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!

November News

Lily is doing well in school at her conference, which was led by Lily herself, she shared her strengths, areas for growth, and her goals for the next quarter.  We are so proud of her!  She is a super shiny star!  She is loving her Spanish lessons at school!  I am so excited for her!  She also adores art class!

She's begun to get a little stubborn regarding swimming.  She had a meet in early November that she was committed to and she downright refused to go.  I guess we could of given her consequences to make her go, but was it worth it.  Needless to say Olav and I were pretty sad about it.  I contacted Coach Cheryl and she met with Lily.  Hopefully, she will be more agreeable about her next meet in January.  I suspect she will give up swimming at the end of the season, but I really want her to find some type of physical activity she loves.

Fall Fun

Lily has had a super packed fun fall!  This year for Halloween she opted to be a tiger!  However, since she has had so many opportunities to dress up she's also used some of her previous year's costumes such as the rainbow unicorn and Cleopatra.  It's been really fun!  We've been to multiple fall festivals, trunk or treats, Great Wolf Lodge etc.

Lily and the Headless Horseman Rudy at Great Wolf Lodge

Photo bomb by Austin the dog

Lily continues to thrive at both school and swimming!  We are so proud of her!

I continue to adore Lily's fashion sense.  Long skirts and T-shirts, with leggings underneath.  I secretly hope she never gives it up!

Lately, she has really taken an interest in art.  This week she came home and announced that for Christmas she would like some oil pastels and that she thought when she grew up she might want to be an art teacher.

The faith of a child

Oh, how I wish I had the faith of a child, like Lily.  Her faith in God is amazing!  She is truly free in Jesus.  She doesn't judge, she doesn't preach, she simply loves Jesus and her bible and tries to live out her faith in her actions.  She talks about Jesus to her friends like it's the most natural thing in the world.  I know they see God's light in her!  I am so proud of her and I am so inspired to be like her.  I pray she continues to be God's light and share her love of Jesus with others as she grows into adulthood.  I know we could all be a lot more like her in this area!

Also on a side note, the head swim coach at FAST has really been investing in Lily.  She's been giving her lots of encouragement and positive feedback!  She leaves her swim practices feeling really good about herself. 

Knuckleheads

First of all, I just want to say what a joy Lily has been.  She is so responsible, well-behaved, and courteous of others just to name a few!  I am really amazed by how much she has grown and matured!

I don't know if she is just extra sensitive or if there are more knucklehead kids in her school/class but she seems to be very bothered by children who are not making good choices around her.

For example, a few weeks ago she came home and announced that she wanted to go back to her old school.  Apparently, some of the kids in her class were knuckleheads in P.E. class.  They were so bad that the school principal had to talk with their class.  Lily was mortified.

Also in our carpool, the little girls who she travels with sometimes act like knuckleheads as well, and it really bothers her!

So of course instead of pulling her out of these situations, we are trying to teach her how to deal with these situations, as she is always going to be surrounded by knuckleheads!

My biggest prayer is that she continues to know that they are just knuckleheads and for her to continue to make good choices!

You're gonna hear me roar!

Lily has had a secret talent for about a year or so now....it is her roar!  She loves to roar like a lion to get attention, be cute, and freak people (especially boys) out.  Yesterday she informed me that after completing her work with her teacher Ms. Curtin, she showed Ms. Curtin her roar!  LOL