She's growing up so fast...

Okay, I admit, I've been in denial!

In the fall we bought Lily some new ugg-like boots at Costco.  We first went to the children's boots because hey....she's a kid....but no....she has outgrown children's she is now is women's.  Okay, I can handle this...she'll wear a size 5 or 6....oh no....we bought her a 7.  I figured it was a fluke... bad sizing.  Fast forward to today....her size 4 tennis shoes are falling apart....so we go....try on a size 6....nope....size 7...nope....size 7.5...om gosh....how did she get so grown up!!!!  Then we proceeded to buy her some new winter boots....size 8....om gosh.....hard to believe she is my "little Guate girl"!

Proud mama moments

The election of our new president-elect Donald Trump has created a little bit of anxiety for our precious daughter.  I just hate seeing her filled with worry.  She's been fearful of things like the return of slavery (not sure where she got that from) and of course, she's heard about the "WALL"  We have been reminding her that one of the benefits of living in America is that our government is a series of checks and balances, and that one person even though they are the president doesn't hold all the power.  Furthermore, yesterday she asked me about ISIS.  Again, not a conversation you love to have with your precious 10-year-old!  I want to assure her that she is safe, but at the same time, I don't want to create false security for her as well.  I talked about how they were a group of evil people who sometimes do evil things because they believe their "god" honors their sacrifice.  We also talked about how our government has people like "spies" who try to seek out members of ISIS and stop them before they can hurt people.  Age 10 just seems so young for the real world to come crashing in!  I just want to protect her a little longer!

On a happier and lighter note, we received Lily's report card this week and had her parent-teacher conference and we could not be more pleased!

Not only is she doing well academically, but she is excelling at being an amazing human being.

Her report card read:  Lily is an empathetic and compassionate member of the classroom, sought after as a friend and work partner.  She fosters integrity, honesty, and fairness in all that she does, and acts responsibly in regards to the larger classroom community by her actions.

Lily for PRESIDENT!!!

One proud mama!

During her conference, which was led by Lily, Lily stated repeatedly that she was really proud of her NEAT work and that if she could improve one thing, she would do her work in cursive!:)

October whirlwind

I simply love October!  We have so much fun as a family and this October was no exception.

We had a super fun Halloween.  Lily had such a creative costume!  A pretty peacock!  She even won the costume contest at Awanna for having the most colorful costume.  The kids tore up pop-pop's neighborhood.  I think they have enough candy to last a while!  She also carved an adorable kitty pumpkin

adorable!

My beautiful peacock

Back of costume

We went away for the weekend to an amusement park for Ashton called diggerland, but I think Lily had a good time with our friend Rudy!  They got to actually steer and drive a backhoe, a mini Land Rover, and a Work Max truck.  I think she really enjoyed that!  I think her favorite was the Workmax truck as it was like driving a real vehicle!

Lily and the backhoe!

We also got to enjoy a fall festival with our cousins Kodi and Aly.  The kids enjoyed jumping on the jumping pillow and walking through the corn maze. Of course, while Ashton and Lily frequently bicker and get on each other's nerves occasionally they smile and give me a sweet picture!

I adore their faces here

 

Lily has also had the opportunity to embrace her artistic side both at school and at a special camp at a local art studio.  Her self-portrait artwork was featured in her school's blog. She was so proud of herself!  I know I am really impressed plus I love how she used Guatemalan colors and patterns.

Lily self-portrait

Earlier this month at the art studio she did this mixed media project and yesterday she did a sugar skull.  Again absolutely talented!

Mixed Media

Like I said last month I keep trying to keep Lily little, but time marches on.  She lost her very lost tooth this month.  She was very sad.  She wrote the tooth fairy this endearing letter!  She's been sad that the tooth fairy will no longer be coming to visit her.  #growinguppains  Mama on the other hand has been feeling a little torn about the tooth fairy wondering if it's time to break the magic spell, but for now the magic is still alive and well in our household. 

I keep trying to keep her little, but life happens!

Lily is definitely growing up!  Until very recently she wore a long skirt every day, but now she is beginning to embrace more of a pre-teen look.  Leggings and tunics, cute slim-fitting dresses, she even found some cute jean shorts she loves!

We recently went to Charlotte's  9th birthday party and Lily tried roller skating for 2nd time and she did really well.  I was so impressed and proud!  She really got the hang of it.

Her body is beginning to show some signs of maturing as well.  I can't believe how fast it is happening.  The other day I had a really bad day so I got half a dozen crabs and I really wanted a cold beer.  I told Lily, "I look forward to the day when we can go out together as adults when we can order a dozen crabs and order a beer or two.  She replied, "Mommy I can't wait until I can have one of the fruity drinks you drink out of a coconut with you!"  Me too little lady, me too!  But not too soon okay:)

Lily continues to be a little mama.  Sometimes it is really sweet and sometimes it drives us all totally crazy!!!!  I guess it's just her instinct, but her poor brother cannot get a break!  I am constantly telling her he doesn't need you to be his mama, just be his sister!

