Marci's Village

Summer laughs

I am truly enjoying my time with the kids this Summer. They are growing and don't play with toys that much anymore. So, we watch movies and read books. We talk, we go out to lunch, we do a little shopping. We spend hours together. 

This week Phillip is in basketball camp all day, so Maya had I have spent some time together... just the two of us. At Panda Express today, she just looked at me during lunch and said "I love you, mommy".

Phillip had his turn last week while Maya was at playdate. He also chose Panda Express. We talked about Politics, wars and, of course, sports.

I am so privileged to be able to spend most of my days with these two children. I don't take it for granted.

To finish, just a silly moment I don't want to forget:

We were reading this amazing book before bedtime (yes, Phillip still allows that and I love it!) and were completely absorbed by it. I read this beautiful psalm:

"O praise the Lord.

How good it is to sing psalms to our God!

How pleasant to praise him!

The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem;

he gathers in the scattered sons of Israel.

It is he who heals the broken in spirit

and binds up their wounds,

he who numbers the stars one by one..."

Phillip, who cannot keep his hands quiet, had the remote control for the light/fan above us. When I finished the last verse, he turned on the light by accident. I looked astonished at the light, as Phillip said "I'm sorry". We bursted out laughing when I told them that for a moment I thought I was looking at the stars with the characters in the book and God was making them bright for us.

I really did get transported into the book for a couple of seconds. And happy about how much the kids laughed afterwards.

Silly children. I love being their mom. 

Slow Summer Days

Stormy weather.

Beautiful sunsets.

Playing with neighbors.

Movies. Movies. Movies (at home).

Catching up on being together.

Summer days, please stay a little longer.

 

Party!!

Right before championships we were invited to a super fun swim team party. The hosts have a pizza oven in their backyard and both he and his wife love to entertain. The women took turns in the kitchen making the pizzas while the guys cooked the pizzas outside. The kids swam and had a great time.

The boy says "ENOUGH!"

Some of the guys

I love her profile

The best phone picture ever taken by a friend! Can you tell how happy the kids are?

Championships - A recap

The days are hot and emotionally draining. For the parents only, I guess.

Phillip swam his IM (individual medley -- all strokes) on Monday night and took 8th out of 25 kids. His time was 1:26.88.

The kids play cards and "rest" between races

On Tuesday (the sad day when Brazil lost 7-1 to Germany), Phillip had promised to swim his strokes well and qualify for the finals. He thought that would bring some happiness into my day. And he did! He qualified on both free style and back stroke.

These pictures are all from the prelims. The top eight swimmers came back on Wednesday for their finals. Phillip dropped time on free style and finished strong in third place (from seventh) with a time of 31.01. On back stroke, he kept his third place and finished with 39.22.

The transition to this age group is normally a difficult one, having to swim 50 yards and do turns. Phillip adapted well and scored many points for his team. Most important of all, he is very close to his swim team friends and looks forward to spending time with them. It's a community activity that we hope we will be able to fit in our Summers for years to come.

Every year...

I have to remind myself: "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened". - Dr. Seuss

The boy was awarded three medals: third in Freestyle, third in Backstroke, and eight in the IM. He had entered his freestyle race in seventh place, cut some time, and bumped up a few places. So proud of him!

The same friends keep coming back year after year.

Our Summer (and our lives) are better because of this team.

Barracudas!

 

I am so behind on my blogging that I thought it would be better to just write a quick post today and play catch-up later.

The Bellair Barracudas are the champions again for the fourth year in a row. Amazing coaches, amazing kids!

Phillip swam two amazing races and finished third on both. On freestyle, he had entered the race in seventh place and cut even more time. I am happy for him and grateful this team is such a source of fun and fulfillment for him.

Tomorrow is the day we wake up and feel a little empty on the inside. We feel that Summer is half way over and there is still much more fun to be had.

Hang in there, kids! I am sure the rest of the Summer will not disappoint you!

Strings

She is a busy single mother of four young children, so she probably does not have time to read my blog. Still, I just want to always remember how proud I felt watching her realize an old dream. Patty grew up in Tucson and played the violin for the Tucson Junior Strings. Her mother had to sacrifice a lot to have her take music lessons and continue her music education.

Fast forward to today: this busy and incredible woman started the group "Phoenix Junior Strings" here in our side of the State. Their first concert was last Friday.

A little something for her

Phillip was my date for the early evening concert. A friend of Patty's played the harp beautifully with one of his students. Patty conducted her small group of violinist and cello players with confidence and a smile on her face. Phillip and I took it all in and enjoyed it very much. I felt calm and inspired.

I am looking forward to experiencing more of this: a beautiful quiet church, a talented group of musicians, and the power of a dream.

46

It was truly a great day. Lots of love from family and friends. Bruce surprised me with a new laptop (as I was cursing under my breath the night before about how slow my current one is) and the kids were very loving all day.

Friends and family showered me with Facebook and text messages throughout the day. I am one very lucky woman!

My dear friend Stacey brought some delicious cupcakes to the swim meet in the afternoon and we celebrated there too. I really appreciate how much she has enriched my life in the past few years since we've met.

I feel young at heart and ready for the next 46!

Swim... swim...

Here are the latest from this week. It was a busy one, ending with a meet Saturday morning. The one above is from last Thursday, as the kids waited for the start of the meet. 

Back stroke is still one of his favorites

Some of the boys in the team. Our dear friends put up a nice tent at the Saturday meet, complete with doughnuts and juice for the kids. They hung out in the shade and waited for their turn to swim while the parents talked and waited.

Waiting for the "beep". He always gets a little nervous.

The relay team. Only three boys, so Phillip had to swim back stroke and free style. In the free style relay his friend had to swim two legs of the race. It is quite the experience to watch them pushing their limits, the parents cheering, and the other kids yelling their names.

I loved having Maya there to keep me company and cheer Phillip on. We (I) watched soccer the rest of the day and cooked a nice meal for Grandma and Grandpa, who came over for dinner and spent a quiet evening with us. 

Today

We watched England versus Uruguay (World Cup Soccer) and watched England being eliminated.

The kids cooked me some quesadilla with sausage for lunch. I wasn't allowed in the kitchen. They burned two of them but the third one was delicious!

They played videogames and didn't fight or argue!

Now we're heading for the second part of our day: Maya to gymnastics and Phillip to a swim meet, which reminds me of the saying: "If I had only one day to live, I would want you to take me to a swim meet -- those last forever" [Grin]