June! I forgot all about writing you a half bday blog this year. we have been SO busy! It is fun and also exhausting. summer was never my favorite, but as you all get older, we have so many fun things like parks and swimming and camping and it is growing on me ;)
One of your favorite parts of the summer had to have been LSSC! Little sisters' swim club. Jo started youth group with Elliette and Hannah and so all the little sisters would go home with Emilie and go swimming at their apartment! You probably did that 10x this summer and it was so special. At the end, Emilie made little certificates that said "God Loving Club" and you added "most likely to forget her goggles" haha. you have the sweetest friends- I am so so thankful we get to do life beside them and homeschool together so often. You also did "Grace Girls" with these girls and Mrs. Rosie invited another girl named Geneva to join- she is a year younger than you and has two way older sisters. You have struggled with wanting to include her because you're so tight with the others- so that has been a great opportunity to chat with you about perspective and inclusion and treating others how you want to be treated. Geneva started joining LSSC and you didn't love it, but I am hopeful that you'll grow to accept her and enjoy her friendship too- sweet girl!
We did finally get you into gymnastics starting in May, so it has been around 4 months now. You are loving it!! We bought a little bar for at home and you pretty much do pullovers and practice your back hip-circles every chance you get- especially during clean up time ;) or at the zoo on a handrail or at parks- anywhere will do! you mastered your pull over and are super close to getting your back hip!! at this last week's practice, coach Kendall (from our church- Ford's mom), said that as soon as Jo has her pull over, she is ready to move you both up! I am so proud and excited for you. but we are just finishing out this month and then taking a sports break because of our month coming up in Mexico nd then the holidays. and you're not sure if you want to continue gymnastics or try out dance... you'd do both if i let you, but i just can't make it all happen. we will have to really think about it and decide what is best for our family and you!
We got to go to family camp at church this summer, too! you LOVED it. maybe more than any vacation we've taken ever. haha. vacationing with friends is pretty special. we pretty much only saw you for meals. you were off with your friends the whole time. walking to the playground, going to the camp store and buying candies, getting hot chocolate from Alberta's grandma, or hanging in the hammocks. the best was one night when Ruby bought a scary camp stories book and you and all the girls were hanging in your tent and everyone kept scaring you. Jo and Ruby had asked a few of the boys to come scare you, but they never even got the chance because literally everyone else who walked by kept doing it hahaha. uncle alex, dad, even me and a bunch of other moms! you and Jo shared a little 4 person tent and because every other girl was sharing a tent with her family, your tent became the hang out place for all the girls. it was super fun! we will for sure be camping more in years to come!
you are doing so great in homeschool! we started early this year, so we are already finishing up our first quarter this week (Sept. 11th today- haha i'm so behind!) you love your Language Arts- still TGTB- but the 4th grade curriculum wasn't redone and isn't nearly as good as last year's was. i miss the reading together books we got to do last year- that time was so special and precious. you love to write and are super great at using description. your handwriting is soo tiny and i can't always read it. last year, you did all cursive and this year i said you didn't have to do it anymore and you've reverted to this crazy tiny script ha. kind of messy, but so neat. you don't love your math- TGTB also. you struggle to stay focused and it is pretty long. i've been trying to sit with you and explain so you don't have to spend 15 mins watching the video and that helps a bit. you guys do such great work when i sit with you while you're schooling- so hard with all the littles and housework though. we are continuing to work toward a good schedule that works for us all! we have added in typing a bit this year. and you LOVE spelling. you are on your last 6 words of 4th grade spelling already- what?! so you get to crush all the bonus words. it is your fav subject ;) you have been reading a lot of the Girls Survive series, but you don't really gravitate toward reading unless I make you do your 20 mins a day. we will keep searching for series that just hook you! Jo really wants you to try the Cupcake Club books that she was so obsessed with at your age- I think i'll push you there next ;)
you still love fashion and love your clothing! we switched to a communal closet- you, Zeke, and Ellie all have all your clothing in the hallway and that is super helpful because you can't ever get away with leaving your clothing everywhere. every day, you have to clean everything up. we just did our Fall closet switch and took away old summer clothes, put in sweaters, etc. and you always love that. you get so excited over new clothes. and you love your baggy pants! actually all oversized clothing- you love to steal Ita's clothes and wear them, especially as pajamas. you are in size 10/12 now! and Jo is kind of mostly in size 14. i have officially said that all 10/12 things should be yours, but sometimes you'll pull out a new shirt or something I put in your closet and Jo gets really upset and says it is still hers and still fits, but it is clearly too small ha. we humor her. you're always such a good sport about it! Ita loves to buy you clothing, so don't worry, you get plenty of brand new clothes too and you for sure get to choose your own style! you have a pair of sneakers that you just adore and you're soo sad that you're about to outgrow them. you asked for the exact pair in a larger size for Christmas and I can't wait to get them for you- what a precious thing to ask for. gosh, i love your heart.
