Sunday, May 28, 2017

Norchester vs Woodlands

Claire had her third summer swim meet yesterday and had a great time! Her passion for swimming is amazing. She is so determined and gives it all she has every event.
She is at her warm up and is showing us the stroke she will be doing.

 She does two relays for the meets with 3 other girls. This is the medley relay and she does the breast stroke.


 She also swam back stroke, individual breast stroke, fly, and 100 free style relay with the same 3 girls.
 A girl's gotta have a little fun while waiting on the ready bench!
 Claire rocked it in her 100 free style relay. She made up for lots of time for her group. It was probably the fastest I have seen her do a 25 free!
We were blessed to have Dominique and Linda come to watch Claire yesterday. They are parents of some dear friends of ours and they are becoming our second family here in Texas! We look forward to getting to know them better!

Friday, May 26, 2017

Bring your daughter to work day!

Claire was able to come to work with me today since I didn't have any patients to see and just had office stuff to do. She was eager to help and worked from 8am until 1pm without complaining or wanting to go home! Of course she earned some money helping Mom get her work done. I was very proud of how hard she worked and how much she got accomplished.


 At the end of the day, she was pretending to talk to patients on the phone like she had heard me do during the day. It was so fun listening to her...she was definitely paying attention when I was on the phone!
 After a hard days work, what kid wouldn't want some Orange Leaf as a treat?! It was such a fun day and I feel so grateful that I got to spend it with my favorite kid in the entire world!

Last day of 2nd grade

Yesterday was Claire's last day of second grade. This momma had some very mixed emotions...she finished on the honor roll and is scoring above average. We are so very proud of her and the effort she puts in to master all that is being taught. My heart is heavy because she is just growing up way too fast. I wish I could stop time for a while and just keep her this age. Makes me cherish every single minute we have together, every single hug, every single time she grabs my hand to hold it, every single picture she draws for me, and every single time she wants to spend time with me.

Claire had awesome teachers again this year. We have been really blessed at Black Elementary. Her math and science teacher was Mrs. Leiker. Claire's favorite subject at the beginning of 2nd grade was writing. Mrs. Leiker said she would change that by the end of the year and she did! Claire's favorite subject at the end of 2nd grade is science!
Ms. Harmon was Claire's reading and writing teacher. She did a wonderful job of helping Claire to stay above average in reading!
Claire with some of her besties....here with Alexis
and Rayln.
The girls of Mrs. Leiker's 2nd grade class
One final class picture before moving on to 3rd grade in 12 weeks. Ugh!

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Norchester Dolphins swim meet #2

We have learned that it is tradition on the Norchester Dolphins to pair an older swimmer with a young swimmer and they are called Dolphin buddies. The buddies cheer each other on during their events. Claire got to be paired with Kayla and she made a sign for Kayla for the meet. She was pretty excited to give it to her! Kayla got Claire a big letter C and decorated it. Claire is super excited to bring it to all of her meets and hang it from our tent!
This girl has grown to love swim and is all set for her meet!
 Waiting patiently for the whistle and to hear "swimmers, take your mark..."
 She started with 25 breaststroke.
You can just see the determination in her face!
 She did back stroke
                                     
and free style this meet.
 She improved her times on two of her events and got first place in free style
for her age group at this meet!

Claire and her friend Addison. These two girls swim together at Fleet and with the Dolphins. They do a 
medley relay together and the 100 free style relay together. They are both pretty awesome swimmers!

Monday, May 15, 2017

First summer "Norchester Dolphins" swim meet

Claire had her first of 5 summer swim meets with the Norchester Dolphins on Saturday. She did amazing and really pushed herself to do the best she could do! She was placed in the 25 free, 25 breast, 25 butterfly, 100 medley relay, and 100 free style relay. We could not be more proud of her!
I love the action shots Jeff took! 

                                     
                                                        
Trying to get a nice picture of these two together is nearly impossible. They are ALWAYS
joking and goofing off!
                                     
So Claire and I did a nice picture instead! My baby just keeps growing up...wish I could stop it from happening.
                                     

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Time Trials for summer swim team with Norchester Dolphins!

First I have to brag on my girl a little bit. On Friday she earned a spot on the Bearkat Elite wall at school. To get your name on this wall, you have to display certain behaviors throughout the year including effort, self-control, and respect. She almost made it on the wall last year and this year she worked very hard to get a spot! We are so very proud of her hard work and of this accomplishment!
 Today we had time trials for Norchester Dolphins summer swim team. Claire was the bomb today! She swam her heart out and we could definitely see how much being on swim team at Fleet has helped her improve her swimming skills. She swam so well that her times beat many of the 9 and 10 year old girls times! Yes, I am bragging a bit again! God has given her a talent for swim and I am so thankful she is enjoying every minute of it! It takes a lot of time and dedication to be a swimmer. She has practice 5 nights a week and meets for the next 6 Saturdays. In her practices she swims at least 1000 meters every night (which is at least 20 laps). I am exhausted just watching her. Yet we have never heard her say she didn't want to go to practice or didn't like it. She is always ready to go and give it her best. Love her spirit and determination!
Here she is waiting on the ready bench for her turn to swim.
 Starting the back stroke.

 Swimmers, take your mark...
 and do the 25 meter butterfly.
 As if being at a time trial all morning wasn't enough, she got mom to jump in the pool at home for a little fun in the sun after we got home!
 Then it was off to the Casting Crowns concert with Dad!

Rayln's rollerskating party

Claire got invited to Rayln's rollerskating party. She started off not going out on the floor unless her mother went with and she wouldn't let go of my hand at all. After learning the feel of the skates, she slowly tried a few moves on her own and before I know it, she is telling me that I can watch from the side! I just love this girl so much!






Claire and Addisyn- best buddies!

Claire and her good friend Addisyn spent last weekend together. We went to Splashtown to get our summer
passes all set up and then Addisyn spent the night. As if playing as Splashtown wasn't enough swimming, the girls wanted to do some night swimming at our house. I just love watching these two girls together. They have been friends since Kindergarten and their friendship continues to grow every year! So glad Claire has found such a sweet friend to spend time with!