one more warner: Life at nine

What have you been up to little girl?

First place at Aloha - Team Ignite brought the fire at their first competition of 2020, taking 1st place in youth level 1. There were smiles and tears all around (most of them from mommy).

BRACES - She now has a mouth full of metal! Many people have asked if she is too young for braces. Nope, oh. no, no. This is only phase one. This is to give those pretty straight teeth enough room to fall out...THEN we get to go to phase two where we get to straighten them again!

PAC West - The last competition (and the biggest one) of Parker's first cheer season. Although a darn near perfect routine, a small technicality brought them in lower than they wanted. There were some tears (yes, including from mommy), but quite possibly more because their first competition season was over. So many fun memories made and many, many, more to come with our cheer family!

Covid-19 Pandemic - On March 16, our lives changed. Like everyone around the city, state, country, and world - the Covid-19 pandemic affected the way we were all used to living. Education became online "distance learning", and work became "telework". Activities and physical connection were prohibited and we became dependent on technology to connect. Staying 6' apart is now a social (distant) norm. Face masks are now part of our new world.

While I created this blog for family and friends to keep up with "One More Warner" growing up, I also created this as an electronic memory book for Parker when she is older. I imagine the pandemic will be in history books in years to come - and if that's the case, Parker, I assume you already know what the Covid-19 pandemic is. If not, Google it! Below is for Parks - and the life she may or may not remember living through history.

Staying connected - We were so lucky we found and joined Champion Cheer Athletics. This place became your second home, with family who welcomed you with open arms. The amazing women who run it, went above and beyond trying to keep our athletes engaged. There were team Zoomies to interact with coaches and teams. There were social media challenges that tested your creativity. There were online workouts to help keep in shape and work on skills. There were drive-by events so we could physically see each other, and share air hugs. I can honestly say, it was this organizaiton, and looking forward to the activities and engagement, that kept us relatively sane and get through the days. I mean that, and will be forever grateful.

Life "Staying Home" - From 6+hours in the school with friends, teachers, and physical education, to less than two hours of home-work and virtual class meetings - kids experienced a dramatic culture shock. You are a smart cookie, so it didn't take long to finish assignments, and be ready for "the next thing". I was working full time from home as well, so when one of us - cough - you, were bored, I was on deck to entertain. You painted many paintings, you became a social media pro (under mommy's very watchful eye), you worked on new cheer skills, you had to get creative for the copius amount of time I couldn't be available. We fought, we cried, we fought some more, then we figured out our routine. It was a very HARD transtion - for both of us. Parker, you were resilient, you were innovative, you were creative, you helped us get through it together.

This was a note I found after a rough day. (Queue more of mommy crying.)

From here on out...many things were different because of the pandemic...but they were still memories that were made and made special!

Easter - Even through a pandemic, the Easter Bunny found his way to the river to hide a few eggs and surprises for Parker.

CCA Easter Parade - If you can't actually get together, what a better way to celebrate than a "socially distant" drive-by? We were invited to decorate our car, drive through to wave at coaches, and receive a treat from a very cute Easter Bunny. You can't keep these girls apart, so when in the parking lot, you park, and gather, and somewhat fail on the 6' distance.

CCA Awards - Parker was looking forward to her first awards banquet with CCA. And if you know the Warner's we are planners and already had her outfit purchased and ready to wear to the big event. Unfortunately, well, Covid, so awards became a drive-by. We may not have had the chance to wear the outfit to the event, but we did get to wear it for another special "awards event" - keep reading. We did get to see our coaches, be celebrated with gifts, treats, notes, and an awards certificate.

9th birthday - Who would have thought you could actually hold an online birthday party to make t-shirts, and have a llama drop by in the middle? From what was going to be a large birthday party (remember the Warner planner? I had invitations printed by end of January for a June birthday party!), we had to get innovative on how we were going to celebrate Parker's 9th birthday. We started the weekend with a t-shirt making Zoom party (each kid got to design their own t-shirt) where Caesar the No Drama Llama made a surprise appearance! The surprises continued on her birthday day with a decorated lawn, a cake from her favorite bakery, a birthday message from a celebrity, and a drive-by parade from many, many, many, friends and family, each with birthday wishes, and balloons! It was a great day - and Parker even said "This was the best birthday in quarantine!"

Back to the gym - The end of May brought BIG things...we were able to get back to the gym. Although limited, that little bit of normal back in our lives was priceless. Parker and her bestie Justice, walking out of that gym that night was absolutely reenergizing. Their smiles were so big - they came out the happiest we had seen them in three months.

Out of school - While there wasn't the big fanfare that there ususally is at the end of a school year, we did manage a meet up good-bye with her teacher, and dressed up for the obligatory end-of-the-year photo. She did it! She's now a 4th grader!

Ashlin - So this blog has already been emotional, here's where it gets worse. A year ago, when Parker joined Champion Cheer, she created a friendship with one of the "big cheerleaders". After practice, I would continually hear "Ashlin this, Ashlin that, Ashlin, Ashlin, Ahslin". This Ashlin had made an impression on Parker, one I had NO IDEA of what was to come.

As the year went on, we made better and better friends with Ash and her family. We would grab ice cream after competitions, Ash would come over to spend time with Parks on no-school days. Their family came out to the river for memories, laughs, and of course tumbling and stunting. (I think that if you cheer you are always upside down, stunting, or jumping in, and out, of the gym.)

Ashlin is a 17-year old role model who invests her time and energy on the positive. She sincerely loves and cares about Parker. She is smart, works hard, makes good decisions, and actually LIKES hanging out with an 8/9- year old and her parents! ;)

Then Ash shared the news...she and her family would be moving to Tennesee this summer. While selfishily heart broken, this move is so great for their family and Ashlin's future cheer career.

Celebrating Ash - Ashlin had mentioned that at the Champion Awards Ceremony, they had speeches for seniors or athletes leaving Champion. Ash had been with Champion for 10 years and we thought she still needed to get her speech! Parker wrote every bit of that speech (I helped with one sentence). Remember that outfit she didn't get to wear - well, she got dressed up, gave her heartfelt speech and made a special award for her best friend. I put together the video below (including some of the many memories caught on camera), and we presented it to Ashlin as a surprise when she came over one day. (Her mom, Amy, even came over to watch the reveal. Again...tears all around! GAH!)