She did it!  Emily survived!!!

Hopefully we’ll find out about parts soon!!

We’ve had a sedate couple of days around casa de Bates.  Nothing exciting to photograph so I just started snapping random shots of my girls.  Watching them fascinates me. They grow up so quickly.  

I mean seriously, when did she grow up to be such a young lady?  She’s 11 years old and she’s 5′2″!  

I had been sitting in the office, working away when she came in and plopped down next to my desk.  She sat over there, happy as can be, playing her DS for quite some time.  I stopped what I was doing and just watched her.  It’s all happening too fast.  I’m not ready for her to grow up yet.

This is the look of concentration.  Well, it’s the look of concentration and continual talking.  Sometimes I wonder if she thinks better while she’s talking, while there is some sort of noise going on.  I, on the other hand, can’t focus when there are outside noises and influences.

I’m looking at that photo and I just realized how dark her hair is getting.

This little one, my oh my.  She’s growing up at the same alarming pace as her sisters.  My little munchkin isn’t so little anymore.  She’ll be 7 in a few months.  In some ways she is still so little and in other ways she’s so grown.  I never would’ve imagined her being as into tae kwon do as she is now.  The child can kick over her head.  I should take some pictures at the next class.

Emily is such a sweetheart.  I can’t even convince HER to stop growing up.  No amount of bribery will stop these gals from their quest to make me into an old woman.  Sigh…  Of our three girls I can see myself in Emily.  I don’t see much physical resemblance in myself and Katy and Lizzy.  I know there are similarities, mostly in personality, with them.  But with Emily I see me.  Lizzy has my dimples though.  I think that’s all the clone company would allow when they cloned The Boy and made Lizzy.  Must’ve been a clause we didn’t see in the cloning paperwork.  Heh.

Regularly someone poses the question to me of where the blue eyes came from.  Emily and Elizabeth both have beautiful blue eyes.  Steven’s Dad and my Mom have blue eyes.  I know my Mom’s Dad had blue eyes.  Steven and I have hazel eyes.  Though mine were a very dark brown until the last few years.  

See the freckles?  Neither Katy nor Elizabeth have many freckles.  Lizzy does have one (that’s more of a tiny mole) on her cheek.  We call it her beauty mark.  But every year we find a new sprinkling of freckles on Emily’s face.  She currently has a cute little dusting across the bridge of her nose.

I keep staring at these photographs.  The ones of Katy in particular I’m drawn to.  Sometimes I almost feel like if I watch long enough they’ll grow up before my eyes.  Some days it feels like I wake up from some dream, from walking through life with blinders on.  I wake up to find my children have grown.  They’ve matured.  There stands a  young woman before me where not that long ago a tiny girl with blond curls stood.

You can see Lizzy’s beauty mark in this photo.  It almost looks like a speck of her lunch has lingered on her cheek.  Trust me, I’ve tried many times to wipe her face and realized that one bit isn’t wiping off.  

There are so many things “wrong” with this photo but I’m drawn to it.  I see such a perfect illustration of daily life with Lizzy.  Dancing.  Spinning.  Swinging.  Laughing.  Singing.  Joy.  Smiles.  Carefree.  She is the comic relief in our home.  She loves to dance and I tried very hard to get a “technically correct” image of it but I loved this one.

And then I was discovered by the tiny dancer and the posing began.  We call this one Walk Like an Egyptian.

We aren’t sure what to call this one.  Scary Arthritic Finger Lady?  I’m going to eat you for dinner?  

Squish Down and Be As Tiny As You Can Be.

Pippi was on the other end of the couch with me.  She was watching the Lizzy antics with that cocker spaniel look of “yeah, yeah, it’s cute but I’m tired.” She’ll be 6 this May.  We love the Velcro Dog.

 Tomorrow we have call backs for Annie.  Emily will be auditioning then with the other young girls in a group setting.  She got nervous last week when it was her turn to audition alone.  I can’t blame her.  I would be the same way.  She seems much less nervous about trying out with the group.  She’s such a great little actress and singer.  I hope that next fall when auditions come around again she’ll be comfortable singing her song alone.  In the mean time, we’re just trying to be as encouraging as we can be.

I love those girls.  I never imagined, years ago, that I’d be able to stand being home with them 24 hours a day for the next 18 years while we homeschooled.  Now, admittedly, at some point they’ll go out more but you get my drift.  But now, I can’t imagine life any other way.  When they were at The Boy’s parents for a week in December I honestly did not know what to do with myself.  

My  sweet, sweet monkey girls.