Pierced Ears for Luca

Today, I picked Luca up at the end of school and we went and she got her ears pierced. She was scared and excited all at the same time. She told her teacher that she was becoming a woman today. She told her friends it was happening which, I think, was the only reason she didn't chicken out. She was brave and she cried and at the end she was glad she went through with it. The downside is she is supposed to keep her earrings in for at least 6 months, which means that the earrings I just bought for her on Etsy are now her Christmas present.

P.S. She got a juicebox.

Luca Gets Wee Baking

Matthew got a new job which allowed him the luxury of a new car which necessitated a trip up to Beaverton to finalize papers. Since we were going already we may as well make a fun trip out of it and hit up the Powell's book store around the corner. I'll be honest, it's not nearly as fun as the downtown flagship store. Instead of whole rooms dedicated to a genre, you get a few shelves. Dude was still able to find something to buy but Luca, my avid reader, couldn't find anything to strike her fancy. What she did find was a Wee Baking Set. Matthew questioned the purchase of a non-book item at a book store, and especially for double the price of what we were spending for the boy child, but I mean, come on, how do you say no to such an adorable purchase? 

Luca got it home and immediately wanted to start trying out her new recipe book. Her first try - peanut butter cookwees. 

Here she is mixing up her egg to put into the batter. The whisk is part of her dollhouse set, but it was too cute not to use it.

And then there is Luca ready to put them in the oven, complete with her tiny baking mitts.

And her finished product. Using the baking mitts to pull the tiny baking sheet out of the oven proved more terrifying than originally expected, but we were all impressed with her finished result.

What I especially loved was that she did everything completely on her own. In our own weekly cooking clubs, she is more unsure of herself and wants help, which is perfectly fine. I have really grown to love our weekly kitchen time. But I love that, at least, in tiny baking, she is so much more confident and willing to take risks. 

All hail my tiny baker and some of the best money, Matthew and I have spent on her.

A New Job for Matthew

 Shortly after Matthew started his job at Powin almost a year and a half ago he was bored out of his mind and questioning whether this was the best fit for him. There were things he liked though and he just hoped that the boredom would dissipate after they gave him more to do. Months after starting, he confronted his boss with his concern, but nothing came of it, and a few months after that, that boss got replaced with someone even less interested in creating any level of job satisfaction. After lots of prayers and fasting, and interviews, Matthew finally accepted a new job for a company based in California that will be fully remote with the exception of a few occasional work trips. It even comes with a bump in salary which will hopefully allow us to continue towards our financial goal of paying off our house by the end of next year. 

We are all really excited for him.

With his parents moving close by, more work for me, and a new job for Matthew, I felt to re-ask Heavenly Father, if the change he promised all those years ago, had finally all come to fruition. After so many times of, "no, there's more", it felt good to finally get a "yes, I love you."

Today, to celebrate Matthew's last day, we went and looked for a new car for him. We had initially thought we would wait until we paid off the house, but neither of us could wait any longer. We ended up finding, something neither of anticipated, Matthew's perfect car, only used. A 2022 Audi SQ5 with just shy of 10,000 miles for $25k less than he was anticipating spending. Truly the perfect car for both of us.

With so many blessings, I for one, definitely feel the love of God shining so brightly down on our little family.

Yet Another 4-Leaf Clover

Found this sweet little baby on my walk/run today. Pretty sure this means it's going to be a good day today.

4-Leaf Clover

 

My 4-leaf clover find for the day that reminds me that I can shine/grow/exist/love in my own unique way and still be of value.

24 Challenge

 A little over a month ago, Dude came home and said he had tried out for a 24-challenge competition. The school is only allowed to send 5 kids per 4th and 5th grade from each elementary school in the school district so you had to try out and then sign a letter of intent. I had never heard of this before, but it is a math-geek event and that seemed right up his alley, so I was game. Getting my kids involved in any extra-curriculars makes me feel like I am not super failing at parenthood, so I was especially happy to support him. But then he refused to practice and it made me kind of angry at how little dedication he was putting into something he had agreed to do, to me it was like signing up for a soccer team and then never practicing and expecting to show up on game day and do well. it just didn't compute and I tried helping him see that he would reap what he sowed.

A few days before the event I learned that Dude was not technically on the team, but had made it as an alternate, therefore he would need to be there early in the hopes that someone else didn't show and he would be able to take their spot. They didn't, and he easily got to play. Over three rounds of initial competition, he ranked, first, second, and second at his tables of four. He claimed that morning that he had said a prayer asking Heavenly Father, not to win, but to at least not do awful. We both felt that prayer had been answered.

Dude pre-tournament (super enigmatic as to how he is feeling)

Dude posing with the rest of his 5th grade team.

After the three rounds they tallied up the points, and he made it to the semi-finals. Now, instead of 4 kids at a table, there would be 6, and instead of trying to make the four numbers on the card get to 24, they had to get them to a random number chosen by the proctor before each new card. He still managed to pull off 3rd place at his table, not enough to get him a trophy or a place in the finals, but a respectable showing nonetheless.

He was actually pretty bummed about getting third because, he claimed, he was one card  from getting second, but considering how little effort he put into practicing before hand, the fact that he was an alternate, and he only learned that this was a thing a month or so ago, I was really excited for him. After we talked about it some more and got a celebratory jamba juice into him, he decided he was excited for his 3rd place ribbon after all. I mean, he got a shirt, a medal, and a jamba juice out of it. Good job dude for trying your best and doing something new.

I didn't even have to cajole him to smile.

Luca's Good Things

 The other night as I was tucking my darling daughter into bed, I noticed a piece of paper stuck to her wall right next to her head. When I asked her about it she said, "oh that's my good things. When I'm having a hard time, I look at it to remind myself of what is good in my life. I love that she came up with that beautiful coping mechanism on her own, implemented it on her own, and benefitted from it on her own. She has been struggling a lot lately with friend drama at school. I have made a conscious effort to step back and let her work through her issues with God's help instead of mine, and really just be a sounding board more than anything else. So it made my mama heart so proud to see that God had sent her heart there - to gratitude - to grounding in positivity rather than in internalizing the hard.

I left her room so inspired by this sweet daughter of mine and her resiliency.

P.S. In case you can't see, she is grateful for her room, literacy, her family, candy and fun food, her stuffies, sushi and tacos, school, llamas and cats, indoor plumbing, friends, and cousins. Such a great list!!