Summer of Love and Chaos

Good morning, thought I'd take a minute to post. We had a wonderful, albeit short, time at the beach this weekend. Hannah's cheer team came in 2nd in their division. It was similar to the previous competition, all the teams were great, no one made a mistake that I could see, the team that placed first had a little more complexity in their routine that allowed them to get a few more points. Just as Hannah's team had a little bit more going on in their routine than the 3rd place team. All of them were dead on though, not a single wobble, fall, or anything else. We saw enough other cheerleaders miss their back handsprings and land on their faces and backs. It's painful to watch sometimes. One of the other dads with us was counting the number of bandages on each team. Hannah got socked in the mouth when her back spot was catching her on a toss, the reflex of Hannah's arm catching inside her elbow just made the girl's hand come up to Hannah's face. They catch with closed hands so they won't break their fingers. Thus, fist to the face. Her other friend twisted her ankle on another catch. More injuries than ever sustained in almost 5 years of martial arts in one year of cheer.

Our time went by quickly this weekend though. We arrived after dinner on Friday, got up and headed to the competition on Saturday, had dinner on the way back to the beach house, then left at lunch time on Sunday. We loved staying with Heather at her parents' beach house though. We watched "Taken" one night and "Eagle Eye" the next. Had plans on playing board games, but ended up just awake enough to watch videos and crawl to bed.

The granite countertops are in and beautiful. We had some trouble with a small fissure in the stone near the sink, but someone came out and filled then smoothed it yesterday. Also had to level the stove since it's a drop in from the top and needed to sit "just so" in the spot cut for it. Keith and I almost got the sink hooked up last night. New faucet, but pretty much the same as the old one. It was a challenge, but all that I will need to do is go to Lowe's today to get a piece of pipe because the old sink sat up higher so the pipe that was in there is too short. Once we do that, I will have running water in the kitchen again! I'm even more excited about putting everything back under the sink. I have cleaning supplies all over my kitchen table. With the sink not operational, it made for a difficult time caulking around the counter and backsplash yesterday. I need to buy another tube of caulk while I'm getting the pipe for the sink because I ran out before I got to do the island.

I'm so excited that Hannah has only one more week of school left. We found out on Friday that we will have to go back to court regarding the burn on her hand last January. The settlement that we came to this last August was somehow not signed off on by the judge we saw and he has since retired. It's a big hassle. Waiting now to see when we will have a new court date. It's supposed to be some time in July.

Hannah will start cheer practice for school after the 4th of July. We will be in Florida the week it begins, but she's anxious to get started. She has been wearing her "cheerleader" shirt to school at least once a week, every time I'm able to get it washed for her. Since they wear uniforms to school, having that t-shirt is a big deal to her. She didn't buy any "spirit wear" (mostly t-shirts decorated with the school name on it) when she started middle school and having one now with the extra word "cheerleader" has been a great source of pride for her since making the squad. When the pullover hoodie/sweatshirt we ordered arrives some time during practice over the summer, she will probably live in it.

I went in to wake her up for school and all 3 cats were sleeping around her in her small bed. Maisy was in her typical spot, head on the pillow, body under the blanket, while Little Kitty Brown Toe took her spot near Hannah's hip and Alex near her feet on top of the really soft blanket we use to cover her mostly white duvet cover for just that purpose. I think the cats missed us since we left them for the weekend. They had plenty of food and water, left extra bowls etc in case they knocked something over. It was really just one day that we left them without seeing them at all. Lenny was exhausted when we picked him up from the vet's. It was like he didn't sleep the whole time he was boarded.

Well, I am going to need to get Hannah downstairs for breakfast. She is probably not moving along as quickly as she should right now.