The kids had their last day of school on Thursday May 23rd. They both had very busy and successful school years.
Paige made almost all A's all year. Her last report card had math at an 89%, so almost all A's overall. She completed some projects for an economics lesson, did lots of reading, and made lots of new friends. We could not have been happier with her schoolyear. I took a picture of her with her reading award out front.
Connor had a busy year. Middle school was a huge adjustment for him and we had lots of studying and projects. He learned to be more self sufficient with his projects and towards the end of the year he really seemed to be getting it and was working more independently. We haven't gotten his official report card yet, but I think he got all A's the last quarter.
Andrea was diagnosed with Stage 1 IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma) Breast Cancer yesterday.
This news is not what we ever wanted to receive or share, but this cancer is something that will define our year and and is something that Andrea is going to be fighting for some time. We've known for the last 5 years that Andrea had an elevated risk for breast cancer when she did genetic testing that showed she had the BRCA2 gene. Andrea had prophylactic surgery to remove her Fallopian tubes and later her ovaries, which reduced her risk of breast cancer. We actually had been talking just the last couple of weeks as she's been considering a prophylactic mastectomy. That surgery is no longer optional and we have been discussing surgeons and dates for this summer. We don't know everything about the cancer yet, only that it is was fairly localized in her left breast. The small calcifications (0.2cm) were observed during her annual mammogram and all were removed Tuesday during the biopsy. It's unclear if the cancer has moved beyond her breast tissue, we won't know that until after the surgery. We also don't know the hormone receptor status for the cancer, so unclear whether chemo or radiation will be necessary.
Thank you to our friends and family that have already given us love, support, and help through the last week. We love Andrea so much and we are going to take really good care of her, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
Paige has been keeping up on her gymnastics all year and has been going for two hours every Wednesday for quite some time. Her gym put on a Spring Fling and we signed Paige up to participate. It was a time for the kids to show some of the different skills they've been working on, and a time for the parents and families to get a good view of the action. Typically, during the week, you can barely see anything in the gym through the window in the waiting room, so it was nice to be up close and see everything.
Paige was actually super nervous about the whole thing. The night before, she got a little emotional about it and said she didn't want to do it. On Saturday morning, we talked to her about why she was nervous and she was feeling much better.
After we arrived, we got some seats and the girls started with a warm-up and stretching, and then all the kids broke up in to small groups and rotated through five stations.
Paige's group did the balance beam, the floor, the tumble track, the vault and ended on the bars.
The kids weren't competing against each other, they were working to get a blue ribbon for each category. Paige got all blue ribbons!
Connor snapped a pic of us with Paige and we got a pic of Paige with her coach and Connor too.
Connor was super cute about Paige and the entire event. I kind of wondered if he would even pay attention much, but he was very present and interested. Before Paige's first event he told us he wanted to go to the bathroom and hide because he was so nervous for Paige he could barely watch. Afterwards, we went to Barbara Jeans for lunch and Connor was talking to Paige about the different girls in her group and he remembered almost all of their names and was talking in detail about how each one did at each station. Paige is lucky to have such a sweet and supportive brother.
We are so proud of you Paige! Keep up the great work!
On Friday, Paige had her end of the school year party. They had all kinds of indoor and outdoor games and activities. Andrea stopped by and helped out and took some pics of Paige with her friends.
On Sunday, after Andrea returned from her Amelia Island, we celebrated Mother's Day. Paige made Mommy a cute purple ceramic bowl at school as well as a card. Connor made Mommy a card, and I got her a card, a new travel purse, and an engraved Yeti cup. We all went to the store in the morning and each of us picked out a bouquet of flowers and I worked with them to cut the flowers and put them in vases. It turned out pretty cute, and we were all happy to have Mommy home since we've been missing her since Sunday.
We had lunch at Cantina Laredo, like we love to do most Sundays, and it was a little crowded for Mother's Day so we sat in a different area, which was nice for a change.
Andrea went to Amelia Island on Thursday, May 9th to play tennis with her JCP friends and to hang out with them for the weekend. On Thursday afternoon they played tennis, then went back to the house they were renting for the evening. On Friday and Saturday morning they had clinics, then in the afternoons they relaxed at the pool. They requested Sal and Luis and the pros did a good job making the tennis fun.
Andrea's out of town with her tennis friends, so I had the kids to myself for the weekend. On Saturday Paige was playing Roblox with her friend Emily and they wanted to get together, so after I got done with my morning tennis we picked Emily up and went to lunch at Trasca. It was fun to chat with Emily and get to know another one of Paige's friends over lunch. We got some spaghetti and pizza and the kids enjoyed mixing all the different soda flavors together.
After lunch we went back to the house and the girls swam. Connor invited Quinn over and they played basketball for a bit and the girls jumped in and played with them too.
We had to take Quinn home by 5, so after we dropped him off we went by Whits for some frozen custard before taking Emily home. She was a good friend with Paige and polite too, she said thank you for lunch and for the ice cream.
Once the kids were home with me we got some things together to celebrate Mother's Day on Sunday and then we setup the tent for a campout in the lanai. We'd tried it a couple years ago when Mommy was at another tennis weekend with friends and Paige has been really keen to try it again (http://www.vernonvolumes.com/2017/05/daddy-and-kids-while-mommy-is-away.html). Last time we got rained out, so this time we set up the tent in the lanai under the covered area.
We set up the tent, blew up the air mattress, and got our pillows and a night light all setup, then we crowded in the tiny tent together. It was super hot at first and we had one of our most powerful fans blowing on us, but we were not very comfortable. We read a chapter out of one of Paige's books, then we all fell asleep. Around midnight Connor woke up and was hot and uncomfortable so he went in to his bed. I woke up a few hundred times from the weird animal noises outside, from Paige rolling around and kicking me, and from being too hot at first and then around 2am being too cold. I'd thought about going in around 3am, but Paige was sound asleep and I didn't want to leave her out in the tent alone, so I stayed out until she woke up around 7:15. Paige enjoyed it and I'm glad we were able to accomplish our campout this time around.
