Eighteen is...

Eighteen is....

confidant

intelligent

creative

thoughtful

beautiful

hardworking

capable

kind

conscientious

 

 

Eighteen loves to...

 

listen to Harry Styles

watch Netflix/Hulu  (Pretty Little Liars and Grey's Anatomy)

hang out with her friends

lifeguard at the pool

go to the beach

get ice cream with her brother when she's not annoying him

drink Starbucks and Boba tea (her new favorite)

sleep in 

have a plan

be organized

get her nails done

 

Oh how I love my sweet eighteen!

Happy birthday, Sarah!

 

 
 

 

 

Thirteen is...

Thirteen is...

smart

sweet

trendy

loyal

happy

creative

thoughtful

cautious

hardworking
a good student
beautiful

Thirteen loves to..

Snapchat with her friends

swim
sleep late

eat at Chick-Fil-A

watch Netflix

style an outfit

do her hair

paint her nails

make Sunday lunch desserts

take selfies

eat anything sweet

laugh about funny things from school with her brother

push her brother's buttons

cook

Oh how I love my sweet thirteen.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

Twelve is...

Twelve Is...

Friendly

Smart

Kind

Beautiful

Creative

Helpful
Persistent
Fun-Loving
Afraid of Heights
A Night Owl
Athletic

Twelve Loves To...

Swim
Style Her Hair
Paint Her Nails
Watch You-Tube Make Up, Hair, and Craft Tutorials
Decorate Her Room
Put Together Outfits
Go To Chick-Fil-A

Cook
Text Her Friends
Ride Her Bike
Go Out To Eat
Go To Hobby Lobby
Hang Out With Her Friends
Annoy Her Brother
Play the Ukulele
Take Selfies


Oh how I love my sweet little twelve!
Happy Birthday, Sarah!

Eleven is....

Eleven is...

Kind

Creative

Friendly

Stylish

Sporty

Caring

Determined

Considerate

Helpful

Beautiful

Loving

Eleven loves to...

Do her hair

Paint her fingernails

Put on makeup

Watch YouTube DIY tutorials

Look at Pinterest for craft ideas

Swim

Play basketball

Play tag, dodge ball, and knockout at recess

Text her friends

Take selfies

Annoy her brother

Jump on the trampoline

Make grilled cheese sandwiches

Watch American Idol and America's Got Talent

 

Oh how I love my little eleven.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

So close. Yet so far away.

With only three minutes left in the game, Sarah's team was only down by 2 points.

They might actually be able to win, I thought to myself.  And it was right at that time that the other team finally found their stride and started to pull away.

The Pink Panthers lost in the end, but as Sarah's coach said on her Facebook page, "I'll take good attitudes, good sportsmanship and fun over a win any day."  I think that says it all.

Sarah's still deciding if she'll play basketball next year or whether she will cheer, but I think she'll choose basketball.  As much as she likes cartwheels,  I think she knows where the real action is. 

They might be giants.

This past Saturday, Sarah played her last regular season basketball game.

And they were playing the team of giants that creamed them in her very first regular season basketball game.

This other team is tall.  And their coach yells - a lot.  And their parents yell - a lot. (And unfortunately, not words of encouragement.) These girls are serious about their basketball.

And they were undefeated.

Sarah's team played hard.  They put a lot of pressure on The Giants and The Giants started to crumble.  Shots they normally made were missed.  Passes they normally made were dropped.

Our girls continued to play hard and the other team continued to crack.

The Giants' coach yelled louder.  The parents yelled louder.  The Giants themselves didn't understand what was happening.  They had never had another team defend them so well all season. 

Even though Sarah's team was behind the whole time and even though they never caught up, it was the best game of the entire season.

And even though we lost, it still felt like a victory.

**********************************

Sarah's team won their first tournament game on Tuesday night and get to play in the championship game on Saturday.  And guess who they get to play?

Who knew 2nd grade girls basketball could be so exciting??

Getting her medal at the end of season pizza party.

What a tangled web we weave...

Sarah was taking a bath when I heard, "Mom!  Come quick!  It hurts!"

I ran up the stairs to discover that Sarah had taken a comb and somehow managed to "weave" it through her hair.

I took one look at this and my stomach dropped.  How am I going to get this out with out shaving a 4 inch bold spot into her head?  I had just gotten a new pair of clippers and did not want Sarah to be the first one I used them on!

