Happy 8th Birthday, Brenna!

Happy 8th Birthday, Brenna!  Another year has come and gone and I love looking back and seeing all you have done and accomplished.  This is the year that you fell in love with performing arts.  You traded in diving for singing/dancing/acting and you haven't looked back since.  You LOVE it.  

But we'll start with school.  You had a great 1st grade year.  You loved your teacher Mrs. Cyrek and you had a great group of friends in your class. 

Here's your First Grade School picture right when you turned 7 and the next picture is just before you turned 8.

 

A really cool school accomplishment this year was that your design won the Race for the Cure T-shirt design contest.  We went down to the big Race for the Cure event in West Palm and you and your art teacher, Mrs. West were presented with an award.  Your design said "Hope you are Ofishally Cured" with a drawing of a fish.

 

This year was really all about Annie Jr.  We started ballet at Performing Arts Academy and there was a poster announcing auditions for Annie Jr.  It said ages 8 and up but you really wanted to do it.  I asked Ms. Elizabeth if the age limit was strictly enforced and she told us it would be a very big commitment but if you wanted to audition you could.  You loved Annie the movie and recently, you had gotten a kids meal toy that played "Maybe" and it came with the lyrics.  You practiced that song over and over again and when it came time to audition you were really really nervous.  You fought back tears because you didn't know anyone and many of the kids seemed a lot older.  But you sang and you danced and you got the part of Molly, the littlest orphan.  You rehearsed every Saturday for 4 hours and loved every second of it. 

  

Annie Jr. gave you the confidence to sing "Tomorrow" in your 1st Grade talent show at school.  You were so great!



You love gymnastics and while last summer was the year of the cartwheel and this summer was the year of the back walk over.  I think you and Lily spend more time upside down that right side up. 

You and Lily are best friends one moment and enemies the next.

 You still love and cherish time with Molly.  This year when upset over a disagreement with a friend, I said, "well Brenna there is no such thing as a perfect friend." And your response was, "Yes there is, there's Molly."

 

Your summertime was filled with lots of fun performing arts camps and you also played the Evil Queen's cat in Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, the musical.

I love you, Brenna.  You continue to exhaust me with your emotional intensity.  And you continue to amaze me with your talents and achievements.  Hope this 8th year is your best yet!  

Happy 4th Birthday, Lily!!!

Happy Happy Birthday, Lily!

I think you've had a pretty great 3rd year.  We love your silly personality and how sweet you can be.  You love preschool.  You love dancing and gymnastics.  You sleep in your bed all night (most nights) and you are overall pretty easy going (except when you're just having a 3 year old tired moment then you are not easy going at all :-) ).  You and Brenna have a love/hate relationship right now.  The love is much stronger than the hate.  You are each others best friend and if we're out in public you get along soooooo well.  But at home, there is lots of fighting and arguing.  Brenna's got a strong personality so in a way I'm proud of you that you can hold your own and can give her a dose of her own medicine sometimes. 

You  really loved your first year of preschool at CEC.  Ms. Cheryl and Ms. Alexis were your teachers  in the 2's and you just started the 3's with Mrs. Donham and Mrs. Willis.  Here are your school pictures from last October (turning 3) vs this October (turning 4).

 Seeing this pics from last year makes me realize how much bigger you've gotten this year!  You're sooo adorable.

 

 Your first preschool field trip to Publix

 Easter

 I loved watching you in your dance recital.  You took Ballet at the Community Center and both you and Brenna were in the recital.  You even had a special part where you got to be a Lobster hiding in the pot and you ran across the stage to get away from the Chef.  It was super cute and elicited many "awww's" from the crowd. 

 For Grammy and Grandpa's 40th Anniversary, we had some family pictures taken and here you are with your cousins Jaden and Jordyn.  Whenever you see baby clothes in the store you always say, "Awww, this would be so cute on Baby Jordyn."

An exciting thing that happened this year was you decided to get your ears pierced!  Brenna waited until she was almost 6 and liked to remind you a lot in an annoying-sister-sort-of-way that she had hers pierced and  you didn't.  Well I think you got sick of her always bragging and you decided that you were going to get it done so she couldn't rub it in anymore.  Here you are getting them pierced.  You weren't nervous at all before and cried for about 20 seconds after.  You were so proud of yourself and loved showing them off to everyone afterwards.

You are the cartwheel queen!  You've always been really coordinated.  At 2, you were zooming on your scooter all over the place.  At 3, you are doing cartwheels every place you go!  Ms. Liz at CEC pulled me aside and told me you were really amazing at gymnastics and we should seriously consider putting you in a good gymnastics program, you're that good.  Then the same week at Keep Flippin, your tumble tots coach told me she has never seen a 3 year old be able to do a one-handed cartwheel.  I told them you get a lot of practice in at home!  You LOVE your cartwheels.


You are very patient. loving, sweet, and well-behaved.  When you are home, you like to watch Daniel Tiger, color, and "do homework" like Brenna.  We love you so much and can't imagine how you could get any cuter.  Happy Birthday!  Love you!!!!

Happy 7th Birthday, Brenna!

Another year has come and gone and today we celebrated your 7th birthday!  Look at how much you grew this year.  The skirt length makes me laugh...below the knee at the beginning of Kindergarten and above the knee at the end. You also look so much more grown up with your front adult teeth that have come in this year. 

You had a great first year at Limestone Creek Elementary School.  You loved your teacher, Mrs. Francis, and met a whole new set of friends.  You are not the little girl you were a couple of years ago.  You gained such confidence and independence this year.  Your reading really took off in kindergarten.  You had the most Reading Counts points in the whole kindergarten and as a reward got to throw a water balloon with your Assistant Principal at the end of the year.  I think it started because you liked hearing your name on the announcements as a points leader and so you set a goal to get 100 Reading Counts points by the end of the year.  I love that at just 6 years old, you can set a goal and work hard to achieve it. Mrs. Francis always had really nice things to say about how responsible and smart and kind you are. 

