twelve.

It has been a whirlwind of a month! We had Mess's birthday party, our 5 year wedding anniversary, Thanksgiving followed by a weekend of holiday activities.

In mid-November Mess turned 11 years old. The day before her birthday she decided now that she was going to be 11 she was “too old” to share a room with her sisters. So, before her friends came over for her party we moved her across the hall from her sisters into her own room, again. She seems to be happy there...although she will admit, occasionally, to miss sleeping in a room with her sisters. For the 3 of them it seems to be a comfort thing. In fact, today, they all three were begging for me to let them all share a room with W and I. I about laughed my butt off followed with a big “NO WAY!” Sweet thought and I'm glad they love us that much, however, they're crazy if they think that'll ever happen.

Mess's new room

Mess wanted to camp out in the backyard with her friends for her birthday.

two.

Mess is nearly another year closer to being a teenager; she turns 11 in November. How time flies!! People say all the time how the older you get the faster time goes. Not to sound like a cliche but time does seem to go faster the older I get. It seems like yesterday I was a scared and nervous 20 year old about to give birth for the first time and now I have a preteen. God knew what He was doing when He blessed me with Mess, my first beautiful daughter.

As of late Mess has started thinking of her birthday party. She has been giving me ideas and asking questions here and there about what would be okay and not okay. She worries about how much money things cost, and how many friends she can invite. I love seeing the ideas she has and all the questions she asks when deciding if it'll be a good plan. She has been having such fun with the ideas that I think I'm going to turn all of this party planning into a math lesson. What I'm going to do is give her a budget to work within, say $150. From there I'm going to let her do her own researching into planning her party. She has a pinterest account and has been finding ideas there. I'll have her make lists of what she wants and/or thinks she wants and then let her search out the costs of everything. Mess does have a pretty good understanding of money so this should be a beneficial and fun math learning lesson for her.