The Ocho

Eight.

Seriously?  Already? But then at the same time, she's only eight?  It's been another incredible year for this one, between the fundraising, the incredible year she's having at MacArthur with Ms. Christy (her favorite by far), the basketball-ing, and the lacrosse-ing right around the corner this Spring, Ainsley continues to wow everyone.  Whether it's the former City of Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille, or the fabulous Ms. Terri of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, or the rest of her far-flung friends and family, she impresses us a little more every day.

Here's her birthday note to kick off this years fundraising efforts...

If you feel compelled to donate (and maybe are having a tough time reading the URL), click here and have at it:

http://pages.lightthenight.org/tn/MidTN16/amcdermsxq

There's no stopping this one, even if we wanted to.

Good stuff kiddo... keep it up!

How Time Flies

So somehow, we missed a year.  A whole year (and then some, actually). We missed first grade.  We missed meeting Ms Angelo, lots of reading, lunch bunch, a trip south to the Keys over the winter holidays, ballet recitals, hanging with the boys at too many lacrosse events to count, a few road trips to Nashville (some with all the girls, some with Mom, Asia & Harry), the beach with Aunt Shelly, and even up to Lancaster to hang with #FreakinDeacon.  Here we are, about halfway though the summer of 2015, and we're off to the season-end VA Rugby Tournament this weekend.

In the meantime, Ainsley has made her way into the world of philanthropy.  Doing her part to help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and supporting the Light the Night charity, she's been running a growing lemonade stand to collect donations.

Her #AinsleysLemonadeStand is supporting other efforts such as the #Nashies t-shirt sales, and a Stella & Dot Jewelry sale, which combined have earned over $5,000 towards LLS so far.

With the help of local media like @RedBrickTown, the #StandWithAinsley story has also been picked up by The Alexandria News:

Teaching A Community To Care One Glass Of Lemonade At A Time

July 20th 2015

By Carla Branch
alexandrianews.org

 

Ainsley"s Lemonade Stand (Courtesy Photo)

Ainsley McDermott is only seven years old but she is teaching Alexandria about sharing and caring one glass of lemonade at a time.

 

Ainsley and her 11-year-old brother Harry have always liked having a lemonade stand in their front yard and earning a little bit of money to buy ice cream or some other treat. This summer Ainsley is using her lemonade stand to help her mom raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Foundation.

Kimberly McDermott explained. “This fall I am participating in a Light the Night Walk for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Ainsley has been doing her part to help me raise money.

“She’s been asking for months when we could do a lemonade stand. That typically results in me putting out $40, sitting in the sun all day and raising about $15 for the kids to spend on ice cream. After telling them about Alex’s Lemonade Stand we agreed it would be more fun to combine our efforts and hold lemonade stands for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Harry and Ainsely McDermott raising awareness (Courtesy Photo)

“So far they’ve run two stands and raised about $100 each time. I make the lemonade but Ainsley has read up on lemonade stands in the Daring Book for Girls, she’s read about Alex’s Lemonade Stand on Wikipedia and in Alex’s own book. She buys supplies with her dad, sets up her stand, brings in business (we have a corner lot and a lot of car and foot traffic) and delivers lemonade to cars, making it clear that the lemonade, iced tea and cookies are free but all donations benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Her brother stands guard and does his best to get cars to stop while I make up fresh lemonade.

#CopsLoveLemonade (Courtesy Photo)

“Ainsley had a friend help one day who was delighted to have a detective stop by. He said he’d tell his friends about our stand, because #CopsLoveLemonade. That was something else we learned.

“At the close of business, Ainsley, a rising second grader, counts her money. She was so inspired the other day she donated her own $1 to the charity. She’s having a blast helping others and learning about business, specifically marketing,” McDermott said.

As for Ainsley:  “I’ve learned that not all cancers can be cured. And not all kids have cancer. But most of the reason is they don’t have enough money to do that and a lemonade stand was the most I could do. And I also Ii learned that not all  people will stop. And I think that not everyone actually cares. But I care! And you should too,” Ainsley wrote in a letter to alexandrianews.org.

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation was begun by the parents of Alexandra Scott who died from cancer at the age of eight. Diagnosed with neuroblastoma just before her first birthday, Alex held a lemonade stand in her front yard when she was four years old to raise money for children with cancer. She continued to hold lemonade stands each year until her death.

Keep an eye on @ItsMeAinsleyMcD for more updates!!

Well that was fast

You blinked didn't you... I did. 

Kindergarten's over.

Like, done.

It was everything I could do, to even get this shot of them before getting on the bus for the last day

Sure there was Christmas. There was New Years.  There was Spring Break in Nashville.

They move and grow so stinking fast lately. 

