the track star and king george

busy times in our kids' lives these last few weeks of school. annie's been roped into participating with track by her girlfriends and i couldn't be happier. i am not the kind of parent who lives through their children, at least i hope i'm not. but to see my daughter out there on the track, plugging along in an event she didn't want to do, it just makes my heart burst with joy. she's taken to athletic events with such grace, i wouldn't call her a natural, but she really tries and for the most part, enjoys the results. she loved volleyball, she mostly enjoys basketball, and this season of track is so far tolerable. she was convinced that she didn't want to keep going after the first practice, but that was the day she got her braces on (she's all good now), and then they had to run the mile w/o any training. her friends pushed her to keep going and with her first meet yesterday, i am happy to report she's decided this is fun. not the 800, but she loves sprinting and was pleasantly surprised that she cleared the high jump 2 out of 3 times. she's decided she like the high jump, it's the coolest feeling to jump sideways she said. i'm just really proud of her. i went to the first day of volleyball practice in middle school and never went back, i regret it. it's taken me many years to find any sort of enjoyment in exercise. i think she'll reap the benefits much earlier and hopefully maintain them all her life.



i feel like i've been focusing on annie a lot lately, but here's a little update on my boy. he tried out for the 5th grade musical and got the part of king george III. the perfect roll for him, he's in charge, even if no one is listening to him. he had his first practice yesterday and he reports that it went very well. i am really proud of him for trying out, he was going to just settle for backstage hand, which is very much like what his mom would do. but to see the spark in his eye as he was telling me all about the practice and how much fun it was to almost shout out the part, i saw a little bit of what might be his future. he's such a ham, i think he'd love the theater, just like my dad. so i don't have a picture of him yet as king george, but i had to include one of the inspiration. ethan commented that he loved the chair kind george gets to sit in :) i asked if it was a throne. no, he replied, it's an executive chair. this kid can always make me laugh.