Braces Off

Aerin got her braces off today:

BracesOff

She said, "I am no longer The Aerin, I am The Aerin With The Great Smile!"

School

Aerin has been having a good year at school so far:

• Straight As/Principal's List
• Student Council
• 6th Grade Band
• Gifted and Talented (GATE) student

She loves to express false modesty, but isn't fooling anyone. She is competitive and internally motivated, but reacts negatively to parental "encouragement".

Here we go again.

More Drawings

AerinDrawing

Science Camp

Aerin was at science camp all last week. She says she had a pretty good time. Her unofficial job was cabin sleep enforcer.

First Manicure

Aerin got her first manicure today:

FirstManicure

Click to the album to see her wearing the earrings she made, too.

Monopoly Mayhem

Aerin and I had a friendly little game of Monopoly this afternoon. Not.

With all my property mortgaged, all my houses and hotels sold off, and just a few dollars left, I would have survived a few more turns (and who knows, it could have turned around) so long as I didn't roll snake-eyes and land on her next house-laden property. You know what happened. It wouldn't have been so bad except for Aerin's shrieking laughter.

Shoes

Aerin had last Friday off from school, so she and Mom went shopping. I called Tracy's cell after a few hours, to find out when (if?) they were coming home. Aerin answered, and, breathless with excitement, said, "Oh, my gosh, it was like the first pair of shoes I tried on! You'll never guess. They fit! And then every pair I tried on fit!"

Next, she wants a manicure.

Pictures

Some pictures from Aerin's Birthday and from her State Project have been posted at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/JeffTheTwoThirds

Aerin's Birthday

To honor Aerin's 11th b-day, our digital picture frame is featuring Aerin for the whole week. Over 300 pictures of and by our girl. She wasn't properly thrilled.

More Birthday Highlights:

For her party on Friday, Aerin took 6 friends to see Rango, then to California Pizza Kitchen, and then to Sweet Factory. On Saturday, her actual b-day, Aerin opened her family gifts, then went shopping with Mom to spend some of her $. Tonight, I helped her spend some of her Amazon gift card money (mostly for manga, but also, oddly, some scratch-n-sniff pizza stickers).

Aerin said yesterday, "Dad, I'm almost 12!"

Almost 11

Aerin is almost 11. She reads voraciously, loves anime (which Dad screens very carefully), and thinks she's a teenager. She hates any sign of affection from her parents, but it doesn't stop us.

Let the 'tweens begin!