12 on 12

12 on 12.  Posted on 22.  Oh, well.....

November  :  Monday

01.  Had a wee sleep-in this morning since Juliana came home early yesterday morning (from a sleepover) with the flu.  Crossing our fingers for a 24-hour bug.
02.  Look at that.  Sheldon is feeling a little under the weather too.  They sat at the breakfast table trying to decide if they should eat.  They didn't sit long before they each decided to go back to bed.
03.  I'm loving all these unseasonably warm days!
04.  A couple of hours of sleep has made Sheldon feel well enough that he asked (ASKED!) to go back to school for the afternoon.  Outside the school, Peter & I stopped to look at their Remembrance Day tribute to our local war vets.
05.  Peter and I popped in to the Youth Centre to check out their new "Kindness Corner" - a lot of great work gets done in that corner and it's nice to see it so bright and cheerful now.
06.  I left Peter at home while I ran some errands.  Stopped at Tim's for a quick pick-me-up.
07.  I'm in the driveway wondering if the pouring rain will stop so that I can go inside.  (It didn't.)
08.  Laundry.  Fourth load of the day.
09.  After dinner snacks - chocolate covered raspberries, blueberries and pomegranates.  Yum!
10.  My boy, who hates getting his picture taken, hams it up for 12 on 12.
11.  Songza.  My new favourite music playlists.  Tonight it was a little "Sunset Soundtrack" while I cleaned up after dinner.
12.  My poor Juliana.  Feeling better after the flu and yet we end up spending the evening at ER with a bout of asthma.  I knew she was starting to feel better when, at 10:30 pm she started begging me for cheeseburgers.  A better mother would have stopped at the McDonald's drive-thru on the way home.  This mother just wanted to get home and into bed....

How I spend my Friday nights.

Waiting in the drug store parking lot while three teenage boys load up on fuel for their sleepover.

Where have the years gone?

I've just come from having a birthday snuggle with Juliana before bed.

It seems like just yesterday that I could curl up and she would fit, just so, into my curve.  And yet, there we lay tonight, stretched side by side, talking about our family, wondering how to make a list of our top 10 favourite songs of all time, laughing at her Daddy's hijinks, remembering some of the crazy dreams that she has at night, playing the game where one person hums a tune and the other one guesses it, and then, finally I kissed her goodnight and left her to drift off to sleep.

This past year, I have watched my girl blossom in so many ways.  She is more confident, more self-assured and more daring than ever.  Her kindness with others has no limits.  She takes the time to give kudos when they are due, she shows patience and encouragement to her younger "kindergarten friends", she doesn't think twice about volunteering her time to others, and, once in awhile, she hugs her brother without being asked.  All this plus a wicked sense of humour!

Last night Juliana had four friends over to help her celebrate her birthday.  I stood in the kitchen watching them enjoy their pizza by candlelight and I realized that these girls that I have known since they were 4 years old, are just five minutes away from having their own dinner parties.  They are young ladies that are starting to enter their terrifying, complicated, beautiful adolescent lives.

Where have the years gone?

Happy 11th birthday to my beautiful girl.

xoxo

Medusa.

Smurfette.
Broadway Dancer.
Flapper.
Devil.
Ronald McDonald.

These were all the choices leading up to Halloween.

She chose Medusa.  Snakes in her hair Medusa.  If you look at her you'll turn to stone Medusa.

That was Juliana.  Well, except for the last part.

We were down to the wire trying to find the snakes but, in the end, as it usually does, it all came together.

Juliana wasn't going to let anything put a damper on her Halloween.  Not the cold, dark, dreary weather.  Not the drizzly rain that fell over the witching trick or treat hour(s).

And she was not disappointed.

(Neither was her brother who got all the candy that she can't eat now because she has braces!)

Brace yourself.

Last Thursday, 9:15 a.m.

Last Thursday, 10:35 a.m.

Last Thursday, 9:00 p.m.

Juliana's day consisted of a morning trip to the orthodontist, then breakfast with Daddy (which, for Juliana, was a plate of bacon cut up into teeny, tiny pieces), an impromptu return to the orthodontist to get the wire that just completely popped off the side of her mouth snipped, and then school for the afternoon.  After school it was back again to the orthodontist to get said wire fixed properly, home for a really smooth snack, dance class with Amanda, chicken soup for dinner, and a big ole' chaser of Advil.

One week later and we were back at the orthodontist this morning for phase two of Project Braces On.

I just keep telling her that it's all gonna pay off in the long run.  Her already beautiful smile is gonna be a stunner!