13 year check-up

The girls had their 13 year old checkup on Wednesday morning. They are both doing great and growing like weeds!

The stats...

Avery is 5' 3 1/4" and weighs in at 99 pounds. She is in the 72nd percentile for height and 44th percentile for weight. Looks like she grew about 3 inches and gained about 7 pounds. She had been having issues with hair loss earlier this year (due to being such a picky eater!), but we've upped her protein and vitamin intake and she's doing great now! Lots of little baby hairs are growing back in, which drive her crazy! :)

Morgan is 5' 6 1/2" and weighs in at 115 pounds. She is in the 96th percentile for height and 72nd percentile for weight. Looks like she grew about 3 inches and gained about 23 pounds. Morgan has really put on a lot of muscle this year thanks to all her soccer and basketball practices!

They got the second round of HPV vaccine and a flu shot. And of course, they had to do the finger prick test to check hemoglobin levels for anemia. Morgan dreads this each year and ends up feeling silly after it's over because it's not as bad as she builds it up in her mind beforehand. I remind her each year about this fact, but it doesn't help! :)

The doctor talked a lot with them about mental health this year. They had to fill out the mental health checklist themselves this year, which also stressed Morgan out. I told her there were no wrong answers! The doctor asked them about school and friends and if they were having any issues.

Everything went well and we were out of there in 45 minutes! When I dropped the girls off at school, they were doing an intruder drill so we had to wait outside until the "all clear". At first we weren't sure what was going on and saw police walking through the school, but then Morgan remembered about the drill!

13

I can't believe we have teenagers now! They are growing so tall and changing so much every day right now! Here's a little peek into their lives...

Avery loves dance and is on the teen dance team at DPDC. She's taking lyrical ballet, jazz and hip hop (that's new for her this year). She goes back and forth about joining the Company at DPDC because it's a really big time commitment. She wants to see what other activities she might do in middle school first, before making that decision. She is at the dance studio Monday and Wednesday nights and some Fridays. She is doing a lyrical trio this competition season in addition to the dances with the full team. Avery is also taking a tumbling class at Super CDA on Tuesdays, mainly to learn her back handspring. Avery continues to do great at school. She is a math nerd like Matt and me! She is taking 8th grade math. She is really loving middle school and even has a crush (though we aren't allowed to know his name - ha!) She still plays piano, but doesn't get as much practicing in as she should! She enjoys theater and was in Mean Girls, Jr over the summer. She should be getting braces soon, but she still has two more teeth to lose (she is so dentally delayed!) When she's not busy with her activities, she loves playing Roblox, hanging out with her friends, going to Starbucks and watching YouTube shorts on her new cell phone!

Morgan is still very into sports! She plays soccer for Roadrunners on the Girls 2012 Select team. She had been playing goalie some last season because her team didn't have a dedicated goalie. But, this season they have one, so she's been playing attacking mid-field, her normal spot. I think she missed playing goalie a little at first, but is now happy to be back out in the field. She's also playing basketball... lots of it! She's on the Team MC travel team and just recently made the Herrick MS 7th grade girls team. There were 24 7th graders that tried out for the middle school team and 12 made it. She's already making new friends on the team! Team MC plays year round, but their main season is winter. So, for now she goes to a practice if she's free and plays in the one day shootout tournaments on the weekends. Morgan is doing great at middle school! She's really enjoying science class and also loves the things they get to do in FACS (Family and Consumer Science). They are currently sewing a pillow! When Morgan isn't busy with sports, she loves playing Roblox, hanging out with her friends and scrolling on her new phone.

The girls have a lot of the same friends these days. With middle school, they are thrown together with all the other elementary schools, so they are meeting new kids every day in their classes. But, they still mostly hang out with girls from their elementary school. Avery tends to stick to the same few girls while Morgan can hang out with just about anybody. They don't have any classes together, but sit at the same table for lunch (they have assigned tables). They get along pretty good for sisters! :)

For fun, I went back to the blog post I did when they turned one to compare.

Here's what I wrote about Morgan - Two words to describe Morgan: bubbly and tough! Morgan is such a happy little girl. She has the best giggle! She is outgoing and loves smiling at strangers. She is a very easy child. She eats great, plays hard and sleeps well. She is also super tough. She hardly ever cries, so when she does you know something is really wrong. These things are all still true! She is outgoing and smiles a lot! She also is a great eater and tries new foods all the time. She plays hard and enjoys her sleep!