you are still loving art. you are just an artist. you are messy and creative and always blow me away with your little sketches and doodles that you didn't even try on. you just watched your first Bob Ross video and you were very excited about his painting. i hope you'll watch more. you are doing pastels in TGTB LA this year, but I think we need to encourage more art through classes. we'll see what we end up doing.
the past few months, you've taken to sleeping on the couch in Ita's room every night. you love it and I love it for you. I don't want you to have your own room yet because you are just too messy and would shove all sorts of junk and paper scraps, etc. under your bed or whatever and I just can't handle that yet ha. but you don't love sharing a room with your brother either, so this is working well for now! i think it is pretty special that you get that extra time with her and I am sure it makes you feel so safe. i still have to go up now and then though and move the couch to clean up all the crumpled papers under it ;)
you are still loving Barbies! you and Jo spend a lot of time playing up there and you especially spend a lot of time creating things for them- adorable tiny notebooks, little glasses out of your 3-d printer pen, clothing out of old scraps and hair ties- it is so precious and frankly, impressive! i think if you wanted, you could store up a bunch of your creations and try to sell at a kids' makers market next summer. I've started to encourage you in that direction a bit, but you're not too interested. you are also super quick to give all the amazing things you make to Johanna. she somehow always ends up with all the best Barbie stuff... haha. but you're just so generous and you always want to give her your creations. we've been looking for a new house for Eleanor to give her for Christmas at Goodwill and so far we've found 2 amazing plastic ones. but you and Jo really want to give her a wooden one where you create all the wallpaper and decorate it and give it a theme. but you don't want to give her your old wooden ones, so for now there are 5 Barbie dollhouses up there and Jo says that 3 belong to her and you don't really care one way or another. Jo can be so hard sometimes... but anyway, Barbies are a big part of your 9 year old life still and I LOVE it!
speaking of Jo, you fight with her kind of a lot... she has been very pre-teeny lately and the hormones are ragey at times and she bites your head off over the smallest things. you are so sensitive and i feel so sad watching you two fight. you really took a lot before you began biting back, but now you do and you just automatically get defensive with her when she isn't always even fighting and so it has turned into a lot of bickering and just treating each other awfully. it breaks my heart. i know it is totally normal for sisters who are this close in age. and then after an awful fight, you'll be back to whispering and giggling and playing together just like that. so i know it won't impact your long term friendship- you two are going to get to be best friends throughout life. raise your kids together. support each other through everything. i am SO thankful you have each other!! I remember crying when i found out you were a girl at my ultrasound- i always wanted a sister close in age to confide in, to lean on, to get to be super close with like i saw so many friends have with their sister- and now, i got to give that to my girls!! i am putting a prayer request in my prayer box right now for the depth and breadth of your friendship through the years- it is so beautiful and important!
you play with Zeke quite a bit too! you play rough with him. maybe too rough sometimes. but it is fun watching that different side of you- the big sister instead of the little sister. you also enjoy Ellie and Zak, but you don't mother them like Jo does- you just play. it is so sweet and i am hopeful that you will get closer with them as they get older and can play more your style.
you are quick to cry! you get easily overwhelmed and crying is your preferred stress relief method. i actually love it- there are times you'll just come over for me to hold you while you cry. sometimes you'll say you don't even know why you're crying. i try to encourage it and always share the science of how your body actually releases stress hormones through tears so it really does help you release that tension. and i know you hear me. it is always ok to cry! you told me once that you really don't like how loud it is in our house and how overstimulating it is for you. i feel the same way, girl! you often disappear upstairs because it is just chaos and you don't enjoy it. i feel sad about that becuase i miss you when you're away a lot. but what can i do when i have so many loud little kids? and hte house is always messy because the littles destroy it while i try to homeschool you or cook or or or. and so the cleaning is always a huge fight for everyone and we are working hard on work ethics, but i would say that a big part of your childhood memories will be of mom yelling at you guys about how its time to clean up and you guys are off trying to ride your bikes or got distracted in a game, etc. i know our little tiny house is a blessing and living with Ita is a blessing, but sometimes i really struggle with thinking it is best for us when it is so tiny and just gets sooo loud and messy so quickly. but it is what it is! just documenting your life ;)
I love my 1:1 time with you! you are like a different girl when I get you alone. you have so many funny questions to ask and so many beautiful thoughts. and you are just fully there- I think you want my attention so much more than you ask for it because you are often escaping the chaos. it is my goal to get you 1:1 as much as I can this next year- you are so special and precious to me and i just adore knowing your heart and mind. it is such a gift to be your mother. i love you, June!
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