My baby girl is 9

Why is it so strange for this mother when her little people get older? Its a mix of emotions both sad and happy both proud and scared. She is such a wonderful person who I love to be around. Each year she gets more wonderful and each year I worry for her. She is so sweet and innocent. So smart and talented. She has made me several pictures in the past few days and I love them all. I sure do love EmmaLee!

We started out the day by going and getting Emma cinnamon rolls per her request. We then opened her presents and hung out around the house together. She is such a smiley happy girl and always the peacemaker. We love hanging around together. Then she went with her Grandma and Grandpa to eat lunch and pick out a present for her. I love this tradition they have started and the kids all look forward to special one on one time with them. She stayed there and played for awhile.
She finally came home and we made her favorite for dinner. White pasta with chicken. Then of course we made her a cake. I wasn't planning on doing anything fancy but then Sarah had this idea to make an artists palette since Emma loves art so much. Emma helped me with the paint brush. Fondant really is fun to play with and it really does add a nice touch.

Then yesterday Lauren came and took her out to dinner to the love boat. Emma loves sushi like Jared, Ryan, and I do. She loves Lauren and really enjoys the time they spend together. Lauren came over and played hide and go seek in the dark with all the kids and they all think she is the best!

Junior high

My son is starting Junior high tomorrow. Technically he has been going to Junior high already. He has been attending a charter school where he only goes to school a few hours 2 times a week. He sits in the same class we the same kids. He has not been in public school since second grade and I worry. Junior high holds some very deep memories for me. The time I got one of the leads in the musical and I could not have been more excited. The graduation party my friends threw and I felt so cool. Shopping at the mall with friends and calling boys on the phone. My first dance.

So why do I feel so nervous? For all the other deep memories. Trying to find the right friends. Not doing homework and getting into trouble. Kids being mean to not really me but other kids. The silent treatment from girls you thought were your friends. Lies. Feeling very uncool.

Jared is a very confident kid. He is comfortable with who he is and I admire that in him. He has friends at the school already and I do believe it will be good for him. He is so excited and for that I am thrilled. The momma bear in me wants to protect him from the harshness of the world but that same momma understands he also needs to experience it. Being a mother is hard. Harder then I thought it would be and it keeps being hard for different reasons.

Thanksgiving day.

Thanksgiving food for me is not something as a vegan I get very excited about. In fact I am usually a little to hungry by the end of the day. Food in general is somewhat of a sore spot for me and kind of a love hate relationship.

But this year I decided to make a bunch of dishes I was excited about and that were totally vegan. I made vegan stuffing, (plus a non-vegan sausage and apple stuffing for everyone else) vegan green bean casserole with the yummiest mushrooms, asparagus and bell peppers, and glazed carrots. My MIL made homemade rolls with no butter just for me and my SIL made a batch of potatoes just for me. I was so thrilled. It really felt like a Thanksgiving feast and I felt grateful for food.






We spent the day at my MIL's and we all had such a good time visiting. Cousins are the best!

Joseph and Ethan spent a good amount of time wrestling on the trampoline. They were very kind to eachother even though they were wrestling. It was hilarious to watch.
After pi we enjoyed watching Tangled together. It was cute and it made me laugh. That's all. Then it was time to tuck the tuckered little people into bed so that I could head out to door for some crazy Toys-R-Us shopping. I am not a Black friday shopper usually but my friend invited me and the store opened at 10 not 2 or 4 in the morning. I figured if I was going to try it that was a time frame I could work with. We got in line at 8. About 150 people were in front of us and it really wasn't to crazy yet.

But as we waited the 2 hours things got crazy. The line was wrapped around the building and I could not even begin to guess how many people were there. As it was almost opening time people started to cut in lone which made others made. Workers are not paid enough to really do anything about it. They let 50 people in at a time every 15-20 minutes until they reach 600 people. Seriously? 600 people in one store is crazy. At one point I was stuck in the back of the store with my cart because there was a bad traffic jam. Some people are mean and grouchy others are just dumb. I rushed to find all that I needed then headed to the line which only took about an hour. Right after I got in line it grow 4x behind me. I guess we all finished about the same time. It really was kinda fun and you do get a little bit of a rush. I got home about midnight and I don't think I ever need to do anything like that again.

I am thankful for new experiences!