"cousins"

When we were in Tulsa for Anna's banquet we were finally able to meet Corey, our new foster "cousin/nephew". He's so sweet and he fit right in with the other kiddos.

Derek (4), Elle (3), Ruby (2-for another week), Corey (8 months), Todd (5 months)

We weren't going to be able to make it to Ruby's birthday party so we gave her a present early. The big kids enjoyed playing in Ruby's "garden". While Todd and Corey loved the paper.

 I include this pic to mention that my grandma's neighbor is officially know as Sue Next Door. I'm pretty sure everyone thinks that's her last name. It just makes me laugh. It feels like home when everyone's gabbing over the fence. Mops even got a little playtime with Sue's dogs.

wrapping up the school year: part 2

Graduation 2012!!!

I wasn't so sure about taking the kids to graduation this year, but I'm so glad I did! OSSM graduation is held on the steps of the capital. Last year it was so hot Elle and I left our seats about 5 minutes after it started to hide under a tree. I didn't think with Todd this would go very well. I really wanted to at least try for our girls. I dressed us all in cool clothing, and loaded up the stroller with their camp chairs, quilt, snacks, and toys. We got there right at the start and discovered we had cloud cover! We got to sit up close for longer than I expected, but eventually Elle and Todd got squirmy so we headed for our same tree. We could still hear and see everything. The kids lasted the whole time! It was so nice! Elle had some other little girls to play with and dragged her chair around, played with the rocks and flowers, and ate her snacks. Todd loves being outside so he enjoyed playing with his toys and watching Elle. Some of the speeches were great, and I loved watching and cheering for the kids we have grown so close to. It was nice to see the parents so proud. It was also bittersweet. I kept thinking that those are their babies and mine are sitting on the grass with me now, but it won't be long before they have a cap and gown also. I had to give each of them a little extra squeeze.

wrapping up the school year: part 1

Elle had her last day of Sonshine School for this year. We're taking a break for the summer, but planning on her going back in the fall two days a week. She had to say goodbye to Ms. Melanie (left) and Ms. Sandra (right). They were such awesome teachers and Elle has been missing her time with them and her friends.

Chris and I attended Dr. Manning's retirement party. It's the ending of an era around here and she'll be missed. It was a lovely dinner and it helped raise a lot of money for OSSM.

Chris, Todd and I were privileged to attend the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence gala celebration at the Renaissance Tulsa a couple of weekends ago. One of Chris' students was chosen as one of the 100 Academic All-stars for Oklahoma. Anna chose Chris as her honored guest, which is a big deal since this is his second year of teaching. We have been lucky to have Anna on our floor the last two years. She's incredibly sweet and so talented. Here's a clip of the speaker from the event, CNN host and TIME Magazine editor Fareed Zakaria. Anna is also a Presidential Scholar and will go meet the president this year. She's one of two for Oklahoma this year and one of six that OSSM's history.

end-of-year floor party 2012

I wanted to do something special to celebrate the end of the year and honor the seniors on our floor. They've all been with us for two years and have become like daughters, sisters, and friends. This year I themed the party after the schools the girls had chosen. We have one going to Dartmouth, one to Vanderbilt, one to Baylor (Sic em Bears!), and seven going to OU. I used the school colors for tableware and even found some music from each of the schools.

I printed out these for notes to each of the seniors.

Our buffet for the evening. The menu consisted of foods that represented each school. We had "Vanderbilt" hot chicken (fried chicken, sprinkled with cayenne pepper and eaten with a piece of white bread and pickles), "OU" wheat salad (made with Waugh wheat, so I guess you could say it was really OSU wheat, but we won't tell them), "Dartmouth" corn chowder (it actually worked out that this was for the girl who's vegetarian, so I just left out the bacon), and "Baylor" Dr. Pepper products to drink.

Thanks to pintrest, for dessert we had "class rings" (ring pops) and "diplomas" (rolled wafer cookies with pull-apart twizzlers tied around the middle).

After dinner we played Pictionary using graduation, college, and Western Civ terms.

senior swim party 2012

We got invited to the senior swim party again this year. One of the supporters of OSSM generously hosts a swim party at her house for the seniors each year. It was perfect weather, delicious food, fun music, and we had a blast! The kids are also incredibly sweet to share their fun time with us.

this year we got there early before the kids arrived so Elle could get used to it before 60 teenagers jumped in

she warmed up pretty fast and loved jumping off the side (although you wouldn't know she likes to do this if you watched swim lessons, but that's a whole other story)

how Toddy spent most of the party

but later he was happy to get the girls' attention

Elle and Chris chicken-fighting

she thought she was something after she "won" and all the kids cheered for her

volleyball and dance

The next several posts will be about finishing up the school year. A tradition at OSSM is the faculty/student volleyball game. There are 2 truths to this game: Dr. Manning always refs and the faculty always win. But, we play anyway. I actually got to play for about 5 minutes.

 This same night we had the ballroom dance competition. Todd wasn't to thrilled about the music so Elle and I got to go watch by ourselves. All the couples did awesome! They had to do several dances, swing, salsa, waltz, etc. and it was tough!

Here's two of our girls, Nadya and Maria, with their dance partners. 

2nd place couple

3rd place couple

The professional dancers who performed for all of us!

The audience also got to try to move like Jagger! Here's one of our girls, Brianna and her sister Jordan getting with it!

medals in may

Elle finished up gymnastics for the year last week. Here's a recap of the day we got to go in and participate. This experience has let us get to know more about Elle's personality. We know she's a hardcore introvert. She takes forever to warm up to something. This day in particular, really showcased how difficult it will be to push her into anything. First, they do warm-ups, but Elle never really does it. You can see in the first picture how she walks around, but actually refuses to do what she's supposed to do with the teachers. Once she gets into the small groups she's usually fine. We determined she was nervous and easily embarrassed about everyone watching, which is not a shock since she's my daughter, but we were not prepared for how these emotions played out (e.g. fits, crying, gnashing of teeth). We're puzzled about how to help her deal with these feelings. We're still learning. I'm sure Todd might be totally different. We want to respect Elle's personality, but not let her be afraid to try things she could be good at or that could be good for her. We're taking a break for the summer to see if she really wants to continue. The other day she watched a video of old gymnastic events at the olympics and said she wanted to do the flips they were doing. So maybe she'll get back into it in the fall.

high bar action

Daddy did the pit with her this day, helping her jump or somersault in, and even did a few jumps himself!

 Here's some slow motion shots of Elle's somersault:

 

She also got a medal for her hard work. They were each supposed go up get their medal and to a "ta-da" for pics. Here's how Elle's turn went:

Once it was over and just us she did it perfectly and willingly. She just didn't want an audience.