Watch Out There's a Teenager in the House

I can't believe I am old enough to have a teenage daughter. I can't believe she is old enough to be a teenager. Hannah Banana ushers in what is sure to be a lloooonnnnngggg few decades of having a teenager under our roof. When she was born I remember being told to appreciate each moment because it would go so fast. I have honestly tried to do that and still it has gone by too fast.

While I am certain there will be more than a few difficulties as we journey these next few years together, every time she flashes me that sweet smile of hers I can't help but notice that in her eyes she is still that sweet Banana that stole my heart the minute she was born. I still remember the look on David's face as he placed this sweet child in my arms. He knew I was somehow changed with her arrival-- I was now a mom.

Now, that smile reminds me I am the mom of a beautiful teenage girl who still can melt my heart with her kind words, her willingness to be helpful, her desire to grow to become the young woman God is asking her to be. Sure, she has her moments. Still, I am incredibly blessed to be her mom.

To celebrate, we took a group of Hannah's friends and her sisters bowling after Catholic Kids Camp. I think she really enjoyed herself. Her gift from us was a week at Camp KRIC (Kids Rooted in Christ). I know she thoroughly enjoyed that week and can't wait to attend next year. She was blessed by that week as she learned to Shine for Jesus. It is bittersweet to watch her growing so quickly. I want her to stay little forever and yet I am so excited by all that is in store for this truly amazing young woman.

Birthdays and Braces

Today my oldest little one turns twelve. TWELVE. One more year and I have a teenager. How is this possible?

For her birthday, we had a special mom 'n daughter morning of ridiculously overpriced, but fantastic iced coffee drinks followed by a trip to the salon for manicures. We ended with a round of shopping. It was a wonderful morning. In some ways it is fun to have a child beginning to enjoy some of the things I do, in other ways it is scary. I'm realizing again how important it is for me to keep my own vices in check, but that's another post...

My Banana is becoming quite a young lady and she makes me very proud. She is chatty, chatty, chatty, and always inventing some new way to accomplish some task. Ask her to help unload the dishwasher and you will most likely get a look, but pretend she owns a cleaning company and hire her to empty the dishwasher and she goes above and beyond. As I count down the days to the arrival of our newest child, I'm even more convinced that we are so blessed to have Banana as our oldest as I know she will be such a big help. She already is. More than helpful, she is learning to grow in virtue. Sometimes I wish those lessons came more quickly, but she is teaching me that I also need to grow in patience. It is amazing to watch her bloom.

In the midst of the trial of Peter's surgery and recovery, Banana got her braces. I think they make her look even older and I was amazed when I saw how much she no longer looked like a little girl. She carefully chose colors (purple and green) for the braces. Her careful color selections, her new short hair cut, the beginnings of primping, and she just is entering a new phase. Still she will always be this sweet girl to me.

Panda-monium Revisted

Banana was supposed to have a big birthday party last summer. Traditionally we have family celebrations for all birthdays and something a little bigger for 5th and 10th birthdays. Banana chose her theme last summer, a tribute to her favorite animal and the trip of a lifetime she had recently taken-- the trip to China to bring home a little brother. Last year we bought decorations, favors, and even made invitations, but I just couldn't seem to pull it off.

Thankfully, Banana is the sweet girl she is and understood and patiently waited until her 11th birthday for her "big" party. It worked out well for her though. This summer the girls attended an art camp. Each morning for a week they went to a local studio and made an assortment of amazing art projects. Banana especially enjoyed the camp. She is my writer, my creator, my artist. It was during that week she decided to have her birthday party at the studio. 

It was amazing. Juli, the owner, walked all the girls through painting their own panda (of course) or tiger (in keeping with the Asian theme). 

One of the things I most enjoyed about the camp and the party was that Juli was able to walk the girls through these amazing projects and showed them how to create paintings and projects that turned out so fantastic, far surpassing anything the girls thought they would be able to create. Yet they did all the work themselves. Even little Bophie walked away with a beautiful work of art she painted on her own.

With a little help from Betty Crocker, I too had a creation that turned out better than expected. After Joseph's monkey cake, and Bear's polar bear cupcakes, I was put on notice to plan a panda bear cake. This turned out much cuter than I thought it would a few hours before the party began when I was lamenting having begun such a process.

As her friends were leaving, Banana looked up at me with a big grin and said, "That was the best party ever!" It meant the world to me. It was totally worth all the cake tutorials, how to draw a panda you tube videos, and the general chaos of  party planning just to see the look on her face.