Funny thing tonight, our neighbor Cindy was talking with Lily and she was remarking that even though Lily is not flesh of my flesh, she has so many of my mannerisms...Cindy was like" Hey, that's a Kimmie characteristic".

Gosh, I love this girl to pieces!  As much as I hate her growing up, I do hope she continues on her current path and we can be close friends when she is an adult!

Toothfairy heartbreak?

I think the tooth fairy is going to be so sad today.  Lily said she didn't think the tooth fairy was real....she thinks it is me!  She just lost one of her last teeth today and I told her fairies are magical and when you no longer believe, they stop coming...I guess we'll see if she comes tonight!

Watch out 5th grade

Today Lily began her 5th grade year at Carroll Creek Montessori. She set an alarm to wake herself up and promptly began her day!

She reported having a good day and reported the best part of her day was seeing her friends!

Earring drama

Well, my greatest fear about Lily's ear piercing came true this past week.  One of her ears got super infected and we ended up in the ER. Needless to say no more earrings.  It's been sad and disappointing for me to say the least, but I am trying hard just to let it go.  Maybe she'll decide later if she wants to try again.

Overall Lily has been a delight this summer.  I have just been in awe of her!  She has been respectful and very responsible.  She is excellent with younger children.  So sweet!  At the beach, she was fearless in the waves and was so graceful!  She even said to me, "That mom sometimes I wish I was a mermaid!".  She decided to do swim team again, as long as she didn't have to compete.  The coach said it was okay, so she will be swimming again in the fall.

I must say though with a week left til school starts she has started to have a little attitude...I think everyone is ready to go back to school!

Party, Party, Party

July has been a month of non-stop action!  We've had lots of house guests, attended VBS, Lily enjoyed sewing camp and made a ton of cool things, including a cute skirt, a bedside storage unit, and a great reversible bag. We also took a road trip to Williamsburg and the Jamestown Settlement with the O'Masta clan and cousin Hannah.  The girls had a good time together.

Girl cousins!

The whole clan!

We just returned from a week-long road trip from Stoddard New Hampshire where along the way,  we enjoyed going into a coal mine, visiting the Yankee Candle Flagship store and making our own Yankee sand candles, swimming, kayaking, and playing in an amazing lake up in New Hampshire, and the kids all-time favorite, visiting the Pez factory in CT.  Highlights from the trip included picking wild blueberries and helping Ms. Catherine make a homemade Blueberry pie and Lily trying kayaking for the first time.

Making a sand candle

Lily Kayaking

Blueberry pie

Our little Pez!

Also in mid-July, Lily was finally able to take out her starter earrings, with a little drama, but after several attempts, she got finally got both pairs out!

Also, Lily Bean and I have been enjoying geocaching.  She has gotten really good at it!  She has a "geo-sense" that her mama definitely does not have!  She is always finding the most difficult ones even though most of us have already given up in surrender!  We've enjoyed sharing our hobby with our friends this summer!

Finding Geocaches with the cousins

We have a 5th grader in the house!

I can't believe it!  Lily will be in 5th grade!  Where does the time go?????  Lily had such a fabulous year at Carroll Creek Montessori!  She made a great group of friends!  So much so that for the first time in many years Lily's report card said she needs to learn to manage social distractions...LOL!  Of course, she is as sweet and darling as ever (most days!)

Last day of 4th grade

Also, she got to go fishing with our good friend and neighbor Jimmy Trout.  The kids had a blast catching blue gilfish with him!

Look who got her ears pierced!

Last week Lily got her ears pierced!  She had wanted to get her ears pierced for some time now and I told her when she got responsible enough to take care of them we would get it done!  So after lacrosse season ended, she got them done.  She was quite brave!

Slow down

I find myself getting silly emotional lately over Lily.  She's growing up so fast, I can't believe it!  I just want to slow down time!  I can tell she is on the brink of a growth spurt.  Her body is changing and tonight we just bought her, her first bra!

This song by Nichole Nordeman is exactly how I feel!

Here’s to you
You were pink or blue
And everything I wanted
Here’s to you
Never sleeping through
From midnight till the morning
Had to crawl before you walked
Before you ran
Before I knew it
You were trying to free your fingers from my hand
‘Cause you could it on your own now somehow

Slow down
Won’t you stay here a minute more
I know you want to walk through the door
But it’s all too fast
Let’s make it last a little while
I pointed to the sky and now you wanna fly
I am your biggest fan
I hope you know I am
But do you think you can somehow
Slow down

Here’s to you
Every missing tooth
Every bedtime story
Here’s to Barbie cars, lightsaber wars
Sleeping in on Sunday
Had to crawl
Before you walked
Before you ran
Before I knew it
You were teaching me
The only thing love can
Hold hands through it
When it’s scary, you’ve got me

Slow down
Won’t you stay here a minute more
I know you want to walk through the door
But it’s all too fast
Let’s make it last a little while
I pointed to the sky and now you wanna fly
I am your biggest fan
I hope you know I am
But do you think you can somehow
Slow down

Please don’t roll your eyes at me
I know I’m embarrassing
But someday you’ll understand
You’ll hold a little hand
Ask them if they can

I am your biggest fan
I hope you know I am
But do you think you can
Somehow
Slow down
Slow down

Norway

So apparently Olav's mom had been diagnosed with Alzheimers.  As time goes on she is increasingly becoming more disoriented.  When Olav called her recently he felt like he heard a sense of urgency in her voice, like he needed to go and visit and perhaps say "goodbye" now.  So after much weighing all the options, we decided that he and Lily would go for a visit.

