7 and a Half

I will never know exactly why she requests an umbrella on sunny days,

why she say "Viet Nam" differently than the way we say it,

why she regularly asks what they're doing in "her" country at any exact moment,

 why she's intensely private, modest, humble, easily embarrassed,  and "despises" being center of attention or conversation.  I just know I love her so very much and love the young lady she's becoming. I don't want to rush the time by, most days I try to find ways to slow it down, but in some ways I can't wait to meet the incredible adult that she will be. 

But for now, here's my 2nd grader:

Happy Halloween!

Here's Bea heading out to a fun-filled Friday at school, complete with costume in the bag for the morning parade and afternoon party:

I'm not sure who the 10-year old is in this picture,  but she resembles my baby girl!

Here's grades PreK-3 before the parade:

Hawaiian hula princess, right in the center, was so happily surprised that we showed up!

Beautiful Hawaiian princess!

and her best buddy, talking dog Martha...

Off to downtown trick-or-treat...

She and Annie (aka classmate Lily) met up and got some loot together:

And on actual Halloween she ditched her main costume once again and put on a tiara, a tutu, and some wings and the "fairy princess" tentatively went door to door with me in the car on many yards away, for the very first time.  Big deal for my shy girl!  After the pumpkin was full to the brim, we went back home and enjoyed giving out candy to the dozen or so groups that stopped by.

Mid-Fall Fun

Anthony's folks and Tita Evelyn came up for a week, mainly for Anthony's one-man show at the local community college.  Opening night was a huge success!

Here's the proud daughter:

a tired, but also proud aunt:

                                              and an interested father reading about his son:

So many of our friends came out.  A great night indeed.

                                                      Bea stayed close by during the Q&A:

                                      Annalena and her family were in town for pumpkin carving!

I guess Bea was heavily influenced this year by the recent activity in her mouth!

Here's the lineup!

One great thing we did while Lolo and Lola were here was make homemade dumplings.  Bea's been wanting to do that for a long time, and they were yummy!

Finally, in preparation for her St. Kateri Tekakwitha project in a few weeks, Bea got this costume online.  I think we're already done with Halloween shopping for 2016!

Unbeknownst to us, Lolo and Lola brought a St. Kateri rosary bead and medals up to CT, and this little girl is the proud owner of them now!

(on a side note, that medal lit up the vibrating beeper at the 99 restaurant last week to get us a quick seat the moment it touched it.  Bea wondered if we'd witnessed a miracle??)

A Perfect Weekend

October has been particularly gorgeous this year and the sunshine was abundant this past 3-day weekend.  On Saturday afternoon I kicked my inside-loving daughter out to soak up some vitamin D.  The hula hoop ended up outside too and she had discovered that she can really truly keep that thing twirling now! I ran inside to get the camera to document the momentous milestone:

It's an exhausting workout!

Then I decided since the light was so gorgeous I'd try to get some good photos of this almost 7.5 year old:

I'm not sure who this 20-year old is sitting in my tree  :(

On Sunday afternoon, the Chazanoffs came over.  The girls made great use of their time. They pulled out the treasure chest of dress-up clothes and created a "play" for the audience.  They played with dolls, legos, instruments, marbles, and anything else the could get their hands on before we declared it "clean up time" and then settled in for a 9:00 showing of Cinderella. They were up way too  late and then shortly after, way too early to start in again Monday morning! After more playing inside, we kicked everybody out for more sunshine!  They had a blast with sidewalk chalk,

(this nearly-3-year old was a joy to have around!)

created a "driveway spa,"

(gotta let that "henna" aka chalk dry),

discovered "gems,"

and chased some bubbles:

Next they headed to the "treehouse" and decided to do some renovations,

including new flooring,

some floral touches on the ceiling,

and a fresh coat of "paint."

Lots of creative fun was had, and it always warms my heart to get these "sisters" together.