One Year Ago

One year ago, Flynn danced at her recital... only Nana couldn't come watch.  Nana was recovering from her surgery & was facing a long road.  Other surgeries. Chemo. Radiation.  We were sad & it looked pretty gloom.

Now, look at Nana.  Her strength & bravery pushed her through the toughest year & now she's here with us for lots & lots of years.

Christmas Vacation Productions

Our little break has lent itself to my boy & girl teaming up for some live action. Thankfully, I always have my phone (camera!) nearby & can get it all on camera in a unsuspecting fashion.

So, when this little 'drama' was set to begin, I got a request for a song. "something slow Momma" Flynn directed me. 'To the Sea' sounded like a good idea.

Next act was apparently the scene where the baby (conceived by the first dance?) was born.

And next, a grocery shopping trip with the baby -- now turned toddler.

I hope I never forget these moments.

Happy EIGHTH Birthday Flynn

Dearest Eight-Year Old Flynn,

What a year for you... you have changed so much.
While you still shy away from most adults who greet you, your giggling with your friends has gotten louder & your silliness...even sillier.
You've lost seven teeth so far & are about to leave toddler sizes (finally) in your shoes. Your hair is still bobbed short & your long skinny legs are constantly dancing your petite little frame around the house.
Second grade seems to be the most exciting yet. You seem to excel at writing & your creativity is one of your best assets.

You cartwheel, flip, & walkover all our furniture. Your feet will land on anything & anyone & your brother's head seems to be a part of all your stunts.Your year brought you lots of fun & adventure...

• Your Wolf-brother chased you (Lil Red Ridinghood) all the way to Grandmother's, for trick or treating fun.
• We rode roller-coaster after roller-coaster at Silver Dollar City.
• We enjoyed our first Christmas in a new house.
• Your second grade choir sang at Busch Stadium at the seventh inning stretch of a Cards' game.
• You tried a season of softball... and soccer... and still, dance.
  

Your '2nd annual' LemonAID stand helped a tornado-touched family. You donated 11 toys to the TOYS FOR TOTS. Your heart is bigger than your 40-something pound frame.

Just when I think I couldn't be more proud of you, you melt my heart even more.

I pray that your ninth year of life brings you more learning, more love, & God's light.

With a love you won't understand for many more years,

Momma

xoxo

Diagrams of Explanation (she takes after me)

A few mos ago, I comically illustrated a slight would-be-altercation between myself & some half-cocked lady in the Lowe's parking lot at the bluffs; wherein she blamed me for going back in time, leaving my car, turning a stop sign 90 degrees, so that when I went through the intersection later (in present time), I wouldn't have to stop.
"Somebody turned the sign!"
WHAT? REALLY?
Why not just accept blame by saying, "I didn't know you didn't have a stop sign, sorry."
But then again, that's what I get for stopping in the middle of the intersection & asking her why she honked & gestured.
Sheesh, it's almost like I'm an elementary teacher or something.

Anywho, to make the story more interesting later, when retelling it to my nieces, I sketched a little map to go along with my retelling. Complete with a cactus for Qdoba & a bulls eye for Target.
We laughed so hard that I magnet-ed it to the fridge.
And later texted it to my nieces so they could get just one more laugh out of it (because, you know, we're short on laughs in our family... /sarcasm).

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

This morning, when my two littles forgot it was a holiday (the same way they forget every five days that it's a weekend) & came into our room (around 7'ish?), we sent them back out with a request to play quietly while Daddy & I (who did not forget it was a holiday) slept for mere minutes more.

It doesn't take long for some kind of disagreement to break out between my almost-Irish twins & this time, Flynn wanted to be sure that we knew E-X-A-C-T-L-Y what went down.

That is why she drew this:

to show Daddy & I, what transpired between her & her bubby.
COMPLETE with a brown vapor -- so that we could almost smell what she smelled.

And to this, I say,
the NUT doesn't fall far....

Playing 'Ball'

Tonight is Flynn's very first softball practice. She couldn't be more excited. Matter of fact, I can't remember her being this excited about anything.
And what's with these seven-year olds acting older when they're excited. It's like an instant-teenager pill.
Things she said on the way home from school (w/ the excitement bubbling out of her as she counted down the minutes til practice):
"Oh Mom, I needed to tell you, Nolan said 'hi'."
"You forgot your phone? Drop me off at the door & I'll run in & get it."
"Hey Mom, you think you could put a headband on me before practice?"

