Rite of passage!

Last week Lily had her official "rite of passage" as a young girl.  She went to her first official sleepover at her best friend Brooke's house.  She was a little nervous to go, having never been to a "real" sleepover, but of course, as expected she had a fabulous time! Here are some pics Brooke's mom sent me!

November download

Our beautiful girl!

Well, November has come and gone.  Lily has been a gem!  I know I say this often, but I just adore her heart.  She has such a heart for others.  She has a special way of making all the people in her life feel special.  Over the last two days, she has lost two teeth!  Very exciting!  She exclaimed, "Mom my smile is a checkerboard!"  We had our parent-teacher conference with Lily's 3rd-grade teacher last week.  She reports that Lily is doing well and has shown great improvement in math.  She also mentioned that Lily is an excellent reader, who reads with "best expression" in the class!  She continues to excel at swimming.  She just recently has been adding the breaststroke to her repertoire.  She is still afraid to do her flip turns in competition, but hopefully, she will try it next competition!  On Thanksgiving, Lily bonded with Kodi.  Kodi then had the following conversation with his mom on the car ride home.

Kodi: Mom is it allowed to marry my cousin?
Mom:  Well it's not illegal, but generally frowned upon in society.  But allowed
Kodi:  Great!  I'm adding Lily to my list of potential wives.
Mom: You know you're 10....you don't need to pick a wife just yet...
Kodi:  I know, I just want to be prepared with options

LOL!!!!

The joys of school....NOT

Well, school has taught Lily another wonderful thing!  The middle finger!  Last night after going trunk or treating, Lily is tattling on Ashton.  She says, "Mommy, Ashton just gave me the middle finger like this" (as she shows me).  Great I reply..."what does that mean?  FU?  What does FU mean?  I can't remember, but I know it's bad."  Wonderful I am so glad my child has been educated in the ways of the world.  Let's just pray that our lesson about not using that symbol or the language associated with that symbol sinks in as she grows into a woman!

Also, it might seem strange to place this photograph here, but the photographs I just had taken finally came back!  Look how cute she looks!

Enter Stage Right-a little bit of grown up reality

Well, I knew it was just a matter of time before the sweet innocence of childhood would begin to come under attack from reality.  The past week has marked our first milestone of "real life" talks.  It started earlier this week when Lily came home and expressed her fear of going into "5th grade because she heard they talk about sex."  So calmly I asked her if she knew what sex was?  She said, no, but I know "sexy".  And so later that evening we had our first "sex" talk.  I kept it simple.  I talked about sex in regards to gender and also we talked about how sex is when two people who are married and love each other touch each other in a special way to express that love.  After that, she was ready to move on and change subjects!


Then on the eve of Sept 11th (yesterday), it occurred to me that she has no idea what happened on Sept 11th or why it is called Patriots Day.  I figured they might talk about it in school tomorrow and I didn't want her to hear about it from someone else first, so I decided last night I should give her a simple primer on Sept 11th.  Again I kept it simple.  I told her that some very evil people had taken an airplane and crashed it into a tall building.  She asked who died.  I explained that all kinds of people died, including police officers, firefighters, parents, and their children.  She remarked how sad that was.  And just like that she was ready to move on and change subjects.

1st day of 3rd grade!

Today Lily went to 3rd grade!  She seems to have had a great day.  She likes her teacher and she had art.  She sits next to Hayden, Jonathan, and Katie.  It seems like every year she sits next to Hayden.  They must realize what a good role model she is!.  She's not so crazy about having Katie in her class as she was the one who caused her the girl drama last year.  She was most excited about having Ms. Penny as her bus driver again!  Praying that she has a fabulous year!

Farwell Summer Vacation

Ready or not...here comes the school year!  Mama goes back to work tomorrow and Lily starts 3rd grade next week!

We have had a wonderful summer.  Full of awesome experiences!

First, we went to Norway to visit Olav's family.  Lily was an absolute doll baby!  She brought joy to so many people!  Even though there was occasionally a language barrier with Bestemor and Tante Britt, it was no barrier for Lily.  She just loved on everyone as if it was nothing.  Bestemor and Tante Britt were really blessed by her!  I couldn't have been more proud of her!  She had so much fun with her cousins Eline and Josefine.  The pictures really tell the story.

