A Room Fit For A Tween

Howdy strangers! I have been busy lately, but haven't we all? One of my projects has been to put the finishing touches on Sweet Pea's room. Those of you with a middle school tween/almost teen girl will know how difficult a task it is to navigate minute by minute fluctuating hormones, daily middle school drama, the fact that as a mom of said tween/almost teen, I have absolutely zero taste or knowledge of what it is like to be a tween/almost teen girl and I don't understand anything (really?), and well, quite frankly, navigating through a mine field is easier than dealing with a girl this age, but I did it! Even more exciting, she is happy with the results and so am I. A miracle. Those of you without the pleasure and blessing of having a tween/almost teen girl in your home... count your blessings!

Sweet Pea and I made some compromises along the way. She really wanted some chevrons on her wall. So, momma painted her some chevrons. I thought they might be too much, but they work and I then got my way with the drapery fabric. I chose something more neutral than she wanted but I feel it will go with any changes made to her room in the future. The selection? A lovely beige linen with a pink and beige linen greek key trim, highlighted by a little green and white. So, drum roll please, Sweet Pea's room...

Before chevrons and curtains 

And after...

Happy Monday!

Krissy

The Queen of Hearts, an Army Man and a Middle Schooler

We sort of have a "love/hate" relationship with Halloween in the Pearl household. We embrace the fun and creativity of getting to dress-up and eat too much candy, but as for the tricky, scary parts, not for us.     The middle school aged thespian in Sweet Pea loves Halloween. This is an opportunity to wear a costume, act a part and wear make-up. Maybe not in that order, as the red lipstick was a huge deal this year. I have the pictures to prove it and yes, bless her, she put it on herself. Don't judge me. I had to pick my battles. After the living heck we went through to find an appropriate costume for a modest, young girl, what is a little red lipstick. If you darkened the door of one of those Halloween stores, you know what I am talking about. I will stay off of my soapbox for now.

This was Sweet Pea and her bestie Abby the weekend before, headed to a party. What is the deal with the lip thing? In case you can't figure it out, they are the MadHatter and the Queen of Hearts.

And below, is Halloween night, Sweet Pea sans crown but with lipstick, with sweet friend Alyssa as a Peppermint (so cute!)

Sport wanted to be an Army Man. He came to this decision Tuesday, the day before Halloween. He really didn't know if he wanted to be anything at all up until that point. He said that Halloween just wasn't his favorite, but his candy addiction won out and a decision was made. I thought we could go to the Army Surplus and do it up. No, Sport always has his own agenda. He wanted a "costume" Army man, as he said that he really isn't in the Army and he wanted the costume, mirrored aviator sunglasses to go with it. (I didn't get a pic of those, but they were the icing on the cake). He took a trash bag with him for his loot.

As for Fisherman, basketball started last week and he had a research paper due and a test the day after Halloween. (Come on teachers, really?). His buddies laid low, so my sweet boy passed out candy or should I say, ate candy from our stash and disappeared to his room to work. Poor guy. 

We had our dear friends, the Postons over for soup and trick-or-treating. We have celebrated Halloween with them for the last five years. It has been tradition. We used to live around the corner from each other, and we have now both moved on. This was our first Halloween in a new neighborhood, but it was fun. Good times!

Hope you all got more treats than tricks! 

Krissy

Hello Darlings!!!

I'm baaaack! My time off turned-out to be a little longer than I planned. Nothing wrong, just busy, busy, busy. Can it really be November? The Pearl house has been full of soccer, volleyball, research papers, middle school homework (I am to the point where I need to go back and get a Master's degree to be able to help the minis with their work. School was not this hard back in my day!), friends, family and football! I really do love Fall and all of it's craziness. Hope you all are well and I am glad to be on the blog once again. 

WARNING: this post contains a lot of personal pics.
Here are a few pics to catch you up on the Pearl household. Stay tuned for pictures of the house in all her fall finery and a belated Halloween post.

Sweet Pea started-off the season by breaking her pinky finger in a mean game of dodge ball. This kept her out of volleyball for four weeks. She was a trooper though and joined back in without missing a step! 

