look at me being a few days early ;) it is only because i am almost a month late for June's half bday blog and yours is in a few days, so why not? haha. how long will it take me to finish it though? starting 2 days early, finishing a month late? let's see...
you are for sure a pre-teen these days! you care a lot about how you look and finally take time to actually brush your thick hair. you love to do a little braid in the front and leave it for many days. you love to wear it down, even though it gets tangly that way. you think a lot about what you want to wear when you're going anywhere with friends. it is cute! you for sure need a little bra with padding now and you always wear one- even to bed even though i encourage just a shirt at night. you often walk around in just a bra and underwear- i am so thankful you still have no shame around that! you are still a little girl in some ways- you don't care at all about your dad seeing you in your undies haha. you actually wear Ita's old undies and some of them are just too grown up looking haha, but it is whatever. you fit in a lot of Ita's clothing! and mine! it just started raining again for the year and you totally stole my nice new rain jacket. which was ok because honestly it was just a bit small for me, so it is yours forever now and should last you into adulthood...isn't that crazy? a lot of the clothing you're getting now might last into adulthood?! like when did you get so old? you wear shoes that are bigger than what i wear!!! you really needed new tennies and i took you shopping for some and you had just worn them for the first time, so no returns, when Ita took out a garbage bag full of old tennis shoes and offered them to you, so now you have like 25 options ;) won't need to buy you shoes for a long time!
your attitude and hormones are also starting to show up big time! i won't be surprised if you start your cycle this year- you are certainly starting to cycle a bit around my cycle haha. poor dad when he has 3 menstruating ladies at the same time. sometimes you are just full of rage and can't seem to control your emotions. and then you'll calm down later that day and apologize and want to snuggle and be tucked in.. it is a little scary watching you push me away so hard and then want me to love you. sometimes i don't have time to go upstairs at bedtime and talk and snuggle like you want because my days are so full and i want time for your dad, etc. but i always feel so bad saying no because...how much longer will you be asking for that? i don't want you to outgrow it! i want you to want me forever!! i pray that you will always welcome me up for a bedtime chat and snuggle. and you love to read your Christy Miller books out loud to me. and tell me all about your Barbie families. and talk to me about your day or who said what that was so funny or what music you're into. I love hearing your heart and seeing you open up and want to share your thoughts and feelings with me. i cherish those moments. i spent about 30 minutes upstairs with you last night and it always is so sweet and i feel so good knowing you feel connected and safe and deeply loved. granted, i fell asleep while you were reading to me ;) hahaha. i am sure trying my best, little lady and i hope you know it! even when i fail or am just overwhelmed with the demands of caring for your four siblings and homeschooling and homemaking too. it is so much. i wish i had so much more of myself to give to you and pour into everything you're interested in! pros and cons of having a large family. I pray that when you're all grown up and looking back at your childhood, that you only really see the benefits of our large family and not all the ways that it took me away from you in other ways. I know you want your own large family someday, so i hope you are deeply enjoying being in a large family now too! i think you are given that you ask for me to have another baby sometimes ;)
you want me to have another baby because you LOOOOVE babies. you would officially take over all zakeus duties if i let you. you are so so good with babies too! you work in the church nursery/toddler room every week at church. now that you're in 6th grade, you got an official lanyard with your name on it and you are so proud about that! you volunteer in the Heart4Moms ministry in the nursery at church too. and right now we're doing a Wednesday night group at church that offers childcare and you're volunteering in that too! so there will be one week this month that you'll be in the nursery (w/ mostly the same kiddos) 3x! you know all of their names and how they are and they all know and love you. it is really special! i am so proud of you! it is amazing watching you take on your passion and just go for it. you are still working as a mother's helper sometimes for Frankie- not often now because they've been traveling a lot and now we are... but you LOVE it. your little friendship with Frankie is so precious. a few other moms at church have told me how much their little kids love you too and how they always ask if you'll be at park playdates, etc. If you had your way, you'd be a mother's helper every weekend! but alas, you don't drive yet soo hahah. soon my girl soon!