Visiting Bestemore

Riding with Daddy on Bjonar's boat

Loving Tante Britt

Lily's first circus with Eline

Sibling love in Risor, Norway

Visit to Dryparken

The Gjerde clan

Cruzin with Eline

Loving Bestemor

After Norway, Lily tried lacrosse.  I was so proud of her for trying something new.  I had given her a choice between drama and lacrosse and surprisingly she chose lacrosse.  It was so fun to watch her.  Even though she was one of the smallest kids in the camp, she got it in there and tried to get the ball.  So proud.  I hope she'll want to try it again another time because I love watching lacrosse and I wish I could have played as a child!

Next, we headed to the beach to with my sister and her family.  Lily went on a 6-mile bike ride with my sister and her family.  I was so proud.  They said she did fabulous!

Our friend Yolanda came and visited us this summer as well.  We had so much fun with her.  One day we took her and the kids to Great Falls.  The kids had a fabulous time hiking on the rocky trail!  It was awesome!

Then we went to the beach with our friends from church.  I was so proud of Lily, she was so mature and independent!   She left for the beach originally with her friend Chloe while Olav and I stayed home.  She slept in the "dorm" room even though all the other girls bailed...She was polite and respectful to the other adults.  She helped her little brother.  Apparently, initially, there was a little girl drama among the 3 school-aged girls, but after some mild correction, she was a wonderful peer/role model!   As far as the water went, on the first day, she loved the water.  The second day, she and her friend Marie got wiped out by waves, Lily never really went back in full tilt.  Hopefully, she'll rebound next year!

Just when my kids were getting "bored" of the beach, we took our annual beach trip with Abuelita. Once we got the kids to the beach they were fine...but getting them there was sometimes a challenge.

Lastly, we ended our summer by going to Idlewild Amusement Park with our friends Katie and Dan.  It was a super beautiful day and I think the kids had a blast! Thankfully Lily has had this week prior to returning to school to "rest up" after her very busy but fun summer!!!

Nathan, Ashton, and Lily with Daniel Tiger

Lily has been such a joy to be around!  She has been super responsible, responsive, and so kind to others. She seems to have really matured greatly since April. I pray that during her upcoming school year, she continues to grow and mature!

A week of firsts!

Look what I made!

So proud of our Lily bean!   This week she went to a sewing camp.  She loved it!!!  She made a pillowcase, a patchwork pillow, a big beach bag, and some cute capri pajama pants.  She wants to do it again!  Also Lily took part in her first swim meet.  I was nervous for her because she had told me numerous times she didn't want to compete with swimming and we really didn't talk about it much, because I didn't want to make her anxious.  Well, last night she swam in two events.  The freestyle and the backstroke.  She did great!  She enjoyed it so much after her freestyle she couldn't wait until it was her turn to swim the backstroke.  We were so proud of her!
  

Getting Ready for her 1st race!

Ready, Set, SWIM!

3rd grader in the house!

Well, it's official...Lily is a 3rd grader!  Wow, that seems so grown up!  She ended the school year very well.  Winning the Character Counts Fairness award and getting a super report card!  Way to go Lily!

And so the girl drama has begun....

Well, she appears to have made it to the end of 2nd grade before the girl drama has begun, so I guess that is a good thing. Tonight she just cried and cried as she was telling me about this little girl named K. who has been hurting her feelings for various reasons. 

It breaks a mama's heart to see her child so heartbroken over it and it is also very difficult to just let your child problem-solve and deal with it on her own, even though you know that is exactly what needs to happen. 

She decided tonight that she would let her guidance counselor Ms. Mitchell know what is going on.  I am hopeful that she will help Lily problem solve!

So proud!

So proud of our Lily bean!!!  She got her report card today and she managed to bring her grades up from mostly all C's to mostly A's and 2 B's. We are soooo proud of her!!!!  Ourselves, her wonderful teacher Ms. Gambrell, her tutor, and Lily Bean herself have been working so hard this quarter! Way to go Lily!!!!  So proud of you!!!!

Can't believe she is 8!

