this girl of mine

It's a big week around these parts as Ms. A is leaving five behind in the dust.  Now she pretty much wrote the book on tomboy chic.  At any given moment you can find her up in a tree with a pair of sparkly flats.  And you don't even want to see the level of drama this girl can throw out when I suggest she wear pants to school.  

She runs at two speeds:  rodeo clown and emotional teenager. 

 But lately we've got a new character in the story.  Ninja girl.  I just about choked at dinner when she said she wanted to be a power ranger for Halloween.  I tried to remain calm and then I suggested Supergirl.  

But after a few minutes of pouting I decided there are worse things she could want to be.  At least it's empowering, right?  So I forked over eighteen bucks at toys r us for one of the ugliest costumes I have ever seen.  

And then she said she wanted a power ranger birthday party.  I'll admit that I had to take some deep breaths.  But we're a few weeks into the party planning and through some very creative compromises we've come up with what might be the girliest ninja party ever thrown. 

 Here's the invite:

 No one will even suspect that they're walking into a samurai smackdown.

 So far she feels her greatest accomplishment in life is learning how to go cross eyed.  Daddy gave her a step by step tutorial.  You have to start with the finger six inches out.

 And then move it closer to your nose.

 Focus

 Closer

 Almost there

 Got it!

 She lives every single moment to it's fullest this one.  She licks every speck of frosting off the top.

Tonight at bedtime I prayed with her in my arms and asked that God would bless all the many gifts that he's given her and help her to use them for his glory.  Afterwards, she asked if that meant God was going to give her presents for her birthday.  After using every ounce of self control not to laugh, I explained that God has blessed her with being good at a lot of things and that she can praise him by using those gifts.  Then she said she's thinking of giving God the poem Five Little Scarecrows as a gift. I decided we'd work more on it later.

 When she wakes up in the morning she climbs into bed with me, brushes my hair away from my face and kisses my cheek.  She'll paint a picture for me and then leave it next to my pillow for when I wake up.  She's a firecracker on the trapeze and rocked circus camp.  She's the queen of compliments and a Class A snuggler.  I am so proud to be her mama and even though I can tell that six will have it's own set of challenges as she breaks into a new layer of skin, I'll hold fast to the One who designed all of who Ava is meant to be.

 Ok, maybe it's not so bad.  She kind of looks like the captain of starship Enterprise.

 Ninja Mom Out

lil' pirate preview

Talented and gifted

Sometimes it's important to celebrate your children's unique gifts and abilities.

the gives and the takes

I might be going MIA for awhile as this here record of Hsieh antics falls somewhere between laundry and homework on Mama's towline.  School may be a bit on the easy side but the reading's been kicking my butt.  On the plus side, it turns out that I overshot my first paper (thanks Dad!) and had to invent some grammatical errors to avoid embarrassing those in my reading group.  It seems PSU doesn't adhere to the same lofty standards as Princeton.  But except for a few bumps in the road everyone seems to be pulling together and making this whole thing happen.  There have been a few unexpected benefits to this new adventure such as Grandpa learning how to put an egg wash on a potpie, Ian finally acknowledging Ben as an acceptable Mommy substitute, and due to the unprecedented alone time in the car Mama finally knows who Nicki Minaj is.  And in spite of my increased absences I'm still trying to convince everyone that I'm present in the ways that matter.

Family bike rides on perfect fall nights still make the list

along with blackberry picking

apple bread baking

 and of course Bears games!

 Because that degree of cuteness just can't be denied.

So in this season of crazy I just hope the mental stack of cards I need to write and emails I need to send doesn't get too high.  I'll daydream about catching up with Liz Lemon and Leslie Knope and hope Ben doesn't keep track of all the solo bedtiming he has to do with the smalls.  There's a few debts I won't be able to repay but I also know that I blew my cover with those who really love me a long time ago.