Daddy's Girls

We had a wonderful weekend at Rio Bonito for Memorial Day. Chad, Rachel and the kids went out on Saturday and the 4 of us joined them Sunday. There was family time, pool time, deck time, boat rides, skiing, and loads of food. The kids had been counting down the days until they could see their cousins (grandparents, aunt and uncle too of course 😉) and had the best time. They stayed the night while Matt and I came home to be with the dogs. I met up with Capn around noon today to get all 4 of them for the 1st cousin camp of the summer. They will be here for 3 nights and we are looking forward to the extra long visit!! I love having my kids with me 24/7 in the summer. We get to hang out without having to rush off to the next thing we have to do and there’s always something going on. They have had friends over to swim. We have a broody hen that may give us some chicks soon. Matt has been gardening and enjoying his flowers. We supported Maddi at her dance recital Saturday night. And we’re g...

Ms. Kathleen has consistently done well at meets this year, and the regional championship in Knoxville was no different! It was definitely stiffer competition- there were kids from 8 states and judging was tighter- but that didn’t phase her at all. She got out there and WON floor with an amazing 9.9 (at that point in the day it was the highest score of the whole meet), 2nd on Beam with a 9.775 (.005 difference from 1st), 3rd ALL AROUND, and 6th on bars, and 9th on vault. She was state champ on vault 3 weeks ago so shows how being just a little off one day can make a huge difference. She’s had private lessons lately that I think helped make all the difference on floor and beam because we worked on those the most.  And while we always get excited for her when she wins, my favorite part is that she LOVES it no matter what the score. Which is a good thing because it was a commitment to get her to all these meets all year, but especially this one. We left at 4AM on Friday and pulled int...

I’m late on my post but it is officially summertime for the McCormick girls! The last day was technically Thursday the 18th, but we went ahead and wrapped it up 2 days early after the awards ceremony  Lilli made A/B honor roll and got an award for National Honor Society. Kathleen finished with straight As and her Iowa test had her testing between a 6th and 10th (science) level in all subjects. They deserve the break! Especially since Kathleen has been putting in the hours in the gym with regular classes and private lessons before regionals. That was today and more on that later! 

I have had the best Mother’s Day today doing a whole lot of nothing. Matt and Kathleen cooked me a big breakfast this morning of yard eggs and bacon and she and I curled up on the couch to watch a movie. I went for a walk, napped, took a nice bath with one of my Mother’s Day gift bath bombs and was generally lazy. And this evening Matt grilled steaks with creamed spinach and potatoes and rosemary from the garden.  Lilli was only home for dinner and the nighttime family movie because she left Friday morning to go to Galveston with Maddi’s family and Reese.  They had the best time and she’s ready to get the last 1.5 days of school over with so that it can really be summer! I worked most of Saturday but have been loving our move to Pinnacle and our team.  Matt and Kathleen worked in the garden while I was gone and then she had Ella over to swim. She has been keeping busy getting ready for regionals and finishing up with school. The year FLEW by!! 

Yesterday was a VERY long day for this Mama but one our girls will remember. We finally had a free weekend and got to have Kathleen’s friend party and rented a waterslide. Sadie spent the night Friday night and she and Kathleen played on it and in the pool from about 5:00-8:00. They were back out there by 9:30 the next morning and I watched them while Lilli and I set up for the party. We knew it was going to be an insane day and told Matt we understood if he wanted to spend the weekend and the camp and he took us up on it. 🤣 Most of the girls from the team came, plus a couple of homeschool friends and an old friend. It was so cool to see kids from ages 7-12 all playing and having a great time. ❤️ Most of them left at 1:30, but Britney, Madison and Ella stayed because they had gotten there late. By the time Britney and Madison left (Ella stayed past dinner), I had one hour to regroup before the 7- 13 year olds came over at 4:00. What started as me telling Lillian she could have a frien...

It was a BIG weekend down in Baton Rouge for the McCormick and Craig families. We left at 6:30 Friday morning to make it to the Kathy Craig Scholarship Presentation at Scotlandville High School. I was excited to be able to be there and it was an honor to meet this year’s recipient. She will start LSU in the fall to major in civil engineering  I hope we didn’t overwhelm the poor girl with almost a dozen family members there, but she had a pretty good crowd of support too. We are glad to be able to help her with some things that TOPS won’t cover this first semester and I know my Mom would love the way we’ve chosen to honor her memory. We all went to lunch after and then went back to Dad’s for naps. Matt, the girls and I went to watch Piper’s horse riding lesson Friday evening before going back to Pops and Honey’s for pizza, swimming, the baseball game and a cousin sleepover.  Saturday morning the girls baked bread at the church with Pops. There is a group going down to St. Marks...

In all years past I would have said Katie or KatieJane in my post title, but in her 10th year she has decided she wants to be Kathleen and I’m trying! So happy 10th Birthday Ms. Kathleen! We have had a wonderful day together and I can’t believe you are double digits- not a little kid anymore!  Look at all the birthdays through the years. That 1st birthday picture makes me laugh because I remember that morning so well. We talked and talked about her turning one and little 3 year old Lilli was so excited. Kathleen was up first and when Lilli got up she ran out, ran to her, and was so disappointed that she didn’t look any different. 🤣 she thought she was going to magically not be a baby anymore after her birthday. You can really tell how much they change in a year when you look at pictures like this though.  Today was a good day. She’s had calls and texts from family all day and she didn’t have to work at all. We opened present with Lilli early. She and I went to target for a gi...