The Alvarez Family

The days are long but the years are oh so short. I'm pretty sure that's on the Mom Contract somewhere. When you're baby is first born you wonder how will you ever make it through the newborn stage. You get little to no sleep and you spend your days in a fog most of the time. And then one day the fog lifts and your baby is now a toddler. Then during those toddler years you're pushed to your limit mentally and emotionally. Your baby has become a little devil child and you feel like it will be miracle if you and/or she make it through fully intact. And then the days become a little easier, the bad behavior isn't as frequent, and you've realized you have an adult in the making on your hands. That's where I am now. Savannah is becoming my little lady. I'm excited and heart broken all at the same time. I miss the days of being in the fog and I even long for those days when her personality was starting to take off and she literally drove me crazy. It all slipped by way too fast. I look back at this collage of photos from birth to now and I wonder where has the past 6 years gone?!

My sweet sassy baby girl is now a sweet sassy little girl. She can and actually wants to be left alone for quite a while. Sometimes an hour or more will go by and I realize that I have no clue where she is or what she's doing. Usually she's just playing quietly but there have been a few times when I have found her at the neighbor's house. Of course this is totally not allowed without permission but the point is that she can and has done it. All by herself.....just like that.....without any thought or help from me. I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready to have a big girl. She's turning six today and tomorrow she'll be twelve and the next day she'll be 18 and then she's gone......just like that......in the blink of an eye. Oh how I hate these short years! Obviously I did not fully understand that line in the contract when I signed six short years ago. But ever since the fog lifted I've tried really hard to embrace the long days and cherish my time spent with my children. Because it really will be over soon.

Now enough of the sentimental stuff and on to the yearly update. This past year Savannah grew so much both physically and developmentally. She finished her last year at Westminster preschool and said goodbye to most of her friends and teachers. She started kindergarten at St Thomas More in the apple classroom. She had a few old friends at her new school but unfortunately they were all in the other classroom. So she went in to a new school with new people and within minutes she had befriended her entire class. She even came home the first day and said, "It's okay that Lila is in the other class. I'll be okay. I found new friends." I'm always amazed at how quickly she opens up to new people. It's such a wonderful quality to possess and one that I don't really have. That's probably why I'm surprised at how she makes a new best friend wherever she goes: the mall playzone, Chick-fil-A, playgrounds, anywhere.
She's doing really well academically in school. She is learning to read and write properly. We get such a kick out of reading her notes and seeing how she is sounding out words and trying to spell them on her own. She is also taking an interest in math and wanting to learn how to solve simple addition equations.
She and I are both in the Girl Scout Daisy troop at her school. Savannah has been wanting to be in scouts for over a year now so with the help of another mom we started our own troop for the kindergartners. There are 17 girls in the troop and we meet every other week. We earn badges by learning the Girl Scout oath and promise which is the foundation for scouting. Savannah is learning the importance of fairness, honesty, bravery, considerateness, helpfulness, friendship, responsibility, and respect. All things that we try to teach at home but it's been so helpful to teach and encourage these qualities from a platform other than as her parent. Sometimes I feel that she ignores me, the mom, at home but as a scout leader at school she listens and responds more.
She has continued playing tennis and even gave swim team a try. She really enjoyed the practices and she did wonderful at her first meet but it was all downhill from there. She would attend the meet but refuse to swim. We decided not to push it on her and instead we hope that she'll gradually come around on her own and want to give it a try again this summer.
We thought that she was finally equal with her peers in the speech and language department but I learned after my parent-teacher conference that it would beneficial if she started back her sessions with Mrs. Anne. Unfortunately there were no open slots after school until just recently so we will resume our weekly sessions soon.
Her interests have pretty much remained the same. She loves anything involving arts and crafts. She enjoys playing with her Barbies, baby dolls, princesses, and stuffed animals. She often wants to play with Walker but that usually ends in screaming, hitting, and hair pulling.
She still very much has a temper. She easily gets upset and loses control. She is very type-A and she has a difficult time admitting when she is wrong and apologizing. These are things we have been constantly working on with her for the past several years but every day continues to be a struggle.

