Summer Tennis Tournaments

 

Addison and I started summer vacation like we spent our entire spring, on the tennis courts!

She got out of school at 11:30 am and by noon we were traveling to Jackson for the Mississippi Qualifiers.  This is the biggest tournament Addison has ever played in.  All the best Mississippi players attend and the top 11 players get chosen to represent Mississippi at Southerns.

 

That's the only pictures I took at Qualifiers!

I guess I was too nervous watching her to take any pictures.

Addison played great tennis and guess what?

She finished high enough to get selected to represent Mississippi at the Southerns tournament!

Way to go Addison!

 

Okay, now here we are in New Orleans for the Southern Tournament (now this is the biggest tournament she has ever done!)

At this tournament Addison played against the top kids in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, etc. 

She was so excited when she checked in for the tournament and they gave her a goody bag with a beach towel, tennis necklace and a ton of candy!  She didn't even care about the tennis after that, she was so excited about the candy!

 

At this tournament the Mississippi kids have coaches that warm them up and watch their matches so it was big time.  Much better than when mommy needs to warm her up.

Here is Addison attacking a forehand.

 

This was our entire Mississippi team! 

Addison is behind the banner, in the white hat third from right.

 

Addison played awesome tennis! 

She is quite tenacious and doesn't give up.  

And look what it got her!

She won the consolation final in her bracket!

She was so ecstatic to win a medal at Southerns!

 

Field Day

 

To wrap up the school year we went to cheer on Addison at 4th Grade field day.

Addison absolutely loved Ms. Alfonso as her 4th grade teacher!

We were so very lucky to have such a passionate and wonderful teacher for Addison.

 

This is Addison with one of her classmates that Addison chose to hold the flag at field day.

Addison was chosen by the music teachers at her school to sing The National Anthem at field day!

This was of course an incredible honor.  

There are over 450 students in the fourth grade and they picked little Miss Addison so we could not have been more proud of her!  

 

Did I mention she would have to sing it acapella?  Into a megaphone???

Holy smokes.  

I do not know where Addison gets her confidence or her beautiful voice (well that is actually from Stephen) but she nailed it.  

I mean, never in a million years would I have been able to do this as a kid, or even as an adult.

All the students, teachers, administration, parents etc and she just marched up there and sang it!

Way to go Addison!

You inspire me with your bravery!

 

Let the fun begin!  I did not get many pictures because I was too busy helping coach the Ms. Alfonso girls team to victory!  I was probably a teensy bit intense but we got a bunch of first places.  Yay!

 

 

Addison also made it through multiple rounds of prelims of all the 4th grade girls to be in the final six girls of the 50 meter dash.  I was at the finish line taking pictures but it was such a close finish they did not announce the winners.  We think she got third  based on where we were standing and Stephen and I were more happy with that result than Addison.  Ha!  Hmm, I do know where she gets her competitive gene from.  

The above picture is actually her running in the mixed relay, they pick the two fastest boys and two fastest girls from each class.  

She is teeny but she is FAST!!

Maycember (warning this is a brag on my kids post)

 

As every mom knows, the only month busier than December for moms, is May, otherwise known as Maycember.  

May=Awards! 

This is Luke and some of his 7th grade classmates that got invited to Awards night!

We were thrilled Luke was receiving awards!

 

Luke and his bestie friend Michael.

 

Luke and his bestie mom, me :) 

 

Luke Michael rocked 7th grade!

Certificate of Excellence in Robotics and A/B Honor Roll.  

Luke got one B+ in math for one semester, but got an A the second semester.  So I asked him,"Don't you think it would have been awesome to study, like I don't know, maybe once this year so you could have been on Principal's List?"  (by moving that B+ to an A)

He responded, "I do not see that worth the effort to get one more certificate."  

Sigh.  

Still proud but sigh.

 

This girl had a big spring and we could not be more proud!

We got an invitation to the School Board meeting in front of all the big wigs, where Amelia would be receiving an award. 

Well, she ended up receiving two much to our surprise and delight!