The Daddy/Daughter dance was another highlight of your school year.  You and Daddy had a great time and you looked so beautiful and grown up that night. 

You are still diving and won a first place medal at a Miami dive competition this year.  You stay really busy with diving and dance, and you also played another season of t-ball in the Spring with Daddy as your coach. 

This is also the year of the cartwheel for you.  I think I've witnessed 100 cartwheels a day.  I'm glad you'll be starting gymnastics classes soon because you definitely need a place to get all those cartwheels out of your system!!!!

You and Lily are still best friends but you guys fight A LOT when you are home.  If we go out, you're fine.  If you are somewhere together without Mommy or Daddy, I know without any doubts that you will take excellent care of her.  But at home...it's pretty exhausting with all the fights.  I know it's probably hard because Lily is 3 and sometimes she is impossible but I definitely hope this next year brings less fighting at home.

You move your body with a lot of beauty and grace.  Here you are rocking the crow pose in Yoga.I just love to watch you dive and dance.  I think you are so pretty and graceful.

One thing you did this year which BLEW MY MIND, was jump off a 10 meter board at a dive camp this summer in Coral Springs.  I would have bet a lot of money that there was no way on Earth you would ever do that.  Lesson learned, I will never bet against what you can do.   This takes my breath away every time I watch it. 



One "low point" that happened this year which I'll never forget happened a few days before your 7th birthday.  You got  hurt at dive practice.  You accidentally got knocked off of the 3 meter board by another diver and landed on the cement.  I didn't see you fall but ran over when I heard you cry.  I was soooo scared you were hurt.  We went by ambulance to St. Mary's and you were soooooooooooooooo unbelievably good and brave.  The paramedics and Drs and nurses were wonderful  and a head-to-toe CT scan determined that you were just fine.  I'll never understand how a fall like that did hardly any damage.  I think you had angels looking over you that day.

After a nice summer break, first grade here you come!  There was a rainbow right outside of school on the first day and you said "I bet God put a rainbow in the sky to wish us all good luck on our first day."  I love how sweet you can be.  Happy 7th Birthday.  I love you with all my heart.  Shine on!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lou!

You crawled into bed with us at 6am and said "Did I grow?  Am I 3 now?"   Yep, you are!  Well technically not until 5:04pm this afternoon but close enough.  Happy Birthday, Lily Girl!

I sometimes stare at you and can't get over how beautiful you are.  You have the most beautiful towheaded blond hair and we have NEVER given you a hair cut yet.  You have the prettiest loose curls at the bottom.  You always request an "Elsa braid" even though I like when you let me leave it down.  You are also quite petite....easy to hold and squeeze.

Your best friend is still "BaBa."  You can say Brenna just fine but 98% of the time you call her BaBa or Bubba.   You two can definitely fight but have so much fun playing together.  You give her big sweet hugs and really just love being around her unless she's in a mood or something.

Hippo and Pacy are also 2 of your best friends.  You say these requests one right after the other.  "Pacy...Hippo!"  I told you that the pacy fair would be coming soon and your response was, "Ok, as long as she doesn't take my hippo."
I knew it got too quiet. Potty training was very easy with you.  You would pee in the potty shortly after you turned 2 and by 2.5 you would poop in the potty too.  You never had to wear pull-ups at night.  I think you've had maybe 2 accidents ever.  Even though you always got up so early, you have always gone to bed very easily for us for the most part.  We tried to put you and Brenna in the same room in bunk beds this year but Brenna didn't like the feeling of being up top and I think she wanted her own space at night so we ended up putting the bunk beds in your room and you sleep on the bottom and the top is a little reading/play area.
One of the sweetest things was when you said goodbye to your crib, one last time: Saying goodbye to her crib. #bitteraweet

You aren't much of an adventurous eater.  You eat a little bit all day but never really eat much at a meal.

You like playing with playdoh and lego duplo blocks.  You LOVED any and all things FROZEN this year and you sang "Let It Go" and acted it all out every chance you got.  At this exact moment, Frozen seems to be on the way out and you have discovered a love for Paw Patrol.  You also go to Yoga sometimes with Brenna and even though the class is for 4-8 year olds you still participate sometimes and you'll come out and see me and maybe have a snack or a drink and then go back in and finish.   You love demonstrating your handstand against the wall.

This summer you took a dance class which you loved.  You were really good at following the directions and you loved dressing up each week.  The one time Daddy took you though you cried and wouldn't go in.  Not sure what that was about...I think you were just used to me taking you.  We really enjoy going to story times at the library and going to ride the carousel.
You are a phenom on your scooter!   When Brenna was playing tball, you'd bring your scooter to the ball fields and scoot around and then you closer to 2 than 3 and people would stare cause they couldn't believe how good you were.  You and Brenna will race (you on scooter and her on her bike) and you can beat her!  She does not like that but you do!!!
Instagram You are also an amazing swimmer and swim at the pool where Brenna dives a couple times a week.  You can swim, float, swim thanks to ISR and we always go back every so often for a refresher lesson.

You also started school this past September at CEC.  You were very comfortable the first week since you were so use to going there with Brenna the last couple of years.  The second week was rough and you cried when I'd drop you off in the morning but you are used to it by now and I love hearing you sing all the songs from Chapel and your good morning song "Lily came to school today, school today, school today, Lily came to school today, we're so glad you're here."

Lily's First Day of Preschool!

I got out of the shower to this.... I love you, Lou Lou! Happy Birthday! The 2's were pretty great so don't be make it the terrible 3's ok? xoxoxoxox