How is it possible that this picture was taken 10 years ago!? And more importantly, how am I old enough to have a 10 year old!?
The sweet little girl, who made me a mom 10 years ago, has grown into a smart, caring, driven, beautiful, and talented young lady. Ava still loves to dance, which now takes up about 6 hours of her week. She still "likes" soccer, and plays it through the fall and winter. And over the last year, Ava has really come to enjoy volleyball. As if that wasn't keeping her (us) busy enough, last year Ava started playing the piano and "loves" that too. Somehow, with all this going on, Ava has maintained straight A's for almost two years in a row!! I don't know that I had that kind of self-discipline at 9-10 years old, actually I know I didn't. She is one amazing little lady who we are truly blessed to call "ours".
So with age comes strength, maturity, wisdom, but also, attitude, puberty, and let's face it, some not so pleasant things. While we are not at full blown 'teenage status' (thank God!), Ava is showing signs of "growing up". For example, one of the things on her birthday list was, money, just plain old cash?
And this pose for another example, this is a far cry from her old traditional pose.
Traded the crown for a hat, added some shades, and traded the big smile for more of a "check me out" expression. There are signs of her growing up all around me, but most of the time I choose to ignore them!
On a side note, this was a big step for Ms. Penny. Not only getting close to Uncle Dan, but actually sitting on his lap, with a smile no less!! I had to document it, just in case she reverts back to fearing him. LOL
Ava didn't have all the attention on her birthday. The "cake hat" seemed to make its way around to every one's head.
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I think it spent the most time on Penny's head as she danced around and chased a light on the ground from a flashlight. You may view this as a cruel act, but I don't think the adults had laughed that hard in a long time! Plus, Penny seemed to enjoy it, so we count that as a win win! |
The weekend before her birthday, Ava started celebrating with friends. She had a sleepover with 5 friends at the house on Saturday night (ugh!!), and then on Presidents Day, she(we) took all the girls from her grade to Upper Limits to do some rock climbing!
Our kids LOVED it, and while most of the girls seemed to enjoy themselves, there were 2 or so that were not into it. But 2 out of 25 isn't bad, right? We also had one tiny mishap. If you think you see Ella hanging upside down halfway down the wall, you would be correct! There was some sort of problem with the rope or harness or operator (not sure what happened), but when she got to the top and got the "ok" to let go and come down, she plummeted to the halfway point when her harness finally caught her and flipped her upside down. I saw the whole thing and easily lost 10 years of my life. I think the actual employee from Upper Limits lost a few years as well! Let's just say that those two girls who were nervous about climbing, headed over to a bench to sit down. Luckily, Ella is a daredevil who's use to getting hurt (or having close calls), so she thought the whole thing was funny. Overall, it was a great party and Ava had a blast!
I will end with a quote Ava had a few days after her birthday...as she sat in the FRONT seat of the car, with her NEW sunglasses on, she stated, "Mom, now that I'm ten I can feel the maturity oozing out of me". Lord help me when she turns 13!!
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