Coco Bean is TWELVE

 Coco Bean is officially in her last year before becoming a teenager! 

 

 

September 22nd: 

We kicked off Coco's birthday festivities with her choice of lunch. She picked a fun Japanese restaurant called JPan. She had cucumber rolls, white rice and her favorite Japanese soda. 

Coco is now the most proficient in the family with chopsticks! 

 

September 24: 

Coco had a birthday FaceTime with Grandma and opened a beautiful new Kendra Scott necklace! 

September 25: AKA Hurricane Prep Day:

The kids were off of school as a prep day for Hurricane Helene arriving the next day so Coco had a fun  actual birthday at home. We started with sleeping in and a cinnamon roll breakfast! 

Present opening was up next on the agenda- her favorite! :) 

Thank you for the card and check, Linda! 

Yummy cookie cake which was easily gone the next day thanks to the hurricane munchies we all had! :)

September 27th: 

We took a quick pause on the festivities to ride out Helene and then it was back to gifts and celebrating! :) 

 

Thank you so much for the Owala water bottle and Starbucks gift card, O'Connor Fam! The birthday FaceTime was the best! 

Water bottle not pictured :)  

Thank you for the card and cash, Grandpa and Deona! 

****pictures from celebrating with Grammy and Grampy who have been delayed by a hurricane still to come ****

***rescheduled beach birthday party pics still to come***

Coco, Coco Bean, Nutty Bar, Coconut, Nutter, Beaner, Cokes:

My girl with all the nicknames. I CAN absolutely believe that you are twelve because you have a maturity about you that I often have to remind myself of your age. You're also close to 5'4" which does make you seem more grown up! I am  proud of you for so many reasons. I am proud of who you are a Christian. I admire the way you love and faithfully pray for people. I love your heart for those who are sick, hurting or lacking in some basic need. You are feisty, spunky and quick to ask for forgiveness if you make a mistake. You are often the first person in a situation to offer up an apology even if it didn't have to be you. You are equally quick to forgive. You love your family and go around to say goodnight to everyone every night and give hugs to all, even those brothers. :)

You work incredibly hard in school and I'm so proud of the way that you are managing middle school with minimal help. I am so amazed by your commitment to dance, the way you bounce back up when you fall (actually) and how you aren't afraid to put yourself out there. You work so incredibly hard, even harder than anyone sees. You have handled failures and falls in dance this year with grace and you have handled some pretty fun successes with that same grace and humility. You shine on stage and I love to watch all the ways that dance has molded you into a better human. I love adventures with you. You love to see new things and visit new places and I couldn't ask for a better travel buddy. 

Never be afraid to stand up for what's right and remember that you can be a friend to everyone but your true people will be the same kind of friend to you as well. You are beautiful, valuable and dearly loved my sweet girl. 

Happy 12! 

September

 Volunteer: 

The boys are getting their volunteer hours in at the local food pantry. 

 

Pointe: 

Cora was so excited for this dance rite of passage, her very first pair of pointe shoes. 

Being on pointe is more fun with friends! :)

Solo with Tiffany: 

Tiffany Maher came to Stage Door again this year and choreographed Cora a beautiful, new jazz solo! 

Homecoming Proposal: 

 

Sweet Kitties: 

Both cats love to be outside in our screened in lanai but Ben (pictured below) accidentally spent the night out there this month. Thankfully she slept safely under a pool float and was fine the next morning. 

Elsa loves a good birthday celebration! :) 

Hurricane Helene: 

The kids had three days off of school for Hurricane Helene! The day before the storm was business as usual as we celebrated Cora's twelfth birthday (more on that later). The storm hit on Thursday September 26. The day started out nice and sunny and ended with 60-70 mph wind gusts, rain and the loss of power. Thankfully we are safe and the storm did not hit us directly. 

You haven't lived until you've played outside in a hurricane! :) 

You can see how hard the wind was blowing by the way the rain water was stuck in the screen of the lanai! 

We played Quixx, a dice game that Cora received for her birthday, by flashlight and candlelight. The power came back on around 1:30 am after being out for almost 9 hours.