Hit-A-Thon

Our Youth Baseball League recently sponsored a Hit-A-Thon Fundraising Tournament. Ella, and her cousins, Abby and Zach participated in the event. It was such a fun day at the ball park and a really nice way to raise money for the league. I hate trying to sell pizzas, subs or candy bars. This was a far better idea. I love the idea that the kids were out exercising!

Here is Abby taking a swing.

The Harrisburg Keys, our local minor league team, sent their mascot to help get the kids excited.

Uncle Mark gives Ella some last minute pointers before it is her turn at bat. She raised enough funds to get 10 hits.


A little help from one of the organizers.

And she gets a hit.

In fact she got several hits.

One landed on the #9 circle which was worth a $50 prize!

This is my nephew Zach helping to field balls.

He batted earlier in the day. While Ella was the biggest winner of the day in our family, all of the kids received some great small prizes, like free meals at local restaurants, free ice cream cone coupons and discounts at local retailers.

Zach and Ella did very well in the speed pitch competitions. Each holding the best speed for their age group for part of the day.

Ella had a great time at the Hit-A-Thon, but I think she had a better time baby sitting her youngest cousin, Mya. My how Mya has grown!

She is six months old now and she spent her first weekend away from home while Mom and Dad went to celebrate their anniversary.

We had a great time with her. Ella is so ready to be a big sister.

Thank you Mya for letting us practice bottles and diaper with you.

Before we know it you will be running bases on the ball field.

Sibling Class (by Marley)

Hi, it's me, Marley. I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I would blog about my sibling class I went to today.

This morning, Ella and I found dolls to change diapers on and were clueless about what was coming but had many thoughts and questins. So off we went.
When we first got there we got our pictures taken to put on the wall and when "Be Be" comes we will take them off the wall and put them in "Be Be 's" bassinet. Then we looked at pictures of a baby inside a mom's stomach. Next we looked at slides of babys. Then we ate a snack.


After snack we watched a movie about if you get jealous of the baby. Next we colored pictures and got our fingerprints taken. After that we practiced holding the baby. We changed diapers. Next we went out in the hallway and around the hospital and saw the whirlpool and the room where mom will have the baby. Then we saw a real baby. It was a girl with red hair. She was sooooooo cute. And sibling class is soooooo fun!

Bye.

T-Ball (Ella's first post)

This is me playing in my third T-Ball game on Friday night.

I am the first batter for my team the Phillies.

Here comes the ball!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on baby! I am running home!!! Score one for the team!

This time I played second base. And I am watching you, Pirates. This is all game! Get it on! I am ready for you.
This is my first time on a t-ball team. I like it much more than I did playing soccer. I am going to keep playing softball until I am in high school and maybe even the Olympics!

Baby Shower

I know there are some people who believe every baby deserves a shower. I was not one of them. I had a shower thrown for me when I was pregnant with Marley and it was very much needed. We had nothing. I did not have one when I was expecting Ella just 24 months later. I did not feel I needed one because I had everything already. I didn't think I missed anything by not having had another shower. Now I have changed my thinking a little.

When we made the announcement that we were expecting again after seven years, my mom and sister knew that this baby needed a shower. We had gotten rid of almost everything. I wasn't sure how I felt about asking friends and family to shower us again. But now, I am so grateful that my mom and sister were willing to go to a great amount of effort again for us. Showers are not just about receiving gifts, they also are a wonderful way to celebrate the joy of pregnancy and the true blessing every new child is. The party was just what I needed to get excited and ready to welcome my new baby.

Only this time the shower wasn't planned for ME, the expectant mother. It was for my two daughters, the expectant big sisters. Mom and Kim had the idea to have the shower for Marley and Ella and invite their little friends to come out and help us celebrate the coming of "BeeBee". Of course, I was invited to join in the fun. But all the arrangements were made with my daughters in mind. We had a menu which included PB&J sandwiches, juice boxes and cupcakes.

Kim even made t-shirts for the girls that read "Bee Bee's Big Sister". The Bee's are actually Bee Clip Art.

Marley is opening a package containing scrapbook stuff. She has taken up this new hobby and has many ideas for creating a book for her new sibling. She is just waiting to see if she needs to use the blue paper or the pink.

Betsy made us this diaper cake.

I think this is awesome, especially considering it was her first try and she had never actually seen one in person. I was telling her how I have given a few as gifts recently and she thought I might enjoy receiving one. She was so right.

Ella on stage opening the gifts. She is in her glory when she can be on center stage. She was such a riot each time she opened more diapers!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got a lot of diapers and the girls were surprised to learn that we are going to need to use every single one.

Marley is getting some assistance in opening gifts from her young friends.

I wish I had better pictures. But we were so busy socializing, not many were taken. It was so wonderful to have all our family and friends come out and support us. The girls just loved having their friends included and having the party thrown for them.

Now that we have all this great new stuff in our house, the excitement has mounted around the coming of the baby. We still have about five more weeks to wait which is getting harder each day on the girls. They want the baby NOW so they can actually use this great stuff we have gotten.

Thank you to everyone who participated.

Thank you especially, Mom and Kim, for realizing who much we needed this shower. You both did a marvelous job with the planning. I am sure this is a memory my daughters will cherish for years and years to come.

Math Madness Resuts

This Spring, Marley earned the opportunity to be one of 4 Rolling Acres Elementary 3rd graders to represent her school at the Math Madness Tournament held at York College. The competition places together the top 4 students from each of 20 school districts in three local counties (Adams, York and New Cumberland). The tournament was held on April 22nd.

Rolling Acres Elementary Team- "The Math Monsters" are seen here completing one of the team rounds in the tournament.

