I constantly go between wanting you to be my baby forever and all the amazing things you’re going to do in this life.
Anonymous
I can already tell that 11 is going to be a very big year for HoneyBear.
10 was a big year! But the difference between 10-year-old grade 5 HBear and 11-year-old grade 6 HBear is almost unrecognizable.
My little girl is not a little girl anymore. The biggest change in her is, independence. All of a sudden she’s doing so much more, on her own. It is literally killing me. She walks to school by herself, she packs her bag in the morning and I no longer have to sign her planner, she walks to dance with her girlfriends after school and when I get to the dance studio she gives me a kiss on the cheek as she flies by to her next class or on her way out the door to catch her ride. She went to her first dance this October, started wearing lipgloss, and it’s very rare that I have to ask her to go back into her bedroom to change because she seems to be picking outfits that actually go together all of a sudden!
The biggest adjustment I had to make was the week before her 11th birthday. HBear had the opportunity to go to Vancouver with her Dance Coach and our studios Ultimate Dance Mom along with her 2 kids. It was the first time she did something without me, like without me at all. In the days leading up to her trip, I couldn’t keep food down and I wasn’t sleeping. I knew I was being crazy but I was so worried for her! When she was gone, I was a basket case! Unfortunately, she was gone on the weekend of SBean’s birthday party. I couldn’t really get into the celebration when all I could think about was HBear. I knew she would be OK because I trusted the ladies she was with but my worries we’re on a completely different level. I worried that there was no Mom there cheering her on. I worried that she would put her sweater down and leave it somewhere and then be cold later. I worried that I wasn’t there taking pictures of her or there to point out something amazing that she would have walked right past. I worried that at the end of the night nobody would rub her feet and give her a kiss good night and tell her that she did amazing and was going to kick ass again the next day. She just didn’t have me there in her corner. It felt awful.
She didn’t think so though. Our Ultimate Dance Mom iced her ankle and gave her Advil for her aches and pains. Both of the ladies took pictures and even videos of HBear and sent it to me throughout both of the days. HBear didn’t leave anything behind and in fact made wise choices at the souvenir booth, all on her own! Knowing all of this also makes me feel awful.
Kinda. It’s sad to realize that your kids are growing up and don’t need you the same way they used to. However, it’s amazing to watch this beautiful young girl become a stunning young woman. It is ridiculous to think that at one point she couldn’t even hold her head up without my help and now she calls me from Vancouver and says, “hey Mom, we’re just walking around downtown and grabbing appies. I’ll message you when we get back to the condo later tonight, love you bye” 😳 oh my God it’s like my baby turned into a teenager overnight!
She had a wonderful time at the dance convention. She even got picked out by the contemporary choreographer as an eyecatcher and was asked to perform in a small group in front of everyone! She came home with such a confidence in her dancing and so much love for her craft. It is really special to watch her blossom.
11. My baby is 11. This was her first year without a big party but she was allowed to invite 1 friend over for an activity and a sleepover. She invited her GiftedBesty and they went to the virtual reality studio. Of all the games they could possibly pick they both picked job simulator LOL HBear started as a office worker and then quickly moved on to be a gourmet chef. They had a blast!
These next few years are going to be tough. Every day I’m learning to trust her and let go just a little bit more. I don’t want to let go though! But the pride that I feel every time she does something that I know she couldn’t do, not that long ago, is worth it. Just letting you know though, I couldn’t even get through this post without blubbering like a baby LOL I honestly don’t know how I’m going to get through the tween and then the teen years not to mention when she leaves for university or gets married and has her own family… OK I’m spiralling LOL Happy birthday Sweetheart, I love you to the moon and back!
Check out the latest episodes of How Was Your Week, Honey to hear all about how cray cray I was while HBear was gone to Vancouver and all the other stuff we’ve been up to!
Episode 146: F#$k-A-Doodle. This week I recover from a bad illness and Ninja struggles to pick up the slack. Topics include: positively speaking, Hallmark science, fake sick, Wayfair delivery, HBear goes to Vancouver, Bean’s b-day party, Disney+, superheroes, S.O.W, French elctro-jazz and Garden State. Check it out HERE!
Episode 146: F#$k-A-Doodle. This week I recover from a bad illness and Ninja struggles to pick up the slack. Topics include: positively speaking, Hallmark science, fake sick, Wayfair delivery, HBear goes to Vancouver, Bean’s b-day party, Disney+, superheroes, S.O.W, French elctro-jazz and Garden State. Check it out HERE!
Episode 147: The Great Santa Scandal. This week the we ready ourselves for the Holiday season after a week of the girl’s birthday parties. Topics include: Spocking the 5, up my shirt, bad language, instilling drive in your kids, Black Friday, VR, S.O.W, mall Santa, new Xmas songs and the Grey Cup. Check it our HERE!
Episode 148: The Tooth Fairy Doesn’t Love Me! Topics include: Christmas movies, the Tooth Fairy, adult sleepovers, my guest spot on Moving the Needle Podcast & the dark side of Christmas! Check it out HERE!