Here's what I wrote about Avery - It's hard to sum Avery up in two words. She's still our little diva. For such a tiny thing, she packs a lot of attitude already.  Avery has become more shy as her sister has become more outgoing. It takes her a little while to warm up to new people or situations. Avery is studious and loves to figure things out. She gets such a serious look on her face when she's studying how her toys work. She also is very aware of what's going on around her.  Definitely still rings true today! She may not have as much of a diva attitude now, but she is definitely strong willed. She is not one to let others take advantage of her. She is still shy and very studious!

13th Birthday Party

The girls had a few friends over on Saturday night to celebrate their birthday. We grilled out hot dogs and hamburgers, played some games and had s'mores by the fire pit. There was a lot of giggling and screaming, so I think they all had fun! :)

We decorated a little around the house and outside. I bought some lights to put up around the yard. We kind of were going for an iridescent theme, I guess!

We gave the girls their new cell phones for the party so they could take pictures.

Apparently, this Soda Pop song is from K Pop Demon Hunters. They made this fun video!

We played a version of Family Feud with the girls and it was so fun! We split them up into two teams with Avery and Morgan split up.  We had buzzers and streamed the game on the TV. I had set it up with categories that middle schoolers would (hopefully!) like:

• After taking a selfie, what might you do with it?
• Name something you do each night before you go to bed.
• Name an app where you interact with your friends.
• Name something you would see on a GRWM video.
• Name the top streamed Olivia Rodrigo songs to date
• Name the top streamed Taylor Swift songs to date
• Other than LOL, what is a text acronym that you use frequently?
• What does a dog do? 
• What is a word or phrase no one over age 30 should say?
• What’s something you do when you wake up in the morning?

Morgan's team ended up winning by quite a bit. :)

Then, they opened presents. The girls got a lot of nice things from their friends! I think they have Starbucks gift cards to last them a while.

Front row: Lizzie, Maebel, Elise, Abby, Bianca
Back row: Morgan, Rachel, Katherine, Avery & Caroline

After dinner, the girls all made s'mores and sat around the fire pit. Matt got this picture where the smoke from Caroline's marshmallow on fire caught the color from the projector and made it look blue!

They watched about 5 minutes of Mean Girls, but weren't really into the movie. They ended up playing hide-n-seek in the house with their cell phones. Like they would hide and then text each other pictures or clues where they were. They played this for a while!

Then, they all grabbed handfuls of glow sticks and went in the basement for a glow-stick party!

They made this fun video with the glow sticks!

After their friends left, the girls crashed! Last night of being 12!

Heights

Since the girls are both growing like crazy, we wanted to do a height check. And since I thought I must be shrinking in my old age, I also measured myself. Not to be left out, we measured Matt, too!

Morgan = 5 ft 6 1/4 in (up from 5 ft 3 1/2 in last October)

Avery = 5 ft 3 3/8 in (up from 5 ft 8/10 in last October)

Matt = 5 ft 10 1/2 in (taller than he thought he was - ha!)

Stacia = 6 ft 3/4 in (same as I've always been... no shrinking yet!)

Avery's grown about 2.5 inches and Morgan's grown about 2.75 inches since their check-up in October.

12 year old check up

Since we had Monday off of school, we booked a bunch of appointments for the girls, starting with their annual check-up with the pediatrician. They dread this appointment every year because they hate having blood taken and getting shots.

Both girls are healthy and growing like weeds! Morgan is almost 5'4' and Avery is almost 5'1". They are trending toward being 5'10" and 5'8", respectively. We'll see how it ends up!

Here they are after getting their fingers pricked, holding their hands above their hearts to stop the throbbing. Ha! I said you don't have to hold them up SO high, but whatever.

We do the appointments at the same time, so everything is one right after the other. The nurse who did all the initial work ups says to me "man, they really feed off of each other's energy!" I think they were pretty amped up about the appointment and just going back and forth talking non-stop to each other and me and her! It was a lot if you aren't used to them. Ha!

We got into the room with the doctor and she went through the standard checks. They each had to get two shots. They survived! The doctor asked them if they got along and they both answered "NO" without skipping a beat. Typical. One day, I hope they will say "YES!"

The doctor said they both were healthy. She said Avery needs to eat more vegetables. No surprise there. I don't think there is a vegetable she likes. Morgan will eat most foods, at least once!

