First Day

Pictures of Aerin in her new school uniform:

Country School

Big Change

Aerin starts private school tomorrow. Some classmates and her teacher gave her a little sendoff party at the end of school today. It's a bummer that there isn't a program at our elementary school to keep her challenged.

Principal's List

Aerin got straight A's and made the Principals List:

From Principal's List

Two More

Aerin lost two more teeth in the last week: an eyetooth and a pre-molar. The dentist says she is a couple years ahead in "mouth maturity". Luckily she also has room in her mouth for the bigger permanent teeth.

The tooth fairy is going bankrupt faster than a regional bank.

Halloweeen

Aerin as a dark angel (click to see more pictures):

Halloween09

Bubbles

Aerin won a new bubble blower in a raffle. Click below to see more pictures.

From Bubbles

"It's Out!"

Tonight at 10:35 came the cry, "It's out!"

Aerin lost another tooth, a first pre-molar.

Do I Detect A Trend?

This year Aerin wants to be Belltrix LeStrange for Halloween. That will be the third year of evil. Is she trying to tell us something?

Happy To Have Big Sister Here (and Jeff too)

From the same gallery as before:

From NightSwim

Night Swim

Aerin was looking forward all day to a swim. It was still over 80 degrees at 8pm, so it was night swim time:

From NightSwim

Logic

Aerin: It's annoying that I'm so bored I have to annoy myself!

Post-playdate Stress Disorder

Tracy, Brennen, and Aerin went to a ward playdate in the park so that Tracy and Brennen could play with the babies. Aerin was very popular as "big sister" to all the 3-5 year olds. When she got home she had to take a nap. Soon after Aerin laid down, Tracy heard a crash and found Aerin sacked out on her floor:

From Nap

B-day

It' B-day for Aerin. Not her Birthday. Worse. Bra Day. She's excited, of course. I just feel old.

What'll it be next?

Swim Test

Aerin passed her swim test so that she can swim at the club pool without a parent. She had to swim 100 yards without stopping. No doggy-paddle.

Indulged?

On Friday, Aerin got back from week at the beach with Gma and Gpa Beagley. Did she get indulged?

Loot

Aerin's FIrst Race

Aerin and I did a 5k this morning. Aerin said she was in great shape because of gymnastics. We discovered that this might have been too ambitious for a first race, but the pancake breakfast was great. Click on the picture below to see the album.

FirstRace

Reading Mania Continues

Aerin just finished Inkheart. That's over 500 pages. We've created a monster! Again.

My Little Girl's Growing Up ...

I must have blinked and missed it, but Aerin announced today that she just finished her third Narnia book.

Bootie Dance

Last week I had just gotten out of the shower when I heard Aerin doing her Bootie Dance outside the bathroom door. She loudly announced that she had made it into the GATE (Gifted and Talented) program at school.

Tell-It-Like-It-Is Girl

Recently, during family scripture study, we were reading about enduring to the end. Brennen asked Aerin, "What happens if we don't endure to the end?"

Aerin: "We'll be damned?"

Brennen: "Well, we like to think a little more positively ..."

Aerin [interrupting]: "We'll go to hell?"

Science Fair Foo Foo

Aerin and I worked on her science fair project (Determining which spices dissolve) one Saturday earlier this month. We had it all neatly on the project board and were "done". Tracy decided that it was too plain and printed out some spice related clip art for Aerin to add to the board, which Aerin did with quite a bit of complaining. Finally, Aerin blurted out, "Mom, I don't do foo foo! You ruined it!"

P.S. They worked it all out and no blood was shed.

Choices

Last night Aerin chose to have a bowl of soup instead of McDonalds. Are we raising her wrong?

A Nearly Perfect Barge

As I got Brennen up yesterday, we heard the stomping approach and knew we were about to be barged. We knew what to expect:

• The door would fly open, framing the barger
  
• Arms akimbo, an "out of the blue" announcement would be made
  
• A stomping retreat would be accomplished before we could gather our wits for a reply

The barge commenced.

Imagine our surprise when framed in the door was Aerin instead of Tracy!

Aerin announced: "Your silly computer just froze!" And stomped off.

Brennen and I gave her an 8 out of 10. Though her form was perfect, we deducting two points because the announcement was simply too topical. We are certain, however, that as she studies at the feet of her sensei she will master the nuances of the barge.

[4/20]-Today's Baby Blues illustrates the same principle!

Tonight Tracy came to me all teary eyed. She said that Aerin had shown that she was her daughter through and through. Aerin asked Tracy for a checklist for next week while Mom is gone.

Easter Egg Hunt - '09

Click on the picture or link below to see more pictures of Aerin decorating and hunting for Easter Eggs:

From EasterEggHunt

Glasses

Here she is with her new purple glasses:

Glasses

Aerin found out this week that she needs glasses. She commented that it would make her look like a nerd and I pointed out that I wear glasses...

I think I lost that verbal exchange.

Questions dad's never what to be asked

Aerin: Dad, can I get a bra? All my friends have bras. [A blatant exaggeration]
Dad: No

Actually, I said something more poetic and philosophical, I am sure.

Aerin the keen observer of humanity

At the mall last week, Aerin saw a white guy dressed like a gansta. She asked Tracy, "Mom, is that a wannabe?"

Birthday Picture

We forgot the camera, but have the one picture taken at Build A Bear Workshop. Also, we have some pictures on Tracy's phone, but are having trouble downloading those.

So, here you go:

From Aerin09

Birthday!

For her ninth birthday, Aerin and 8 friends had a Build-A-Bear party. Aerin's new High School Musical bear, Bella, has a heart from each of the girls, plus a heart from Aerin.

No Mercy For Emma

We have been enjoying the Wii. Since Aerin is recovering from mono, she's had lots of time to practice, too.

In order to even out the competition a bit I made my Mii left handed. Even though I am left handed I have always done sports right handed. As Aerin has improved, however, in self-defense I created my right-handed alter ego: macho Dirk Slaughter. In response, Aerin created sweet, freckle-faced Emma.

When Tracy and I got home yesterday from our shopping date, Aerin's Emma had a star covered ball. That means she's a pro bowler with a greater than 200 average. No mercy will be shown to sweet Emma.

Birthday Hat

Aerin made a birthday hat out of K'nex. Why? I don't know.

From Birthday Hats

Click on the link to see more.

Wii, Mii, and Miss Goth

My children got a Wii for my birthday.

Aerin eagerly anticipated creating her very own Mii, which she calls Miss Goth. Then she created an entire goth family, including Wednesday (patterned after Wednesday Addams).

This morning she said she was going to create Monday and Tuesday to keep Wednesday company.

Aerin and Otis

Otis will require lots of therapy to recover from Aerin's love:

From Christmas08