Our former assistant principal, Mr. Rudisill is now the principal at a competing school. He stopped by our table to talk smack with the Rolling Acres team and their coach, Mrs. Reiter.

Here is Marley concentrating really hard during one of the individual rounds.

Marley double checks her team's work before submitting their final problem of the day. The rest of the team watches the time clock count down.

Following a performance by the York College Basketball team, the top three Math teams and the top 10 individuals were recognized during the closing ceremony. Marley is seen here with her 7th place finish in the individual category. Beside her is her teammate, Brandon with an 8th place finish. The basketball team was very fun and supportive of the students team efforts as well as explaining the importance of Math in our everyday lives. The college students made big impressions on the third graders who eagerly collected autographs during the closing ceremony.

7th place!

7 out of 80 of the top kids in three counties!

This is so awesome.

Our principal, Mr. Ott was very proud to have two students from his school in the top 10.

We later learned that the Math Monsters team placed 4th in the overall team competition. While fourth place does not earn a trophy, it does make a lot of parents, teachers and administrators very proud!

Great job Brandon, Brigid, Marley and Paige.

I love how this last photo of the day captures the fact that the kids had fun participating in this academic competition.

I was so proud just to have my kid in the room.

To have earned her way to the competition meant she was one of the best in the tri-county area.

That alone made me proud.

Bringing home a ribbon was just icing on the cake.

Yeah! MARLEY you are awesome!

The Tooth Fairy Visits

I was beginning to think my baby girl was never going to loose her baby teeth. It seemed Ella was the last child in first grade who still had not gotten a visit from the tooth fairy. She was a late bloomer in getting her teeth as an infant. She was 10 months old before the first one popped through. It wasn't too surprising when all her classmates started getting wiggly teeth and she didn't. More than a year ago, her cousin Abby, who is only 4 months her elder, started dropping teeth by the handful. Ella has anxiously been awaiting this passage into childhood every since. But month after month, there has been nothing to report.

Then in January at our dental check up the dentist informed us that Ella did indeed have two wiggly teeth on the bottom row! Ella was so excited and has been working at getting those teeth loose every since. It has been a very slow going process, but it finally happened. On Wednesday, April 1st (no foolin') the first one popped out. Literally, it just popped out when she was taking off her shirt to get into the shower. It fell right into her hand. The tooth was so ready to come out that it hardly bled at all. Something I was grateful for since the site of blood when Marley lost her first tooth sent her into memorable hysteria.


Ella couldn't wait to share her news. She immediately started making phone calls to tell everyone who would listen. The cutest phone call was to her cousin Abby who shared equally in her excitement. Abby had been worried that Ella would loose her teeth while we were on our Disney vacation the prior week. She was worried the tooth fairy would not find us in Florida. Ella just couldn't wait to show Abby the hole in her mouth the next day when she got to school.


But first she placed the tiny little tooth in her adorable little tooth fairy pillow. The pillow has been in her dresser drawer for the best part of two years just waiting for this opportunity to arrive. The next morning Ella was delighted to find that the fairy came, took her tooth and left her a little money in return.

And then, just six days later, the second one fell out. It had been hanging by a thread for about two days. Ray and I had both done our best to encourage Ella to pull it out. She refused. Last night we were at McDonald's eating dinner while I watched her having great difficulty chewing her food because of the tooth. As she finished her meal and threw away her trash, again I encouraged her to pull it. Again. she refused saying, "I don't want it to come out until it is ready." As I tried to grab it in protest, she put her hand to her mouth to block me and WHAM! The tooth fell right to the floor! Apparently, it was ready!

On April 7th, the tooth fairy made a return trip to our house.

I just love Ella's new smile. Class pictures will be taken at school in two weeks. Finally, her smile will fit right in with the rest of her classmates.

First Borough Council Meeting

Marley attended her first borough council meeting this week. This might seem like a strange activity for an eight year old to participate in but I assure you she had good reason for being there. A decision by our borough manager had upset more than a few people in our little town, including both of my daughters. Our favorite school crossing guard was ordered to stop wearing his silly hats while on duty; something he has been doing for 15 years! The girls and their classmates have long enjoyed being greeted by this awesome crossing guard.

With some encouragement from our family friend and political advisor, Deb, Marley began circulating a petition asking for the crossing guard to be able to wear his hats again. Deb was able to persuade a few other school students to do the same. Marley and the other students went to the borough council meeting under Deb's supervision and presented their petitions.

Turns out a nice crowd of people had come out to support the crossing guard and the borough managers decision was easily over-turned by the council members. But not before Marley had a chance to stand up and present her petition. Her first political stand!

She came home very excited and feeling like she had made a difference in her community. She was also excited because she had been photographed several times by local media.

We anxiously waited for the papers to come out the next day. The Gettysburg Times morning paper had a big story on the front page, but no picture. The Evening Sun also had a front page story

http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_11776599?IADID=Search-www.eveningsun.com-www.eveningsun.com


with this photo:



Marley is sitting between Paris (the girl with the blue headband) and Deb (lady beside guy in mushroom hat). You can almost see the back of Marley's hair and her hand holding the agenda. What a horrible disappointment for Marley. This same picture was on WGAL channel 8 evening news.


The nerve of these people to block her from being viewed by the masses!
While she was disappointed to not be "famous" from her little adventure, I do think she gained a great deal from her experience. She is such a motivated little thinker. I am proud of her for having the courage to take a stand. I am not sure I would have been able to do that at eight years old. But I assure you, this kid has confidence.


Stay tuned for more news from Marley. She is currently on the first place team for the third grade Math Masters contest. If her team of four students wins this contest they will go on to compete against other schools in our area. We should find out tomorrow if she won.

YOU GO GIRL!