Evelyn is growing like a weed! She is not a child anymore and it's exciting yet painful all at the same time. I miss her being a little girl! But it is thrilling watching her grow up and become more and more independent and eager to excel in so many areas. Ev has worked hard this month with voice lessons (preparing for The Little Mermaid), guitar and piano lessons. She also started ballet AND gymnastics! All of these classes, Evelyn has requested (except for piano) to take. She loves to try new things and develop her talents and I really admire that about her. I've noticed that Evelyn is becoming more and more socially mature as well. This month she attended Girls Camp and had a fun time; she spent with with so many friends and attended parties. I think her favorite was most likely the escape room she visited for Emma's birthday. A huge milestone for her was being dropped off at SeaWorld with friends! I've never dropped Evelyn off so far from me... but she is almost 14 and very capable. She loved having the day to spend with her friends and no parental figures in sight! The highlight of the month for Evelyn was going to a concert of Abigail Barlow who was in town visiting and sang at the House of Blues downtown. It was really fun for Ev and I to see Abigail perform. She did a great job though it was far from a full house. Evelyn really admires this young lady and I was so happy she had the chance to meet her in person!
Dane had probably the roughest few weeks of his little life thus far. Poor guy! The tonsillectomy was a lot more brutal than we had imagined it would be and the recovery a lot longer. Dane had dreams of eating ice cream and popsicles all day whilst watching movies and relaxing at home! Instead, he could barely swallow for DAYS and DAYS. He spit his saliva into a rag and we had to beg and plead and force him to take little sips of water, let alone suck on a popsicle or eat a spoonful of ice cream! It really was the most pain I've watched any of my children go through and I felt terrible for my sweet little boy. The verdict is still out on whether or not this surgery actually worked to cure Dane's perpetual sore throats. He is still in recovery mode- though feeling so much better. For 10 days, Dane didn't speak at all! He just communicated through a post it note. And the cute kiddos in his class wrote him the most darling notes-which cheered him a bit but man, did I ever miss the old Dane during that long and brutal few weeks. I was so thrilled the morning he woke and actually wanted to eat after almost two weeks of NOTHING. Blake ran out and brought home mcdonalds pancakes because that was what he had asked for! So happy this procedure is over with and hope with all my heart that Dane will not have to experience sore throats anymore.
Grant ran into the house last month after retrieving the mail with an advertisement and about as much enthusiasm as a child could possibly muster. "MOM! There's a MASSIVE dental opportunity for Dad!" It was so cute. He was copying the words from the advertisement and believed every word with gusto. I love Grant so much. He is really one of my favorite people on earth. He is so kind hearted and such a leader. So full of passion for so many things. He is funny and crazy and excitable and spontaneous. Loved looking through his folder at the end of the year and finding that almost every entry of his journal contained a story or side note about his big brother Dane. He wrote SO much about Dane that it melted my heart completely. Loved Grant's self-portrait and portrait of a shark. He may not be an artist, but there was no lack of love letters from the girls in his class. He brought home one or two cute little notes from his classmates and I thought they were pretty sweet. Grant has a bright future, of this I'm certain!
Little Anna has had a busy month. She finished soccer and earned her medal. She quickly pronounced that she did not want to continue for a third season, gosh darn it. I'm still trying to talk her into it! But she is excelling at ballet and had a wonderful time all year doing girl scouts! It was so cute to see Anna's creative creation in the fashion show that the girls put on at the end of the year. She has really grown to love her little friends and leaders and GS has been an amazing experience. Anna is so flexible and so much fun . She really knows how to brighten my day with notes, flowers, kind words and so much affection. At soccer games, she finds her own fun... on our new air chair, with other little girls (siblings of the players), she brings her own little toys to every engagement and entertains herself for hours. On errands she's thrilled as long as she can buy one small item. Typically a slap bracelet is all it takes. During Evelyn's lessons, sometimes Anna and I will walk to get a drink; she is the greatest little pal and we caught about everything. She is really growing up and becoming a million times more responsible with chores. She has her own little chore chart that she uses daily and crosses off each chore as she goes along to do it. It was so funny last week I asked her to fold the laundry from the dryer and then take out the clothes from the washer and put them into the dryer. She told me she had finished so I was confused when later I walked into the laundry room and found an empty dryer and a bunch of clothes in the washer. She had folded the clothes from the dryer-- very neatly.... and then placed them all back inside the washer on top of the wet clothes !!!! Poor thing was confused about her job. Ha! I love that girl.
