Levi's taken up golf and Maggie keeps kissing a box

{{Just want to give a big HUG and say thank you to those of you who have continued to ask how Levi is doing and who have been praying for him!! It is awesome and humbling to hear other stories, struggles, successes and each have encouraged me. One day, he seems better and takes huge steps forward. Other days, we all take steps backwards. This is a learning process and we all continue to learn what works and what turns around and bites us in the rear! Ha!}}

Recently, Levi has shown an interest in golf. That makes me super happy! He seems to have good athletic ability, so Eric took him to play and "test the waters". Much to his delight, Levi took to it and showed some pretty good skill. We got him a set of clubs and they have really enjoyed playing together.  

Yes, that is Levi drinking a large Mountain Dew while out playing. Oy. 

I have never played golf, but I love to watch it! I would be thrilled if he turned into a professional golfer. ;-)

I love this kid so much! After going through some pretty rough nights together, it blesses my heart so much when I see smiles like this...

Now, lemme tell you about his sister. She is crazy. See this box? 

That is the box that Levi's golf clubs came in. It has a giant picture of Rickie Fowler on it. 

Cutie patootie, right? Mags seems to think so! She won't stop kissing the box...

In fact, she takes him with her all over the house. He goes downstairs to play. He sits near her at dinner. He watches her play with her stuffed animals.

She even dances with him and makes up songs for him. 

The other day, she sang him a made-up song about how she liked his orange hat and how she liked those golf clubs he carried. If I would have been quick enough, I would have gotten it on video! That child cracks.me.up. I love her little free spirit.

Now, when she turns thirteen, I may not be so quick to laugh...

Day ONE of preschool - check!

Yesterday was Maggie's first day of preschool! 

We've been talking it up for a couple weeks now. Some days, she seemed super excited, but most days, she said she just wanted to stay at home with me. Ha! Needless to say, I was a little worried that she would cry when I dropped her off. I am happy to report that SHE DID GREAT! But, why does she seem so LITTLE??

I was anxious to pick her up and hear all about her first day. The first thing she did was ask to take her shoes off. Ha! She's a flip flop girl and they aren't allowed to wear sandals to school -- INSANITY! ;-) She said school was fun and she can't wait to go back. That makes me so happy!!

The parents got an email from Mrs. Vicki last night and she "anonymously" shared some of the funny things they said. One child just kept asking, "When do we get to go to the playground?" and another one said, "Mrs. Vicki, you sure do have lots of words to say!" I really hope those two weren't from my child. :-)

Just Tri-It!

This was the second year that Levi competed in the Jeffersonville Tri-It kids triathlon! We weren't sure that he was going to do it this year. When it came time to register, he said he would compete if he didn't have to do the week long camp, but just the tri. Ha! We were okay with that.

Eric and Levi trained at home and at my parent's pool. The night before and the morning of, he was extremely nervous, but when it was time to jump in the water, he was in the zone...

(That's him, on the right in the navy swim shirt.)

The bike is his thang. He loves biking - loves it! It was really adorable watching all the kids race to the transition area. ;-)

Finishing up with the run, with Eric at his side. I love that one parent could accompany them during the run portion. Too cute!

AT THE FINISH! He beat his personal record from last year. Yay! He came in 7th in his age group (out of 22 kids) and finished 24th overall out of 120 kids. Great job! For us, we keep telling him it isn't about coming in 1st, and it isn't even about beating the kid next to you. It's about challenging yourself and conquering little fears. He loves the actual athletic part of the race, but HATES doing it in front of people. I guess the crowds of screaming parents make him nervous! Ha! 

Love this boy with my whole heart. I'm so thankful I get to be his mom. 

Cousin shot! Proud of these kiddos! Emmy even got a trophy for coming in 3rd in her age group -- so awesome! Next year, Maggie will be old enough to compete. Cuteness overload!

Way to go, kids!!! Proud of you. :-)

haircuts and lunch buddies

Things are pretty quiet around the house since school has started back. Some days, it's surreal to sit on the couch and NOT hear arguing. Don't worry though...if I miss my kids arguing, all I have to do is count down the hours until Levi gets home, wait about 10 minutes and BOOM - fights. ;-)

Maggie and I have been filling our days with some fun things. Playing at the park has been a must with this CRAZY COOL summer weather. I adore it.

Maggie also got her first "big girl" haircut.  She has had it trimmed twice. Once because Gretchen told me her mullet status was no longer cute and the other because she has super fine stringy hair and they say it will grow in better.  "THEY lie." ;-)

My friend Ashly that cuts my hair has also trimmed Maggie's. Maggie has never been fond of having her hair trimmed. When I say "never been fond", I mean she cries and acts like I am pulling her apart limb by limb. Oh the drama. But this time was different. I don't really know why. I didn't threaten her life or anything. Weird. Ashly asked her if she wanted to wash her hair in the sink or use a spray bottle and I was blown away when she said, "in the sink!" like she was an nine year old.

