April was very busy with soccer, field trips, Easter, and several birthday parties. Here’s the recap:
The month started off with the next phase of construction around our neighborhood. The city decided to route traffic not just through our neighborhood but down our specific street. I was pretty irritated, to put it mildly ;) Our street had an absurd amount of traffic for the next 6 weeks, especially during the morning and evening commutes.
Abigail read a book to Willow as part of her homework for the week :)
Mrs. Pride’s class had a mystery reader on April 2nd, and it was the principal, Mr. Wilson!
Abigail and her classmates went on a field trip to Burritt on the Mountain on April 3rd. They enjoyed petting farm animals and learning about what life was like in the 1800s. I wasn’t picked as a chaperone for this field trip, which was sad since Brooklyn and Savannah didn’t go to Burritt on the Mountain when they were in 1st grade. Abigail said she had a lot of fun though and was excited to tell me several things she learned!
Sisters battling it out at soccer practice that night…
“Hey, what’s for dinner?”
Travis and Matt ran the Oak Barrel Half Marathon on April 5th in Lynchburg, TN. He said it was a tough race because it was so warm and humid, unusually so for this early in April. He said he actually had to stop and walk several times, which is pretty much unheard of for him. I was proud of him for finishing even if it wasn’t his best time!
I took the girls to Brooklyn and Savannah’s game at 8:30 am at Palmer 7 while Travis was off running. Abigail was happy to play with Mia and another little girl while the game was going on. The team they were playing this morning was definitely better competition than last Saturday’s. The Dragons pulled out the win 5-3 though! 5 different girls scored a goal this week, including Brooklyn, Savannah, AND Gabriella. Pretty cool! Brooklyn scored on a left footed kick, and Savannah’s went right through the goalie’s legs. Brooklyn plays center defense a lot, and when she sat out in the 2nd quarter, it made me excited and a little nervous that Coach Theresa put Savannah back there in Brooklyn’s spot! I think that shows that she trusts Savannah a lot already! Savannah did great and they didn’t allow any goals that quarter. Savannah is still trying to figure out where she needs to be on the field when she plays left midfield, but I think she’ll get there. It was a fun and exciting game!
We were able to go home and rest, do some painting, and eat an early lunch after that before heading to Abigail’s game at 12:30 at Dublin 4.
Travis met us there at the game after he came straight from the race. I didn’t keep score in Abigail’s game, but the other team scored a lot of goals, and I think Abigail’s team only scored one or two. They are still a little discombobulated to start out the season. The fields have been closed every Monday when they practice since the season started (just bad luck…it’s always wet on Mondays I guess), and she had several teammates who either showed up late or without all the gear they need. Hopefully they will work the kinks out as the season goes on. Abigail still had fun, and that’s what’s most important!
That afternoon, I took Abigail to Urban Air for a birthday party for a friend from school named Evelyn. This was Abigail’s first time there, and she had fun!
That evening, Savannah was wiggling a loose tooth and it just came right out in her hand. It’s the other baby tooth that doesn’t have a permanent tooth behind it. We will be doing braces at some point in her future to shift her teeth around, but for now she has some pretty big gaps in front with no teeth to fill them. I love her beautiful smile even with the gaps though! 😊
Savannah was big into making her own arcade games this month. I loved the basketball goal that she made!
Abigail was chosen as a house point winner this month at school and was very excited!
Savannah and I went to Montgomery on April 11th on the 4th grade field trip. Two years ago, Brooklyn unfortunately missed this field trip due to a wedding we were attending, so this was my first time to go on this field trip too. Savannah was very excited, especially about getting to ride a charter bus! We had to be at the school at 5 am and had a very full itinerary once we arrived in Montgomery. Savannah sat with her friends, Lillian and Rose, in the back of the bus on the way down there, and I sat by myself further up front. It worked out well because I was able to get a lot of stuff cut out for the preschool bible class I was teaching.
Once we got into town, a tour guide hopped on and started telling us about a lot of the history of the town and buildings we were passing. We got on and off the bus several times to take pictures and so he could tell us more about what we were seeing. We saw the Governor’s mansion, judicial building, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church (where MLK Jr. preached) and several other buildings before going inside the Archives and History museum for a tour. That was one place that Brooklyn and I visited 2 summers ago when we went with Caitlyn and Nathan, and it’s a really well done museum. I wished we had more time to look at everything at the museum because there are so many neat artifacts.
