Violet's 13th Birthday

This year Violet turned 13.

The customary morning birthday picture. Whimsy is very interested in all the hanging streamers and flowers.

It was a school day, so I took Violet and 2 of her friends (Ali and Sonia) and Hazel to Subway. Grandma and Grandpa met us there. They of course tried to talk me into letting them just 1 more class...and I of course said no.

We went to Olive Garden for dinner. Our good friends the Brenners, Grandma and Grandpa, Oma and Opa, and Great Grandma joined us.

For her birthday party we went to Camp Yamhill the next day. Her and her friends played on the the low ropes course and we had pizza and cake in the big lodge. 

So many teenagers...

13 candles lights up a cake pretty well.

13 has been...interesting and fabulous. I've got one of the wonderful ones.

Action Shots

Saturday was Violet's last soccer game of the season. She has done such an amazing job this year, scoring lots of goals, being aggressive, working on her fancy footwork. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching her this year, and have been very proud of her! 

Here are some action shots from her last game. Go Her-icanes! 

Congratulations on an UNDEFEATED season!

Some high fives for a she scored! Go Violet!

"Hey coach Joe...put us back in. We're cold just standing here on the sidelines!"

 

Even though I am glad we will be getting our Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights back...along with Saturday mornings, I am very much looking forward to next year. I just love watching her play!

Let The Memories Begin

We took Violet out to Camp Yamhill yesterday. I spent the time half immersed in my own wonderful camp memories and half in disbelief that I was dropping off my child to be a camper to hopefully create some of her own wonderful memories. Full of water hikes, campfires, singing, and new friends. SO MUCH FUN!

She is  in cabin 3, so from here on out in the years to come she will probably always ask to be in cabin 3, as it is now the BEST cabin ever, and will be the only acceptable option. She is in the same cabin as her friend Allison, which is fabulous. They are peas in a pod.

We got her all set up in her bunk..does she look older in this picture?!? I feel like she looks too old in this picture. I feel like when I go pick her up on Friday, she is going to be 3 inches taller and so independent that she will not need me anymore. I mean...she is in charge of her own showering schedule and choosing what she puts on her plate at meals this week....why would she need me anymore....

Look....she doesn't even need to walk with me anymore. She's got Allison and her new found independence and an open field to play, I'M TOAST!

Ok....maybe not.  She does love me, and will still need me. Because I did this clinging and crying to my mom, and I still need her (even at 36), I guess I'm safe.

This moment was a tough one for both of us. After several tight hug tearful minutes she was able to walk away with the help of friends. I was able to walk away with the knowledge that she is going to have one of the most fun weeks of her life, and that the memories she is creating right now will be memories that she will look back and smile on when she is dropping her beautiful independent amazing daughter off at camp someday.

Braces Forever

Miss Violet decided to glam up the other day....She's going to regret letting me take this picture. Because this is the picture is going to be the reason I say "NO, not yet" when she asks for contacts, and why I am going to ask the orthodontist if we can keep her braces on until she's 18. I'm not sure what's going on with the "beauty mark" on her face though.

Violets New Glasses

I don't know if you have noticed in past posts, but Violet has a lazy eye. There is a technical medical term for it, but it is easier to just say lazy eye, it makes the most sense. She has the lazy eye because her bad eye is over compensating to correct itself because she is far sighted. Hopefully with the glasses her eye will start looking forward by itself, but if not she could possibly have to wear a patch. All of this is very familiar to me because I also have a lazy eye (as well as my dad and my sister) that I had to wear a patch for when I was 5. We are hoping Hazel has perfect eyes like my husband and brother. As you can tell though, she is absolutely adorable, and it just gives her a little more character.

Good night Christmas lights.....

This will be my last post regarding Christmas. I promise! Violet just did a very cute thing yesterday and I wanted to share it. For the past couple of weeks when we walk in the door she has wanted the Christmas tree lights turned on and she also wanted to listen to her Chipmunks Christmas CD ( over and over again). Well yesterday when we got home I put her down for a nap and started packing up Christmas. I undecorated the tree, moved it outside, took down all of the lights on the banister and the stockings and put them in boxes. It never crossed my mind to have Violet say "good bye" to all of this stuff before I did this, until she woke up and I brought her out into the very bare unChristmased living room. It was instant tears and sadness. I quickly said that the Christmas tree had to go away for a while but it would be back next year and we had to put the lights to sleep. I went over the box of Christmas lights and opened them up and said "kiss them good night" so she did. And apparently this made everything all better because proceeded to kiss the stuffed animal Rudolph door knob ornament and other various Christmas decorations and the Chipmunks CD. So now Christmas can go to sleep tucked in by Violet.

Our Little Christmas Ham

I took this picture with my Christmas present, my new digital camera. Santa was very good to me this year. I am excited that I now get to capture all of these adorable moments. I call this face Violet is making her "smile for mommy" face. Almost every picture I took yesterday looks very similar to this one. We had a very nice day. We stayed at home all morning with just our girls and opened presents from Santa, then we went to my grandparents house for the turkey dinner and played a couple of games. Next we went to my mom and dad's house to open grandparent presents. The kids were really funny, because one of them would open a present, and they would congregate around that gift until we lured them to one of their own. I am going to have to spend some time this week rearranging Violet's room to make room for all of her new stuff. Among the presents from her grandparents she got a Radio Flyer tricycle, a giggling Elmo chair, and my favorite is a little doll bed that my dad made for her.

As you can see Hazel has not mastered the art of the "mommy" smile. But I bet next Christmas I will have two little hams with the squinty eyed crinkled nose smile.

What did you get for Christmas this year?