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