After that we visited Old Alabama Town, which has a bunch of buildings that are meant to show what life was like in “old Alabama.” We visited a blacksmith, seamstress, an old cotton gin, a print shop, and a pharmacy where re-enactors showed us what life would have been like back then.
After that we had a quick lunch in a nearby park (boxed Chick-fil-a sandwiches, chips, and a giant cookie) before loading the bus again to go to the Capitol. Our tour guide showed us around and told us lots of facts in each room we went in. It was obvious that he loved his job because he told us way more information than we could ever absorb…haha.
Our final stop was the Montgomery Zoo. We had a little less than 2 hours there, which was long enough to ride the train and see a few animals (flamingos, clouded leopard, jaguar, lemurs, macaw, a super cute pygmy hippo mom and baby, etc. We walked past the playground and the girls asked to play for a few minutes. Savannah was glad to be able to spend some time with Gabriella there since she was in another group for all of the other activities. We finished up at the gift shop where Savannah picked out a couple of cute little stuffed animals. Savannah sat with her friends again on the bus ride home, and I sat with Lillian’s mom, Jessica. We talked the whole way home, and the ride went by quickly. We had good weather today and it was a long but fun day! We were definitely tired by the time we got home around 7:30 pm. Savannah said she enjoyed the field trip “except for the history part”…haha. It was still a fun time!
Meanwhile, while Savannah and I were gone on the field trip, Travis got a taste of what it’s like to run around all day as a mom…haha. He went to school in the morning to watch Abigail in her Fairy Tale Readers Theater. Abigail was a narrator in the Three Little Pigs :)
Then later that morning, he was the mystery reader for Abigail’s class and ate lunch with her afterward. She loved having him at school multiple times in the same day.
To top it off, he took Brooklyn and Abigail to The Yard after dinner that night. He texted and said they went out for a “little” dessert, and things escalated quickly…haha. I’m sure the girls were quite pleased!
Kitties were on their best behavior during our busy day, of course!
On April 12th, it worked out nicely that our soccer games didn’t start until later in the morning because it gave Paw and Rae Rae time to meet the kittens first. They had never met Willow and Cassie! The kittens weren’t in a very cuddly mood…they were more interested in playing and checking things out 😉 Brooklyn and Savannah played first at 11:30 am at Palmer 10. The girls knew several players on the other team today, including Brooklyn’s friend Zoey from school. The team they were playing today was probably the best one they’ve played so far this season. The Dragons got out to a 3-0 lead before the other team almost came back to tie it. The Dragons won 3-2. Brooklyn scored a goal in the 2nd quarter when she was playing forward. She kicked it in with her left foot again…it was a nice shot! Savannah scored the team’s 3rd goal in the 3rd quarter! She is definitely fitting right in and is an asset to the team. Both girls sat out in the 4th quarter, which worked out nicely because Travis and Abigail had to leave to get to her game at 1 pm at Dublin 4.
We got there a few minutes after Abigail’s game started, and Allison had already scored a few goals for the Berries. It was back and forth the whole game. Abigail scored a goal in the 4th quarter and scored another one that didn’t count because the whistle blew right before she kicked it in. I think the Berries lost 7-8, but it was definitely their closest game of the season. The girls were happy that Paw and Rae Rae came today, as well as Mr. Mike, Mrs. Angie, and their new puppy Winston. He’s a cutie!
On April 13th, the kids in Savannah’s bible class had the opportunity to teach a lesson to the other kids. Savannah talked about “the difference one person can make” and used examples from the book of Acts. We were proud of her for being brave and doing that!
Brooklyn and Savannah both tried out for the 12U girls tournament team that was forming to play in the AYSO Section 5 games in June, and both made the team!
Travis took Savannah and Abigail to the All Pro Dads meeting on April 14th…
Savannah came home sick from school on Tuesday, April 15th, running a fever. She stayed home Wednesday but seemed better, so she went back to school Thursday and Friday before coming home sick again with another fever Friday afternoon. Kitten snuggles helped her feel a little better, at least :)
Savannah had to miss out on the soccer game Saturday morning (April 19th) at 8:30 at Palmer 7, which she wasn’t happy about. I took her to watch the first quarter of the game from the car before we headed to the doctor to get her checked out. It turned out that she tested positive for strep, so I was glad we went and were able to get an antibiotic. The Dragons were playing Coach Brian’s team, so we figured it would be a close game. Brooklyn scored a left footed goal in the first quarter before we had to leave. Her team was winning 1-0 at halftime, but ended up giving up 5 goals in the second half and losing 2-5. Travis said it looked like they just ran out of steam. I think they were probably missing Savannah’s good defense too!