12

Just so I don't forget this stage, I wanted to put a few things down about the girls turning 12. They are in 6th grade and on the older end for their grade since they have October birthdays. We aren't yet in middle school because our elementary goes through 6th grade for now (it's changing in two years). So, the girls aren't switching classes yet. The girls are getting a little more freedom to hang with their friends these days (thanks to their Apple watches and GPS tracking - no phones just yet!). They will go downtown to Starbucks or shopping at Adorn. They even hang out quite a bit in the teen section at the library!

A little bit about each of them...

Avery is still very into dance. She is on the teen dance team now, which requires her to take both jazz and lyrical ballet classes in addition to her weekly team rehearsal. She is taking an acro class for fun. Currently, her dance schedule has her at the studio on Tuesdays for acro class and then all the other classes are on Wednesdays. She's there from about 4:30 to 7:45 on Wednesday nights. She does have a short break in there, so she eats dinner with her dance team. She also loves theater and is currently doing Matilda, Jr. She continues to play piano and is moving up quickly. For someone who seems shy or reserved, she loves being on stage! Avery is very studious, as always. She does great at school and loves math (yay!) She is in the accelerated math program, so she takes a bus to Herrick Middle School each day to go to a 7th grade math class. She is so independent when it comes to her homework, projects, studying, etc. She decided to quit the gifted program this year. I think it was just not that interesting to her and felt like more of a hassle then a fun learning experience. She had to leave her school for a full day each week and then make up all the missed work on her own at night. If she really loved gifted, then it would have been worth it. But, to her, it was not. When she's not busy with her activities or school, Avery loves to play Roblox with her friends or binge watch tween shows (usually making me watch with her!)

Morgan is still very into soccer... she absolutely loves it! She's playing on the Roadrunners 2012 Select team this year and also helping out the 2011 Select team since they are short players. At this age, they moved up to a bigger field and are now 11 v 11. Her team (and the 2011 team) lost their goalies to another club, so Morgan has been playing goalie for at least the first half of all games. She plays attacking midfield in the second half of the games. The team practices 3 times a week for 90 minutes each time. Then, she's also going to goalie training for an hour a week to pick up some more skills there. She likes playing goalie, but not sure if she wants to be the goalie full time because she also likes playing in the field. Morgan is also adding some other sports to the mix. She's playing softball and really enjoying it. She's had a chance to pitch, catch and play in the field. So, she's getting some good experience. And she's starting up basketball again soon. She's going to play on the park district team with the Whittier 5th and 6th grade girls. Also, she's going to get some extra practice in with a travel basketball team coached by a dad on her soccer team. He needed some players and it will be a good opportunity for Morgan to learn the sport better and see if she likes it. She's going to be tall, so we want her to give basketball a shot. Morgan does well in school, but her favorite subject is still recess. Ha! She likes the social aspect of school the best. She likes history and science. She works really independently to get her homework, projects and studying done. When she's not busy with her activities or school, Morgan loves to play Roblox with her friends or watch videos on her iPad!

The girls still tend to have different friends as they are interested in different things. But, 6th grade has brought more girl drama and ever-changing friendships. So, their friend groups are changing and merging a bit more. Avery likes to stay out of the drama for the most part. But if she is involved, she won't let anyone push her around. She's fine with just walking away and moving on. Morgan tends to get sucked right into the drama and is a good target because she is so sensitive. She's our emotional child, which has it's good and bad sides. We will see how the year progresses as the girls change themselves. As it is now, each week we are navigating something new.

We are so proud of these kiddos and the amazing people they are becoming!

Happy 12th Birthday!!!

And just like that... Avery and Morgan are 12! I can't believe it!

As we do every year, the girls start their day with presents! It's like Christmas morning... they wake up so early! :)

They chose Dunkin' for their breakfast!

Morgan chose Burger King for lunch and Avery went with Matt to City BBQ. We had to grab a quick lunch before heading to Morgan's soccer game.

We went to Morgan's soccer game after lunch. Their team didn't win, but Morgan had a great save on a penalty kick while playing goalie.

 

That night, we went out to dinner at Neat (the girls' choice).

Then, when we came home, the girls wanted to have a sleepover, so we got it all set up. Milo claimed his spot!

The girls tried out their new under eye patches, heatless curlers and wore their new satin pajamas to bed!

They may have made Matt try them out, too!

We haven't planned any parties with friends yet just because we have been so busy with our activities. We're hoping to take the girls and a few friends out to celebrate soon!

Another lost tooth!

