Little Man's Tennis Debut

Now that he's decided his baseball career is over, Little Man has chosen tennis to be his next sport. And MJ and I are pleased with that, because now he can play with us! 

Little Man has taken lessons for most of the year, and this spring he joined the juniors team at our club. And even though it was his first year, he's had success already! He played three doubles matches, with varying levels of partners, and won two of them. And lucky his partners were very kind, so he enjoyed himself. He also played three singles matches, which were losses, but he had a lot to be proud about: he rarely double-faulted on his serve, and he had a ton of sustained rallies. So at least he forced his opponents to earn their wins; he didn't give up points easily.

Here are a few clips I got of him at a juniors' clinic this spring. The second one makes me laugh: "It's the balls, Mom!"

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/bOpZnQyyiZA

Special shout-outs to Aunt Susan, Aunt Carol, and Pepere, who were all able to watch a match! Pepere even got to see one of Little Man's doubles wins. 

He enjoyed the season, and he thinks he's a much better fit for tennis than he was for baseball (and we agree). It's an extra bonus that this is a sport we can all play together!

CC is Driving!

In what seems totally shocking, CC is now old enough to have her driver's permit. She took the classroom portion of driver's ed over Christmas break, and the behind-the-wheel portion when we got back from spring break. 

Her biggest concern was that she might not be able to reach the pedals. Seriously. But we reminded her that if Grandma can reach the pedals, so can she. And sure enough, if she moves the seat all the way up, she can reach both pedals. 

I was lucky enough to be able to ride in the back seat during one of her driver's ed sessions. I was happy (but not surprised) to see that she's an extremely cautious driver. 

Once she turned 15, she took the permit exam ... and failed. She was devastated. But she learned a valuable lesson: you have to actually study. The test is full of questions that have nothing to do with driving! 

So last Friday she took the test again, and this time she scored a 100%. Well done! She's been driving nonstop since then. Even Pepere, Aunt Carol, and Aunt Susan had turns riding shotgun while she drove this weekend. "Does anyone need to go to the grocery store?" "Can I drive Little Man to tennis?" "Can I drive us to church?" Her slow speed is slightly infuriating, but I'm sure she'll improve. Until then, we'll have conversations like this:

Me: What's the speed limit on this road?

CC: Thirty-five.

Me: What speed are you going?

CC: Um ... eighteen.

Sigh.

CC's Confirmation

What a special weekend! CC made her Confirmation, and everyone turned out to celebrate. Aunt Susan was her sponsor, and flew in with Hayden for the Mass. Aunt Carol was there as her godmother, and Pepere and Grandma and Grandpa came too. Patrick and Karen even came with Braxton and Bryson. CC was really touched by the turnout, and was all smiles the whole weekend.

CC chose St Therese of Lisieux, or "the Little Flower," as her Confirmation saint. Unbeknownst to her, Memere loved St Therese, so my heart was happy when CC told me who she picked. I know my mom was absolutely with us this weekend, filled with joy.

Afterwards we celebrated at one of CC's favorite restaurants, and really enjoyed spending time with everyone.

CC was initially frustrated by the church's rule that dresses had to be at least knee-length. All her favorites are really short! But we went shopping and she ended up falling in love with this maxi dress from Altar'd State. She looked gorgeous, and it was so nice to see her radiating excitement and confidence.

International Circus and Dance Festival

Last weekend, Sweet Pea had another performance opportunity with her cirque company, to celebrate International Circus and Dance Festival. They performed in various locations throughout the city, and taught impromptu lessons to children or adults who were curious about all the different circus and aerial apparatuses.

Sweet Pea and her bestie, Joni, both performed German Wheel and Trapeze. German wheel is a new apparatus for Sweet Pea this year, but it's quickly becoming one of her favorites. You can see how much fun it is in this brief video!

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/TyJ1HP6S7XU

She also did a trapeze performance. Trapeze continues to be her favorite aerial skill. She smiles from ear to ear the whole time!

CC's Dance Showcase

CC has been taking ballet as one of her high school classes (a benefit of attending an arts school). Last week was her dance showcase, where all the dance classes in the school performed. It was really impressive, especially the advanced classes. 

CC took one ballet class this year, and her class was small, but their dance was beautiful. They performed to "Seasons of Love" from Rent, and CC was front and center the whole time. She has really developed so beautifully in the last two years. Linda was volunteering at the showcase, and was really impressed at CC's growth!

The school didn't allow video, but I took many beautiful photos of her performance.

She has enjoyed dancing at school so much that this spring, she auditioned to be a dance major, and she was accepted! So now she's a double-major: Costume Design and Dance. Next year she'll be in multiple numbers. I can't wait to see how much she'll grow as a dancer!  

Happy Birthday, CC!

CC is fifteen! I can hardly believe it!

She is growing into quite the lovely lady. She is kind, thoughtful, and eager to help others. She can always be found dancing around the house, singing to her favorite music, or creating some kind of craft with the sewing machine. Her latest talent is nail art -- she can glue tips and paint nails with the best of them. I am impressed enough that I'm about to let her start doing my nails!

CC continues to be devoted to our church community. She is not only eagerly looking forward to her upcoming Confirmation, but still altar serves on a regular basis, volunteers with the elementary schoolers' Faith Formation, and helps make the costumes for the school plays. 

Her favorite subject in school is English. She finds her teacher, Mr O, hilarious, and thoroughly enjoyed her first experience with Shakespeare this year: Romeo and Juliet. It didn't hurt that Mr O rang a bell every time they encountered an inappropriate joke (supposedly to prevent the students from asking him to elaborate, but instead not-so-subtly drawing their attention to all the inappropriate jokes!).

Her favorite food continues to be sushi, although Caesar salad is a recent obsession (hold the anchovies, please). For the second year in a row, she requested a cheesecake for her birthday, and I was happy to oblige. Thank goodness I have Memere's recipe! 

She is looking forward to her first "real" jobs this summer: swim team coach and lifeguard. She will have to manage her time between working and dancing, because she has been selected to start on pointe at her ballet studio, and must train four full weeks over the summer. She will be busy!

Another huge step for her is drivers' ed. Now that she's 15, she can get her drivers' permit and begin driving while supervised by me or MJ. She's already completed the classroom portion of her training and is halfway done with the behind-the-wheel portion. I am confident that she will be a good driver, because she takes it very seriously and is a cautious driver.

We love you, CC! Happy 15th birthday, sweetie. May this be your best year yet!

CC's New Look!

 

CC looks so cute in her new glasses! We picked them up after we returned home from the beach. She's a little self-conscious about how they look, but everyone agrees they really suit her face and look great on her. And I love that they're pink, but a sophisticated pinkish -- a nod to her personality.

She doesn't need to wear them all the time, mostly just at school to better see the board. But she's shocked at how much better her vision is with the glasses, even with her mild prescription.