Leighton has four more years in the house before college! It is hard to believe when I look back at pictures of her but when I see her now, she is ready for the next phase of high school. She is maturing and growing in wisdom. She comes home with books on how to be a lawyer from her bike rides to the library. She enjoys the freedom of walking or biking to the lake to read/draw. She is facetiming with girl friends and looking forward to sports and social events. Towards the end of the summer, I could tell she wanted to have groups of friends over, including boys. Wes and I gladly opened up our home to be a place they can come and hang out. Since they cant drive, We did help organize a few smaller groups of co-ed hang outs and we let her invite the entire 9th grade class over too. We had 22 ninth graders in our back yard and it was wonderful. I found myself so intrigued (maybe too much) watching them and seeing her interact with friends. The biggest change for her as school started was a boy she had a crush on began to be a frequent visitor to group hang outs and started texting her. She was thrilled and we joined her in her excitement. For the moment, she ask advice, listens, keeps us informed, and is appreciative for any opportunities we make for them to hang out. It is one of the cutest things I have ever witnessed. I love watching her joy and having late night conversations with giddy Leighton. It is too fun. I realized I also could get overwhelmed thinking about him breaking her heart. All of these experiences are great life lessons from how to respectfully engage with boy, find out qualities you like and dont like, care for someone but also risk hurt, and more. It really has fostered a lot of beautiful conversations about boys but also life and friends. We are tired at night but hanging out in Sadie and Leighton's room then is when the best talks occur. For those wondering, the boy is nice and respectful. He is cute and appropriate with her and adults.
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| Leighton's library haul |
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| Adam, Joslyn and Joel came over for dinner/ hang out |
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| cross country high school girls |
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| Wes doing his party trick for the 9th grade boys |
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| 9th graders |
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9th graders
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9th graders
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9th graders
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9th graders
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9th graders
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9th graders
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| Maggie and Leighton |
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| few friends over for everyone |
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few friends over for everyone
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This coming weekend, another guy from school is opening up his home for friends to hang out /watch football for several ninth graders. It is great to see others making safe spaces for them to hang out outside of school.... they are always welcome at ours though :)
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