So last week Olav and Lily went to visit.  While Olav was apprehensive about the visit, it appears as if their visit was like a little vitamin pick-up for everyone!

Lily had a fabulous time and was spoiled rotten, oblivious to the intended purpose of the trip.  But honestly, maybe that is the best.  If her grandma should die shortly, she will have only great memories of her time there!  But perhaps her grandma will surprise us all and persevere on!

My niece Eline captured this photograph of Lily and Bestmor.  A picture truly says a 1000 words!  Love and Joy!

Double Digits!

I can't believe Lily is double digits!  How did that happen!!!!  What an awesome young lady she is becoming.  We kicked off her birthday celebration with a spa party and her first-ever sleepover!  Both Olav and I couldn't have been more pleased with her party!  She invited four really sweet girls, Brooke, Maddie, Anna, and cousin Aly.  Everyone had a blast at her party!  Olav and I were both saying, "it was the best party ever'.  Even Ashton enjoyed the fun!  They built forts, had Nerf gun wars, sang karaoke, piñata, sparklers, played games, watched a movie, ate way too much junk food and candy, and of course stayed up way too late!  When I checked on them at 1 am they were still going strong!  I think they fell asleep sometime between 2 and 3 am!  Lily kept joking with me before her party that she was not having a sleepover, but a "wake over"!

Soaking their feet!

Bye bye puffy eyes:)
 

Double Digits!!!!

The gift she had been pining for!

Group shot!

Unfortunately before Lily's party, she had started coming down with a mild cough/cold....well all the partying takes a toll and after the girls left this morning she spiked a fever of 103.  Poor thing!  I guess there is such a thing as too much birthday!

March has been a fun month!  We enjoyed celebrating Easter at Gaver Tree Farm and with my sister's family!

I also wanted to expose the kids to some of my fond childhood memories, so I took them to a Purim carnival in Columbia.  It was fun and they enjoyed it, but it was much different than I remembered!

I also notice that Lily's body is beginning to change.  I think she might be getting little breast buds and I noticed the other day that she had hair growing on her legs!  Ready or not, a young woman she is becoming!

Love this beautiful girl!

 

She is growing up so fast!

I've really felt like the secular world has really entered into Lily's world this year.  Lily has recently really gotten into pop music on the radio.  She loves to listen to Pandora and her iPod which has some songs on it!  I just wish some of the music was much more uplifting and encouraging!  She also continues to love reading!  She loves reading about horses and dogs.  Also lately she has stopped wearing her long skirts daily...makes a mama sad, but I know she's gotta grown up!

She continues to do well in school and her teacher talks about what a pleasure she is to have in class and even though she is a slow methodical worker, she works very hard.

She has decided to give swimming a rest for a while.  It makes Mama sad, but I also get it!  Hopefully, she finds something else she really likes!

Lily has made some new good friends at school and that seems to have made her quite happy!

The upper elementary just had a school dance this weekend and she decided she did not want to go!  I was surprised but also happy.  She is growing up way too fast already, no sense pushing it even more!

She continues to be a little mama.  It's sweet most of the time except when she is trying to mother her brother!  She was so sweet this week and made both herself and him dinner all by herself.  She is growing up so fast!

Snowzilla

We are recovering from a record-breaking snowstorm, over 36 inches of snow!  The kids enjoyed it, but they are still out of school and we are going a little stir crazy!  Thankfully our neighbor snowplowed our street to where the plow stopped so we could get out today!

Also, the kids just tried roller skating for the first time last week for Liliana Henry's birthday!  So fun!

A new year begins!

Well, I had a parenting fail!  I usually blog every month for the kids, but between the internet and my computer not functioning properly Lily never got a December blog.  So we have a lot to catch up!

First, Lily continues to be an awesome young lady!  She's doing very well in school both academically and socially.  She seems to have a nice group of girls she is friends with.  She got invited to a birthday party by her new friend Anna to do laser tag.  I think she really enjoyed it!  On the same day, she also went to her best friend Brooke's birthday party to go rock climbing.  Needless to say, she had a super fun and physical day!  Plus it was cool that she got to experience two new things!

Christmas was super fun!  Lily has really gotten into art!  She asked for oil pastels for Christmas and got several sets.  She's been busy drawing really cool things!  She also continues to love to sew!  She got some cool fabric from our friend Hope and from Bubby in Guatemala.  For Christmas Ashton got to go riding on an ATV, so of course Lily got to go as well!  The smile on her face and Ashton's were priceless!!!!

We spent New Year's with our dear friends Hope and Andy, Patsy and Mark, and Katie and Dan.  Lily and Samara finally got to wear their matching leopard print outfits.  Very cute!