you're also incredible with your little siblings. at least with Zak and Ellie! i think June and Zeke are a bit too close in age- you clash with them too often. we recently moved Zak into a crib in the playroom and you take over bedtime and hop in the crib with him to read him a book and he never cries. he got sad today at nap time when you were trying to leave, so you told him you had to go poo-poo and then he laughed and said bye-bye. you're just so good with them! when he starts to cry about something, you'll take the time to say, "Oh is it that you wanted xyz?" and let them say yes and be sad and then you'll explain why it can't happen, etc. like... i wish i had the time to do that with them! you are just so intentional and able to stay calm in it all. it is a gift for sure! you are so good at leading them in little classes and teaching them things and they just know how much you love them and so they love you too! it is such a beautiful thing for my mama heart.
You are enjoying your own room now- except Ellie sleeps with your every night. and your kitty Sparkle... did I mention you got a new kitten? more on that later. You are in the smallest of the upstairs bedrooms and you love the freedom. You have a big bed and an actual closet and can decorate it any way you like. You chose to decorate it all Christy Miller themed- you even wrote to the author and have her response to you framed by your bed. there are surfboards and sunsets, etc. it is pretty cute. You do a great job keeping it clean and have even moved your toiletries into the 3rd story bathroom. the litter box is in your closet and you have the cat food up there and every night, you call Sparkle and she knows her routine and comes running and purrs as you feed her and then she sleeps there all night. Often, I'll get up early and Sparkle will come down looking to go outside a long time before you get up for the morning, so I am sure she annoys you in the mornings haha. Lately, you have really enjoyed sitting on the 3rd story balcony in the rocking chair- listening to music and reading and today I saw you making a prayer list...so sweet! you will take a blanket and cuddle up and the Fall weather is just perfect. I love seeing these little bits of who you are and what you love coming out. I am so lucky I get to know you- you are such an incredible person and I'm soo happy to be your mama. I hope we are friends forever!
You are still asking for Calico Critters for Christmas this year. I never see you play with them- they stay boxed up in your closet. but maybe i just don't see it? regardless, I love the innocence of it and i know my grandkids will have the best toys ever haha. You still love Barbies, but sometimes if you and June get in a fight, you'll say "Well maybe i'm getting too old to play Barbies with you" and that makes me sad. I lasted until my 13th bday playing trolls and all sorts of pretend with Alex.. I pray you make it to 13 too! it is such a precious season of innocence and honestly just FUN! you never get that back. it is so special.
you are really getting into your own friends. you've started attending youth group Monday nights at Athey Creek Hillsboro campus with Hannah Tasa and Elliette Mones- your two closest friends. but as you're attending, I am hearing the names Olivia and Chloe quite often too, so I know you're making some new friends. you tell me that you're looking forward to it all the time. they do pizza most weeks and sparkly waters and a treat and it is 3 hours long! you spend an hour and a half on the sermon- most weeks only hitting 1 chapter- super detailed! you're loving it. I am so thankful that you love youth group and that you're hearing the word of God every week. I LOVE your friends- they are seriously the best! ...but this last week while the moms and little sisters hung out while you were at youth group, Miss Rosie said that they're most likely moving to Idaho because Mr. Nate lost his job and his type of work is in Idaho mostly right now... i will be soo sad. for myself because I sure love Miss Rosie! but more so for you and June...those Tasa girls have been some of your very best friends for the past 6 years. it is going to be such a big hit :( I am praying that they'll find some way to make it work staying here in Oregon!!