And, when she asked if she wanted to have it blown dry or just let it air dry, Maggie said, "blow dry!". Who was this child?

Cutie patootie. Little Crystal Gayle keeps telling me she wants her hair down to her bottom, so we'll see how long that continues. Ha!

Meanwhile, back on the new school homefront, I get tagged in cute little pictures like this! Not only is Levi making new friends, but so is Mommy! One of my new friends, Turkey (no, that's not her real name, but that's a story for a whole other day!) had lunch at school and snapped this pic.


He has had his first full week at school. Some nights have been better with his anxiety and some nights are still a total struggle. Sundays are hard after he has been home all weekend. Life is a crazy journey and being a parent is the absolute hardest thing I have ever done. Sometimes, I feel like a complete failure. But, I know that God requires me to nothing on my own...so I'm standing strong ON HIM. I'm praying every hour that He gives me what I need and helps us through this process. :-)

We're about to be transparent up in here...

Summer has come and gone. It seriously seems like our summer was about three weeks long. Part of me wants to kick and scream and beg for it to come back, and the other part is just incredibly thankful for more memories we've made.  

We went to BG and visited our people. And it was good. 

We went to the movies. And it was good. 

Our people came here for an impromptu zoo trip. And it was good.

It was very good.

And, then it was time. Time to start thinking about school.

For Maggie, that is fairly easy. She is my easy going child. As long as she gets to hang out with Mommy everyday, she is a happy camper. (Preschool starts next week, so we won't bust her bubble yet and tell her she will be away from me for three hours a day, four days a week. EEK!)

However, for Levi, this has been a different year for us.

I'm going to back up. Way up. This is hard for me to write about, but I feel like I need to be transparent and share our struggles. When the tornado came through Henryville and demolished his school in 2012, it forever changed our child. His safe little kindergarten world came crashing down. Not only was his everyday life different with going to a temporary school, but his personality was different, too. He became a very nervous child. He was obsessed with the weather. The slightest change in the clouds bothered him. Heavy wind made him nervous. If it rained, or stormed, he was beside Eric or me pretty much in the fetal position crying. We met with his pediatrician and talked about counseling. She assured us that many kids in our area were in the same boat as Levi and that she was behind whatever we wanted to do. Eventually, with time, he started to get better. Even now, he can look at dark clouds and not break out crying. He starts to visibly change, though. He bites his nails, his eyes start to get antsy and he paces. We've learned to pray him through it and he will calm down easily.

Fast forward to this summer. We decided a few months ago to put the house on the market. Due to Eric's position at work, we feel like we need to support and live in the school district in which he works. This requires us to move. Several weeks before school started, we sat down with Levi and let him make the decision on where he wanted to go to school. We told him we didn't know when the house would sell, so he could start at his old school with the possibility of moving, OR, start at the new school where we will be moving to. I was very proud of him. He thought it over for two days and then told us he wanted to go ahead and go to the new school and start making new friends. This kind of blew me away! I felt like it was a big decision for a kid and was proud of him.

A week before school started, even though he was excited he would be at a new school with his cousins, he began to get extremely nervous. He started having some pretty crazy symptoms. He told me his stomach hurt, he was having trouble breathing, his chest hurt, he even asked me if he was going to die. :( One night, I realized he was having a severe panic attack! I almost took him to the E.R. I had never seen him like this and didn't know what to do. We were able to calm him down and I prayed over him until he fell asleep. After that night, I realized that he had extreme anxiety about school and we started praying constantly. He memorized several Bible verses about fear and we would repeat them pretty much all day. Eric and I decided he needed lots of encouragement, love and prayer. It was so easy to get frustrated with him and that is NOT what he needed.

The night before school came and we were all nervous. I wanted to go with him, you know...to make sure everyone was nice to him and beat up anyone who wasn't. ;-) One awesome thing is that he got to ride the bus with his cousins! He was SUPER excited about that!

    
Before he got on the bus, he told me, "Mommy, pray for me. My stomach hurts." We prayed. I wanted to tell him just to come back home with me, but I didn't. He was ready to do this and conquer his fear!

He got on the bus and didn't look back!

I cried the whole way home.

Somewhere after lunch time, Eric sent me this picture! This is a perk to your husband working in administration. :-) The principal sent this to Eric and said, "this may ease Momma's nerves". IT DID! Loved seeing that smile!

Day two, I got this picture. Lunch buddies. :-)

And I realized that he is okay.

He still obsesses over the weather every morning. He wants to check my phone to see if it is going to rain. This morning, he asked, "If it tornadoes at our school, where will the new school be?" Some things, you just wish your child didn't have to worry about. But, for now, we will treasure the little victories. He has two new friends that are "sooo nice"! He knows how to buy his lunch in the lunch line now. He loves gym class. His teacher is really nice. He loves his new orange backpack. It's the little things. :-)

So tonight as he sleeps, I don't care that he wanted to sleep on our bedroom floor because it made him feel better. He can sleep there until he's 35 if he wants. Well...  ;-)