Scarlett's 7th Grade Portrait

 Sure, it took me the entire school year to order school photos.  But here it is!

Scarlett Gets Braces!

 At long last - after visits to the orthodontist every six months to check Scarlett's incoming teeth - our sweet girl got braces!

She was NOT looking forward to this day.  Christian had braces for several years - much longer than the average kid.  He also got then on very young, when he was still very fearful of dentists, doctors, etc.  So whether Scarlett has heard those stories over time, or actually remembers them, she was terrified to get braces.  She even crouched down in the front seat with the hopes of avoiding walking into the office.

Getting the braces on was the easy part! But the pain in her mouth hours later was awful (for us all).  Scarlett is a kid who doesn't not tolerate pain or discomfort well at all. 😔 

Happily, the orthodontist expects Scarlett to be in braces for about 18 months.  So relatively speaking, its a pretty short period of time and they will be off before high school!

Scarlett's "Teach the Teacher" Cookie Cake Video

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGGAVBvkfM/6NkO4ULHRK8vf_LfuWkiVw/watch?utm_content=DAGGAVBvkfM&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=editor

2023 Father Daughter Dance

 

Miss Scarlett Turns 11 Years Old!

Today, our smart, sweet, spicy and sassy Miss Scarlett officially turned 11 years old!

She celebrated her special day by going to Denny's for breakfast, visiting the brand new Templeton Library, hanging with her family, eating dinner from Little Caesars, talking with Granny and Grandpa and little cousins, cake and presents, and ending the night binge watching Manifest.

This past year, Scarlett became a 5th grader, a cheerleader, a Girl Scout Junior (cookies season is fast approaching!), a "ball kid" at a tennis tournament, and returned to gymnastics (her current passion).

She has declared she does not like dresses at all, and wears her Santa Cruz tie-dye hoodie every single day.

She's got a wonderful group of friends and is blossoming socially, which makes us so happy!

Scarlett absolutely LOVES Stitch from the Disney movie "Lilo and Stitch." And that's funny because for the longest time, she refused to see the movie because she thought it looked really dumb. But when she finally saw it, she immediately a fell in love with a Stitch.

Kindness and the Cookie Project

I absolutely love opportunities to show our kids the value of being kind, and expecting nothing in return.

A few weeks ago, I heard of a local Christian family with six children, and the mother had some kind of medical emergency and was in the hospital.  Sadly, a short time later, the mother passed away. 

We live in such a small community, and it was inevitable I would know somebody connected to this family. My friend Sarah reached out to me to let me know she is friends with this family and wanted to invite her the woman's children over to decorate Christmas cookies as a way to provide them with some joy at this sad time.

Sarah offered to pay me, but I told her that it was my pleasure to help out by providing cookies and all of the icing at no cost.

I had always considered my cookie decorating business to be my "quiet little ministry."  I love blessing people with cookies for whatever reason may be. I've done cookies for birthdays, weddings, baby showers, get well cookies, condolence cookies, etc. 

I explained to Scarlett the reason for these particular cookies, and asked her if she wanted to help cut them out and bake them ... And join us in decorating them on Friday.  She eagerly agreed, and then asked me how much I was charging Sarah.

I loved telling Scarlett that I wasn't charging Sarah anything because I just wanted to bless this family who lost their mama. 

❤️ Kindness matters. 

Scarlett's Hair Transformation

Scarlett has been asking for months to cut her hair short - her hair is wavy and super thick, and tangles easily. I can understand why she was growing weary of it.

I suggested she keep her hair long for cheer season, because ponytails were required.  She agreed, but said she wanted to cut it short as soon as possible afterwards, and get blue highlights.

In 2020, when she wasn't in school in person, she purple highlights that were super cute, so I was all for this blue idea!  It's semi-permanent, and eventually fades away leaving behind blonde highlights. 

Together with my hair stylist, they came up with a cool teal blue color. The highlights are heavy around her face, but then placed throughout the rest of her hair so that it's a combination of natural color and fun color.  So her entire hair isn't blue, as it may appear in the after picture.

Scarlett loves it ... I love it ... And Jonathan loves it!  It's a win-win-win! 🤩

Scarlett's Girl Scout Troop Tourns KSBY

Scarlett gets so many cool opportunities with her Girl Scout troop!  Today we got to tour our one-and-only local TV station, KSBY.  As an adult, I loved the tour, too and learned a lot! 

The green screen was especially fun because the girls who wore the green "Junior" vest partially disappeared on the TV screen and got lots of giggles. :)

Cheer ... and Disappointment

This weekend was "Exhibition" where youth cheerleaders from the Central Coast come together to perform fun routines.  Scarlett was in two routines:  with her own squad of ages 10 and under and then the big girls from her squad, ages 11 and up.

It was an "Out of This World" theme and Scarlett's squad was dressed as Martians and the older girls were dressed as astronauts.

Scarlett was excited - and nervous - and ready to go!  Her's a pic of her all dressed up ... followed by their performance video ... followed by "the rest of the story."

Here is the link to their cute performance.  Scarlett is over on the left side of the screen and is a "base" on the left of the formation later in the song:  Scarlett's Cheer Performance

The rest of the story:  These leotards zip up in the back, and snap at the crotch.  The moment I saw this combination I knew it was going to be an issue for many of these girls when it came time to use the bathroom.  

And it was.

At the end of the day, Scarlett's full squad had a big routine to perform.  There was a 15 minute break first, and then Scarlett's was scheduled third on the list to perform.  So Jonathan and I headed out to get Scarlett a snack and Scarlett went outside with her squad to practice.

Unbeknownst to us:

1.  The food truck would take forever

2.  Scarlett needed to use the bathroom (long line)

3.  The squad got unexpectedly moved to perform first, rather than third

So when her squad went on the floor, we were gone ... and Scarlett was in the bathroom struggling with the leotard snaps and MISSED THE PERFORMANCE ... and so did we. 

When we got back to the gym, she was with her squad and just so sad. Took me a few minutes to realize her squad had already performed and I was not happy. 

After it was all over, they called all the girls out to have fun on the floor and dance to fun music and celebrate the day.   Scarlett waked around with the saddest look on her face that said, "I just want to leave."  So that's what this picture is about.  Oh, our poor girl. 😒

 

Scarlett's 5th Grade Portrait - The Two Versions

 

Ah, Scarlett ... 

She has a particular smile she likes to do for photos, but it's just not an authentic smile.  So when we got the first photo below, we decided a retake was best.  We love the top picture, because THAT is a genuine smile.

Side note:  Scarlett is NOT a smiley person. She says she doesn't like to smile. If she is engaging with somebody she doesn't know, she does not typically smile.  She's a tough nut to crack sometimes.