Bowers Blog: April 2021

I am finally having time to sit down and write my monthly post. The only reason I have time for this is because over the last week some sort of stomach bug and cold ravaged our house and yesterday it claimed Emma and Mack. We have been stuck at home fighting germs. Worth and I were able to clean out closets yesterday, and now I have a few moments to update the blog.

We are having so much fun watching all of the kids and their sports endeavors this spring. Ellie finished up her school golf season with a Region Championship, all 3 Bowers kids joined a PGA jr. golf league that they are playing in, Mack is in full swing with baseball, and Emma has started volleyball games. In between all the sports, the girls are still dancing, and Mack is still enjoying guitar lessons.

We had an awesome spring break at SSI with ALL of the cousins. The Bowers kids LOVED every minute of it. We even got to see George Jr. and Tyson. Tyson has just accepted a position at UF and we are thankful he has a job, but that's all we are going to say about that.:)

Ellie making her first swing on hole 1 of one of the golf tournament her school hosted at Kinderlou. It was a tough course for all the middle schoolers that were there. Ellie his this shot the best out of everyone in her group. (Bear with me, I'm learning golf lingo.)

Ellie's daddy sponsored one of the holes. I made her pose up in front of the sign.

Despite having to pick up most of the holes - her middle school team won this tournament.

After a long youth discipleship weekend at church, Ellie was confirmed on March 21, 2021. Worth and I gave her her first pair of small diamond stud earrings as a keepsake gift for making her decision to continue with her faith. I received a pearl necklace from my aunt and uncle on my confirmation, and it is still a necklace I wear to this day. I wanted her to have something that she could keep forever and that would remind her of her faith journey.

A sign of the times - the early service confirmands in their masks.

The moms made them yank off their masks for a quick picture.

We all headed back to our house for a brunch and got some great pictures with the new confirmand.

Grandma and Papa were there.

E.W. and Mia came also!

Ellie requested a photo op with Leonard. The not so little anymore kitty.

My best attempt at a sibling picture.

This cutie is having a great baseball season so far!

Mack's team and coaches. These boys get better each game.

I nabbed a quick picture of Emma one morning headed out to school for Field Day. Parents weren't allowed to come this year due to COVID rules. Mack had his field day the day before Emma's. They were so excited to get field day since they missed it last year. I just hate I couldn't go watch.

The teachers did send us some great pictures though. They were amazing at trying to keep up with everyone to get pictures for their mamas.

Due to another teammate being out of town. Ellie qualified to play in the Region tournament with her middle school team. It happened to be at Springhill CC in Tifton. Mia and Dubs were able to come to the tournament and watch. It was pretty cold that day.

The winning Region Champs. Hahira Middle School girls golf team! L-R: Ellie, Taylor Akins, Kayla Lee, Cannon Langdale

This video is of Ellie's first birdie. Video credit to Mia.

The spring weather never knows what it wants to do in south GA. This day, it was so hot, the kids went for the first swim of the season.

Mack prefers to give us a "concert" for his guitar practice time.

First PGA jr. league golf tournament. The Bowers kids got put together as a team.

Mack judging his chances of getting this one to the hole.

Ellie making the putt to win this hole for the team.

The Bowers kids must have been good, because the Easter Bunny showed up.

Half awake, happy Easter kids.

We made it to church in Tifton with grandma and papa. It was St. Anne's first Sunday back since the onset of COVID over 1 year ago. I'm so thankful they've opened their doors again.

Grandma and Papa were so glad to have their crew in town for Easter.

It was a beautiful day and the church service was outstanding.

After church, it was lunch at Grandma's and then her traditional Easter egg hunt with prize "golden" money eggs.

Mack was on a mission.

Grandma monitored the madness.

There was a fight for the hidden egg on the edge of the roof.

The race was on.

All 3 kids were worn out, but successful. Side note: Mack refused to put on play clothes. He was loving his church clothes. After Grandma's we headed to Mia's to see the cousins for a bit before going back to Valdosta for the night.

We are losing the best babysitter in the world to Physical Therapy school. Alanna has been such a blessing to our family and especially my kids since Mack was 18 months old. She was able to come and sit a couple of days during spring break and the kids prepared her a gift. She will graduate from VSU and leave us for the University of Miami to further her career. I'm so proud of this sweet girl, but we sure are going to miss her!

Also, during spring break - this happened. I had been having some increased blurry vision and went to my optometrist to up my contact prescription. To make a long story short, I ended up quickly at a Retina Specialist. I had a Retina hemorrhage (not a detachment.) I have a hereditary condition (drusen) that make me more susceptible to this, but didn't anticipate it before I was at least 75 years old. Well, it happened, and now I will receive monthly injections of anti Veg F in my eyes until it clears up. This is a picture of my retina, and apparently that is not normal. The specialist seems hopeful that after some injections and a laser procedure they may be able to restore my vision to what it previously was. The bleed happened 2mm from my line of vision which would have blinded me permanently. I'm just thankful I still have vision, even if it is blurry. And no, they have no idea why it happened. I'm an anomaly.

We made it to SSI however, and met up with the cousins for some wild times.

This was a heated pool, but the water was still cold. Didn't seem to bother these crazies.

Thankfully, Uncle Jay loves baseball enough to get a game going on the beach for several hours. We even recruited other kids that weren't our own.

It was pretty cool outside.

But the weather didn't slow this digging crew down.

Hardy was even big enough to help with the digging this year.

The days were spent on the beach...

...and the nights involved wrestling matches,

superhero dress up,

and boy pile ups.

The mornings were early with Mack in the house, but the tv kept those who were up quiet so the others could stay asleep.

Emma started volleyball season and ended up on a team with one of her very best friends, Gwen.

Lily Hughes was given an online zoom cooking class for her birthday and wanted her beach friends to participate. Ellie kept a grin on her face the ENTIRE 2 hour class. She LOVED having the kitchen to herself and zooming with her beach friends.

I kept checking on her because I heard the mixer off and on for several rounds and wasn't sure if the "Brookies" they made needed quite that much mixing.