Happy # 12....well "Almost 13"

Today, Courtney is 12. It is hard to believe that this many years have gone by. She is just as spirited as the day she was born. She came out right on her due date 12 years ago, and although she doesn't get everywhere on time today, she still attacks things with purpose, independence and spirit just like she always has.

She started her day off today by sleeping in since there was no school. This was one of her top priorities for today since sleeping in doesn't happen very often anymore. Grandma & Grandpa called and invited her to clam chowder lunch at Captain Ron's at the beach, so we left here around 11:30 and headed to the rainy coast. Lunch was great and then of course it was off for a quick trip to the mall. Courtney has enough clothes to probably never wear the same thing twice for an entire month, but she really "needed" to shop for some long sleeve shirts. (Nevermind that half of what she looked at had short sleeves! :)) After stopping at all the hot spots at the mall, it was time to head home and meet up with Tom for dinner. Dinner was nothing fancy, a quick Wendy's dinner, because Courtney had practice for "Peter Pan" at Gallery tonight. I had baked 2 batches of chocolate chip cookies earlier today to share with the cast of 45, so they all sung "Happy Birthday" to her and enjoyed a little treat. I tell you, those cookies were gone in less than 10 minutes flat!

Once we got home from practice, she finally got to open her gifts....MORE clothes! We also enjoyed some ice cream from Coldstone. It was a fun day!!

This weekend we will host 6 girls for a party at Safari Sam's and then a pizza party and sleepover here. I'll let you know Sunday what a "terrific" idea that was. It sounded fun while I was planning it, but as it gets closer, the idea of 7 GIRLS having a sleepover is sounding less than appealing. :) They are all good kids, so I'm sure it will be fun. But, at noon on Sunday it will all be a memory...happy ones of course...and time to kick back and relax.

Courtney is now "almost 13" according to her. This has been her tradition every year on her birthday that she is almost the next year old. Maybe this will stop once she reaches 29??? Anyway, happy #12 (or almost 13) Courtney and many, many more.

Mr. Independent

Tom and Ryan were having a discussion about the length of Ryan's shirts this past weekend. (I know you are all thinking, "Gee, how exciting talking about shirt lengths.") Ryan has this thing about his shirts not hanging too long because he doesn't want them to look like a dress but that they can't be so short that his snap on his jeans shows either. Believe me, we have had many a battle on a morning when the shirt doesn't meet the specific criteria. Who knew boys cared so much? He and Tom were talking this weekend about it and Tom told him that if he thought his shirt was too long that he could always tuck it in like Daddy did sometimes. Ryan gave Tom a completely "teenager" look, shook his head and said, "Dad, I love you, but...I just have to be me." And with that the conversation was over. I mean, what else do you say to that? I love how randomly grown up his statements are sometimes and have to laugh when he is exercising his right to independence.

Conversations with Ryan

We were on our way to the store today and Ryan just out of the blue starts this interesting little conversation:

Ry: "Mom, I'm not a food."

Me: "I know sweetie, you're a big kindergartener now."

Ry: "Then if I'm not a food, how come I was in your tummy?" Right now I'm thinking how did we get to this conversation?

Me: "Do you mean when you were a baby?"

Ry: "Yup, I was a baby in your tummy cuz you thought I was a piece of food and ate me."

Me: "Well, babies always start out in the mommy's tummy because that is where God has them grow."

Ry: "Well, did God eat me then?"

Me: "No Ryan. No one ate you. That is where God made you and then you got bigger and bigger in my tummy until it was time for you to come out."

Ry: "Well, how did I eat?"

Me: "When Mommy ate, you were connected to kind of a little straw that allowed you to eat what I was eating so that you stayed happy in there."

Ry: "Did I come out because I wasn't happy and I wanted to eat?"

Me: "No Ryan, you came out because it was time."

Ry: "Oh, okay... Mom? Can we eat lunch now? I'm hungry!"

Turns out that this all started because over the weekend, Courtney showed him some pictures of his ultrasound where he was in my tummy. She assures me she didn't tell him that I ate him, but just that is where he lived for a while. He came up with the rest on his own.

Going En Pointe

Yesterday was a big day for Courtney. In the spring, Courtney's ballet teacher invited her to go en pointe. Throughout the summer, we weren't sure if the schedule was going to gel with her other dance classes, her school activities, etc., but when all was said and done, the studio got it worked out that the classes would be on Saturday so she could be in the class. Going en pointe is quite a big deal and it is something they only do when they have proper technique, good ankle/arch strength and ready to grow as a dancer. Since 12 is the earliest they have kids learn pointe, she is quite honored to be considered ready to learn this new skill.

Courtney's teacher met up with us at the Leotard in Lloyd Center so that we could fit different shoes and see what would work best for her first few months of pointe. We were told blisters and calluses will be par for the course, but it will be an adventure that Courtney is excited to try out.

