Can I wrap her in bubble wrap please?

Last day of 5th grade

Today is Lily's last day of 5th grade!  The end of 5th grade has been a whirlwind socially for her.  Many of her girlfriends are developing "crushes" on boys, sending notes to boys, and "asking boys out".  While she is not there yet, she sure is enjoying the drama of it all!  Lily appears to have a really good head on her shoulders, she doesn't seem to give in to peer pressure.  Apparently, her fellow classmates have been goober-heads and while the teacher is disciplining the group, she silently mouths to Lily "Not you".  She is however experimenting at home with boundaries. Sometimes being disrespectful and argumentative.  While I don't want to crush her spirit,  I'll admit it is hard to know where to draw the line in the sand.  I feel like it is a big learning curve for both of us!  I just want to wrap her in bubble wrap and keep her little!

Feeling emotional

Lily is growing up so fast!  Last night we had her welcome to middle school youth ministry.  I found myself teary-eyed!  I just can't believe she will be a "middle schooler".  I am thankful that she doesn't have to change schools and in some ways, she will be "sheltered" a little longer, but the writing is on the wall,  the next 3 years are going to be huge in terms of change and what she is exposed to.  It is my prayer that she really connects with some girls whose families know and love Jesus.  I pray that she will be protected and spared some of the hard parts of middle school. 

Today her class is going on an outdoor education camping trip overnight!  Next week she has puberty education.  Again, so grown up!!!!!

Outdoor Education 2017

I think we have a young woman in the house!

Bittersweet today!  Lily thought in April she may have gotten her period, but today she was more certain that she had gotten it this morning.  We double-checked and yes it's real!  So bittersweet! I guess that explains why she was so moody within the last few days!  We will be celebrating her journey into womanhood this weekend!  She wants to go out to eat Chinese buffet:)

So proud of this girl!

Lily is such an awesome young lady.  Yesterday she got her report card and as always she knocked it out of the park.  However, the thing that impresses me even more than her academic prowess is her learning behaviors which show a maturity beyond her years!  Also, I was very excited to read one of the comments written by her Spanish teacher which stated that she shows an excellent aptitude for the language! So proud!

Flute

I forgot to mention that Lily started flute lessons this week with one of my co-workers Mrs. Grapes.  I am very excited for her!

This girl is double one's

Can't believe this girl is eleven!!!!  Make time stop!

Building Confidence

As a parent, it is our natural instinct to want to protect our children, especially when they are crying out in grief, anxiety, or sadness.  But I am learning an important lesson.  If we try to protect our children from every negative emotion we are also depriving them of the opportunity to build confidence in their abilities!

For example, Lily finally did a swim meet yesterday, after a full season practice.  She was supposed to do another one earlier in the season, but she panicked and refused to do it!  So with the help of her coach, she said she would try again.  Yesterday was the MSC B Championships and Lily signed up to participate at the urging of her coach!

She was very anxious.  Especially when she learned that she would have to wait with her team separate from us.  She spent a good part of the morning working herself up and crying.  Of course, my natural instinct was to just bag it.  Why fight the battle.  But I heard this little voice saying to me, that she needed to do this for herself.  And so we went.

She had a spectacular meet.  She did the backstroke and the breaststroke.  She shaved over 10 seconds off her backstroke time and came in 1st place in her heat. She shaved over 18 seconds off her breaststroke and came in 2nd place in her heat.  You could tell she was SO proud of herself!!!!  A real confidence builder!  Score for everyone!

I am so glad we made her go!  It was a good lesson for all!