Last week I was fortunate enough to be asked to guest spot on one of my favourite podcasts, Moving the Needle! We discuss some of our guilty pleasure songs and spoiler, mine are BAD! LOL Check it out HERE!
I know I know you guys are so sick of soup ! I can’t help it! I love soup! I promise my next post will not be soup but I had to share this one with you right away because it is THAT good! The other day was the Santa Claus parade! It was rainy and cold out and I wanted to make sure that we had a nice comforting bowl of soup to come home to. This is the easiest recipe and is absolutely delicious! It’s a new take on chicken noodle soup! By buying fresh packaged tortellini and shredding the meat off of a rotisserie chicken from Superstore I made this already easy recipe even easier! Enjoy!
Crockpot Chicken Tortellini Soup
Adapted from Real Housemoms
3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 celery stalks, diced
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 onion, diced
2 cups chicken, shredded from a rotisserie chicken
6 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
16 ounces three-cheese tortellini
Place the carrots, celery, garlic, onion, chicken, chicken stock, basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary into a 6-quart slow cooker. Mix until combined.
Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours.
Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Place the tortellini into the soup and mix. Cook on high for another 15 minutes.
The house is really coming along! So much so that we have already started accessorizing! And by accessories I mean we took full advantage of the Black Friday sales at our local Best Buy! Ninja was in his glory!
We celebrated SBean’s birthday by making cupcakes for her whole class! When she got home from school we had Grandma, Grandpa, Papa and J over for dinner. Every year I allow the girls to pick their favourite meal for their birthday dinner and this year SBean picked Château Briand (totally forgot to take pictures!!!!) with béarnaise sauce, mandarin and feta salad with roasted potatoes and of course no bake cherry cheesecake for dessert! She had a great day and we ended it with a wonderful cuddle.
HBear and her dance studio were invited to perform this year at the annual Summerland light up. Both Ninja and I were knee-deep in Kleenexs and Buckleys so HBear attended with another dance family. She sang with the choir and jazzed it up! Sorry to have missed it but grateful for the pictures from wonderful friends.
The next day SBean went to Pink the Rink With Papa and J’s Mom! I love that our local junior hockey team puts on this yearly event showcasing anti-bullying and school spirit.
While SBean cheered on the Vees we took HBear and her GiftedBesty to virtual reality. We had Loaded Breakfast Burritos for dinner, an ice cream pizza for dessert and the Girls crafted and watched Christmas Vacation to end their evening.
On HBear’s actual birthday she wanted to set up Christmas. We don’t normally do that, normally we try to keep the kid’s birthdays completely separate from Christmas but HBear was really stoked to set up the tree on her birthday this year, so we did!
That night everybody came over for HBear’s birthday dinner of Fettucine Alfredo with Shrimp and French Bread. Of course she asked Grandma to bake her very special poppyseed cake for dessert.
SBean got her report card and she is doing so well! One thing she always talks about is her high school big buddies. They come to her class and do crafts and projects with them and SBean loves it.
The Bean was very excited to finally lose her front tooth this week! She carefully put her tooth in her Tooth Fairy bag and left it with a note beside her bed. Unfortunately the Tooth Fairy got into an accident that night and got caught in a spiderweb. Apparently a bird pecked her out of there but the sun was starting to rise so she had to go back to her fairy castle. SBean was devastated but very happy to read the story the next night along with collecting $7.00 that the Tooth Fairy left her because she felt so guilty 😬.
SBean must’ve caught whatever Ninja and I have had for the past few weeks because she has been a little sicky for the past few days. Hopefully we’re getting all the illness out of our systems before the holidays!
December 1 marked the return of our elf, Maynard! The great thing about having 2 birthdays in one week is all the FaceTime videos we get to have with our loved ones!
Ninja has started sanding our dining room set in his Dad’s workshop. I have given them a few woodworking projects to work on over the holidays!
Papa toughed out the rain and came with us to the Santa Claus parade this past weekend. It was wonderful! Despite the rain, everybody was festive and cheery!
The next day we woke up to beautiful blue skies. Sometimes I forget I live in the mountains but seeing the snow on top of them makes me remember just how beautiful this place that I call home really is ❤️.
We had a bit of a Santa scandal here in Penticton these last few weeks. Apparently Santa took some adult photos that he thought were hilarious and posted on his Facebook. However, someone didn’t find it nearly as funny and complained to our local mall. Santa was fired. However, that’s our Santa and he is great with the Girls, funny with the adults, and I truly don’t believe he was doing anything inappropriate. A lot of other people agree with me and he has been asked into local businesses to sit for Santa pictures for charity. We drove out to Summerland and got pictures done at High Maintenance Spa & Salon! $25 to a good cause and we got gorgeous pictures to show for it!
We ended our weekend at Grandma and Grandpas! The Girls love making Gingerbread houses with Grandpa and they made the most delicious ham dinner! I feel very blessed.