Here are some pictures from the fitting. Her teacher, Mr. Casey (in the green shirt), is shown in a couple of the pictures:


























And here are a couple from today trying them out a bit. (Although she is not supposed to try them out too much since her teacher doesn't want her breaking them in quite yet. The picture of her foot en pointe is only one foot that she has posed that way for me, but eventually she'll be able to stand on both feet without holding on to anything that way. Amazing that you could do that on that tiny little box in the shoe. Ouch!

The Day Has Finally Come!

Today, Ryan couldn't wait to bound out of bed and start his day! This is the day he had looked forward to for the past 2 or 3 years. Almost weekly (sometimes daily) he would ask how soon he would be a "big boy" and go to school like Courtney on how he referred to it as "Monday, Tooosday, Wednesday, Fursday, Friday". And now, finally, it was here!

He started his day today with a bowl of oatmeal (his choice and a personal favorite of his) as well as a great big smile! (He was also extremely proud as he had stayed dry all night.) At 7:15 this morning, he was ready to go and was disappointed when I told him Courtney and I weren't ready to leave just yet. A little later, after a few pictures of course, we headed off to this big day. Courtney was excited to get to help him put all of his supplies in the bins like she had done in her kindergarten classroom. He was excited to see his classroom, meet new friends and see his teacher. He laughs when you talk about who his teacher is because she is Mrs. Ryan, so he says with a smile, "So I can be Mr. Ryan." The way their mind thinks at this age is so fun.

I am confident he will have a great year ahead learning lots of new things and meeting new friends. As excited as I was for him today, it was hard walking out the door and realizing that the "little years" were over. Even though he is still little in my mind, he is a bigger boy now ready for more of what the world has to offer.

Here are a few pictures from today:

How Can She Be in Middle School Already???

Wow, seems like just yesterday that I was walking Courtney down the hall to Kindergarten. She was so excited and cute as can be with the pigtails. It is hard to believe that she is really growing up now. She was really excited this morning to get to school, find out her schedule, meet her new teachers, see her friends (old and new), and just start a fresh new school experience. But there won't be anyone walking her down the hall today. This girl has grown up and just needs a quick drop off (very inconspicuously and with no fanfare of course!)and then her mom can drive on her merry way wondering what the rest of the day holds.

When I picked her up, she had a big smile on her face. She said she had a great day and loved all of her teachers. She was a little bummed that she didn't end up having classes with any of her closest friends, but they will have lunch together(in a cafeteria which she has never done before since their elementary school had to eat in their classrooms). She is excited to see what activities Middle School has to offer and just take in the experience.

We dropped her off with some friends (and some parents) to the High School football game on Friday night. It was so funny because when we picked her and her friend up, we asked how the game was. Her reply was, "I don't know much about the game, but it was fun seeing friends and talking the whole time!" Ahhh, takes you back to when we were younger and did those kinds of things too...just to be seen. :) The life of a tween...

Here is a view of my kindergartener only 6 years ago:
























And now....she is growing up and heading off to Middle School:

Obsessed With Spelling

Ryan is totally obsessed with spelling. It is not unusual for him to spend 1-2 hours at a time making words with his magnetic letter train. He starts with a word and then goes through the alphabet and sees what new words he can make. The excitement just runs through him when he finds new words and builds on old ones. He has a list of probably 50 + words that he can spell. Some are the easy first words stuff and some more complicated just because he is always asking questions how to spell things and he seems to remember it all.

The other day it was adding ground to camp to make campground. He had a little help as he insisted on spelling ground with an "ow" instead of an "ou". He said, "Mom, OW makes the ow sound like cow, how, and now. It has to be "ow" not "ou", see listen.... gr ow nd." So after I convinced him it was "ou", then he moved onto playground, wet ground, damp ground and on and on putting ground with words he already knew how to spell. It is amazing the way his mind works with letters.

Well, sometimes that mind gets us into a little trouble by finding words that let's say are a little inappropriate. We've already hit some of the biggies, but today was a new find. I was walking down the hall and Ryan says "Hey Mom, I can't find porn." Of course shocked that my 5 year old said the word porn, my little ears perked up and I asked him to repeat the question as I was certain I had heard him incorrectly. He repeated, and nope, I hadn't heard him wrong, he did indeed say porn. How did we get to porn out of an innocent little spelling game? Well, he started with corn and then started running through the alphabet and found born, torn, worn, etc. So when he got to the letter "P", naturally he wondered about if that was a word. So what he meant by he couldn't find porn is that he couldn't find that "P" letter train in his bin that made the word porn. I carefully explained to him that is not a word that we use to which he replied, "But why, isn't it a word?" I told him it was an adult word and that even most adults don't talk about that word, so it was best he not use it again. He seemed satisfied with that answer and thank goodness he didn't ask me what the word meant, which frankly is a miracle as he always wants to know what everything means and wants to use it in a sentence.

So, Judy, in case you are reading this, if the class is spelling the word corn and Ryan asks about, well, you know, he DID NOT hear that word used in a sentence at this house!