Thankfully I have a few years before anyone else turns 5 or 10!

A Labor of Love

My first labor of love ended on this date 11 years ago with the birth of this sweet girl.

 I would like to say it began on this day, but this little one's labor was 3 days long. Oy!

I am also not sure the labor has ended as I am frantic trying to put all the final touches on her Panda birthday party. You could say there is more than a little panda-monium going on here, at least more than normal. More is on the way too. Twelve tween girls painting at an art studio (thank goodness it isn't my house)!  Birthday parties certainly are another labor of love- at least for me. Cakes, ice cream, banners, favors. Oy!

I'll post party pictures later, but for now I'll simply wish the sweetest 11 year old I know a very happy birthday! We love you Banana!

Daughters...

Tonight was the night.

A rite of passage as a parent.

It was the night I talked to Banana about getting older.

Yes, we began this talk a few months ago, but I knew the time had come to gently share a few more details. I agonized for a few days. Reread books to prepare myself. Mostly I prayed. I prayed for wisdom.

It turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. There were some moments of awkward silence, and as is my habit I filled them with silly jokes. There were moments I wished I were more eloquent. Still, it went very well.

Then somewhere in the midst of our conversations of soccer games and the latest Penny Parker novel, she flashed a smile at me. It was a moment I wanted to capture and hold. Hold next to those pictures in my memory of how beautiful she was when she was born -- this sweet, precious girl who ushered me into motherhood. The picture of her taking her first steps, of her sleeping peacefully on my chest, of her reading her first book, and riding a bike.

In that smile, I saw the last ten years and I wanted to somehow stop time so that I could spend so much more time with her. I wanted to hold her close forever. I wondered how it is more than ten years could have already passed.

Then, in that smile, I caught a glimpse of the moments we would have in the next ten years, and it was the only thing that made the passage of time bearable.

Wordless Wednesday

Clean Teeth Edition

Gabe is so excited there were no cavities!

Dinnertime Shootout

One of my favorite sayings to zip out at my children (and often dh) is, "Say what you mean and mean what you say." I heard an ending to that a few years that goes, "but don't say it mean." I'd add that to my zinger, but often I am not saying it in the kindest of tones :) Still, I have a thing about convoluted, not to the point, mess around with the truth, kinds of answers. I want to hear what you mean, and nothing else.

This has been a little lax in our house lately so at dinner one night last week I decided we would revisit the subject of speaking as truthfully as possible as soon as asked a question. I was letting my children know that there would be MORE punishment if I had to ask twenty questions to get to the bottom of a situation rather than just getting an admission, an explanation if necessary, and an apology the first go round. To drive home my point, I said to them with a little smile, "In this house we are going to be straight shooting son of a guns!"

Banana thought about that for a moment and then said with a grin, "I guess that makes me a little pistol."

And that she is...

Mt. Never-Rest

Mt. Never-Rest is the name Banana fittingly gave the pile of laundry that grows on my couch after it is removed from the dryer and awaits me folding it and having the girls take it upstairs. I used to call it Mt. Washmore, but her title seems more apropos.

In a house of six children, laundry piles up fast. Throw in the stomach flu we passed around last week and the laundry piled up exponentially. All week my poor machines have huffed and puffed. Thankfully we replaced them recently, so the new guys were up for the challenge.

This afternoon, I worked and worked and finally all the laundry was washed, dried, folded, and even put away. I was basking in a chore completed. Now, less than three hours later, all the kids are in their jammies and in bed, but their laundry bins are no longer empty.

Mt. Never-Rest indeed...

Wordless Wednesday

Milestones and Birthstones Edition

A Decade With Banana

My little girl enters double digits...

Banana- Grams

This Friday my oldest daughter, Banana, will hit double digits. I am amazed how quickly this decade has gone. Each day it seems I am surprised again at her growing intellect, beauty, and virtue. She also seems to have her mother's inclination for sarcasm. Lately she has had a few gems worth sharing.

I found some ferns on sale a few weeks ago. I love ferns. I have been hoping to find my favorite variety, the maiden hair fern, but it seems they must be a California specialty because I have never seen them in Ohio. Once I purchased the ferns (plain old Boston variety which are still beautiful), I wanted urns in which to plant the ferns. (Isn't that fun to say, "urns for ferns?") Alas, I was again thwarted as I could not find any suitable urns and had to settle for simple pots. After all this trouble I planted the ferns and placed them next to my front door and realized they were perhaps a bit too large for the front door. I commented that it was as though you were entering a jungle as you walked through the door. Banana pipes up, "It's a good warning for what's in store if they do come in this house." You know what? She's absolutely right... it's a jungle in here.

