an assignment in Puerto Rico.

Will has an awesome group of friends at his high school.

They are all really fabulous. accomplished, good guys.  I feel blessed that they are his friends.

Although his friends all ordered a high school ring, Will decided not to get one.  He LOVES his school but he did not think he'd ever wear the ring.  And he is probably right.  I am glad he was practical about it because none of his friends have worn their rings since they got them.

But they all got a beautiful handmade wood cross that they hang from their car mirror (his friend is holding the cross two photos up).  And they officially became seniors along with the privileges (going off campus for lunch).  It was a beautiful Mass and I teared up quite a few times thinking about his senior year and graduation.

I think I need a nap now;)  This week, we have Harry's powder puff lax game and field day, a field trip for Kate, her end of year gymnastics party and some award ceremonies.  I am looking forward to summer!

A complete brag post-katie ru part one!

I now it is not right to brag.  I know people often criticize bloggers for "humble bragging" (that's a real term now).  But honestly the whole point of my blog is to journal about my kids.  For me.  I am honored that others read it. Blogging is not my job.  I am not trying to change the world.  I see this blog as a love letter to my kids. When I am gone someday, I want them to look to this place to see how much I loved them.  And I want them to know just how awesome I think they are. Because they are each uniquely awesome.

BUT they are not perfect. We are not perfect. Dave and I fight sometimes.  We probably should spend more time together and less time reading/watching TV/on the computer.  We yell at our kids from time to time.  And they sass back too. We've had ups and downs, blue times and anxious times in our house.  I don't write about those times because those are not the things I want my kids to remember (and for their privacy too).  I don't want them to remember when I was too hard on them about grades or when I took my own exhaustion out on them or Dave or when I worried too much. I want them to know how proud I am of them as human beings.  So, that is mostly what I write about.  I am not "humble bragging" ---I am straight up bragging because I love my kids.

So, let me brag about Miss Katie Ru for a while....

I have so much to say.  First of all this has been a stellar year for her.  I am SO SO SO SO SO glad that we gave her an extra year of kindergarten. It has become so clear to me this year what a gift that was. She has grown so much in her confidence and her focus and her maturity.

This month Kate has had lots of opportunities to showcase her growth.  First, she had a violin recital.  I deliberately chose to just watch and listen instead of video it because I wanted to be really present and have her see my face and not the back of my phone.  This is Kate's 3rd year taking violin at school and she likes it and wants to continue.  She rarely practices (which is not good) but that is because she is so busy with other things. I am actually surprised that she has stuck with violin.  She works so hard training for gymnastics that I did not think she would want to continue violin but she does. She has a natural knack for music and I would not be surprised if she learns more instruments at some point.

This is a photo of Kate and her violin teacher just before the concert. 

 And I know these are terrible quality but Dave took these from far away with his phone.

Next up was Kate's ballet recital.  Oh my.  She takes my breath away when I see her dance.  I love watching.  This was a tough year for ballet.  Kate does ballet at gymnastics on Mondays and then her actual ballet class is on Tuesday (right after violin). Then she has gymnastics on Wednesday and Friday nights.  It was too much.  I know that.  It breaks my own parenting rules.  BUT she really loves all of them and she has a knack for them too. This year there were many weeks she did not want to go to ballet.  And eventually she told me she wanted to quit ballet after her recital.  I get it and I support her but I am sad too. She loves to dance but she simply wants more free time and gymnastics is her first love right now.

So, this was her 6th ballet recital and her last (for a while). And yes, there are tons of photos.

Had to do a silly face one!

Some of these are from dress rehearsal:)

Harry was kind enough to take video.  Kate comes on stage right after the young man.




A few I- phone snappies after the performance...

I was going to try to fit the father-daughter dance, a poetry reading at Rice University and end of year awards in this post too but I exhausted myself.  So they will be in part 2!!!

Buried and Kate's Violin "recital"

I am fighting a sinus infection or cold that I cannot kick and mountains of paperwork.  See last year I had it easy.  I only had 2 schools amongst the 3 peanuts and only Kate had a new school.  Now, I am buried under applications.  Harry is in his last year at his school so we are applying to various middle schools.  And Will is about to start high school so we are applying to those schools too. We are VERY lucky to live in a city with some AMAZING public schools.  The beauty of it is that we have these great magnet schools and schools for gifted and talented kiddos that are all application only.  The bad news is that there is a unique and complicated application process for each school.  We are also applying to some all boy Catholic high schools. So, between 2 applicants and lots of options I am going crazy with forms, test dates, teacher recommendations, releases and transcripts.  I am copying papers, filling out applications, writing essays (yes parents have to write an essay on why we think the school is a good fit!).  Finally, I am hand delivering them to each school to be assured they are processed on time with all the documents.  After all this work, I would hate for an application to be missing something and considered void.  So, I might be missing around here for a few days.  Luckily,  I am seeing the light at the end of tunnel and hopefully the boys will have some good options to choose from.

{Note to self--- in 3 short years, Harry will be applying to high school and Will will be getting ready to apply to college...be more organized then!}

In September, Kate joined the strings program at her school.  It is not ideal as they have a very large group lesson for about 45 minutes two times per week.  I think they spend 20 minutes just getting the group in the right places and holding their equipment but nonetheless, it is good exposure. Also, the lessons take place during the school day so I don't have to drive her anywhere!!!  And honestly, we totally drop the ball on practicing.  I am so distracted by homework, daily swim team practice, judo, soccer and ballet that I never remember to tell Kate to practice.  So, in sum, we are kind of shocked that Kate learned any violin this past semester.  

In December, there was a little concert.  It was very cute.  There were two kind of hyper boys in front of Kate so it was nearly impossible to get a decent shot of her playing....

We videod Kate the day before her concert which was a good thing as we would never have been able to video at the recital...

VERY funny little story.  At the end of the group performance, the teacher asked Kate to stand up for her "solo." Dave and I looked at each other in complete panic.  We were not aware Kate would play alone.  We would have made her practice more (see above!).  Anyway, after a few scary moments (for us, not Kate), the teacher realized it was the other Chinese girl (who is NOT named Kate) that was supposed to have the solo.  I do think it was funny that she confused the two Chinese girls.  There is a lot more I can say about this but I won't.

And in case you were wondering where she gets all this musical talent (he he) from....

P.S. Dave has never played the violin but he plays the guitar and piano. He does help Kate though on the rare occasion she does practice. He might kill me for posting this.