Hailey Wins Softball Championship and Has Her First Sleepover

Hailey had her last softball game a week ago which culminated in her team being co-champs of the 2nd/3rd Grade Machine Pitch Girls Softball League for our town. In fact, tonight was the ceremony where they honored the girls at the high school varsity softball field. 

Hailey really improved this year. Her hitting with machine pitch was spot on - often going 4 for 5 or 5 for 5 from the plate. She made a couple of plays in the field too and learned a ton with a great mix of 2nd and 3rd grade girls from her school. She had a lot of fun - especially with the chants that ended in..."hit it hard, hit it far, hit the other coach's car!" We're glad she had such a great season with great coaches and teammates. It will only make her want to sign up again next year. 

So at the end of the last game, we were invited to our friend's house (also one of Hailey's teammates and friends) for dinner and drinks. The girls played and ate, and convinced us since it was so late that they should have a sleepover. We agreed and the girls were ecstatic and thus had their first sleepover experience. 

Since it was already late, they didn't stay up too much longer but Hailey promptly woke her friend Lexie up early the next morning (Lexie is a sleeper, Hailey is not). The girls played with Lexie's cats and then had a big breakfast of Nutella pancakes. Hailey loves Nutella so she was in Heaven. She had a great first sleepover experience and we are already planning to potentially send them away together to sleep away camp next summer. Fingers crossed! (Hope it doesn't turn out like Peyton's camp experience though otherwise she'll never go away again including to sleepovers!) 

The Win!

Hailey and Lexie Excited for 1st Sleepover

The Next Morning!

Father's Day 2022

Every Father's Day, Tom's wish is to head to Michigan for the weekend. So after a Friday night softball game (Hailey) and swim practice (Peyton), we drove to Michigan with my Dad for the weekend to celebrate. 

It was a pretty low key weekend with Sadie still recovering, but getting stronger every day. And, after a week of high temperatures it cooled off so the beach wasn't in the cards on Saturday. Instead, we lounged around in the morning, did some work, played Bocce ball, ate a big breakfast and then played some mini golf. Tom had planned for a big dinner that night with some Hawaiian pork on the smoker. We played some games, caught up and just relaxed. 

Sunday, the guys all got up early to play golf while us girls tidied up and kept Sadie company before heading to the beach where the guys met up with us. After a few hours, we headed in to clean up and get ready for an early dinner out with live music in the beer garden at The Lodge. We then finished up the evening with a trip to the South Haven Creamery. 

We were back home in Illinois before dusk on Sunday to get ready for another busy week but it was nice to get away and relax and celebrate the Dads for the weekend!

Mini golf

Real golf - Austen driving

Sadie relaxing with her treat filled with peanut butter

Papa at the beach 

Sadie Undergoes Bilateral Knee Surgery

Lots of love and outside time

A little over three weeks ago, Sadie underwent double bilateral knee surgery for two torn ACLs. This was her last shot at something that would potentially give her a chance at actually being able to get up again on her own. I had to at least give her that - she deserved to be able to get up and get a simple drink of water instead of one of us having to bring it to her or being able to go greet someone at the door when she hears someone come over. 

She went in early on a Friday morning and didn't come home until Wednesday evening.  They kept her longer due to her size (125 lbs) and because she just wouldn't stand at all which would make it very hard for us to get her in and out of the house. Well, when we picked her up, it still took all of our strength to support her. In fact, it took two of us to get her out of the house even (Tom came home from work so we could take her out midday the first two days). My muscles ached. It was exhausting and a full time job. Ice her, give her medication, do her exercises, take her out, repeat. Then, she started peeing uncontrollably. Because we had to support her so much, her harness was cutting off her bladder so she wasn't fully going to the bathroom when we took her out. So add to my list as her 24 hour skilled provider, changing pee pads and cleaning her up and bathing her all the time and I was just spent. We moved her down to our basement to get her in and out easier. And for more than three weeks, one of us has slept down there with her so she wouldn't be three flights down from us all by herself. 

After about a week of the peeing, she finally got stronger and Tom figured out how to support her at the top to allow her to fully release so we haven't had any accidents in over a week. That was a game changer. She's started to walk a bit on her own too and my muscles aren't exhausted and screaming, especially when I pick up my weights at Barre class. 

Sadie's incisions have healed nicely. The swelling in her knees and hocks have subsided. She's not painful. her medications have decreased drastically and she looks good and is getting stronger. She has been receiving acupuncture since we brought her home and starts laser and water therapy tomorrow so just like a human, I have to add into my summer schedule as my kids' Uber, my dog's therapy appointments twice a week (one which is in Buffalo Grove - 45 minutes away). 

It has been exhausting - physically, mentally and emotionally. So exhausting that everything that I didn't have to do got put on the back burner. 

Did I make the right decision? I'm not sure. Has it been a hell of a lot of work. It has. Just praying now that I made the right choice for her and that all of this work, time and money has been for something. We love this dog. But this is it. This is all we got. Fingers crossed. 

Icing in Michigan 

More ice in the basement with a garbage bag over her bed and a pee pad

Last Day of 9th, 6th and 2nd Grades

Hailey at the Dash

Wow, that year went by in the blink of an eye. Last week, the kids all finished up their respective school years and I finished up making lunches every day until August rolls around (September for Austen this coming school year due to construction). 

Hailey had a great year with a teacher (who was out with a broken leg for two months), but who really improved Hailey's handwriting and made her afraid to get her name in the warning box. Mrs. Nolin was the 2nd grade teacher for all three of our kids and we will certainly miss her. But, Hailey is looking forward to 3rd grade and possibly getting the only male teacher in the whole school or the really nice, young one. There's another who shall remain nameless that we aren't as excited about getting but she'll definitely have her for at least math. At any rate, she ended 2nd grade with a field day and a special school dash followed by a fun lunch with all the 2nd grade girls at the park. 

Peyton had a great transition to 6th grade from elementary school and did really, really well in school. I was proud of her for managing all of her different classes and assignments on her own with zero oversight from me. She was tenacious about doing her homework right after she had her snack every day and would study for tests on her own too. She really owned it. She's still figuring out the friendships though and gravitating to some familiar friends from her old school (as three schools joined one). She's got lots of time to figure that out with two more years of middle school. She's looking forward to summer and seeing her friends from swim (who go to different schools) more too. 

Austen completed his freshman year of high school and also made a smooth transition into a very competitive high school (ranked in the top 10 in Illinois and 244 in the nation). These kids have so much pressure to be good at everything and to be in the honors classes. That's what they talk about - how many honors classes they are taking. So strange and competitive and kind of crazy for kids this age. His grades have been excellent carrying just two honors classes (physics and geometry) but next year he moves to three classes with pre-engineering and no study hall. He's definitely driving those decisions regarding honors or non-honors with his counselor and teachers. I really don't need to say much to him or be on him for studying or assignments. He does it all without my follow up. Sports were great for him this year too playing soccer and baseball for his high school. They definitely helped with the transition and getting to know even more kids in such a large high school. 

It was a good year and one that started out with masks due to COVID but we remained in school the whole year and went mask free just before spring break. 

Everyone is looking forward to summer and not having to study or do too much work!

Last day of 9th grade

Last day of 2nd grade

Last day of 6th grade with a dose of attitude