Journey

Alarm clock from Nana and Grandpa (this one) Books from Nana and Grandpa

 My clever, feisty, compassionate K turned eleven earlier this week. Eleven! Can you believe it? I can't. My journey as a mama started with her and I can't believe it has been this long. It feels as if I just blinked and here we are, eleven years later. But oh what a ride it has been. I look forward to all the years to come! Please continue to be patient with me, my dear K. I am learning right along side you.

We celebrated K by giving her her own space for the little time we have left here (more on that later). The playroom has been moved out to the living room and she now has a room of her own. She has a hard time concentrating on schoolwork with the rest of her siblings around so we thought we would give her a desk to work at in her room. I found the one you see pictured at a consignment shop and just fixed it up a bit with Kevin's help. I thought it was perfect at the time because it was vintage and so compact. Well, unfortunately that means that I can't find a chair to fit it. I found the one you see pictured above at another consignment shop and painted it the same blue as my bookcase to get us by for now. She is pleased with it and that is what matters...right?

She was asking for her own essential oil diffuser so we got her a horse one (of course!). Kevin hung a little shelf I painted on the wall above it to hold her oils. She has been having so much fun choosing her oils each day. Next to her oil shelf hangs a mirror so she can sit at her desk and brush her hair or put in her earrings. Although as you can see in the photo of her and C - she has turned this space into her own little vanity/beauty salon. My little girl is growing up!

In her window hangs a very special spider plant that is from her beloved teacher back at Portland Waldorf School. I knit a hanger for it in her favorite colors to keep it safe from our plant loving cats.

Nana and Grandpa gifted her with an alarm clock for her room as well as four books (from your recommendations!) - Heidi, The Secret Garden, The Penderwicks and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.   Little L gave her a pumpkin and C gave her one of her special hedgehogs. I also knit her a birthday sweater as I do every year. She is wearing it in the photos but I will share more about that in another post.

But perhaps her most favorite gift of all was her very own base ID. Now from time to time she can go places on base without us. She tested it out right away by biking to the library and getting her own library card and then going to the commissary (base grocery store) to pick up some fruit for her siblings. We had her take my phone with her so she could call us at each stop and check in (because this mama's heart needed that!). She is truly loving this new found independence. I have a feeling it was just what she needed most. Just don't grow up too fast, my little one, okay?

Journey