I did what any right-minded woman would do.  I consulted my husband.  He took one look at it, shook his head, and said, "I have no idea what to do."

So I did what I should have done in the first place.  I called my mom.  She immediately came running over.  (It is very, very nice to live right next door to your mother.)

She calmly assessed the situation and got to work.  But after spending 5 minutes working to remove the comb and only loosening a few strands, she said, "We need to cut this comb out.  Ask Dan to get some tools."

So Dan brought up several tools and he ended up cutting parts of the comb out of her hair, unweaving parts of the hair, cutting more of the comb, unweaving more of the hair.

Wash, rinse, repeat, and repeat, and repeat.... 

The whole process took about 45 minutes.  But I think I can thankfully say, not a hair was lost!

Sarah, of course, wasn't as grateful as we were.  She didn't realize how close she came to going to school with a black comb in her hair for the next 6 months and then getting bangs.

She complained that I wasn't kind enough to her during the whole ordeal.

I tried to explain the concept of making your bed and laying in it but that just went right over the top of her comb.

If you know Sarah in real life, please do not mention this to her. She would probably be mad at me for posting this. She really is 7 going on 13. And I can already hear her when she's 15 saying, "Remember that time you posted about that comb on your blog? You have ruined my life Mother!" (Because when she is yelling at me in my imagination, she always call me Mother.)

Mother Daughter Luau

On Sunday afternoon, Sarah and I headed back to church for the annual Mother Daughter Social.  (Which we have attended for the past three previous years as the Mother Daughter Tea.)

I guess the Columbiettes wanted to change things up this year so they called it a social and we had a luau.

I was more in tea mode and put Sarah in a cute little tea dress.  The other girls were dressed more Hawaiiany.  Didn't matter though because Sarah loved her dress and since that girl has loads of self-esteem (oh, to have but a teaspoonful of hers), she didn't notice or care.

Here she is before we left:

Before our main entertainment arrived, one of the Columbiettes got up to teach the girls some Hawaiian dance moves.  However, one of the girl's grandmothers also got up and proved she really knew what she was doing.  She was very serious about her hula dancing.  And eventually the girls stopped following the Columbiette and started following the grandmother.

And then we got a show from a professional.

And here is a nice shot of us together after we bonded Hawaiian style!

Constance Hopkins

Sarah did a great job on her presentation on Friday afternoon.  She read her speech loudly and clearly and didn't stumble over any of the words.  (Which is good because her teacher was taking points off for that.)

I am so proud of her and so glad that she is being exposed to public speaking at an early age.  The first time I remember speaking in public was in the 7th grade.  (I think it was 7th, Jeff, correct me if I'm wrong.)  I dressed up like Madam Chiang Kai-shek and gave a speech on her life.  It was horrible. It was supposed to be an extemporaneous speech, but I was so afraid I was going to forget what to say, that I memorized the whole thing.  I know it sounded canned but I did the best I could.

At the beginning of the speech, I looked down, took a breath and began with , "I AM MADAM CHIANG KAI-SHEK!"  I was so loud I think I scared the class.  And that's scared not scarred, although, I probably scarred them as well because my old friend Jeff, after reading that Sarah was dressing up for her speech, immediately facebooked me to ask me if I remembered my infamous speech. 

30 years later and he remembers that speech - how's that for making an impression?

Peter gives his speech on Colin Powell today.  Unfortunately, parents aren't invited so no cute pictures of him dressed up in his dad's old Army coat. 

Doesn't she make a cute pilgrim?

It was a good one.

Aunt Cathy arrived on Friday evening to surprise the kids.  In addition to some Mad Libs and a Clue game, she must have tucked a whole bunch of good luck into her overnight bag.

Sarah, who has not scored a basket (other than free throw shots) during the game since last season when Aunt Cathy visited, took a shot during the game and scored!

Sarah is the one with the long pony tail and the white short sleeves underneath her jersey and that's HER shot coming out of the basket!  Way to go Sarah!

And then, if that wasn't enough excitement for one weekend, Peter competed in his pack's Pinewood Derby and not only did he win 1st place in his den, he won 1st place in the whole thing!  He had the fastest car in the whole pack!  Way to go Peter!

Aunt Cathy, you're coming back next weekend, right? 

Highlights from the dance.

Sarah and  Daddy had a wonderful time at the Father Daughter dance on Friday night.

