2015 BNGSA

Both girls played softball this summer in the Bloomington-Normal Girls Softball Association In Town League.  Shelby played 12U with the team Pick Me Cups and Morgan 10U sponsored by Stolfa's Pizza.  Both teams where pretty much the underdog in their leagues.  But they had fun and made some new friends.
Shelby missed most of the practices due to soccer and other commitments but it didn't take long for her to bond with the team.  Several of them are missing from this team photo and it was at this point that she decided to start playing in pants instead of shorts.

It was pretty chilly the night of Morgan's picture so she had sleeves on.  This girl doesn't show as much emotion as her sister but I think she had fun and made some new friends too.  During one of Shelby's games she hooked up with another younger sister and learned how to pitch- overcoming her hurt feelings and the decision that she wouldn't pitch because everyone laughed at her the first time she tried at practice.

First Game!

 Violinist by day, Ballplayer by night

 Hollywood - 2nd Game (First with team socks)

 both my girls are good shortstops cause they can field ground balls & throw across the field

 first time pitching in a game!

 pitching under the lights

 hitting

 one of Shelby's games under the lights

 Morgan catching!

Shelby Attends Orchestra Camp

School was out for the summer at the end of May, and Shelby started her break with orchestra camp the first week of June.  It may be the last time she touched the violin all summer, but I think she enjoyed it.  They had a small concert at the end of the week.  She is somewhere in the back of all those musicians.

Last Day of 5th & 3rd Grades

As we approach the last week of summer vacation, I thought I better post the last day of school pictures from Shelby's 5th grade year and Morgan's 3rd grade year.  Shelby's last year as an Oakdale Panther in 5B and Morgan in 3W.  Both had a good year despite Shelby hitting the brick wall of "3's a crowd" when it comes to girls being friends.  By the end of the year, I felt like I owed her teacher something for free counseling!  For Morgan, she had some friends in her class but missed her BFF Kate being in her classroom for the first time since they started K at Oakdale.  She ran in to the typical evil side of girls on the playground where it was her only opportunity to spend time with Kate all day.  Thankfully she doesn't get too worked up about stuff like that and she also survived sitting between the same 2 annoying boys in the classroom THE ENTIRE YEAR.  I told her she was taking one for the team!  Oakdale daily provides opportunities to build character traits that will benefit them when dealing with people different from you for the rest of their lives.

 Shelby Last Day of 5th Grade

 Morgan Last Day of 3rd Grade

 Shelby & her BFF Teagan

Oakdale Panthers

Carson, Jackson, Shelby, Teagan, Ella, Alex & Connor

 Teagan & Shelby with their 4th Grade teacher Mrs. Brigham

 Morgan & Mrs. West

 Shelby & Mrs. Brandon

 Morgan & her BFF Kate

 The last day was just a half day for kids so we had lunch at Carl's Ice Cream.  Saw the neighbors the Tidabeck's and Kate and her family came too.

Onward to a busy summer of softball, camps for Shelby and theater!

Morgan's 3rd Grade Chick It Out Experience

The 3rd grade classes in the school district participate in a Chick It Out learning experience where incubators are brought in the classroom with the embryos and they learn about the life cycle of a chicken from the beginning...... not sure if they discuss it all the way to the end!  Each student receives a yellow t-shirt and they all wear them every Wednesday during the program.  History of the project reveals most of the chicks hatch while the students are out of the room.  Not necissarily over night but while at PE, music, art or IMC.  Morgan's class got lucky and were in the room when one hatched.  Morgan was extra lucky to be 1 of a few kids whose turn was to be looking at the eggs in the incubator when this chick hatched.  Every day I got an update about the chicks.  On this particular day she was so excited to tell me just how the chick came out of that egg.  She said, "I will never forget seeing that chick hatch for the rest of my life"!
I asked her teacher to take some pictures for me.

River, Morgan and John

 Morgan and Henry - next door neighbor & classmate

she said its wing was moving

These pictures were taken at the end of the day on the Friday that the program ended.  They stayed a few minutes after school to tell the chicks good-bye.  :(  The only negative comment I ever heard from her was the chicks could get awful noisy in the classroom while they were trying to learn!  Chirp, Chirp!!

Winter Parties 3rd & 5th Grades

 Shelby's class had a snowball fight with cotton balls.  Girls vs boys.  

 Mrs. Brandon & Mrs. Ryan got in on the fun!

 Morgan's class parties always include some crazy experiment.

Christmas Tree Decorating with Nonny Moe

My parents came down this weekend to watch Ashley coach basketball, so we fit in the annual tree decorating before they headed home.  Shelby wanted a new bow for her tree topper this year so I took her last night to pick something out.  She first set her eyes on a bow the color of her room, but decided to stick with the traditional red and white to go with the majority of her ornaments.

She would put an ornament on the tree and then back out to her doorway to see how it looked as you walk in the room.

she stole my scarf

She wondered if her tree could be seen from the street so she put on her rain boots and jacket and went out while it was pouring to see

playing in the puddles

done!

When we met up with the girls after church for us and Sunday School for them, Morgan was crying.  Finally got it out of her that she didn't feel good.  She had a headache and her throat hurt.  So she landed on the couch when we got home and stayed there all afternoon/evening.  She agreed to let my mom decorate it.  

With Thanksgiving this week, hopefully this sickness is short lived and stops at Morgan.  It pretty much came out of nowhere so that makes me nervous.  Last year when Nonny came to do the trees the first weekend in December, she fell on our stairs and needed surgery.  So it has been a few years since we have had a "normal" weekend of tree decorating.  

Shelby's First Orchestra Concert

Shelby had her first Orchestra Concert to show family how much they have learned in about 3 months.  I must admit I was surprised by how much it actually sounded like music!

 Each musician picked a special someone to sit next to them.  The student played the song and then took a few minutes to teach the special someone and then they got a turn to play.  They did a good job too!  The songs started at the beginning with finger plucking and they worked their way up to the bow.

Shelby and Daddy - her special someone

 Daddy's Turn

 Nate's Dad and Martha drove up for the concert.  Papa Russell was a math teacher in his early working days.  He happened to sit next to some random girl doing her homework.  I think he enjoyed helping her just as much if not more than listening to the concert. :)

 teaching the bow

They all did great.  They have 2 more concerts.  March and May.  I can't wait to hear how much they improve.