Abigail played her game at 10:15 at Dublin 4. Travis took her to it, and Phil and Gena came to watch. Gena texted me pictures and updates during the game. Abigail scored 2 goals very close together and was excited about that. Travis thought it was probably the Berries’ best game of the season so far. It ended up in a tie or very close to it.
I took Abigail to Phoebe’s birthday party at Altitude that afternoon. Phoebe was one of Abigail’s friends from her kindergarten class. Abigail had fun jumping and running around with several friends, including another kindergarten friend, Isla.
Easter was on April 20th this year, and the kittens were just as curious about what was in the Easter baskets as the girls were :)
Normally, we eat lunch at Cici’s and have an egg hunt afterward with the cousins on Easter, but with Savannah being sick, we had to postpone that to the following weekend. We did still have an egg hunt at home though! I decided to put “coupons” in the eggs instead of candy this time, and the girls were excited once they discovered that!
Cassie and Willow are the sweetest!
This month, I volunteered at a Ready Tech Go event hosted by the Mill Creek PTA at school. I helped pick out and order a bunch of raffle prizes that families could win by attending and participating in the presentation. I also helped serve dessert during the event. I enjoyed volunteering with some of my PTA friends and being part of helping families consider how they can use technology wisely with their kids.
Savannah was still running a fever by Monday night (April 21), so I took her back to the doctor on Tuesday. This time, they did some bloodwork and a respiratory panel. Turns out Savannah ALSO had rhinoenterovirus and mycoplasma pneumoniae in addition to strep. No wonder it was taking her so long to feel better. Dr. Dudley ended up switching her to a different antibiotic that would treat the mycoplasma AND strep, and she was feeling a lot better by Wednesday night. Whew!
I bought this large version of Connect 4, and the girls had fun trying it out.
So thankful that Savannah was back at school on April 24th and still feeling good afterward!
I was happy to get to go on Abigail’s field trip to the Botanical Gardens on April 25th. All of my girls went there on 1st grade field trips if I remember correctly. It rained off and on while we were there, but we didn’t get too wet. We did a habitat program for a couple of hours in the morning before lunch. A guide led us around the garden and the kids had clipboards where they could check off different habitats that we saw. They got to dig in the mud for worms and explore a lot of different areas, looking at different plants and trees. There were so many beautiful flowers there! They did a special hands-on activity about birds and what types of food they eat based on the shape on their beaks. Chopsticks, water droppers, spoons, etc. all simulated different bird beaks, and the kids were supposed to try to pick up the different foods with them. I thought that was a neat idea. The other really neat thing from today was exploring a new exhibit called Mama Zelda’s Hair. It was a maze made of tree branches….it was super cool! I can’t imagine how long it took them to make it. After lunch, we went to the butterfly house and then it really started raining hard. We ended up having to end a little early because there were storms headed our way, so we didn’t have time to do much free play, but that’s okay. The kids had a great time!
The girls’ soccer games were cancelled on April 26th because of the wet fields, so we had a less busy Saturday than normal. Travis and Abigail had team pictures in the morning at Bob Jones High School. The soccer league used a new photographer this time, who merged everyone’s individual pictures for a “team” picture. It was a combination of the fake-looking mash-up and the fact that only 3 girls from the team showed up, but I think this was one of the worst team photos we’ve ever had…haha. Definitely not worth paying for!
I also took Abigail to Hannah’s birthday party at Sunshine Oaks playground in the afternoon. It was a beautiful afternoon, and Abigail had fun!
The cousins had their belated egg hunt at Cici’s on April 27th :) The kids all hunted for a different color, and that worked well.
We also celebrated Savannah’s birthday a couple of days early. Hard to believe she was turning TEN!
We checked out the construction progress on our walk home from school on April 28th. It was neat to see how much they’d done over the last few weeks.
Not to steal the spotlight, but Abigail lost a tooth on her sister’s birthday :)
Savannah was happy to have me come for lunch on her birthday (with a donut in hand). We also celebrated as a family after dinner with cupcakes and time for her to open some gifts.
Super impressed with this girl who taught herself how to WHISTLE! :) She and her daddy are the only ones in our family who can.
April Notes and Quotes
- 4/8/25 – Tonight after soccer practice, we were walking back to the car, and Brooklyn said, “Maybe it is good to have my sister on the team. I can know what she’s going to do before she even does it.” 😊 I knew they’d have some sisterly intuition on the field together! It has been so fun to watch them out there together so far this season.
Thanks for reading! :)
