Twelve

Today is Elizabeth's twelfth birthday and what a year she's had.  Her first year in middle school, and she learned to shoulder the responsibility of multiple teachers, a heavy homework load and many extra curricular activities.  She tried two new sports - cross country and basketball - and learned a lot in both.  She made new friends and strengthened bonds with some of her old friends.  She got serious about school and made High Honors (straight A's) all three trimesters of school.  Elizabeth stepped far outside of her comfort zone and participated in both Regional Honors Band and All State Concert Band - trying out for both and working very hard to practice the difficult music.  She also went away for the first time - attending a two week academic summer program at Choate Rosemary Hall and loving every second of it.  She made a ton of friends, many of whom told me when I met them, that she was such a good person.  Elizabeth is loyal and values loyalty in return.  She is stubborn beyond belief and can be incredibly difficult.  But mostly, she is a kind, generous and thoughtful person and we are so glad that she is our daughter.

June Odds and Ends

A few odds and ends from June:

Just a girl and her dog. 

Nothing like trying a new flavor of DD Coolata!

The girls picked out this shirt for Lee for Father's Day months ago and begged me to get it for him.  It was a hit! 

Aunty Kathy and Uncle Peter have chickens!!! 

With Felix and Theo

Happy to get Instagram as a birthday gift.

Nature in our yard.

There are so many rabbits in our neighborhood this year.  Found these guys hanging out in the garden.

Not my zoom lens - I got super close to this guy before he took off.

Connecticut State Championships

At the end of June, Lee competed at the Connecticut State Championships.  He had a tremendous training cycle, but tweaked his back about a week before the competition and also went through a couple of emotional weeks.  Because his training went so well, he decided to go through with the meet, despite all of physical and emotional factors that were weighing on him.  To my surprise, he got  a new PR in squat (615 lbs at a body weight of 197 lbs) and I thought that things were going to go his way.  He had a bit of mental breakdown with the bench press and tweaked his back again and by the time he got to deadlift, he was unable to complete that lift and withdrew from the meet.  He is still nursing his back a bit, icing it every night, but was able to go back to the gym last week for some light work.  It was a difficult and emotional day, with triumph and failure, and I know that in getting through it, he will come back even stronger and better.

4th of July Weekend

Even though we were missing Elizabeth, we really enjoyed ourselves over the long holiday weekend.  We went to the movies, the fireworks, out to dinner, hung out at the pool, and spent time with our friends Melissa and Mark at their family's annual 4th of July party on the Connecticut River.

Waiting for the fireworks to start. 

Lounging at the pool club. 

Holding baby Mae for the first time. 

First ever ride on the air boat.

Roasting marshmallows!

End of School

June 10th was the last day of school for both girls and frankly, the year just flew by.  Elizabeth finished the year with high honors - straight A's all year long, which is really quite an accomplishment, considering that she struggles with math and considering all of her extracurricular activities.  Although being well-rounded - Robotics Team, Middle School Choir, Drama Club, Advanced Band, soccer, cross country, basketball, and lacrosse - helps take her mind of her studies, it also takes up a lot of time.  So far, she has done a great job of balancing everything and we hope that she can continue to keep her grades up while experiencing all that life has to offer.
Emily also finished the year with straight A's for the year, an accomplishment for her as well, as soccer alone takes up a lot of her time, never mind Band, Drama Club and lacrosse.  Emily also has an incredible thirst for learning, especially in the area of science.  She was fascinated with almost every area they covered in science; she is also an excellent speller and reads well above grade level.  Next year, Emily moves upstairs - not quite a middle schooler, but she will have at least two, maybe three, different teachers during the course of the day, as a way to experience a bit of middle school.  She is more than ready for it.
We are so proud of all that the girls accomplished this year.  Lee and I are truly blessed to have such amazing girls as our daughters.

Last day of school - formal uniforms. 

Reading at the prayer service. 

4th grade band members 

Middle school choir (minus the 8th graders, who already graduated).

Perfect attendance for the year - both girls. 

6th grade - high honors for the year. 

Driving to McDonalds (end of school year tradition for JPII) with my favorite girls. 

Elizabeth and Laila 

Well-rounded. 

Scenes from Choate

We recently got a new computer and when I finagled the settings, I somehow (unintentionally) enabled the cloud for Elizabeth's iPod.  As a result, the photos that she takes while at Choate go the Photos on our Mac whenever she is near wifi (I have no clue how this is happening).  She's not taking a ton a pictures (thankfully, we'd rather that she focus on school and friends), but here are a few of them.

Like a lot of boarding schools, Choate has several campus dogs.  She loves this one (perhaps because this is the kind of dog Lee wants to get....)

Edith actually has her own Facebook page.....

Not sure about this whole pre-sport selfie, but she is 11, after all. 

On Wednesday, she and five of her friends walked to town (!!!!) and went to a sweet shop for drinks.  She got some sort of a milkshake; one of her friends got bubble tea - apparently, it wasn't as good as the bubble tea she normally has at home - in Hong Kong!  Last night, she told us that many of her friends are from Hong Kong.  These are the stories/experiences that make Lee and me so happy.

With her roommate at the middle school dance on Saturday night.

More from the dance.

Headed to Boston.

With her friends in Boston on Sunday.

Newington Wrap Up

Emily's last games of the soccer season were played a few weekends ago with her Magic team, at the Newington Wrap Up Tournament.  Overall, Emily was unhappy with how she played, but it was a good tournament and it was the last time that team will play together - due to some changes made by US Soccer, several of the girls will be on a different team next year, based on their birth date.  This team was full of wonderful kids and really great parents and we will miss seeing them next year.

U10 Magic Girls