It's crazy.... I started this blog when I was put on bed rest while pregnant with Lucy 10 years ago, and now we've come full circle. She's been here for a WHOLE decade! Can you believe it? A whole decade of laughing and loving more than I knew possible, but also at times, hurting more than I knew I could, feeling more pride and pure joy than ever before, listening to the beauty that comes out of a child's mouth day in and day out, 10 years of my days having a REAL purpose, 10 years of kisses and hugs, hours upon hours of staring at the angel I have created. Just 10 years of being a Mother and all the magnificent wonder that comes with it... It's hard to believe.... yet, if I'm being honest.... part of me feels like it didn't go "that fast." She's not the easiest child, so the days are long with her. This is my blog so I can be honest. I love her- you know I do- I can even tell you that I had a DEEP obsession with her for so long. (I was obsessed with all of my kids when they were little- Sully is only 5 so my obsession with him is still there ;)) But that doesn't mean she's been an easy child. And because of that, the years have felt long. I am tired in my bones. But at the same time, it's surreal to use the word "decade" when talking about the life of one of my children. New decades are celebrated BIG on December 31st every 10 years. When someone talks about a career and says they've been in the industry "for a decade" we applaud them. Shoot, Shawn and I celebrated a "decade" of marriage last May and we were SO proud of ourselves. A "decade" is a word meant to be met with joy and "congratulations!" and I think a 10th birthday is no different- her biggest birthday to date! Her first decade of life!
She didn't have a big party this year (we are keeping with our rule of only having big parties every OTHER year) but she had so much fun with the sleepover that she DID have. She invited her 2 best friends over and they had a water balloon fight, pizza, cake, trampoline fun, hot tub while watching a movie outside, games, etc. Lucy and I have a tradition of making her cake every year together. This year she asked me for a red velvet bundt cake. I have never made red velvet and she wanted it because she had it a friends birthday party recently and said it was the best cake ever. Well- her friend ordered it from Nothing Bundt Cakes... it wasn't homemade. So I looked up how to copy that specific brand of cake and did the best I could. Turns out- she said it was the best cake I've ever made! I'm not a huge cake fan, but even I have to admit it was pretty dang good- especially the homemade cream cheese icing. Oh my GOSH- it was AMAZING! I've never bought Lucy a cake. I've bought the other 2 kids cakes for birthdays but she likes to challenge me each year (and help me) to teach me how to do our own thing :)
It's not super pretty, but she said she loved it. I felt like it looked horrible, haha! But she didn't care!
For me, her birthday was so peaceful. She was happy and sweet. It was like I had my old Lucy back for the day. See- she's officially a "tween" now and she's been hard the last few months. I have not been good at dealing with her new hormones (and I know this is just the beginning!) but we've butted heads a LOT. However, on her birthday she was so easy-going, so happy, so sweet, no eye-rolling, etc. She was my Lucy girl- the one that doesn't show up as often as she used to, and goodness I've missed her! I've been reading all about "tweens" lately and how to deal with them and all the hormones that show up at 9 and the only solace I have is that most articles say to take heart- if she's sassy and sometimes disrespectful, that means she's developing just how she's supposed to. Basically I have to buckle up and hold my tongue a lot because this is just how it's gonna be for the foreseeable future. It just seems like she changed over night! She literally acts like a teenager. And that, my friends, is what a "tween" is. Yay....
On Facebook I wrote: "A whole decade of life has been lived for this cutie. My prayer for her 10th birthday is that she shows me grace as I navigate through these muddy “tween” waters. Each phase of her life reminds me that I’m still training for this job and unfortunately, as the first born, the training for it has to be done on her. The last couple of months of her being 9 have been tough for us BOTH, to say the least. We took these pictures back in October and I wonder if today she’d even let me take a bunch of selfies with her.(Just kidding, she would- she loves selfies)!
Regardless, I love her fiercely. We just might need to remind each other of that over the next few years
Happy birthday LuLu Belle…Today was a fairytale!"
A few other things we did this last month were: we went to a Tulsa Drillers baseball game (so fun and my kids made it on the Jumbotron!!), we celebrated Mother's Day (nothing huge or overly-special, just a nice relaxing day where I didn't have to lift a finger and I had some beautiful wild flowers picked for me!), Piper had an outdoor musical called BugZ that Shawn and I were able to go watch, Lucy ran a 5k!, we finished out Sully's soccer season, we finally took Rusty in to get his first haircut, Piper had a SUCCESSFUL orthodontist appointment (no braces yet- more turns on the expander and THEN braces), and Bruce and Mary came into town to watch Sully play soccer and have a Crawfish Boil.
Here are their before and afters. It's hard to see Jolie in the back of the left pic but it was the only picture I had of them together before their hair cuts.
One of my Mother's Day Bouquets!
When Lucy came home and told me she wanted to sign up for Running Club, I was shocked. That girl HATES running. She hates anything competitive, to be honest, but she loooves being social. For her it was an extra chance to “hang out” with her friends after school but I was all for it. I wish I could say that she completely transformed herself throughout the season and became a stronger, faster runner, but that would be a lie 
She joined so she could chat with her friends and at her final race, there was no drive in her to place at all- just the desire to walk/run/chat with her girl friends…. who all crossed the finish line together at the very end But hey, it was still fun to watch. And guess what!?? Mrs. Cotton stopped by!!!!! I was so happy to spend some time with her and meet that precious grand-baby of hers! 
Now we are in the last 5 days of school and I have SO much I want/need to get done before they're home full time but I just won't be able to fit it all in. But still, I think I'm finally ready for Summer!
