Today's Pic

It's About More than Basketball

Tryouts for the travel basketball team were tonight. Danielle would like to play for the school team next year when she's in jr high, so she's hoping she makes this team again this year. It will be good practice and she always learns a lot. She looked a little rusty at first, but she fell into a groove after a few minutes and looked pretty good overall.

 

 

What I loved more than anything tonight, though, and what was more important than any shot she made, was listening to her encourage another girl who was obviously in over her head. The girl was new, not as fit as the other girls, and had a hard time understanding the drills. We could hear Danielle's single voice shout out encouragements and saw her high 5 the girl several times. It made this mother's heart swell.

Today's Pic

Danielle's Big Day

Danielle had quite the busy day today.

This morning she ran in her first 5k with Uncle Ron. She ran the entire way and finished in 27 min, 30 seconds. Uncle Ron could probably have finished the race in first place, but he was a great running buddy and kept pace with Danielle. They were probably in the top 20 finishers, though. She did a great job for her first race. You can tell by the big smile on her face that she had fun and was proud of herself. Thank you for a great experience, Uncle Ron!

 

It was very chilly this morning!

 

 



She was being a tad uncooperative.



She told Uncle Ron she didn't have enough energy to sprint to the finish...and then she raced ahead of him to finish first. I'm pretty sure he let her win.



Love those smiles!!

 

We enjoyed a yummy brunch at IHoP and then went to play a doubleheader with Danielle's fall ball team. Danielle pitched during the first game today and did a great job. She doesn't pitch much any more, but she had a good time doing it today.

 

 

 

We went straight from fall ball to a start of the season party for the organization her new softball team is part of. It was a big deal with lots of girls from several teams. The teams scrimmaged each other, had skills competitions, tried on new uniforms, and had a cookout. It was a long afternoon, but it was fun. This was the first time the girls played together in a game situation, and they did a great job. It looks like her new team has a lot of potential. Danielle is already making good friends.

They only played 2 innings in their scrimmage. Danielle played 2nd the first inning and center the second.

We should know better, but somehow she keeps impressing us. She doesn't do anything half heartedly, and she seems to have an endless reserve of energy. It was a fun day.

This & That

Danielle is playing in a fall volleyball league. It's more of an instructional league than a competitive one. She's doing this instead of playing in the rec league she usually plays in in the fall. She'll have try-outs for club volleyball next month. Today was their first game day. It was nice watching her play again. She has so much potential.

After a few weeks of no chipmunks, 2 have started visiting again. One of them is either stupid or bold. He doesn't seem to be afraid of Clara and runs across the patio while we're out. I don't think either of them are living in the patio at this point, so I'm just trying to pretend I don't see them. Apparently Clara is doing the same thing.

Here is a caterpillar in his "j". I now have 6 in chrysalises, 1 in a "j", and one very hungry caterpillar. We have certainly done our part in helping the monarch population this summer!

Tonight's Visitor

We've had a lot of rain this afternoon and into the evening. Power lines were down and roads were closed due to the heavy rain. It was not a nice evening to be out...unless you are a tree frog.

We found this little guy on the screen to our sliding glass doors. We admired him up close for a few minutes and then returned him to the screen. He decided he wanted to peek inside for a few minutes, and then he moved on. He was so tiny he could have fit on a penny. He was definitely the smallest tree frog I've seen.

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Industrial Sized School Supply

I cringe whenever I hear about a student having lice. I cringe even more when I see pictures on Instagram of Danielle's class doing activities where they are sitting back to back with their heads touching. Seriously. I started buying this last year. I don't know if it works or if she just hasn't been exposed since she started using it, but it lessens my panic attacks some. (She uses regular shampoo and detangler.) I should have put something in the picture for perspective. This bottle is huge!

Today's Pic

Today's Pic

Today's Pic

Today's Pic

Rain, Rain

Big summer storms moved through our area this afternoon. The clouds were amazing, and then came the hail. Thankfully it slowed down to a trickle before we had to go anywhere (basketball practice, followed by volleyball practice). The houses behind ours lost power for a little while. They are on a different grid than we are, so we didn't have any problems. We'll need to check the cars for hail damage in the morning, though.

 

 

My Butterfly Visitors

I was outside watering my plants a couple days ago when I saw the shadow of a butterfly fluttering around the milkweed. I tracked it down and found this really cool butterfly.

It's an American snout. I had a hard time keeping track of it because it really does look just like a leaf. This was the first I've seen this kind of butterfly. I hope he comes back.

Here are some other butterflies I've had in my flowers lately.

 

Picture Day

Today was picture day at the junior high. We used a new photography company this year, and they take the pictures against a green screen. Tyler thought it would be hilarious if he wore a green shirt for his pictures so he would just be a floating head and arms against a rather gaudy "standard" background.  I buy pictures every year just so I have a standard picture that looks relatively the same for each school year, but I usually buy a very small package and I don't usually give them out or frame them. This picture goes in the yearbook, too. I have more than enough photos that I take myself, so, I told him I didn't care what he wore.

He downloaded a green screen app to be sure he had the right color green and then found a $2 shirt at Walmart.

Here is Tyler in his green shirt this morning:

Here is Tyler with the app using his green shirt to substitute another background:

Here is the green screen they used at school. It was the perfect color:

When he got to school today, most of his classmates thought it was hilarious. I was in the lunchroom when they came in to get their pictures taken and everyone was eager to see what would happen when Tyler sat in front of the screen.  Sadly, the photography company outsmarted him. When he sat down, they flipped the green background around to reveal a solid blue one. Everyone moaned. 

Tyler had fun with it, but he did really want the other pictures. The idea had grown on me, too, so I talked to the photographer afterward. I explained his intention and that I was ok with paying for it, and she told me that she would take his picture in his green shirt in front of the green background on retake day! So, Tyler will not be a floating head in the yearbook this year, but everyone will remember when they see his green-shirted picture that they all had a really good laugh together, and he will still have his bodiless school pictures to remember his 8th grade year.

And I will hang the school picture of his floating head with all the others on the day he graduates and smile as I remember his quirky sense of humor that didn't care what anyone else thought.

Today's Pic

Butterfly Birthday

I got to watch our 4th caterpillar eclose on Saturday. It was a boy, which means we had 2 boys and 2 girls this time. I have 2 more caterpillars that I've brought in, but I gave them to a coworker to babysit so she can enjoy watching the whole process. Hopefully they will make it. So far we've had 5 that successfully made the transition from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly this summer. Yay!