One of those they grow up too fast posts

No point in lamenting, but Lily just went to her first Young Women/Young Men combined activity.  Girls from 12-18 are in Young Women in our church.  They do a lot of fun activities at least once a week and actually have a 4-day camp once a year.  I used to be a YW leader, so I know these things...except for the horse riding wasn't very fun (I always get the crazy horse who hates people).  She is a tad young for YW, but the leaders are excited to have her join the girls and so they invited her.  All of the sudden she is ready to leave Primary and move on.  This is what she looked like after zip lining, playing king of the mountain with rafts in a pond, jumping off a high dive, wrestling lots of kids...you get the idea, for 3-4 hours.  Lily Heaven!

 Her birthday is such that this is A BIG YEAR.  It is her Golden Birthday.  She will be going to YW; bye-bye Primary where she has been since she was 3 (really 18 months if you count Nursery); entering middle school which is SO DIFFERENT from elementary school; not to mention she is growing up, having to purchase legit ladylike (I'm so discreet) underclothing, etc.  Yet there is so much of her that is still little girl.  Yep, she's liked the occasional boy through the years but kissing is gross, legitimately dating or going steady seems absurd.  Boys are to be beaten in competitions, not flirted with and obsessed over.  How I wish she could stay this way for longer because I know with all the beauty of growing and learning there comes the really blech and painful parts, too.  I've loved watching her grow so far, but I don't like to see her suffering.  That blue baby I held in my arms nearly 12 years ago hardly seems like the same person who is almost eye-to-eye height-wise with me.  Not only has she grown super tall, she has grown in personality and humor and opinions.  She will have to make new friends and do a lot of hard things the next few weeks, but though she may be a beautiful, beautiful young lady, she is by no means weak.  She is a strong person, and as I told her today when she was feeling overwhelmed, if she will just rely on the Lord and her parents she will make it.

See my poor, stressed out girl above.  Apparently locker combinations do not come naturally, right tighty, lefty loosy, exactness, taking your time, nada.  She was so frustrated, and talk about new parenting territory for me, but she figured it out (not enough that she isn't fully planning on just carrying all her books with her everywhere in her backpack, but she did do it successfully on some of our attempts).  It is a delicate time as a mom.  I'm supposed to treat her normal, be very careful what I tease about, completely be there for her but let her do things on her own without giving any advice or tips.  What a ride it shall be.  I don't think I fully realized until we went and did her registration and fees and got her schedule just how different this year will be for her and for me (and maybe us as parents, we'll see).  Deep breath.  I had the pitiful thought that if I thought dropping this wee girl off at kindergarten and having to walk away and leave her all alone was hard, how much will it make me feel powerless to drop her off at a middle school full of profanity, drugs and perversion?  (Hey, the Puritan in me comes out, okay), but she isn't used to hearing swear words every other word, and she feels very awkward hearing boys or girls talk about private sexual things in lewd/slang/disrespectful ways and looking up nasty stuff on the Internet, and I hope that it is always so, though I realize in some situations that will make her stand out like a sore thumb.  I love her, and we will take it day by day, and I will get really good at JUST LISTENING.  That's really what teenagers want, so I hear from several wise moms I admire, to be heard and not judged.

On lighter notes:

 Our neighborhood night out.  Lucas spent a whole burning hot afternoon/evening/night setting up and taking down as he is HOA Pres.  The kids were mildly impressed...well, Lily loved it, except her bike didn't win the decorating competition.  I thought it was quite fun to watch a movie under the stars...until 2 kids started saying, "I'm cold."  The little girl also was trying to fall asleep during Malificent , um yes, that was fun.  She thrashed and kicked my head and fussed and did a few naughty things, but after 11 and when the lights went up for people to head out, these were my little ones.

Here we have some end of summer but it's too darn hot activities going on.  Well, Daphne's year round activities at present involve taking all the things from drawers and bins in one room and scattering it through the house like fairy dust, being sure to carefully place the really important items in a black hole, the location of which I am unaware.  The masking tape on the floor was a roadway for cars.  I had grand plans...Shawn loved it...but before the day was through Matt compulsively decided it needed to be cleaned up.  Too bad he doesn't feel that way about everything else in the house.

And flash back to earlier in the summer and earlier in the spring:

Matt and Ben's private swim lessons.  Matt is so close to me feeling confident, so close.  Just straighten your darn legs and use your big arms, Son!  (I only think it in my head...I don't say it out loud).

And lastly, this was Daph's first hair cut, if you can call it that.  We just evened up her bangs...before I let them grow wild and back into their native environment.  See above picture in plaid dress.  She was so serious during this haircut, not sure what to think.  I was concerned she'd be all like, "Scissors?  To cut the hair with?  Yes!!!" but so far when she has laid her hands on scissors her sibs have left lying around, she goes for paper, not lamp cords like Shawn...whole other story.  Yep, so that's all I have to say about that.

SO PRETTY!?!