You're still great friends with Alberta and probably half of our Sundays you go to her house or she comes to ours. It is pretty fun! Alinah is also a best friend- she is currently over on the big spinny swing as I type.. her parents are in Cancun for 2 weeks, so Ita is watching her. you spent the night at her house last night and went along for school drop off and are going to her soccer game this afternoon- fun!
you're doing great in school. we really struggled getting into a routine this year. math was brutal... I was trying to put you into level 6 in TGTB after not scoring great on state testing with Teaching Textbooks last year. and you were on the struggle bus. we were fighting daily. tears. the works. we ended up switching to Beast Academy and that seems to be a good fit- hard, but doable.. it is mastery and we've never done that so I am curious if you forget what you learned at the start vs. reviewing often with a spiral math.. anyway, Miss Janie gave Elliette the test and she scored for level 5 in TGTB math so they're doing that, and I feel bad that I didn't even think to test you and you were frustrated because we were working way over your head. PHEW. anyway, I really looked into sending you to school. and that isn't off the table for next year. you'd love it so much and I really feel like I'm ready for that change... I never wanted to homeschool year round. we are just taking it one year at a time. and we have such great community of homeschool families it feels hard to stop altogether haha. i'd still be doing it with some other kids, so why not just do all? I don't know. it is just heavy lifting homeschooling 3 of you with the 2 toddlers at home too ;)
you want to be an author when you grow up! you came up with the best book ideas one day- they were all Christian romance and they were sooo good. I was intrigued and wanted to read them! I'll see if I can get a few to add to this blog.. you love the idea of being a stay at home mom and getting to write too. you reallllly want to stay living at Hergert Estates forever. We daydream about our house being 3 different family homes- Hergert Mansion (upstairs), Hergert Home (downstairs), and Hergert Casita (maybe the garage someday or a trailer added in?). and then maybe we'll have the Harrington Estates down the way where we're building too and that'll fit mom&dad and all 5 kids! it is sure fun to dream. we go on walks around the berries in the back and talk about how we'll put up solar powered string lights and add gravel so it doesn't get too muddy in the winter and every evening, dad and I will go for a walk around and the grandkids will all know what time we go and join us. It'll give you a chance to clean all the dinner dishes in peace while your kiddos burn off some energy with grandma ;)
we were also going to have the Hergert HenHouse, but now you want a mixed flock soooo.. one day I said "all you talk about is blah blah blah chickens, blah blah blah ducks, blah blah blah mixed flock" and we both laughed so hard about that. but for real, you never stop talking about your bird dreams! you've done soo much research and you are always telling me interesting things about all sorts of birds that I didn't know. it is really fun! i am actually really proud of the way you're taking on the work and responsibility. but i still want NO part of it. it is all in Dad's hands. and he tends to over promise... you say you'll make sure he doesn't back out on getting you your birds. but you sure want a LOOOT of them. good luck, lady!
but you did get your new kitten! you weren't sure about getting a 4 month old kitten, but it turned out perfect because she was so easy. already litter box trained, etc. you kept her locked inside your bedroom for a solid 2 months. you loved having her all to yourself. and she was so playful because she was locked up all day haha. lots of purrs and affection and play! but she did start getting destructive like climbing your curtains, so we eventually let her outside. it took her and Starlight a while to warm up to each other, but they seem to actually be friends now and it is just perfect. you're pretty scared that us going away to Mexico for month in a few weeks will ruin your cat from ever wanting to sleep inside with you again, but I am sure she'll settle right back into the routine as the cold weather comes in. you have the two best cats ever.
you only have one molar left to lose! how did we get to this point? it feels like yesterday that you were losing your first tooth! my little girl is growing up.. and I couldn't be more proud of who you are and who you are becoming. you are such a JOY in our lives! you are so funny and confident in what you love. you are a good friend- to your grandparents, to little children, to your siblings, to me, to your friends! you are absolutely beautiful! you are creative. you are passionate about the things you love! you are a gentle spirit- so kind to children and animals. and I see the Lord shaping your heart to be more like Him every day. I am sooo thankful for you, my precious beautiful baby!
forever yours xoxo
mama
p.s. finished it on 10/4, so not even a month late ;)
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