January: Brittney started her Winter club volleyball schedule which includes lots of practices and tournaments. The tournament season is fun, but it is tiring by the end of the season
Abigail's January was filled with Indoor soccer. Her games fortunately are all local so that's a little easier to handle. She got to play goalie quite often which she really likes.
Caroline continued to take gymnastics and Ella just tagged along to everything!February: Caroline turned 10 on the 13th. It's hard to believe ten years have gone by. She has really grown and matured this past year. For her birthday she and two friends went to Massunutten Indoor water park and then has a sleepover.
Abigail began to play volleyball for her middle school team and Brittney was continuing to play volleyball and swim for her high school team.
One of my best friends had a surprise baby(her other children are 16 & 14)! My, friend Barbara and I threw her a shower which was a lot of fun. It had a jungle theme to match her nursery. We made jungle cupcakes that I think turned out really great.
Easter came really early this year. Ella loves candy so she was having a ball with all the Easter stuff. The older girls had to keep their baskets up high or put away if they didn't want to share with her! We went to church in the morning and then to my aunt's house in the afternoon for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. Ella was more interested in the fish pond than the hunt.
April- Brittney's volleyball continued. This month is the big tournament month so there was been lots of traveling. Abigail's outdoor soccer season started. She also started playing lacrosse for her middle school. It was her first experience with the sport and she really seemed to like it. As you can tell she's the kid who wants to try everything.She continued to play with the Cyberrays. Caroline is still enjoying gymnastics. You are not allowed in the gym for practice so I don't have any pictures of her.
May-Volleyball finally ended this month with the district tournament in Hampton, Va. The girls had a rough start, but they got it together and finished playing strong. Abigail finished up lacrosse and soccer as well. Her lacrosse team split wins and losses evenly. Her soccer team had a rough season with several losses and only two ties, but they had a good time together. Abby tried out for the next age level U14 for the fall season. She was a little worried that she didn't do well enough in tryouts, but she did indeed make a team. She's on a team with a lot of good athletes who happen to be friends so she's really looking forward to the fall season. Mid may brings us to swim season. Brittney and Abigail are swimming, but Caroline decided to take a break for this summer. Caroline's gymnastics session is over. She got a trophy for participation and now wants to take a break. She read on a sign in the gym last year that if you take five sessions in a row you get a trophy. Well, that was her goal. She got that trophy and now she says she is through. We'll see if she wants to start again in the fall. Brittney and Abby have so many ribbons, medals, and trophy's because they are very active and she wanted one of her own. I was very proud of her for following through on her goal!
We took a trip to a local orchard to pick the first strawberries of the season.
June- June brought us to the end of the school year. The girls all left school a day and a half early because we were off to Texas. Every 3-5 years we visit to see the McDowell side of the family. Normally we fly into Dallas, but this year's trip was a little different. We flew to Houston in order to see some friends, The Macomber's who moved outside of Houston last summer. From there we stopped in Corpus Christi to see The Allen's who moved there from C-ville as well. While there we visited the Texas State Aquarium. After that we were on the New Braunsfels and the Schlitterbaun water park. I think that's what the kids were waiting for the most. From there we went on to Coleman, Burkett, and Cross Plains to visit the McDowell Farm, a few cemeteries, and the downtown area. Next on the list was a drive to Big Spring to see my cousin Earl, his wife Lisa, and daughter CJ. We had a nice time catching up and all the girls enjoyed being together.
We took a drive to the town of Loop to see another cousin for one afternoon. Abigail calls it "loop" to nowhere! If you have ever thought you lived in the middle of nowhere, you have not been to Loop, TX! Finally we made the 9 hour drive back to Houston for our flight home. This trip was Ella's first flight and thank goodness she was good. Her only meltdown was on the flight down when she couldn't get comfortable enough to go to sleep so she cried for the last twenty minutes. Not bad for a 3 hr flight.
When we got home Abigail participatedin her second triathlon.
July- So far this month we have been continuing to swim and have an undefeated season so far. Our was in the local 4th of July parade and took first place in our category. Caroline has started a Summer Day Camp in Crozet and is enjoying it. Abigail left for her away camp today. She was really excited to go and I hope she has a great week.
And the biggest news of all:
We are having Girl # 5 in October! It took us a while to get used to the idea, but things happen for a reason and we are getting excited now that things are moving along. She looks great and we just hope Ella can share the spotlight. This is the first time we have found out the sex of a baby. I just felt like I needed to know this time! No names yet, that will probably what we keep as a surprise.