When they arrived at the dance they picked up their corsage and boutonniere and then had their picture taken.

So sweet.

Then their night of dancing began!  They did the Chicken Dance, the Hokey Pokey, the Macarena, the YMCA and the Cha Cha Slide.  Below is photographic evidence that he actually did the Hokey Pokey.

You put your left elbow in.  You put your left elbow out.

At one point in the evening, they had everyone form two lines facing each other and had the dads come dancing down the center doing their best dance and then all the little girls voted on who was the best dancer. Dan did not win this award but according to him Sarah didn't even vote for him.  Her defense "well the other daddy was really, really good!".

Oh how I would have loved to have seen my sweet husband dancing down the center of these two lines.  Sarah - if you ever in your life doubt that your daddy loves you, I will have to remind you of that moment.

Here they are in the line watching the dads do their best dancing.  They are holding hands.  So sweet.

They also had lots of opportunities to "boogie" as Sarah likes to call it.

Here they are getting their groove on.

Sarah and her friend Mia danced a lot of dances together.

Sarah and her friend Mia.

More Sarah and Mia

And it wouldn't be a Father-Daughter dance without at least one slow dance. 

Sarah has already announced that they will definitely be going back again next year! That gives Dan a whole year to practice his moves so he can win the Best Daddy Dancer award!

Isn't she lovely?

On Saturday afternoon, Sarah and I went with my mom to the shop where I purchased my wedding gown to see if they had anything that might be suitable for Sarah's 1st Communion.

We headed back to the section where they kept the flower girl dresses and as soon as I laid my eyes on it, I knew!  This was it.  The one.

"I love it!"  I screeched as I reached for the dress closest to me.

"I know!  Isn't it gorgeous?" said my mom.  "That's my favorite too!  I came in here last week to see if they had any cute dresses and this is the one I picked out!"

Luckily Sarah loved it as much as we both did.

You can't really see it from these pictures but it has some bead work on the top and the reason Mom and I both loved it so much is that it reminds us both of my wedding dress.

We ordered the dress in white.  The sample dress below was ivory. 

Other than the necklines, very similar dresses!

Shiny new halos are the latest in fashion accessories!

Sarah made her First Confession on Saturday morning.  As I was driving her to the church, she said several times, "I'm nervous."

"That's okay, sweetie.  All the kids are probably nervous.  In fact, grown ups are usually a little nervous when they go to Confession as well."

"Telling me that doesn't make me any less nervous."

So we prayed that God would give her courage and that he would take away her fear.

"I only have two things to tell the priest!" she declared.

"Only two things?  Do you think you need to examine your conscience a little longer?  There will be some quiet time before we get started."

"No.  I think these two are perfect.  I'm a pretty good girl after all."

After she came out of the room with the priest she exclaimed, "That was easy and now I feel like I've been washed clean and I'm wearing a shiny new halo!"  

Washed clean and wearing a shiny new halo - that's exactly what it feels like when you know your sins are forgiven and the light of God's grace fills your soul.

She dribbles. She shoots. Luckily, she misses.

The little girl dribbled the ball. She took a shot.  It bounced off the rim.

Sarah was right underneath the basket and grabbed the rebound.  Sarah took a shot.  It bounced off the rim.

Thank goodness it didn't go in because Sarah was playing defense.

Oh, sweet Sarah. 

After weeks of telling her she needed to be more aggressive and go after the ball, she finally did it.  In her excitement, she forgot she was on defense and should have held the ball and passed it off to the point guard.

She was annoyed when I tried to talk to her about it after the game, but on Sunday afternoon Dan and I worked with her.  We practiced getting the rebound and holding it.  Hopefully that will help her in the next game.

I took a ton of pictures from Saturday's game.  In almost every picture, you can see swarms of girls from both teams going after the ball, trying to get their hands on it, trying to be a part of the game.  And in almost every picture, Sarah is in the background watching the activity - doing everything in her power to keep from touching that ball.

I can't decide if it's disinterest in the game or if she is just nervous because she's afraid if she actually gets the ball she won't know what to do with it. 

I guess all we can do is continue to work with her and hope with more practice she understands better what she's supposed to do.

What's everyone doing over there??

Is mom still taking pictures?

She loves to run up and down the court.

Her sweet coaches giving her a five and a good job for trying to take a shot!

On a positive note - she did score a point during her half time shot! And it counts so she did contribute to the final score!