Weekend with my 11 year old

Plans were changed a bit (for the better) after it rained on Saturday. Softball was cancelled which made our day slightly easier :) We celebrated Monkey's actual 11th birthday with a big breakfast, family hike, a mini salon on the font lawn and pizza for dinner. Emmy was born at 8:09 pm so constantly reminded us throughout the day that she wasn't 11 yet and we had an original count down at which time she handstand-ed her way into being 11!

Waffles, bacon and whip cream = breakfast of champions

I got Emmy a new small backpack for her bday so of course Owen wanted to wear one too so she let him use her old sequin justice one. Ahahahah. He thought he was the coolest. 

He was cracking us up running around with the puffy white thing bouncing. He was running listening for the birds. 

Its been a while and I almost forgot how cool the hike is at the bottom of the hill. 

Our little photographer

Emmy wanted to dye the end of her hair blue so we got ourselves all set-up out front!

Not too shabby for my first attempt! 

Me and my girl 

And her crazy brothers! 

11th Birthday Celebrations

Emmy is turning 11. Holy Smokes! The pas 11 years sure flew by and I never imagined how proud I'd be of our almost middle schooler. I swear Emmy has the best of both me and Josh. She is strong and fearless, very smart and confident, is focused and determined, doesn't get caught up in gossip or trying to keep up with the Jones's, is kind, sensitive and thoughtful, funny and beautiful! She seriously amazes me everyday with her physical and emotional strength, her self awareness, communication skills and how she reads people and situations. She is so wise beyond her years and has such a good head on her shoulders I just know she is going to do amazing things. 

Last weekend we had an early bday celebration with all her bestest buddies - Riley, Kylee, Audrey and Luci. After much debate, we decided on rock and jump, Regents pizza and ice cream. It was fun to tag along in the background listening to the girls' chatter :) 

Monday was a holiday and we had NO SPORTS so drove out to the wild animal park (with everyone else in San Diego). It was a fun day to walk around together, see some animals and eat a bunch of junk food!

The crew

When they weren't jumping or Emmy wasn't doing back handsprings they played dodgeball and really held their own!

Training for America Ninja Warrior. Ha!

Creamisty ice cream is pretty cool

Gorillas!

Emmy actually took this. She thought it was so sweet :) 

Me and Owie and my favorite photo bomber 

Emmy and Ryan are so good with Owen 

Ryan loved the bats - they were so creepy. 

She may be 11 but she still LOVES stuffed animals. So we treated them all to a new "puppet". You just have to every once and a while - let them keep enjoying the little things :) 

Owen saw an exhibit and said - look its a lemur! Huh? Apparently he reads a book at school about a panda and a Lemur so of course he had to get his own :)

And well, when 2 get something, the 3rd gets one too :) 

Phoenix

We officially survived our first travel gymnastics meet! Me and Emmy flew to Phoenix a few weeks ago with her team for a meet. She had a blast and thought it was the coolest thing ever to sit with friends on the plane instead of me. She kept telling the boys when we got home that she didn't sit with me. The girls swam at the hotel pool and we went to a team dinner. But best of all, we laid in bed and watched TV. I took my time doing her hair (3 times), it was nice to have some alone time. 

She did awesome at the meet! Personal bests for bars (9.6) and beam (9.825)!! She also went up against a girl who got two perfect 10s (seriously?!) so she only placed 3rd on beam. After some tears she realized he competed against the top scoring bronze gymnast in the country so felt pretty damn proud. I guess that what is good about gymnastics, you have to learn how to set goals for yourself. Listen to me, a gymnastics mom, ahahaha. 

Laying in bed eating gummie bears - amazing!

Emmy and Simone have known each other since they were babies!

Warm up!

9.825 is pretty damn impressive!

We caught an early flight home and went right to school and work. She is a rock star. 

January 2020

The first month of the new decade flew by! Our weeks were busy and our weeks were busier!

A few weeks back my parents came for a visit. They got to experience a gymnastics competition, basketball game, golf tournament and Disney on Ice! We like to keep them on their toes :)

We've also taken advantage of lots of great San Diego weather, when we weren't sick.

Emmy's second competition was much different than the first, it was PACKED!

Riley, Audrey, William and Emily came to cheer her on. Although, the boys ate in n out and played on their ipads. Ha!

She didn't do quite as well as the first meet but you can't place 1st for them all ;) Although, she did place 1st for beam again, and this time out of 22 girls!

We've been making a lot of waffles lately now that we have a waffle maker!

Owie and Nana looking for rollie pollies 

She thinks she is a human. 

I haven't been to Disney on Ice since Ryan was this age. It was so fun! 

Nana spoiled the kids 

I love that she still isn't too old to have fun at these things :) 

I finally brought myself to donate the crib. Sniff, sniff. 

Early bday present for Emmy! I don't know why but watching her ride a giant red beach cruiser with a basket made me want to sing "I want to ride my bicycle!"

It was  BEAUTIFUL date at the beach. 

Always hand stands

Owen's happy place

A little Zen 5 sushi. I took this right before all hell broke lose with Owen. Ha!