Charlie's 10th Birthday

As the youngest kid in 5th grade with some classmates already turning 11 Charlie was so sick of being 9. She was thrilled to finally hit the double digits. She celebrated with friends on Saturday having 8 girls over to party on the waterslide, 4 friends spent the night. Then on her birthday, we hosted a family party. 

She requested a red velvet cake. 

Official measuring ceremony. 

Cupcakes were requested for the friend party. 

10-YEAR-OLD BIRTHDAY INTERVIEW

 Q: What is your favorite color?

A: Yellow.

Q: What is your favorite food?

A: Orange chicken.

 

Q: Who is your best friend?

A: Julia, Josie, and Ainsley.

 

Q: What is your favorite thing to do?

A: Dance and go on my iPad.

 

Q: What is your favorite song?

A: Best Friend by Saweetie and Doja Cat

 

Q: What is your favorite treat?

A: Cotton Candy

 

Q: What is your favorite drink?

A: Frozen lemonade at Adventureland

 

Q: What is your favorite show or movie?

A: Hairspray (the new one with Zac Efron)

 

Q: What is your favorite toy?

A: I don't really use toys. My iPad.

 

Q: What is your favorite thing to do with your family?

A: Go downtown and get ice cream.

 

Q: Where is your favorite place to go?

A: Des Moines to Aunt Julie’s house by myself.

*This was an odd response. She has only done this once and it was several years ago. Ha!

 

Q: What is your favorite book?

A: How to Steal a Dog

 

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?

A: A dance teacher.

 

Q: Are there any other things you want to tell me about being ten? 

I don’t have any classmates or teachers saying “You’re not double digits!”

 

Q: What are you excited about?
A:  “There’s a lot of things you can do when you start getting older – there’s an ice cream machine in Missouri at Grandma’s town and you have to be 10 to use it.”

*I had no idea what she was talking about. Apparently at The Catfish Place in Arbela, MO there is a self-serve ice cream machine that has a sign on it saying you must be 10 years old to use it by yourself.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about school?
A: Recess and lunch

First Day of School

Starting off the 3rd school year affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. All three kids started full-time in-person school. Our governor is playing politics and has made it illegal for school districts to mandate masks. The Delta variant of COVID is surging infections and hospitilizations and kids under 12 can't be vaccinated at this point. I am very thankful that most of the families in our school work in health care and we have nearly 100% mask usage in both Charlie's and Will's classrooms. I just want the kids to stay in school this year and have minimal illness in their schools. 

Off to 5th and 1st grades!

A thunderstorm complete with lightning, thunder, and torrential rain was moving through right at drop-off time. 

Off to Junior High which means she leaves an hour later than the other two kids. 

Needed an umbrella to get to the bus stop. 

Bye, Evy!

 

Fishing Obsession

 Will is between baseball and football season so he had to find something to be obsessed with. Fishing is the thing! Fishing with Papa, fishing with Dad and even forcing the neighborhood boys to go fishing with him. He (we) upgraded his tackle box and his fishing pole. The neighbor boys let us in on a little secret - we have a great pond right here in the neighborhood! Scott even drug Charlie along to go fish in Papa Dick's pond. 

Camp Wapsie

 After COVID forced Camp Wapsie to close last summer the girls were super excited to get back to camp this year. Unfortunately, just weeks before they were scheduled to go to camp a new more contagious variant of COVID started spreading. They made it 4 nights before the camp was closed due to an outbreak among staff. 4 nights is better than 0 so we are just going to be thankful that they got a portion of camp in this year.