There she goes

I just entered a new stage in my life. Instead of rushing to run Sarah anywhere or go to pick her up I just have to tell her to drive safely and call when she gets there. She turned 16 yesterday and of course her 16th birthday would fall on a Monday. The driver's license station is closed on Mondays, however they would have been closed anyway yesterday as her birthday falls on a federal holiday, Columbus Day. So I hurried home from school today so that I could drop Kristen off at piano lesson and then we went to get her license. It was so easy, no written test, she already passed that two years ago and since they didn't stamp her driver's ed certificate she didn't have to drive, just show the certificate, pay money and smile for the camera. Of course Sarah wanted to get home as soon as possible so that she could then driver herself to dance. It was such a strange feeling to watch her take off in that car all by herself. Part of me is proud of her for growing up, part of me is excited that I won't have to spend every night running here, there, and everywhere, and part of me was a little nervous as she took off in that car.

Drive Safely Sarah.

Watch out world, Here she comes....

Sarah will be joining the working world on the 25th of June. She will be working for the school district this year, which is great. She needs a ton of money for cheerleading and marching band, so a job will be a much needed help. She will be working 4 days a week from 8-3 every day. Along with 4-H, cheerleading practice, and dance she should have a very busy and short summer. But just think she is going to learn the joys of paying taxes and social security and then next February she can learn all about filing a tax form and hopefully getting a refund.

Welcome to the beginnings of your adult life Sarah

Confirmed in the Faith

Today was the day that Sarah has been preparing for and studing for, for 2 long years. Today was her confirmation day. She had questioning on Wednesday and did great. She is now a communicate member of the church and will be able to participate in more activities besides just the kids stuff. Yesterday when I was going through some old pictures, I found pictures of her from when she was a baby. That seems like just yesterday that she was learning to walk, what happened to that baby? Seeing her all dressed up and in the white robe; reminded me that she is growing up and becoming a young adult. After the church service we had a nice brunch buffett at Rastrelli's in Clinton. Yummy, very good food. Then we rushed home for an open house in honor of Sarah. I would say that she had a very exciting day. Seeing her in the white robe however reminded me that it won't be long before she puts on a red robe with a hat. Congrats Sarah

And the final curtain drops

Tonight was Sarah's last middle school chorus concert. It was nice and even better short. When she first started middle school a chorus concert would take 2 1/2 hours, tonight only about 50 minutes. The shorter time makes it much easier to get little sister to bed on time, or at least before she becomes too cranky. I really feel like the music teacher owes Kristen's kindergarten and 1st grade teacher an apology. I am sure that she had to be extremely cranky the morning after.
Back to Sarah however, she is so looking forward to moving on to high school and being done with the immature middle school behaviors. She has been promised that high school choir will be much better and that the kids should be more mature. She is just excited to be done with all of the drama and screwing around. i know she is also hoping that the picking on certain students ends also. She has always been raised to treat everyone kindly, but not everyone has been raised that way. Since Sarah doesn't dress in the current style (Mom and Dad won't let her) and she is involved in things like church and 4-H many of the city kids have made fun of her. It is hard to believe that in just a little over a month I will be the mother of a high schooler. That time always seemed so far away and it is coming up fast. Sarah, I am proud of howing you are growing up. Keep making good choices and don't worry about the peer pressure. Just do what you know is right.

Sparkie Awards

Last night was the final night of Awana for this year. As a second grader Kristen was finishing up the Sparkie program and next year she will move up to Truth and Training (T & T) club. Kristen's goal for the past three years, besides learning her verses was to do as well as Sarah did. Memorization comes easy for Sarah, but took Kristen a little while. Due to a change in director's she wasn't able to complete the same work that Sarah completed but she was able to do extra. I am so proud of her for learning her Bible verses and hiding God's word in her heart. She already loves it when she is in Church and hears a verse that she memorized.

Ebony and Ivory

Ebony and Ivory live together in perfect harmony. Or so says a song that I remember from my childhood. While somedays I wouldn't always agree, today they made beautiful music together especially with the help of a certain 8 year old girl that I know. Kristen has been taking piano lessons for almost a year now. After 2 earlier starts that ended up being stopped for many different reasons. Today was her first piano recital and she did a great job even if she did trip and fall on the way to the piano. She played two pieces. One was a duet with her piano teacher's daughter. I will have to admit that part of me missed hearing Sarah play also. I have long had a dream that the two girls would play a duet together. Hoping that maybe that will take place next year. Anyway this was Kristen's day to shine, without being in the shadow of her older sister. Kristen takes piano from a different teacher than what Sarah did, so no one can compare the two. She looked so grown up as she introduced herself and the names of her pieces. Currently she aspires to become one of the pianist for the church during the summer service at camp. I am sure that she will be playing at church before we know it.

Sarah's confirmation

Now that I am able to use the photo editing program that came with my computer, I took the time today to create an announcement for Sarah's upcoming confirmation. I am so excited to be able to do things like this even if it did take me 6 tries to get it right. I can't believe that my first born will be getting confirmed in less than a month.

So Mom, are you the Easter Bunny?

On the way home tonight, totally out of the blue Kristen springs the announcement/question. Mom are you the Easter bunny? I think you are and then she recited several different reasons why I must be the Easter Bunny/Toothfairy/Santa Claus all rolled into one. Of course as she was reciting her reasons for believing that I was all of these wonderful mythological figures rolled into one, it came to light that she had been doing some snooping before Christmas and found some of her presents. In some ways this will make things a little bit easier, but yet some of the childhood fun has gone away. I do need to talk with her now about how much fun she had believing and that she wants to allow her baby cousins and younger friends the joy of believing.

I guess it is official, my baby girl is growing up, no longer a little girl, but becoming a tween all the way through.

Good bye Toothfairy

In the midst of Kristen's struggles with a fever and the flu, she lost a tooth. Of course the toothfairy came that night and left her two dollars in change (she had to many stops to make and didn't have any small bills left) So last night, all of the sudden Kristen turns to me and tells me that I need to be quieter when I count my money, because she could hear me. First she slips about thinking that we are Santa, now she mentions something about me being the Toothfairy. It looks like we are done with the legendary figures in my house for many years to come. While I am excited to see my girls growing up, I miss some of the simple little things from the early years.