The Life Of A 1st Grader

Bella is growing up so fast, it kind of scares me sometimes.  We are working hard to raise her to be a respectful, kind, confident, happy young lady.  Sometimes we wonder if we are doing the "right" things, not that there is some magical solution on how to raise your kids, but we all as parents hope we at least get it mostly right :)

Last week Bella came home and told me it was a rough day at school because they had a substitute teacher for music class and the kids were mean to her.  She told me that none of the kids would sing when they were supposed to and they kept saying mean things to the teacher.  Bella reassured me that she was the only student that was singing and being nice to the teacher.  She was then extremely proud to tell me that she was the only one in her class to get her sand dollar for the day AND the only one that got to go out for afternoon recess.

At first I thought she was probably lonely at recess, but of course the other classes were out there, she reassured me that she had fun.  She was so excited to tell me how proud her teacher was of her and I told her I was extremely proud of her for standing on her own and not doing what the other kids were doing, while trying not to cry at the complete sweetness that was oozing from her at that moment.  She was like, well yeah mom, you don't be mean to people especially teachers, I don't have to do what the other kids do I am always nice.

Eeck!!!!  So much pride in that moment, to know that she truly does know that she is her own person and at the young age of 7 she knows how to respect and treat others.  I'm just so proud of the good choices she makes!

Then last night she was taking bath and we were just chatting.  Every day we talk about each others day, but those times when it is us sitting quietly having a longer conversation, there are some wonderful conversations :)

"Mom since I have been taking cold lunch to school so have some of my other friends.  It is kind of weird but Claire waits until the end to line up for cold lunch so she can stand by me.  She always wants to be right by me, she is going CRAZY over our friendship, I think she needs to tone it down."

"Oh mom I so forgot to tell you about the balls we play with at recess being stolen!  There were these people cutting down a tree and we couldn't get to the other part of the playground and kids left the balls out and then someone stoled them!  But thankfully the school got some new ones, so we don't have to worry."

Oh my goodness, I was dying.  I love hearing the stories about her day, hearing about all of her friends and the fun adventures she has.

In the craziness that is our life these moments are cherished and I need to be better about writing them out to show her some day when she is older :)

Bella we love you so, so much and are so proud of the kind young lady that you are.  Even when we are on the go from 4:30 am (well Kyle and I are at that time some mornings while she is snoozing away) until 8 pm we are always enjoying our life.  

Catching Up

It has been far, far too long since I've posted in this blog!

Life is going well for us.  Bella is doing amazing in school and dance, she will be starting swimming lessons at the end of the month and probably track in April.  Not gonna lie, when she said she wanted to do the track program offered through Cedar Rapids Rec I was pretty pumped :)

It has been a LONG winter, we are so happy to have the snow melting and it actually smells like spring!  This weekend we have big plans to head to the park and enjoy the warm weather.  To us when it hits 45-50 degrees, that is a major heat wave.

Here is a small collage of us, I must get better about updating on here!

Bella is loving dance, she was amazing as a "Little Snowflake" in Dancer's Edge production of the Nutcracker.  She really loves the hip hop class she is in, I can't wait to see the performances at the recital in June, the kids are working so hard.

Kyle is still working at Nordstrom and training me for my next competition which is May 10th.

I will do better about keeping up with this blog, life is just so full, so many fun things to share :)

Birthday, Pumpkin Patch and Halloween Fun!

Life at the Griffin house has been jam packed, pretty sure that is the new "normal" for us now.

We had a great October and ended it with Kyle playing in an alumni soccer game at Coe, a fun trip to Bloomsberry Farm and we had a blast on Halloween.  Bella dressed up as Clawdeen from the Monster High girls.  We went to Newhall for some yummy chili and went trick or treating with Missy, Lyla, Mindy, Evey, Papa and Grandpa.  Thankfully the rain stopped, it was a chilly night but not too bad, Bella got loads of candy and had so much fun.  She said this was the best Halloween ever :)

Bella Jean is 7!

Time is just flying by far too fast, Sunday was Bella's 7th birthday!  How can she be 7 already????

At the age of seven Bella is very sweet, caring, opinionated, energetic, a bit sassy, loving, oh my goodness is she loving!  She loves school, her friends, her family, her pets Tybalt and Luna, she would do anything for anyone and just loves life!

My life is so full with her in it, she makes me smile and laugh every single day, her sweet hugs and kisses are constant, I am so, so lucky to be her mommy!

We have so much fun with her, whether we are playing games at home or just coloring, taking walks, going shopping, reading, making crafts.  She chose Arby's for her birthday dinner, she just loves Arby's :)  We love you to the moon and back Bella Jean, you make life so amazing!

Her birthday weekend also included my first figure competition.  It was an amazing experience and I'm so happy I got to share it with my family and friends, especially Bella.  She did the kids pose off and got her very own medal, I was proud of both of us, she was just over joyed.  I will never forget this weekend, so many memories made in a couple of days :)