We are here in Atlanta for Cheersport, which is apparently the biggest cheerleading event on Earth. I’m excited about everything except waking up at 4:45am.
Tag: robin
-
January 18
I think sometimes I forget how hard it is to be 12. So much is changing all at once – your body, your relationships, school. An entirely new sense of self is developing and it’s so hard to navigate it all, to sort things out. It’s hard to know where to turn, if anywhere. It’s one of those things that you can’t really fix or make right. You kind of just have to go through it. It’s odd seeing it from the other side. I’m not always sure I’m doing the most supportive thing. Maybe the most important thing is to give ourselves the space to get it wrong. I think getting it wrong is probably the best way to get it right.
-
January 13
Today’s a busy day. The whole family went geocaching with friends from church this morning and it was super fun. Christina is an excellent snoop. She found almost all of the caches within seconds almost every time. We’ve got one near our house. We’ll have to find it. Robin finished this bag and it is super, super cute! It was fun making it with her, and I love that she wasn’t on her phone for like an hour. Tonight Christina’s having her birthday party – a slumber party with five of her friends. I’m charging my noise-canceling headphones as we speak. I kind of love busy days.
-
December 28
The girls are giving themselves facials, and loving it. Also today: wrapped up last week’s photo shoot, finished proofreading my website, created and ordered next year’s photo calendar (had 407 nice photos this year as opposed to 50 last year; photo a day project for the win!), organized my craft supplies, and cleaned up my office. Oh, and I built a Lego snowman. I have no idea what I am going to do with the rest of my life.
-
December 10
Today’s cheer performance wasn’t as good as yesterday’s, and the competition was just too tight. The girls came in third place out of three teams. No one’s favorite day, but Robin came out smiling and that is how I know how much she loves cheer.
-
December 9
Robin’s first competition of the year. I was thoroughly amazed at how well they did, and then another parent came and told me how disappointed they were with their performance. Apparently there was a bobble and a drop that I completely missed. Shows what I know! When I compare this first performance of the season to her first performance of last season, it is so far from it, it’s incomprehensible. The entire experience was better. Everyone knew how to do their hair and makeup and everyone came already prepared. They knew their routine and didn’t make changes an hour before they went on. I am so proud of Robin and everyone on the team. They’ve got another chance tomorrow to come in angry and do even better. I love this girl so much.
-
December 8
Made it to Orlando for Robin’s first cheer competition of the season. Christina’s kids menu had a place to draw a picture. The instructions said that the fisherman had reeled in a whopper but couldn’t identify what it was. Christina was to draw the catch. Well, she drew a cheeseburger. Because, you know, whopper.
-
November 18
Robin keeps going through these drawing spurts and I am trying to take advantage of as many of them as I can. We went to Bob Evans for breakfast while Christina was at dance and we did some drawing. There are some proportions off in this one, but it’s one of the few drawings I’ve done of Robin where you might actually be able to tell it’s Robin. My interests are all over the place, but if Robin and I can draw together, that might actually turn out to be pretty cool. We’ll see. Teenagers are not known for consistency.
-
November 12
Today was Robin’s first cheer performance with her new team. The routine wasn’t totally ready, so there was a little bit of awkward while they just stood there, but what we saw looked good! I’m so excited to see Robin cheer on a team where she’s challenged and gets to be competitive. She seemed really happy, and that is worth everything to me in itself.
-
November 4
We went to the mall… paradise for the kids, meh for me. They got some cute stuff with their allowance and birthday money, which is now suitably depleted. Robin got these cute earrings. Even I got a couple things. It appears spending money is just irresistible.
-
November 3
Today was moody teenager day. Want to go out for ice cream, don’t want to go out for ice cream, go out for ice cream, want to play games, play games, don’t want to play games, life is miserable, can we just go home. Life is exhausting.
-
October 15
Today has to have been the most beautiful day of 2023 so far. I’m so glad I managed to wrench the kids out of the house for an hour. I told them I was going and I was taking all the phones and iPads with me. Given that choice, they came with me. I don’t think they regretted it. To top it off, we got to eat dinner outside on the patio, which was so nice. And it reminds me that my garden desperately needs to be weeded. Sorry, garden.
-
September 30
We’re trying something new. I hope it helps Robin find her voice and her smile. Because both are beautiful.
-
September 22
Today was the Festival of Courage at school. Robin has aged out of the performances, but Christina played xylophone for her grade’s musical performance. This is the seventh year we’ve celebrated the Festival of Courage and it’s just another reason to love their school. Plus there were live dragons involved.
Year in Photos 