Here she is being awarded scholar athlete for the Girls Tennis Team for having the highest GPA!

 

 

You amaze us everyday Amelia!

 

And THEN she got called up to receive another award for being in the 

30+ Club because she got a 33 on her ACT!

 

We are loving watching you shine Amelia Grace!

You are going to do big things!

 

This little bit loved winter basketball so much, she signed up for spring basketball as well.  I mean, it's not like we were busy or anything, ha!

We made it work :)

This special night, Addison scored her career high, 8 points!!

 

  

This outtake I had to include...

look at that pink blur coming toward her, that is her brother probably:

a.  trying to scare her

b.  trying to photobomb

c.  most likely both

 

Stephen and I feel very proud and blessed when our kids get academic awards and recognition, it is awesome.  It is truly something special and warms our heart when they receive character awards.  When teachers go out of their way to email us about our kids and the kindness or compassion they showed, it makes me prouder than anything else.  

Luke received an award from his team of teachers called "Right Hand Man"-"For Always being there to help, whenever help is needed."  

Every teacher this year that we corresponded with told us how much they love Luke, what an absolute joy it was to have him in class and what a good kid he is.  I can't tell you how important that is for parents to hear when they have a 13 year old boy, ha!  It seems that maybe he has been listening to us!

Luke also volunteered as a teacher helper during  VBS week, in the first grade class.  This is what the teacher sent me in a text after they worked together...

"Just wanted to tell you what a joy it was to work with Luke in VBS.  Luke is the son everyone wants.  He is bright, personable, friendly, a hard worker.  The kids in class loved him as did Hanna and I.  Luke also socialized and got on stage with the other youth to dance and sing.  We had 4 rowdy, lovable little boys that responded to him better than to me.  I don't know what we would have done without him."

I sobbed when I got that text.  What a beautiful thing to hear about your child.  

As a reminder, sweet Amelia also got a character award this spring from  her tennis coaches for her outstanding attitude and work ethic.  Yay Mimi! 

 

Little Miss here was a standout in the fourth grade.  

She cleaned house at awards day.

The trophy is for Academic Excellence in Accelerated Reading

First place in Fourth Grade

 

She also received awards for:

The highest overall Math grade

The highest overall English/Language Arts grade

Endless Encourager Award:for always encouraging your classmates!

Way to go Addison!  We are loving watching you succeed!  

Addison's teachers would often write us the sweetest emails about Addison throughout the year and we cherished them.  (Especially on those challenging days).

One such email:

"Addison is a dream student and I am going to miss her so much next year...she is definitely my number one sidekick. Thank you for sending a polite, smart, and creative child to my classroom every day.  I always tell her to remember me when she is a famous author one day!"

So sweet and so thankful for all of the awesome teachers that have encouraged Addison to reach for the stars this year!

Tennis Banquet

 

After such a great season of Greyhound tennis, it was time to celebrate the coaches and players at the tennis banquet.  

 

A few of the players got called up by the coaches to receive awards.

Amelia was one of them!

She received the Sportsmanship Award. 

Amelia moved up to Varsity this year and she worked so hard to get there.

While giving her the award, they said the nicest things about Amelia.

They said, "Amelia played EVERY position this year, from girls doubles, girls singles to mixed doubles.   And often she played the other team's hardest player and she never complained no matter where we put her.  She always worked hard and improved so much this year.  She was always a good sport and always doing what they asked. If this is what our future of greyhound tennis is, we are in good hands."  

That brought tears to my eyes. So sweet to have Amelia recognized for all her hard work.

 

We are SO proud of you Amelia!

 

Amelia and Luke with Coach Natalie. 

The coaches also talked about the JV team and really raved about how well they did.  Both coaches separately brought up Luke Boskovich and how he stepped up whenever they needed him at Varsity and how he beat number one Varsity players.  

Way to go Lukey!

 

Our mighty 7th grade Greyhound Tennis players!

 

 

Tennis love!

 

And when your Daddy has to miss the banquet because of work, you bring the banquet to work for him :)