Can't believe Lily is 8 years old!  Where does the time go!!!!!  We celebrated both Lily and Ashton's birthdays at the swimming pool!  A fun time was had by all!

Lily has really been a puzzle for us lately.  Up until a few weeks ago, she was a bear to live with.  We even sought the help of a counselor and psychiatrist to help us.  However, in the last week or so she has been a doll!  I so don't understand her!

Lily has really become a wonderful swimmer.  She is grace in the water!  I love to watch her swim!

She continues to be an amazing big sister...oscillating between little mama, playmate, and the occasional baby torturer.

She has a true flare for the dramatic.  I do hope she gets brave enough to try acting.  I think she would be really good at it!

She also has a fun sense of fashion.  Very colorful, with lots of patterns, not to mention the shoes!  I just signed her up for a sewing class this summer.  I hope she likes it!


Lastly, I don't know how I could have forgotten, but Frozen the movie and soundtrack has taken over our house the past few months!  Lily downloaded the soundtrack to her iPod at Christmas.  She even has it playing now as I type!  She has managed to learn the lyrics to every song on the soundtrack.  She also transcribed some of them into one of her journals.  Furthermore, she quotes the movie word for word in a lot of scenes.  Sometimes Olav and I find ourselves singing the theme song "Let it go" when we are by ourselves....scary!  Thankfully Frozen is a good movie and has a good message...so it's tolerable!

Fostering Independence

Definitely one of the most difficult elements of parenting is letting go.  You want them to be confident, successful, and independent, but at the same time, you don't want to lose your baby.

Recently Olav and I have both been really challenged to help facilitate Lily's independence.  I have to be honest when I say it has some emotional heartstrings.

For example, ever since Lily was in Pre-K her daddy has walked her into her school and to her classroom every day.  No matter how miserable it was outside, that was her and Daddy's routine.  This year I thought about trying to coax her through the carpool line, but she really treasured her "daddy" routine and heaven forbid I break it!

Recently, Lily has been experiencing some difficulty at school academically.  I had a conference with her teacher and one of the things the teacher suggested to foster her independence was to allow Lily to walk down the hallway herself.  Her explanation is that none of the other 2nd-grade parents walk their children down to class unless they are actually volunteering in the classroom.  In a way, I could see she has a point, but on the other hand, we've always said, there would come a day when Lily wouldn't want us to do that anymore, but we would take advantage of it until she told us otherwise.

But after some revealing "baby" behaviors during our weekly counseling sessions, Olav and I were thinking that maybe this is a good suggestion after all.  So even though it's really sad in a way...this week Daddy started the process of letting go.

Braggin on our girl

Last week Lily came home with a big glow on her face!  Apparently, her school has a spirit pep rally a few times a year and students and classes are recognized for various things.  Well, last week Lily was recognized by her bus driver Ms. Penny as being an outstanding citizen on the bus.  Ms. Penny reports, that Lily is friendly, polite, listens to bus instructions, and how she can always count on Lily.  Needless to say, we are very proud parents!!!!!  Way to go Lily

Proud mama momment?

Okay, so yesterday I had a pseudo-proud mommy moment!  We were in the car and Lily started complaining of a headache....this was right while we were in the car on our way to swimming class.  So I am thinking...where can I find children's Tylenol around the mall.  Then I look down and see I have some Tylenol caplets in the car...so I offer Lily to try to swallow one pill.  I asked her if she knew how to do it and she said, sure...it's like when I swallowed that chewing gum.  So I explained that she needed to swallow it quickly so that she didn't get that yucky taste in her mouth.  So I handed her a tablet thinking she may or may not be successful.  That I might have some drama, but no....it was easy peasy for her....like nothing!  I think of all the dramatics I had as a kid trying to swallow pills....and here she went like it was nothing!  So that is where the proud mama moment comes in!  Of course, then the dark side of that is I don't want my child poppin' pills as a habit now or in the future!

Lily's first big venue concert!

Lily and Daddy just came back from her first ever big venue concert the Fresh Beat Band! Daddy had to make sure she had the total first concert experience and bought her the band tour jacket and poster!!!!! She loved it!!!!!