Later, when asked what she thought about the idea of us adding another little one to our household (this is not being actively pursued at the moment) Banana responds, "It's like glasses in the dishwasher, there's always room for one more!" She has, in fact, been praying for not one but two new babies for us. I am thankful for her generosity and love of life. Isn't it also wonderful she has so quickly learned the importance of a well-loaded dishwasher?

Only My Children

Yesterday, Grandma stopped by with dinner and some other goodies. Aunt Missy had sent some little trinkets for the girls. She can't visit herself until I get over this silly virus. She sent little Bophie a charm bracelet. Bophie has been wanting one since her older sisters got one and started collecting charms with the Little Womens Hospitality Program. She also sent bangle bracelets for the older girls.

Banana, being my bookworm, and clearly a home schooler, took one look at the sparkly pile of bangle bracelets and said, "Look, I can use these to make Venn diagrams!"

Earlier in the day, I had made "coffee" for the girls. The coffee is essentially frothed milk with a scoop or two of decaf instant cappuccino mix. As we were all at the table enjoying our coffee Bear and Bophie kept sliding out of their chairs to the floor under the table. After a few times, I finally asked them to sit up and drink their coffee like ladies, after all, did they ever see Mom do that when she drinks her coffee?

Bear thought a minute and piped up, "No, but you wouldn't fit."

I chuckled with her for a moment, but then warned her that was a dangerous thing to say to a pregnant woman :)

Ever Wondered How Old I Am?

According to my oldest daughter, pretty darn old...

Last week as dh and I were preparing dinner, Banana was lamenting how her History just wasn't as interesting as last year. She is in fourth grade this year and History has become more informational reading, less audio books to read and engage. I responded by reminding her that although it may not be as entertaining, it was still important to study hard.

I then, offhandedly, was telling dh that I don't remember really studying History until sixth grade. I liked her reading the books that helped History come alive, but am not sure that reading History text is all that beneficial at such a young age.

Banana reaches for the plates to set the table and says, "Of course you didn't have to study History, you were born before it!"

I was tempted to giver her the smallest piece of cake that night for dessert :)

They Learned This From ME?

Lately my cell phone has been acting up-- again. I am well known for being rather hard on my cell phones. I miss the very first one I owned. It was massive, but I could drop it, the babies played with it, it survived my diaper bag, and was still in great shape after many years of use. Since that phone it has been nothing but trouble. I have a hard time getting my phone to last until I qualify for a new phone. This has left me with quite a collection of old phones.

A few weeks ago my dear children found this collection of phones in a drawer. They acted as though it were Christmas. Each of them picked out a phone and ran to find purses to hold their new phones. Even little JuJu babbled on her phone.

For days there were many creative rings for the phones heard at all hours. There were countless conversations with each other, with family members, with imaginary friends. This, though, was my favorite overheard conversation:

Bear: sings a crazy tune
Banana: ignores her
Bear: "Banana, your phone is ringing."
Banana: (dismissively)"I know."
Bear: sings louder
Banana: silent
Bear: starts babbling on about something.
Banana: (in a rather taunting tone of voice) "Why are you talking? I denied you!"
Bear: (quite cheerfully) "I know, I'm leaving you a voicemail!"

Since my cell phone has died, again, dh was kind enough to do a little digging and ordered me a new one. The website gives this description:
"designed for on-site field services. Built to withstand harsh conditions, it is certified to Military Standard MI-SID-810F, withstanding dust, shock vibrations, rain, humidity, solar radiation and altitude and temperature extremes."

If I were a betting man, I still think the odds are I will find some way of destroying this phone as well-- especially with the help of my girls. Heaven help us when they are old enough to need cell phones of their own (thankfully this is many, many years away :) ).

While out for lunch

Banana, my exceptionally bright fourth grader, is deciding on what she would like from the Chinese buffet line. She politely declares, "I'd like teriyaki beef not the human (Hunan) beef."

Wise choice my dear and I will stick with the General Tso's chicken.

Happy Birthday Banana

It is hard to believe my darling oldest daughter turns nine today. The wait for her arrival seemed interminable. We wanted to have a child for so long, then she decided not to show up until two and a half weeks past her due date. I thought the day would never arrive.

Now here we are nine years later and I am wondering where the time went. How can it be that the little girl who changed our lives forever is so far beyond first steps and first words? Can she already be this amazing girl who bewilders me with her virtue and understanding? I look at her and am so proud of the person she is becoming and, at the same time, I wonder how it is she is already nine!