We've already gotten Summer well underway.  Ainsley is off to swim camp at the Y (sans big brother this year, he's too cool for the Y anymore), and really enjoying her first season of Rugby... REALLY enjoying it. 

On her way out the door to practice #2, she stopped and enthusiastically stated "...Daddy, I think rugby is my sport!"

#AttaGirl

One Month In

To say that school agrees with Ainsley is... well, it's the understatement of the year.

Ainsley loves school.

loves.

loves.

LOVES.

school.

She's so into the routine, the new stuff, the new places, the bus, the bus stop, recess, music class, art class, library, even PE.

She brought home her first permission slip for her first field trip the other day.  And then proceeded to hound us about returning it, and how it needed to be back ain, but also explaining the whole process of the permissions slip, and why they needed one, and where they were going, and when they were going, and how they were going to get there, and that she needed to bring a bagged lunch in her backpack (which is WAY different than the bagged lunch she brings in her backpack every other day, apparently), and when they will leave, and when they will be back, and the kinds of things they will do there, and... and... and... and....

Did I mention she loves school?

She even explained, with great detail and enthusiasm, about their "lockdown drill" that they practiced in PE earlier this week.  No point in getting emotional about it, it is what it is.  They do fire drills, they do weather drills, now they do lockdown drills.  We all hope they never have to use any of them, but at least they have some shared semblance of what to do.

She's also in a weekend art class at the Torpedo Factory's Art League. Did I mention she seems to love anything that resembles school?  Oh and now you include painting and drawing? We call that "jackpot." 

She's gotten so big in those little shoes of hers.  And doesn't seem to have any intention of looking back.  Which is not to say that she doesn't remember where she came from.  This past weekend, we finally got to have a playdate with a bunch of her pals from Abra.  Just like Harry does with his Abra buddies, they pick right back up where they last left off.  They're always so excited to see each other, but get them together in a group, and all bets are off.  It's a wonderful thing to have... and to still have...

...but of course.  It had to do with school.

Off we go

1st day of Kindergarten.  Everyone's been so excited to get on the bus.  Everyone was out on the porch by 6:45 (bus comes at 7:15). The jitters hit by about 7:05, but by 7:14, they were clearly gone, as the bus rumbled to a stop.  There wasn't even a glance back. Or a wave. Or any hesitation.  She's obviously been ready for this for a looooooong time.  To Harry's extreme big-brother credit, he sat right down with her in the front seat.  Off we go...

New Paradigm

So today marks the first, of what will hopefully be many, of Harry & Ainsley’s adventures together, but without one of us to accompany (and more importantly to document).  Today the local YMCA camps that each are attending, are coming together as a larger group with all of the YMCA’s around the region… they’re all piling on buses, heading across the river, for a big thing called Thingamajig.

This is really the first time that I’ve really come to the conclusion that I really wish one of them had a camera, a phone, something… What are they doing?  Where are they? Are they together? Are they having fun? 

It’s not that I’m worried about them, I’m sure they’re in great hands, and their counselors are wonderful (and even if there was a problem, Harry has become quite the shepherd for his little sister). I’m not sure that came across as me convincing myself or not… So back since about a month before Harry was born, I started this little blogging endeavor, and similarly for Ainsley.  Granted these days of 16 gazillion various social media outlets (yes I’m looking mostly at you, Facebook & Twitter), the entries have certainly fallen off a bit, but rest assured there’s a digital record somewhere of just about every event/happening/occurance/participation in varying levels of significance, from the last 9 years.

What will we have for THIS event?!?!?! 

The thing is, I feel pretty confident that 2 things will happen upon their return today… 1) neither of them will offer up a straight answer on what they did, did they have fun, etc, even when pressed, and 2) neither of them will remember (to the point of being able to recall) any of it by tomorrow.

Who’s taking pictures this time?  Who’s updating statuses? Who’s tweeting???

Wait… wtf just happened there?

so fast

It's amazing that we "finished" at Abra only 2 weeks ago.  For something we'd been doing for so long, all day every day, it seems like we've been gone forever.  With only a few minor hiccups along the way, Ainsley has certainly moved onto the next chapter.

She's "reading" (reciting) books to us at bedtime, she's off on her own at day-camps in new environments making friends and experiencing life as a Kindergartener.  As much as we'd anticipated, I don't think we expected the transition be such... well... a transition?!!

In deference to the inevitable aforementioned "hiccups" along the way, nothing that hasn't been recoverable yet.  Fortunately, when the 2-week swim camp went south on day 2 of 10, there was a way to make amends.  Another wonderful point has been her ability to interact with Harry during the day, in controlled doses.  She sees him here, bumps into him there, and moves on with her day.  She even sees his friends, an they report back to each other.  I'm thinking this will be a nice precursor to the brief time, that they'll ever be in the same school building.