Field Day Fun

On Tuesday, Harrison had Field Day at his school. It was cloudy in the morning, but then it turned sunny for the afternoon activities. It ended up being a perfect day for Field Day because it wasn't too hot or too cold. He got to participate in so many fun activities.

Here he is demonstrating the right way to throw a rubber chicken.

Then came the Moon Walkers relay.

Here he is with his friend, Evan. They are two silly boys!

He did great in the egg relay.

Inflatable fun was next! I don't know where the socks went!!

Going down the smaller slide with his friend, Dylan.

They then got to go into the gym to cool off, get a drink, and do the robot to some cool music. Or was that only my son that did the robot?!?

He and Evan played a game of Scoops together.

I didn't get pictures of the 100 yard dash or sack race, but just know that he finished DEAD LAST!!!! But he pushed through and finished both races which made me very proud. I asked him later if it bothered him that he finished after everybody else, and he said, "No." He is my non-competitive child. All he wants is to have fun while participating with everyone.

T-Ball Party

Harrison has only 1 game left in the T-ball season, so we went ahead and had their Team Party on Wednesday night. It also worked out to have it then since some of us are headed out on vacation next week for Memorial Day. We met the team at a local Wendy's. The staff was super nice and even cheered after the team got their trophies.

Coach Bro was awesome and said some of the best things about each player as he presented their trophy to them. He said that Harrison had a lot of heart and played with a lot of determination.

Proud ballplayer with his trophy

"Look, Caitlin!"

Harrison and his great coach. Coach Bro and his wife, Kim, even made a slideshow of the season's highlights and gave each boy a copy of it. We were very lucky to get on a team with such a wonderful coach!

I'm so proud of you, Harrison. I love to watch you play ball!

My 5th Grade Graduate

One of the happiest, but saddest days happened for our family on Monday. Caitlin graduated from 5th grade!! I am torn over whether to be so extremely proud of my baby girl and being so sad that she is getting so grown. She is growing up into a beautiful young lady, and it makes me wonder where the time has gone between praying for a baby in 1999 and watching that baby walk across a stage to receive her 5th grade diploma.

Waiting in line to walk across the stage to get one of her many awards. She received awards for: Student Council, Art, A/B Honor Roll, and Journalism.

One of her many awards

Getting her Student Council medal

This is what one little monkey looked like during most of the ceremony. He was very well-behaved and cheered for his sister.

Sitting with her friend, Hannah, in the bleachers

Yay! Got her diploma!

Caitlin and her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Reasner

My sweet family

Caitlin,

I am so very proud of all your accomplishments and cannot wait to see what you're going to do in the future. You are such a smart girl who is so caring. You have overcome a lot to get where you are right now, and I am beyond blessed to have you as my daughter.

Congratulations Caitlin!!!

Love,

Mom

Happy Birthday Shannon!

You know how you have one special friend who will do absolutely anything for you? And you would do the same for her? Well I have a friend like that, and today is her birthday!! I'm not going to say numbers, but it's a big one for her, and she is older than me!!!

Happy Birthday Shannon!

Dance, Dance, Dance

On Saturday, after Harrison's T-ball game, we had another important event to attend: Caitlin's dance recital--"Movie Night." We have all been looking forward to watching her dance, dance, dance on that big stage at the Von Braun Center. This year was a little bit different because she was in both shows: the Matinee and the Evening. And she had so many supporters there to cheer her on.


One of her best friends, Taylor, was there.

Ma-Ma and Pa-Pa came to the Matinee show. Caitlin was so excited to see them there. I then had to run her backstage to get her ready for the show.

Caitlin and her dance friend, Kayla, dressed and ready to dance in "Shrek." All the fairy tale characters were in this one. Caitlin was Grumpy the Dwarf, and Kayla was the Queen of Hearts.

Here they are in the middle of the dance.

Next up was "Star Wars." They were dressed as stormtroopers and danced to the Darth Vader theme.

Then came their ballet dance, "Oklahoma."

Last, was their competition dance, "Hammertime." They performed this one as flawlessly as ever.

And then Caitlin was eligible to perform in the Finale. The girls have to maintain perfect attendance in order to dance in this one. There were 5 additional movies featured in the Finale. Caitlin danced in "Risky Business: Ol Time Rock 'n Roll."

We were so very proud of our star dancer! Her Daddy and I presented her with a charm bracelet that had a ballet slipper already on it. She loved it!

Her beautiful flowers were courtesy of Grandmother and Grandaddy.

We couldn't believe that Ms. Blackwood (a 2nd grade teacher at my school who came to visit us in the hospital when Caitlin was born and has kept up with Caitlin since) came to the recital! She got to see several young ladies perform that she taught or just knew.

Auntie Laura had to come see her "other" daughter on her big night.

After the Matinee show when all of our family and friends had gone home, Caitlin and I sat down for a picnic supper with our friends, Kayla and her mom, Rhonda.

Two pretty dancers just relaxing before the next big show. Thankfully the weather was nice so that we could eat our picnic outside.

Me and my beautiful girl.

I am so proud of her!! She amazes me with her talent!

We then went back inside the VBC to get her ready for the Evening Show. After touching up her makeup and hair, she got redressed in her first costume, "Shrek." We walked back out to the Concert Hall and guess who we saw??

Mrs. Weaver, Mrs. Mitchell, and Ms. Kirkland (her First Grade Aunts that I teach with)

She was super excited that they came to watch her dance!

I absolutely LoVed both shows and just can't believe the incredible talent my little girl possesses!

Game Ball

Harrison had one of his last T-ball games on Saturday. They played the Marlins and did a great job of batting, fielding, and scoring runs.

When Harrison was on the pitcher's mound, he made a terrific play of stopping the ball and throwing it to first base.

At their team meeting after the game, they awarded the game ball to...

Harrison for his great play at the pitcher's mound!!

He was super excited! (Guess those Snickers bars he eats before each game finally paid off!)

Super star ballplayer with his game ball

I am so proud of my baby boy! Even though he doesn't always show it, he loves playing T-ball and looks forward to it all year long. Maybe we have a future professional athlete in our midst!

Kindergarten Graduate

What a bittersweet day we had on Thursday!! Harrison graduated from Kindergarten! He is now on his way to being a big First Grader. I just can't believe it!! How we got to this point in time so fast, I will never know.

They started their program with a few songs.

Then they recited a poem about Kindergarten. He and his friend, Makayla, had the first "r" in Kindergarten that said, "R is for reading books all day long." They did such a great job!

"First Grade here we come!"

A disco song about Kindergarten

Then they sang "One Small Voice" which made this Mama cry buckets. It was so sweet, and at the end they linked arms. Precious!

Getting his diploma from his teacher, Mrs. Terrell.

The proud graduate!

Our happy family afterwards

When I was little and complaining about how long it took for my birthday to get here, my mom always told me to wait until I was grown and then time would speed by. Boy, was she right!!!

Always on my Mind

May is one of our super-busy months at the Hollingsworth House. It seems as if every.single.night we have something to do whether it be Dance, T-ball, spring football, PTA meeting, church, etc. However through all of the "busyness" this year, I have had something on my mind that I just can't shake: the tornado damage. But this is what I see as I drive to school each and every morning...

and along with seeing this damage plus more each day, I have a sweet little girl in my care who lost her house and most of her possessions. Granted, she is not worried about the baby pictures and handprinted coffee mugs and wedding mementos that were lost, but she misses her favorite teddy bear and her class t-shirt. I am trying to do all I can just to make sure she has one stable place in her life.
So even though I have so much to worry about in my own life right now, I just can't stop crying and praying for all the people whose lives were torn apart on Wednesday, April 27.