Fisherman played fall soccer. The team did not win district like last year, but it was a fun last season with his school. Next year, he will move on to high school (sniff! sniff!), as our school only goes through eighth grade.

Sport is playing soccer again this fall. It is his FAVORITE sport (what is not to love about hanging-out in the goal), but stay-tuned, he started flag football this past weekend and.... he really likes it!!!

We also celebrated Sport's 9th birthday in October. My baby boy is nine! So hard to believe.

TCU started in the Big 12 this fall with a new stadium, so cool!

 If you read this entire post, thanks for hanging in there!

xoxo,

Krissy

First Day of School and Being Humble

Last Wednesday, the mini-pearls went back to school. Where did our summer go? We did manage to accomplish most of our "summer to do" list, but, in the words of my teenage Fisherman, "I didn't get to sleep enough!" Amen! I hate to tell him that it won't change much in the future. It is called life. Although, is there any teen out there that claims to have enough sleep? 

We hit the ground running with practices and activities and trips to the doctor. Ugh! We are finally on the mend from our nasty colds. Nothing some good old antibiotics couldn't cure. In the middle of all this mayhem, God humbled me. Just when I feel as though I can steer my own boat, thank you, I am shown that it is not mine to steer! I may get in a little trouble by telling this story, as it involves Sweet Pea and she detests this blog and her worst fear in life is that I might mention her name or post a picture of her (without her permission). I am trying to respect that.

You see, Sweet Pea and I have had a rough go this summer. I am doing my best to navigate an ever-changing relationship between the two of us. She is a tween and a smart one at that, and she is starting to have tween issues. You know: friends (not boys yet, thank goodness), body image, wanting a cell phone her nasty parents won't let her have - tween stuff. I know that Mr. Pearl and I cannot go this alone, so with the good Lord's help, we will all come through with minimal scarring, but sometimes, I fell as though I want to say, "I got this one!"

Case in point, last Friday. Sweet Pea has been working really hard to meet a goal. The goal was to "play up" on the 7th/8th grade volleyball team at our school. (she is in 6th and our school is very small) A position that was told by the adult/coach in charge she could achieve if she worked hard. She has been working since January on this! Well, the first day of practice went great, but she had to miss the second due to her cold. The next day, last Friday, she was back at school and looking forward to a sleepover on Saturday with her friends that are also on the team. While waiting in carpool line, I received a call from Sweet Pea's BFF mom. This BFF is also a fabulous athlete and has been working hard for the same goal. The BFF got the call from the coach that she was being moved-up. My friend was just wanting to give me a "heads-up" and to discuss a few details about the weekend party. 

All I could think of was how I was going to break this to Sweet Pea and I immediately started planning damage control. I was sure that I was going to have to let Sweet Pea change schools and she was going to quit the team - what was I going to do. As I rolled closer to the front of the line and my waiting children, I kept trying to read Sweet Pea's face. Does she know? Is she ok? Moment of truth, the doors open and in pop the minis - all smiles! It's the weekend! I sheepishly asked how everyone's day was. The usual replies, then right before we made it out of the parking lot, Sweet Pea turns to me and says (my stomach drops) with a smile, "My friend got moved up!" Huh? Me- "Are you ok with this?" Sweet Pea- " Sure mom. It's great for her."  (This is where our "rough" summer kicks-in, as I want to run in, yell at the coach and rescue her, thinking that she will love me better for it. Thankfully, I didn't.) Me (like a little bratty baby) - "Do you want me to talk to coach? This is unfair!" Sweet Pea - "No, mom. This doesn't mean I won't ever get it. The season hasn't even started! I wasn't even there yesterday! It will be ok, either way. I don't mind which team I am on!"

At this point, an overwhelming calm came over me. I hear you Lord! I was humbled by my amazing, wise beyond her years daughter. Wow. I know that I would not have handled such a disappointing issue with such grace at her age. Maybe I'm not as bad of a mom as I thought? No, it's the One who has my back that is amazing. So, I am going to work on not saying, "I got this one!" and let The expert handle it. I will keep you posted on volleyball. She left with all smiles this morning!

3rd, 8th and 6th graders!

xoxo,

Krissy