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!