Not Morgan... she's officially lost all of her baby teeth. But, Avery still has quite a few to go (she's a little dentally delayed!) We took the girls out to lunch on Friday to Brickhouse Tavern. As we're sitting there eating, Avery says "my tooth is SO loose". And then, a few minutes later, the tooth was out!

We love the gigantic pretzel at this place!

When the waitress came back, she brought Avery and little to-go container for her tooth!

11 year check up

We had the girls' 11 year old check up on Tuesday afternoon. The girls always dread going because they hate getting their fingers pricked for the hemoglobin test and of course, they hate getting shots. They had to get their "6th grade" shots because they are already 11, so they weren't excited to find that out when we got there! So, they had to get the meningitis vaccine, the tetanus shot and they also got flu shots.

Both girls are healthy and doing great. Morgan is now 5 feet tall! Avery is about 4'10", so just a couple of inches shorter than Morgan. I wish I knew how tall I was at their age, so I could compare. The doctor said they are only trending to be 5'4" to 5'6". I thought that sounded a little short, but who knows. If they are anything like me, in about a year, they will get a big growth spurt and shoot up. Time will tell!

The pediatrician reviewed Morgan's x-rays and thought the break on her pinky toe was near a growth plate, so she wanted us to follow up with an orthopedic doctor. So, we went to see him on Wednesday afternoon. He said Morgan has an extra growth plate in her foot and it's not affected by the break in her pinky toe. That's good news. The bad news is he said she needs to wear that post-op hard soled shoe for 3 more weeks to make sure her toe heals properly. We will go back then and make sure the break has healed before he will release her for sports/PE. So, that pretty much means she's out for the rest of the soccer season. Ugh.

The day after the girls got their vaccines, Avery was not feeling well. Normally, I would just assume she was fighting off some random kid virus, but she kept complaining about her neck hurting and being stiff. I actually think she was having a reaction to the meningitis vaccine, but who knows. She rested pretty much the whole day and even got a nap in with Milo on the couch! By Thursday, she was fine.

It's broken

Like I mentioned, Morgan hurt her toe playing soccer Saturday night with Grayson in the basement with no shoes on. This morning, she woke up crying every time she tried to put any pressure on her foot. So, given our prior history of ignoring broken bones, I took her to the immediate care place near us for x-rays as soon as we were up and ready. She even got to ride in a wheel chair because they didn't want her hopping around.

I thought for sure it was just a sprain and we'd be on our way. Well, that wasn't the case. The doctor came back in after the x-rays and said "well, it's broken". I think Morgan and I were both kind of in shock. They said we had to tape the two toes together and wear this post-op shoe until she was feeling better. They said it could take anywhere from 2-4 weeks. So, Morgan has to sit out of PE, karate and soccer practice! That will definitely teach her to wear shoes from now on!

Happy 11th Birthday Avery & Morgan!!!

 Another year older... how are they already 11 years old?!?! We celebrated their birthday in the morning with a few presents before school. They both asked for Stanley drinking mugs and Lululemon belt bags (of course, every 5th grade girl at their school has these!) They also got some sweatshirts and socks, two of their favorite things. The grandparents sent gifts as well, so they opened those. Then, it was off to school! 

I was supervising at lunch/recess, so I brought them lunch. Morgan requested Great American Bagel and Avery wanted Subway. I also got them gigantic cookies and necklaces to wear that said Happy Birthday!

Morgan had soccer practice and Avery had Jazz class at night, but afterwards we celebrated with Oreo ice cream cake!

Let's see... a little bit about them now that they are 11!

Avery loves dance. She does Jazz and Acro and is on the Jazz team. She also loves to do musicals and is currently rehearsing for Willy Wonka, Jr. She still plays the piano and has recently picked up the trumpet (but not so sure that's a big hit yet). She is in Girl Scouts and recently went on an overnight campout with her troop. She's just wrapping up her soccer season with the park district. When she's not doing those activities, she loves hanging out with her friends and playing Roblox.

Morgan loves soccer. She plays on the Select travel team with Roadrunners. She also is still doing karate and wants to keep at it until she gets her black belt. Between three soccer practices, games on the weekends and two karate classes a week, she doesn't have a lot of time for other activities. She really wants to play basketball, so we'll be trying to fit that into her schedule next season! When she's not busy with soccer/karate, she loves playing Roblox and watching videos on her iPad.

Another lost tooth!

Avery is on the slow schedule for losing teeth. Morgan has one or two more left to lose and Avery has like 11! But, the other night after she was supposed to be asleep, she started messing with her tooth. She was able to wiggle it out!