Flipping, Flopping, and Academic Achievement

Sammie has worked and worked and taught herself how to to back flips, front flips, back walk overs, and front walkovers on the trampoline.  I asked her if she wants to do gymnastics again and she said, "no, I just like to do this for fun."  Sounds good to me.

She has also worked and worked to receive and award for the quarter for Academic Achievement and was also on the Principal's List.  This girl knows how to get things done when she gets going.  I love her quiet way of making things happen for herself.

New Floors!

I can't seem to keep up with this little blog, but I have some things I wanted to write about.  We  got new floors!  I have been wanting new floors since we moved into our house 6 1/2 years ago.  It was finally time.
The day that the contractor came to pull the old floor out, I noticed that my kitchen floor was looking a little rippled and a dark spot was forming.  I thought, I guess we will see what is going on today when they pull the floors up.  When they got to the kitchen, half the kitchen floor was soaked with water underneath.  The pad was completely soaked and moldy.  Our refrigerator waterline hose had a small hole in it that had slowly leaked over several months.
I was so glad that we were already taking care of the flooring, otherwise we would have found ourselves in an unexpected water mess and no floors.  There was a reason I suddenly felt that we needed to just make this happen.  Luckily the only thing that was ruined was the flooring and padding that we were pulling out.  Whew!
I love how the new floors look.  My house looks bigger and just feels softer and more welcoming to me.  I never liked the two different wood floors and the kitchen floor was not installed properly and we were having some issues with it.  Anyway,  it all looks lovely and I am enjoying feeling like my house is new again.  I love seeing these changes.  As our family is growing up, I'm trying to make the spaces in our house work for us.  Our life was so different when we first moved into this house and I look forward to more years here.

Here are some before pictures because I love Before and Afters:

And here are the Afters!

Sammie's Oil Pastels

Sammie had been asking for oil pastels.  She had some sort of vision in her mind of what she would create with them and really, really, wanted some of her own.  She got some for Christmas and started experimenting.  We will name these, "The Dog Series in Oil Pastels."  She works hard on these and there are lots more but these are a few I have photos of.  She just teaches herself and gets them just how she wants them.  She has so many areas in her life that she uses her creativity.  I love looking at these.  I will flip open her little sketch pad and just take a peek and these beautiful little creations.

Happy 11th Birthday, Sammie!

Yesterday I was running errands to make preparations for Sammie's birthday.  I looked over at the passenger seat and saw this; Sammie's birthday cake and her lunch that I was going to bring to her at school.  I then felt such a warm feeling.  My kids' birthdays are always a time when I reflect on them individually and I just feel so good.  They are wonderful people, making good choices, and learning and growing.  It was a simple celebration but she was beyond excited to get a mini ipad and some clothes and a book.
Sammie is talented, smart, kind, and loyal.  I love her thoughtful nature.  It is such a gift to our family.  She is so good at improving her talents and doing her best in her own quiet way.   11 looks good on this girl!