Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Most Improved!

Last night was Ivan's swim team banquet.  He was named the Most Improved 7-8 boy for this season!  All of that hard work he put in paid off, and a couple of 1 breathers didn't hurt either.  Way to go son.

edited to add:

August 19, 20012 - Tonight was Ivan's tennis team banquet.  Coach Jim awarded Ivan the "Coaches Award" for the 8U group!  Ivan had an AWESOME attitude win or lose every single match.  He worked really hard this summer on improving his tennis game too, but I think that the good attitude put him on top for this award.

Proud Mom over here.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Quick Takes #4


--- 1 ---
I can not believe that a week from tomorrow, we leave for our annual week at the beach!  This is the big family trip of the year.  My parents, my sister and her family are all there.  It is a week of fun, sun and chaos!  You never come home rested but it is always fun!

--- 2 ---
One week until the 2012 Summer Olympics officially begin!!  Our family is Olympic junkies.  J will watch anything if those 5 rings are involved.  Ivan and I are a little bit more discerning, but not much.  My sister and I swam competitively as kids and teens, so our whole family will be watching the swimming while we are at the beach together.  I can't wait!


--- 3 ---
J will be moving to a new job on Monday.  He is still with the same company, but in a different position.  He will now be a Project Manager as opposed to a People Manager.  The job came with a nice raise and extra bonus opportunity.  J is excited to be in a challenging new role, but I know that he is a bit nervous as well.  Neither of us loves change...at first.  Sadly, J will be travelling on business during the beach trip this year.  With the new job and all the timing is not right for vacation.  

--- 4 ---

We are having a great, but busy summer this year!  Ivan is on the swim team at our local pool, and on the tennis team too.  Those two teams have kept us hopping this summer.  Plus of course he had VBS and a week of basketball camp.  I don't believe in over scheduling Ivan's summer, but these were all things that he wanted to do and has enjoyed them immensely.  Now that we are almost done with swim team (this was our final week) we are really just down to tennis from here on out.  Also, as he gets older I see that he can handle more activities without getting overwhelmed.  

--- 5 ---

We are continuing to "church shop" this summer.  We gave our official resignation at the beginning of summer to our old church.  It's been more difficult than I would have hoped, but in the end it will be worth it because we will be where God wants us to be.

--- 6 ---

Wednesday we celebrated our 7th Family Anniversary Day!  We went to dinner at a local fondue restaurant at Ivan's request and enjoyed being together.  My Mom and Dad gave us a lovely keepsake book with all of the emails and pictures that we sent home while we were in Kazakhstan that summer.  It's a real treasure.

--- 7 ---

J and I have begun to plan our surprise trip to the "Happiest Place on Earth" .  Our code name for the trip is Las Vegas.  We have booked a hotel room and secured park tickets.  Now we are trying to plan for our dinner reservations, so that when we are 180 days out I can call and get our tables reserved.  We are planning to give this to Ivan as a Christmas gift this year.  We will be travelling during his winter break in February.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Swimmer of the Week!

Today Ivan was named as the 7 - 10 year old boy swimmer of the week for our summer swim team!  He works so hard at every practice.  He may never be like Michael Phelps, but he sure tries hard.  The coaches were particularly impressed with how diligent he is about counting his strokes into the wall in backstroke every. single. time.

Way to go son!