Bowling and Laser Tag Party

Sweet Miss Katie turned 9 on Sunday and she had a super fun birthday party to celebrate.

It feels like yesterday that the girls looked like this...

 How are they all 8 and 9 years old now?

Miss B was all pretty in pink polka dots for the occasion...

When we arrived, Chani and Bri dragged Chani's dad over to the arcade games...

Here are all the party guests waiting to be escorted to the lanes...

The bowling alley was really neat. All lit up and neon...

Bri was excited when she got a spare...

❤️‍  Sweet friends forever...

The scoreboards were really cool...

After bowling, it was time for pizza and cake...

All the kids were getting kid-sized slices of pizza and Bri somehow got the gargantuan one!

I swear it was bigger than her head...

Katie blowing out her candles...

Then it was laser tag time...

Finally, it was time to play some games. Air hockey first...

 Then the girls played this shooting Transformers game...

Briana was amazing at shooting all the robots. I don't know if I should be proud or terrified...

A little ski ball...

Then it was finally time to say farewell to the beautiful birthday girl...

Happy Birthday Katie! Thanks for the invite to your awesome party!

First Day Of Summer Vacation

So, what do you do on the very first day of summer vacation? Swim at the pool of course!!

And what is even better? Inviting a friend to come and swim with you!!

Miss B was so excited that Taylor was coming over...

It's officially summer...

The water was pretty chilly at first...

Bri wanted to see how cold the small upper pool was (it wasn't quite as cold as the bottom pool)...

She went down the slide...

 And then Taylor arrived and all was right with the world...

Yay!!!!!

As you can see, the pool was pretty empty when we first arrived...

I texted my friend/neighbor Laura to let her know I was at the pool. She came to the pool with Bri's friend Ella, and Laura and I got to do some catching up...

The girls got a bit hungry and ate some snacks. And then I asked Doug (who was running errands that morning) to bring us a pizza for lunch. The girls munched and then swam just a little more. They started getting pretty tired after about two and a half hours of swimming...

I took Taylor and Bri back to the house and the girls played Minecraft for a couple of hours that afternoon.

They are such sweet friends and get along so well. Looking forward to another swim date soon! 

The Last Day Of School Party

This is the last time I will be blogging about the 3rd grade ~ sniff.

The party started about 10:30 and this was the message on the white board...

The kids started the party by painting "pet rocks"...

Then it was time to get silly in the "photo booth"...

It was a super fun idea and the kids absolutely loved it.

Bri liked the "photo booth", but she was actually more interested in food that morning. She was pretty hungry...

While a lot of the kids were grouping up (saying "hey so and so, come take a picture with me!') and letting the parents take silly picture after silly picture, Briana sat down and munched on two plates of food instead. In that moment, my own worried feelings started creeping in of B "not being included" or maybe not being the most social or popular kid in the class. But honestly, she seemed totally fine just sitting and eating. I think she was just done taking pictures. I have to try harder not to impose my own insecurities on her because she doesn't really seem to have any (at the moment).

I did ask B to take a picture with her good friend Alena (right) because they have been in the same class for 4 years straight (her friend Jocie was in the picture too). It would be wonderful if the streak continued next year...

And wonderful Mrs D. She was an amazing teacher for Briana this past year. She will be greatly missed next year...

Doug and I decided to check Bri out of school right after the party. Not much was going to happen in the next hour anyway.

We were very happy to run into Bri's running coach before we left the building...

3rd grade was really great. There were a lot of projects and I wasn't a fan of the GA Milestones testing, but overall, it was a terrific year.

Next stop ~ 4th grade. And in 4th grade, Bri will have two teachers. Should be interesting!!!

Briana's First And Last Days Of School Since Kindergarten

My lovely girl went off to 3rd grade on Friday for the very last time. How is she a 4th grader now? How is it possible? All the years I waited for her to come into my life seemed to crawl by, but now, they seem to fly by in an instant.

Here is my baby on her first day of kindergarten...

Last day of kindergarten (she gained glasses and lost lots of teeth that year)...

1st day of 1st grade...

Last day of 1st grade...

1st day of 2nd grade...

Last day of 2nd grade...

First day of 3rd grade...

Last day of 3rd grade...

Bri has come such a long way since her first day of kindergarten. I still remember B's kindergarten teacher telling me how she was a bit scattered and distracted when she first started school. She was the baby of the class, so I hoped that time and experience would help her along. And boy it has.

Ok - a bit of mama bragging ahead. You may look away if you feel the need. :)

She has flourished each and every year. She is in the gifted program. She entered and graduated from school speech in just 2.5 years. She joined running club and has won the heart of her running coach. Her conduct is fantastic - never, ever gets into trouble. She seems to get along with and be well liked by the other kids in her grade. She has made a couple of tight school friendships (just a chosen few, but for some reason, I think she likes it that way). And she's not at all overwhelmed by being in a big school with lots of kids.

I think being the mom of an adopted Asian child made me more on edge when she entered school. Will she be accepted? Is there enough diversity? Will she flourish? Will she be confident? Am I doing the right things to help her?

The other day, Briana asked me if she had been the only Asian girl playing soccer in the NW Y U8 rec league (there is diversity in the league, but not necessarily Chinese/East Asian). I told her I wasn't sure, but that she was the only one I think I had seen. So I asked her how she felt about that. She said, "I feel unique and special." I cannot tell you how grateful I am she said that to me. I try to make her feel that way each and every day.

She's my only, so I soak in every moment I can because I don't get a second chance at any of this. She is truly my gift.