Happy 9th Birthday Banana! I am so blessed to be your mom.

Her Mother's Child

The older girls each received a pottery set to paint as an Easter gift. Banana's is a gardening set and Bear's a tea set. Since they are a little older now, I thought it was time to suggest they think through their ideas before actually applying twelve colors of paint that end up melding into one horrible color on their ceramic plates. They seemed to like this idea. They talked about color schemes and patterns, designs they could try, and opened their sets to examine the size and shape of the objects. Within three minutes of me making these suggestions, they had paint open and were starting in full force.

Deciding they were still young, and it was their gift, I walked away. I knew I needed to let them paint. I also knew I had about 15 uninterrupted minutes to finish a project on the computer. As I am typing away, I hear this conversation:

Bear: "How much dark blue have you used?"
Banana: "Dark blue? I won't use dark blue, that's a Michigan color!"

That's my girl... That's.MY.girl.

A Proud Mom

Yesterday was our homeschooling group's annual Speech Meet. It is a forum for the children to get a little public speaking experience. It has always been one of my favorite events and this year proved to be one of the best yet. There was singing, a little dancing, funny poems, tongue twisters, prayers (in Latin no less), and more.

Last year Bear worked for months memorizing her poems, she looked forward to getting up and reciting them. When the moment came, she froze. This year, she worked even harder. She memorized two longer poems and worked on saying them slowly. When the moment came, she froze. Then she took a deep breath and delivered them beautifully. She spoke slowly and clearly and gave one of the best recitations of "The Puffin" I have ever heard. Of course I am biased...

Banana did equally as well. She is becoming a pro at this. I was a little more worried this year because she chose two very lengthy poems. We had memorized the first in the fall while working on American History and I was afraid she would switch the stanzas since we were so late in beginning our review. She delivered beautifully. Her second recitation was "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud" which is often called "The Daffodils." It was a most fitting poem for such a nice spring day and though she had to quickly learn the last stanza this week, she did a fantastic job.

The moderator (me), on the other hand, was not so adept at the whole public speaking thing. Dh confirmed my suspicions at home last night that I had managed to overkill a joke-- I just couldn't let it go. Those dear children and their families were subjected to my poor sense of humor, my talking too fast, and general uncomfortableness with a microphone. At least the food and coffee were good, and the kids were entertaining.

My Dear Girl

I took Banana and Bear with me to visit my sister last Monday after she had been diagnosed with heart failure. As a mom, I wanted to protect them from the worries that accompanied all the questions and uncertainties about Aunt M's health, but I knew they were concerned and it might help just to visit.

Banana has a good habit of putting the letters JMJ (this is shorthand for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph pray for us) at the top of all of her schoolwork pages. I had noticed that Monday, after hearing that Aunt M was pretty sick all her schoolwork had JMJ Pray for Aunt M. I was touched that she was so concerned for her aunt and I was proud of her for remembering to do all she could for her aunt.

I was especially touched that evening though. As we sat in my sister's living room, various friends and family filtering in and out, a particularly emotional high was hit when my brother came in. I watched my girls take it all in. I worried a little that this was too overwhelming for such young children. Then Banana showed me how wrong I was.

When the conversation lulled, she quietly spoke up. "You know, I was thinking it is like we are all in a room and there are lots of crosses of all different sizes" she paused looking for assurance. Then she continued, "and Jesus loves you so much," she said to my sister, "He chose to give you the biggest cross as a gift."

She understood it all, and I am so thankful for how beautifully she handled the situation.

Lenten Wisdom

Yesterday we had to be out most of the day. I wanted to spend a quiet first day of Lent at home, but we had other scheduled activities. While we were between appointments, I decided to pick up a few items at Target. My girls love to go to Target because they love to hound me for an Icee. Knowing it was Ash Wednesday and there was no way I was caving, Banana very graciously offered up even asking (begging) for one. Her response was, "This isn't sooo hard the first day of Lent, but I don't know about the third or fourth..."

Then later at home, we were letting the girls put their sacrifice jellybeans in their Lent jars. They collect them for good deeds and then may eat them during Easter. This has worked relatively well in years past. However, this is Bophie's first year for collecting and the concept is a little beyond this almost 3-year old. She doesn't understand that she gets them now but has to wait to eat them. At bedtime, she collected her last two for the day and once again asked if she could eat them. I said (for the thirteenth time) she had to wait till Easter. She quickly licked each one, put them in her jar and said, "When Damma (Grandma) comes, I will eat them."