7 Going on 17

I guess it's only fair that I include a blog about Stevie since it seems I'm ALWAYS writing about Ava. I love them both equally, it just feels that with Ava being so young and experiencing new things for the first time, there's more to write about with her.

I'll have to write a separate post later... I'd planned on taking a video of Stevie performing her first piano piece that she's learned to play. She's doing SO great at piano. She's picking up all of the terminology, learning to read the music... understanding things with the same great comprehension that she's had since birth! So stay tuned with an updated blog/video of her playing! :)

Stevie started soccer clinic this week. One day a few months back, we were driving down the road and she told me "Mom, I suck at kicking a ball!" Well, anyone who knows me, knows that I'm the last person who can help her play sports. I was the choir nerd, who excelled in computer arts in high school. I ducked from the volleyball, avoided the basketball... and always got tagged out first in dodgeball! SO - I signed her up with the experts to learn to play soccer. This week she's playing with a team who came down from the UK to teach her.

Stevie, protecting the goal

 

 

 

Great block kiddo!

Ok, so she doesn't ALWAYS have her eye on the ball!

The same company that taught David Beckham to play when he was a kid! How exciting is that :) Unfortunately, her practices this week are 3 hours every afternoon - so we let her walk to/from those on her own with her friends... I'll be there for games on Saturdays though when they start in September! I can't wait to see how much she's learned and if she's a great player :) She seems to really be enjoying it though. I do know from the hour I did stay on the first day, that teamwork is a key lesson that she's learning from this. She was playing goalie position the other day and wasn't paying attention at ALL when another kid scored... A little boy on her team took one look at her and said "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I smiled a little smile, but on the inside I was praising that kid for teaching her in ONE line what I've been trying to teach her in 7.5 years of life! GET YOUR HEAD OUTTA YOUR BUTT KID! :P

Little sister even got some face time with the coaches when she returned the ball from the sidelines while Mommy continued taking pictures :)

Stevie's had an extremely busy summer. Every year, we pay for her to attend summer programs at the youth center. She gets to hang out with friends, work on arts/crafts, go on field trips, etc. The last week of summer programs was actually a camp called King's Camp, which is hosted by individuals who come down from the UK as well. King's Camp was just awesome for the kids. The adult coaches who came down were so full of energy and life and they got all the kids involved... Stevie slept so hard every night of that week!

Stevie had a week of Vacation Bible School this summer, where they focused on learning about Joseph. The theme was something Egyptian. Ava really loved going to pick Stevie up because we'd always get there 5 or 10 minutes early and we'd get to wait at the back of the church and listen to all the kids sing and pray. So every day Ava would say "We're gonna go see Stevie dance?" :)

Stevie spent a week in France with Nico's mother too! Was my first time giving her away for a WHOLE week by herself. She was such a big girl as we hugged at the train station in Luxembourg. She boarded the train with her grandmother and rode for 2.5 hours to Paris. From there, it was on to a subway, to the car, and the vacation was on! They did so much!! I think Stevie loved the simplicity of farm life though, as she spent countless hours in the yard, finding grasshoppers and lizards with her cousins. I'm so glad she had such a fabulous time.

In just a week and a half, Stevie will be starting 3rd grade. Despite the fairytale that this entire blog seems to sound like, I've reached a seriously tough time with parenting Stevie :( Parenting is supposed to be full of Santa Clauses and tooth fairies... and smiles, and CANDY!! But I've found myself in the middle of a huge puzzle... I have to find some way to help Stevie learn common sense. She's always been SO so book smart. Playing computer games at age 2... reading at a 4th grade level in 2nd grade. Potty trained at 19 months. She's ALWAYS been intelligent. But I've found lately that it's the simple stuff that she can't figure out for herself. So we're trying - it's slow and frustrating... but God willing, we'll help her past this hurdle too and she'll continue being the happy, healthy, beautiful girl she's always been!