Here are a few pictures of Savannah's sixth year:

Valentine's Day

first father-daughter dance

afternoon mother-daughter tea parties

finally caught a butterfly

she loves doing the monkey bars

obsessed with face painting

and taking selfies

preschool graduation

swim team awards

tennis award

last day of summer camp

illustrated selfies

first day of kindergarten

the little mermaid

Anna for Halloween

All About 6 Year-Old Savannah

1. Favorite color: pink
2. Favorite song: Shut Up and Dance with Me
3. Favorite toy: Bunny Bear (stuffed animal)
4. Favorite food: spaghetti and meatballs
5. Favorite drink: white grape juice
6. Best friends: Mercer Anne, Katerina, and Emerson
7. Favorite game: Candy Land
8. Favorite book: Olive my Love and Turkey Trouble
9. Favorite place to visit: Great Wolf Lodge
10. Favorite place to eat out: Panera
11. What do you want to be when you grow up?: a mom and a teacher
12. Favorite Holiday: Valentine's Day
13. Favorite dress up costume: Princess Aurora
14. Favorite movie: The Good Dinosaur
15. Favorite tv show: Doc McStuffins

Happy 6th Birthday my sweet Savannah Grace! You bring so much joy to all who know and love you. May this year bring you more laughs, more smiles, and abundant happiness. We love you more than you can possibly know!

So around this house November is known as Savannah's month even though her birthday is in the first part of the month. In preparation for her Under the Sea birthday party she went to the Learning Express and created a birthday box so all her guests could have an idea of gift ideas. Then we spent the next week getting ready for her special weekend. Grams flew in on Thursday the 5th to help us celebrate. The whole family went to Savannah's school on Friday to deliver cupcakes and read a story to celebrate her being the Child of the Week.

with her finished birthday box

Savannah's Child of the Week board

created by her classmates

starting off birthday weekend with a matinee viewing of the Peanuts Movie

Savannah's 6th Birthday

starting the day with birthday donuts

special call from Grandad singing Happy Birthday

her first big girl American Doll

Under the Sea Party at Homestead Aquatics

Savannah had been wanting a mermaid party for months but the problem was how to do a mermaid party in the month of November?? So I found a local indoor pool that had a party room to rent and since she finally decided to invite boys this year we changed the theme to an under the sea party. We had 23 children attend which was slightly crazy not only to keep track of in the pool but we also had to make sure everyone was in dry clothes before they entered the party room. We'll definitely be cutting back on the guest list next year! Am I crazy to be looking forward to the small sleepover birthday party years?!

So this years party decorations were sooooooo much easier than the past 3 years. It definitely helps to have the party outside of the house. I purchased the banner and sign from my favorite party shop on Etsy and I picked up a few odd and end ocean-type things from various stores. And leave it to Grams to come up with an amazing homemade decoration---the personalized anchor!

birthday banner

snack table

cake by Bakers Cakes

party favors

after party dinner at Jason's Deli

Such a special day! I can't believe it was her 6th birthday!! My how times flies! I'll be doing another post all about Savannah following this one.

Now on to Thanksgiving......Both kiddos had special Thanksgiving parties at school. I was actually able to attend the Thanksgiving feast at Savannah's school while Walker was at his school. The kindergarten class did such a great job with all of their harvest decorations and each child was wearing their own school-made pilgrim or Indian outfit.

while shopping for Thanksgiving supplies

KA Thanksgiving Feast

with my cute little Pilgrim

the whole KA class

Walker at school in his Indian headpiece

and his Pilgrim hat

Our Thanksgiving at home was nice and quiet. Little Nik rode his motorcycle down from New Jersey and stayed with us through the holiday. We had a nice Thanksgiving lunch at the country club and then I spent the rest of the week putting up Christmas decorations.

All Aboard the pillow train!

my cuties dressed up for Thanksgiving

family pic

We kicked of the Christmas season early by attending the Fairytale Dreamer Christmas party in Raleigh. Both kiddos were super excited about their first sighting of Santa but also about seeing the Disney princesses.