I can't wait to follow her, I think she's going to be great... and not just because softball was my sport!

Mowsh

Not really sure how to spell that... but sounding it out?, that's EXACTLY Flynn's new favorite "word".

It started out as 'meow', a sound of endearment between her & I. Jeff & I would laugh because she would only return it if *I* said it. Even at his insistence.

Somehow, the sound started evolving & has arrived at this German sounding 'noise'.

She says it to us when we tuck her in. She greets Bubby with it in the morning (given they're both in 'civil' dispositions). She says it when we see a baby, a kitten, a puppy, or anything fluffy.

I even heard her let the sound escape today, when I walked by her line in the hall.

I wish I could bottle the sound, so we could always knows EXACTLY what it sounds like.

Flynn Update, 2/20/11

Flynn likes:

• Madelyn & Elly, her friends
• going places (walmart, a friend's house, out to eat, soccer)
• the stuffed puppy dog Landon gave her for V'day
• her pillow pet monkey
• dance class
• soccer
• her cousins
• chocolate soy milk, hash browns from mcd's, chips, carrots sticks, & oranges
• purple
• crafting
  

Shave & a Haircut

MLK Day. Striped tights. Hairs cut.
My girl.

Snuggie Twins

Flynn got her "Princess" snuggie from the Frosts for her birthday. Gabe won his at 'Rob Your Neighbor'.
These snuggies are an important ingredient (along w/ a movie & a toasty fire) for a perfect snowy afternoon.

Tricks & TREATS

She's a tricky one, that girl! And my buddy, he makes me want to kiss the cook!

So our Halloween was different this year than the years past. This year we started the tradition of trickin' & treatin' in our own subdivision.
KK joined us as 'Weekend Vampire' a rock band & we pounded the candy-giving pavement.

Typical Saturday Morning at the Perrys

Listen for Gabe, halfway through, telling me to "turn off the radio; I want to sing the word of God." & by that, I think he means, "church songs".

Flynn has such monkey toes-- proof in that she can hold something between her toes THROUGH footed pjs.

Happy SEVENTH Birthday to my Baby Girl

Dear Baby Girl,

(who is not anywhere close to being a baby anymore but I don't care)

Today you turn seven.

I don't know if it's because you're not all that old, or if it's just sentiment, but I remember every conscious detail of the day you were born.

I remember packing a quick bag, getting the dog's stuff together, getting wheeled onto the labor & delivery floor and those really fast moving moments where we found out we'd be meeting you a whole lot sooner than we'd planned.

I also tearfully remember that next day when I had to kiss you good bye while you took an ambulance to a hospital in the city.

I remember making a promise to myself that I wouldn't have to tell you good bye again.

I remember your first Christmas... your first steps.... your first day of preschool... your first day of school...

I remember the first time you slept in a big girl bed & how little you looked.

I remember staring at your eye lashes & thinking they were so long brushing your chunky baby cheeks.

I remember the morning you told me that you wanted Jesus to live in your heart & how you wanted to be His friend.

This year you took on first grade & could add that to the long list of things you do well. And violin. And making your bed.

You enjoyed the beach again this past year & had your very first sleepover.

You raised money in your very own lemonade stand. Instead of keeping the money for yourself, you bought school supplies for kids who didn't have any. And never gave that a second thought.

You chose the color lavendar for the walls of your room in our brand new house.

Your training wheels came off your bike this past year & your "boyfriend" from last year became 'just' your "friend".

Sissy, you are such a special girl...with your curious quiet ways, your deep thought, your kind heart & mind full of questions.

You amaze me with your ideas & your selective sillyness & your hot-cold love for your little brother.

I pray this year brings you health and a heart full of love.

Love you to the moon & back again, five bajillion times.

Love,

Momma

My Fantastic First Grader

Flynn is doing fabulous in first grade, just as we would've predicted. She is in her class with her Daisy Buddy Madelyn. They can be seen walking in the parade behind their teacher, hands held.
Flynn has even started to adapt her cackle to sound more like her pal's giggle.

Flynn has aced every single spelling test. She has aced reading tests. Almost aced all her math tests.

