Oh what a month it has been! As we continue to settle into the incredibly busy and active life of a 5th grader (who would have thought we could have become MORE busy!), we realize how precious these moments are. Little Sweetie has great friends and lots of interests, but she still likes being with her family. We know we need to enjoy these moments as much as possible!
With school, this child has been incredibly busy! Altar serving, basketball, choir, and performances have taken up a lot of her time, but we are proud how she really does put her effort in, showing how much she wants to be at each event.
Being an altar server is a brand new activity this year, but she seems to be enjoying it. As a past altar server myself, I like seeing her take such an active role in her faith, especially since she was the one to initiate becoming one.
As an altar server, she was invited to participate in the Eucharistic Procession around campus.
The real joy in her heart continues to be in playing basketball, though. She is so happy to have made both the JV and Varsity teams and truly shows an aptitude and love of the game.
Loves being on the court and has made a few baskets already this season!
Although we are definitely still all in on Girl Scouts too! She can't wait for the community camp out at Camp Agnes Arnold next month. We worked on making archery SWAPS for the campout this month!
Girl Scout Christmas Meeting!
And then there are all the performances! As we head into the holiday, of course the choir is going to be busy!
Lots of fun with the Choir at the Share Your Holidays Food Drive event!
And another excellent rendition of Lessons & Carols at Frassati High School!
Excellent work at the SECS Christmas program! So weird to have her there as only a choir member and not as a performing elementary class.
Beautiful choir friends, grown up so much!
She also bravely took on the school talent show again and played a pretty difficult piano pieces!
Brava!
And if she wasn't performing herself, she could be found supporting her friends' artistic endeavors.
Proud of her friends in performance of Fiddler on the Roof at Frassati!
She's so busy, we are lucky to have family picnic lunch so we get to hang with her!
Lunch date!
With everything Little Sweetie has going on, we knew we wanted to really prioritize our family time this holiday season, especially as we started making memories in our new home. We started Thanksgiving Break with some classic movies, outside eating, and appointments...we as long as we are together, it was always fun!
Wizard of Oz (in anticipation of the new Wicked movie coming out) and An American Tail (perfect viewing after watching Fiddler on the Roof)!
Finally getting our act together and enjoying a dinner outside in our renovated space!
Haircuts and dentist visits mean it's time for come carousel rides and Chuy's lunches too.
So glad she's still excited for these little traditions!
Once again, we started our Thanksgiving Day with our annual race tradition. Little Sweetie even got a PR in the mile!
Another great race day!
Thankful for each of them!
Then it was cooking time! We had a great first Thanksgiving in the new house and Little Sweetie even got to enjoy a fire in the new fire pit.
Making the pie!
Yummy!
A nice end to a great day!
Of course, the day after Thanksgiving means the Christmas season has arrived for us, as heralded by the arrival of Pat the Elf. It was time to begin the next phase of our holiday traditions.
Little Sweetie was ready for the holiday fun to start and left Pat a letter and snack!
Welcome back, Pat!
The rest of our break was spent with Santa, a visit to The Light Park, decorating the tree, and making our applebutter jars for Christmas presents.
Love our chats with Santa!
Annual tree pictures!
They still love The Light Park!
Reading Elf on the Shelf and headed to bed!
Now we are fully in Christmas mode! We used the rest of Thanksgiving Break to fully immerse ourselves in the season.
Canning apple butter for holiday gifts!
Got the tree and the house decorated!
Christmas cookie time!
We even had an early present arrive! Guess who got a basketball hoop at the new house?
Surprise!
We also decided to have a special daughter date and take Little Sweetie to the annual performance of "A Christmas Carol." Daddy and I really enjoy seeing this each year and wanted to share it with her.
Reading The Christmas Carol for the first time!
Ready for the show!
Enjoying all the decorated trees in the lobby!
Ready for the show with front row seats!
After the show, we played outside for a little bit until it was time for our dinner reservations!
The best part of the fancy dinner? Cannolis!
Height and Weight
Somehow this girl grew again and is just over 59.5 inches and now 44 pounds!
Hey there, big girl!
Personality
The attitude and boundary pushing are definitely there ("I know Mom!") but so is the sweetness of morning and evening cuddles. She also overcame some anxiety about needing to get and wear glasses. But upon being able to see the world (shock to all of us that her eyes were as bad as they were!), she's adjusted well.
Now the world isn't fuzzy!
Developmental Milestones
As the Fall semester comes to a close, we have to say how happy we are with all of our girl's inquisitiveness, comprehension, and reasoning. She still loves to read, build, draw, imagine, and create and is doing well in all of her school subjects.
Reading for her own enjoyment and for her brother's.
Always finding little doodles and drawings everywhere.
Fun Tidbits
We got to have a special visitor at the beginning of the month: Uncle C came to town! Little Sweetie and Daddy got to see him at Great Grandma's funeral earlier in the year, but it's been awhile since he was in Houston. It was nice to have an early Christmas with him.
Thanks for visiting, Uncle C!
And here we go into 2025; hold on to your hats!
Good night,
LSM
Little Sweetie's Momma
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