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

An unexpected growing up milestone

So we had been talking about how Lily was at the age where we might consider leaving her home alone for short periods such as if we go for a walk or run down to Dollar General.  Well, today she got her first taste of it unexpectedly...poor child was very distraught...Olav got caught in a meeting at work and couldn't get to the house on time to meet Lily's carpool drop-off.  Just for the record, he has been a constant in her after-school life since she was in pre-k.  The carpool waited for 10 minutes when Olav finally instructed Melissa (the carpool mom) to simply leave Lily there...he had left the door unlocked.  When daddy came home 30 minutes later poor Lily burst into tears....talk about a memorable first time home alone.  Anyway, at least we are more motivated to get her that phone for the house should that ever happen again.

Back to School

First day of 4th grade at Carroll Creek Montessori

Well, yesterday marked a big life change for Lily.  She attended a brand new school.  Earlier this summer, we got word that she had been accepted into the Frederick County Public Carroll Creek Montessori Charter School.  It was a really hard decision on whether or not to send her there.  We liked her home school very much and she even got the teacher I pseudo suggested, but this new school offers daily Spanish classes and goes up to 8th grade, which means if it goes well, she will avoid the traditional "middle school" environment.  Needless to say some big pluses.  However, like every change, it also has its negatives.  The school is located on the other side of the county, so it's a least a 20-25 drive daily.  Also, the school meets in a business park, so their playground is not ALL that, and they don't have media classes.  We told her we would try it...if it is horrible we can always go back to her home school.  Anyway, the night before she was a mess.  She was crying tears of grief and loss.  My heart was so broken for her.  There was nothing I could do but hold her and hug her.  On the day of I think she was a bit apprehensive, but I think overall she had a good day.  She came home and spoke Spanish to me, told me she made a new friend, and that the substitute assistant in her classroom was strict.

Anyway, I was feeling so guilty about her tears Sunday night, but a Facebook friend encouraged me with this statement!

Consider that you are giving your daughter the gift of adaptation and change resiliency skills. These are necessary skills and she'll take the lead with them. You are a brave mom.

Here's to hoping for an amazing year!