She has mixed feelings about me being her class neighbor. She doesn't seem to mind being able to zip into my class when the car-riders are dismissed. Then she's able to sit in my chair, behind my desk, showing off as she picks up my new(-to-me) iPhone & starts taking photos of my little first grade sweeties who are lining up for their departure.
But the feedback I've gotten from her is, "I wish you were still at your building Mom. Then I would get to ride the bus. I miss it."
WHO MISSES GETTING ONTO A HOT SMELLY BUS & WAITING & WAITING?

My girl. That's who.

Lemon-AID

My girl has been gun-ho for the lemonade business ever since she laid her eyes on a street-side stand. And I've put her off a lemonade season or two.

So, when our subdivision had a hood-wide sale, I figured it was time to explore her entrepreneural side.

Naturally, we asked her what 'cause' she'd like to raise for.

This was not easy for our girl whose heart gets easily tugged...and in several directions at that. With it being school supply season, we'd been talking a lot about those who couldn't afford them.

So, that was her cause of choice (although the whole time she was trying to talk me into also raising money for "food for people who can't afford food and who are hungry").

She made the above sign. Mixed her lemonade. And hired an assistant (sidekick: brother). They asked EVERY SINGLE person who walked up our drive. And sometimes Gabe followed potential customers into the garage. You could count on the fact that if a 'customer' didn't give, they were guilted by Dick the Bruiser Bubs.

Flynn raised over $30 & was able to buy a box chalked full of supplies for students in our building who started school without supplies.

God has allowed a planted seed in her heart to blossom into a pot of love & charity.

Briefs or Boxers?

Today Flynn said (mid-lunch) to Jeff's Dad, "What's under there?"

Dan replied, "Under where?" [underWEAR]

I don't know which part I like the best: the fact that she had the nerve to say it...or the fact that she kept a straight face while she did it.

Puddle Jumpers

It was a very rainy May. VERY rainy.
What better to do when the sky opens up?
Put on your boots & do some puddle-jumping.

These boots are nearly the same size.

A special (muddy) rock that Flynn found (& was quite proud of too, by the way).

It's funny how Flynn seems to have springs in her feet. Of course, when you have on rain boots, everything is magical.

Baby-Lover

My girl (& boy) is a baby-lover just like her momma.
And that Morris family just quenches our baby thirst; what with their having babies every year & all.

Last month when the newest addition, Emmitt, made his entrance, we couldn't wait to get up to the hospital to smell that brand new baby breath.

We held him, stroked his baby bird fuzz, & gave our parting wishes.

We were exiting the parking lot & finding our way back to the interstate when Flynn piped up from her seat in the back,
"I already miss him."

Dance

This little beauty is about to perform in another recital. She absolutely loves her routines, songs, costumes, & the chance to wear lip gloss & blush.
This is before pictures waiting to go back into the studio. She's in 2 dances with her regular class, and another, specialty dance (invitation only, a'hem).
Her specialty dance is one where each little girl is teamed up with a "big" girl (a teen/tween). They're performing to "Everybody Loves My Baby" & it's one of the cutest things I've seen. Flynn's partner is Renee & she thinks she's the cat's meow. Which she is. And Flynn is the kitten's meow.

It's Like Riding a Bike

I sadly admit that the good majority of my kiddos' lives they did not play outside, driveway or otherwise, on the wheel variety.

Our driveway was dangerously steep, as was our street. And we had no sidewalks. Therefore, most of their road-rage took place at one of the grandparents.

Since we moved in w/ Grammy & Peepaw, the kids have had their freedom on the great sidewalks & level driveway.

Last Saturday, Flynn & Gabe joined Nana & Papa on a bike riding field trip to a park called ROUTE 66 PARK in the old Times Beach close to Eureka.

While Papa was working on Flynn's bike, trying to make it more comfy, Nana suggested taking off the training wheels.

And Flynn hasn't looked back

T'Ree-ific

The other night we took the kids to a near-by park called BEE TREE PARK. It over looks the river & has a fun playground. My favorite was a nearby field (part of which was unfortunately recently cut).
I saw this tree, the perfect girth to hide my skinny-mini's torsos. I invited them to stand & lean. Do you think Bubs would oblige? Goodness no. But my girl, she's always game for a good photo session.

I asked her to hold the tree & lean. That one ended up a little fuzzy, so she did this instead.

and then this...
then came up with this....

so I snapped away & laughed all the while as how we can never do anything ordinary.