Chapter 5

Chapter 1 - Infant

Chapter 2 - Toddler

Chapter 3 - Kid

Chapter 4 - Human who is more mature than their parents think and less mature than they think

Chapter 5 - Early Teens

Well, we've reached a new chapter in Amelia's life - her teen years.  While I don't like admitting it, she's ready.  She's ready for all the fun, the drama, the first loves, the freedoms, the first heartbreak, the temptations, the consequences, all of it.  She's not only ready for all of it.  She's going to be great at all of it.  She's so damn smart.  I don't even mean book smart...although she has the straight A receipts to confirm that order.  I mean life smart.  Emotionally smart.  She can read the room with the best of adults.  She knows when a friend needs to be cheered up and when a friend just needs a silent hug.  She knows Everett is going to annoy her because it is his God-given right and obligation as a younger sibling to do so.  She knows to knock him down when he's acting too cool and to help him back up when he's feeling too vulnerable.  She knows she's smart enough to form her own strong opinions and she knows her parents are smart enough that it's worth listening to theirs.  

I'm not saying she'll escape her teens unscathed. Her heart is too big to not catch shrapnel along the way.  I'm saying I have full confidence she'll make the right choices, have the right perspectives, and feel comfortable enough to ask the right questions....And if she doesn't, her parents will be there to cheer her up, giver her a hug, knock her down a peg, help her back up, and listen to her opinion. 

  

Fancy

I'm not sure why all groomers feel the need to decorate the dogs when they go in for a bath or haircut.  I'm guessing some owners and possibly even some dogs love it.  I'm not that owner.  Olive isn't that dog.  That said, when I brought Olive home like this, Lucy had never been happier to see her.  After all, who doesn't want their best friend to show up with two new chew toys strapped to their ears??

So Much Fun

You know how you reach a certain age where you really have to make an effort to keep up with your kids when it comes to technology?  I'm certainly at that age.  Don't get me wrong, I can still hold my own when it comes to video games, using the Internet, etc.  The issue comes in how long it takes me to learn all the tricks when I get new technology.  I know this...and Amelia knows this...and thus, she knew when she secretly set the face of my new Apple watch to a rainbow unicorn, it would be staring at me for a few days until I figured out how to change it.   Have I mentioned how very, very, very fun it is to have a 13 year-old around the house.....

Full Contact

 When you have a 10 year-old son, you just have to accept that you won't always know what is happening in their heads. For example, I came across this creature in my living room.  I'm not sure if he was preparing for some full contact video gaming or if he just really likes his new lacrosse equipment....maybe both?

Back For More

 As I said in my last post, I needed to take a few weeks off to handle some things at work before I started back up with the posting.  As it turns out, in order to catch up at work, I actually needed to take a few years off to handle things.  Since that isn't going to cut it, here I am...and I bringing pictures from our snow a few weeks ago with me...

Amelia beginning to make a snowman....

Everett plotting his next snowball attack on me and his sister...

Everett finding out you don't bring a snowball to fight a guy who has a snow shovel...