Della has her own page on here, so I wanted to start one for Lana, too. This one won’t be quite as daily journal-ish as D’s is, though. I’ll use this space mainly to keep track of milestones, stats, things of that nature. Basically whatever I’d want to keep track of in a pen-to-paper journal and/or stuff that doesn’t really go in a baby book. So here we go…
(FYI, because I write so much about these kids, their pages are all broken into yearly chunks so as not to crash my site. I’ll keep the current year on the main page for ease of use. Enjoy!)
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January 1, 2024
Happy New Year, Shmee! Unfortunately we all got the stomach flu on Christmas Eve and spent pretty much all of our winter break sick, so hopefully this new year rings in healthy and true. Here’s to a happy, healthy, safe, and fun 2024 for all of us!
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January 9, 2024
SNOW DAY!!! Even though it just rained all day. 🙂 It was still fun having an extra day at home with you guys, though!
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January 12, 2024
ANOTHER SNOW DAY!!! Second one this week, and right before a long 3-day weekend! This time we really did get snow, about 6ish inches. Other areas outside of Whitefish Bay got way more than we did so practically everywhere was closed, but thankfully the lake spared us a little this time. Daddy still had to go into work, unbelievably, but you guys had fun being home and playing in the deep, fresh snow.
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January 27, 2024
I took you big 3 skiing for your first time today, and you all loved it! I put the 3 of you together in a private lesson to start while I took my time remembering how to do it, which was perfect. We spent a couple hours on the slopes at a small ski place about half an hour from our house, and you guys didn’t want to leave. I said next time I’ll take a lesson, too, and we’ll all learn how to snowboard!

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February 8, 2024
Tonight was Open House at school, and I loved getting to see into your 5th-grade world!


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April 2, 2024
You lost your 19th tooth today, on palindrome day 4/2/24. Only 1 more to go!
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April 25, 2024
Tonight was your first band concert, and your school’s 5th-grade band played over in the middle school’s band room. As we were walking in, I noticed you had on lip gloss and mascara, the first time I’ve seen you wear any makeup in public. You looked great, I was so proud watching you play the flute, and I think you had a lot of fun, too! That good old flute – making the family rounds!



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June 5, 2024
Happy Spring Sing day! I’m in California missing it for the very first time and not happy about it, but thankfully Daddy and all your teachers have sent me pictures and videos. This last week and a half of school is the best!






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June 14, 2024
Happy last day of 5th grade and last day at Cumberland, Shmee!! I can’t even believe your 7 years there are over, but I know you’re SO ready to be onto middle school. We’re going to have a great summer, and I can’t wait to watch you thrive in all these new adventures!


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July 13, 2024
You lost your last tooth today! It’s so cute, though, you’re saving it to put out for the Tooth Fairy in Canada in the hopes that you’ll get a tooney again. I bet she’ll deliver!
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August 27, 2024
We had your meet and greet at school tonight, and you got your first tiny taste of middle school. You found your locker, put your supplies in, and started learning how to do your combination lock. We saw a lot of your friends and one of your best friends has a locker right by yours and is in your homeroom class, so I think you’re going to have a great start to the year. You took my advice and introduced yourself to each of your teachers, shook their hands, and looked them directly in the eyes, and I even had to tell Ms. Colo, your 5th-grade teacher last year, all about that. I was so proud of you!!


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September 3, 2024
Happy first day of MIDDLE SCHOOL, Shmee! You are so ready for this, and I’m so happy to see you so confident and excited. You allowed me to walk to school with you on this very first day, and I loved watching you wait in line with your group of best friends before heading into your new school. You’re going to do big things, my love, I can feel it already. Have an amazing year in 6th grade!!








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September 12, 2024
SHMEE!!!!!! You had your first cross country meet ever today, and you took second place from your school and 28th overall in the 6th-grade girls race! There were a couple hundred runners in the whole meet!!! I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY when I got that news. Your friend Eleanor’s mom drove you to and from the meet since they didn’t have any buses, and she gave me the results and sent some great pictures. Proud doesn’t even describe how I felt. I thought running would be a good fit for you, but I had no idea how well you would do right off the bat! If speechless could describe my mind when I found out, that’s what I would call that feeling. Amazing, amazing, AMAZING job, my love!!! I cannot WAIT to see how well you do this season!


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September 27, 2024
You had your first middle school social tonight, and you had so much fun! It was for 6th graders only, called the Mane Event (because your school mascot is a lion), you went over to one of your best friend’s houses beforehand for pizza (which you spilled on your cute dress and her mom had to stain treat and put in the dryer before the social :D), then you won a gift card to a local candy shop! I love watching you grow into your big-kid self in middle school. You are doing an amazing job, my Shmee!
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October 3, 2024
Shmee, I am so proud of you!!! Daddy and I got the email today from the 6th-grade team of teachers that your name came up as one of the students who’s doing a great job, working hard, and taking pride in their work. So to celebrate you this weekend, I said I’ll give you money to go to Starbucks and get a treat, you can go to Burke Candy and use the gift card you won at the social, and you can go to Winkie’s and use the gift card you got at your birthday party 2 years ago finally. Great job, kiddo!!
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October 10, 2024
Today was your last meet of the cross country season, your conference meet. You did awesome! You said you got 40th overall, which is fantastic, because the 6th and 7th grade girls ran together, and you got no lower than 3rd out of just the 6th grade girls for WFB. I absolutely loved watching you run this season. Unfortunately I was only able to go to 2 meets, but the parents who were with you at the other meets all commented on how relaxed and at ease you look when you run and that every race was great. I’m so proud of you!





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October 13, 2024
SHMEE!!! You got invited to an extra, invite-only cross country meet in a few weeks! I’m so impressed I can’t even believe it. I didn’t even know they had this meet each year, since Della never got invited. 😉 There are high standards for criteria for invitation, and they only take 10 girls and 10 boys from the entire school to run. You were 1 of only 3 sixth-grade girls chosen! I am so proud. I can’t wait to watch what will NOW be your last race of the season!
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October 21, 2024
Happy 12th birthday, my Shmee!! As always, your full birthday post will be coming at some point, but I’ve got to say it here, too. I love you so much, and I hope you have an amazing day celebrating YOU! You have the meeting for your big meet on Wednesday after school today, but no more practices before it. Tonight you’ve requested Thai beef and sticky rice for your birthday dinner again, and Daddy’s also making you a chocolate eclair torte. Lucky duck! You are an absolutely amazing soul, my love, and I can’t wait to see where this one and countless more birthdays take you!

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October 23, 2024
Today was the big CC invite meet, and you did great! Your time was 14:38 for a 1.86-mile course, which I’m pretty sure was your fastest time of the season. You placed 134 out of 195ish, which you weren’t happy about, but I had to remind you that this meet was the fastest 10 (at most) runners from every team there. And there were 27 teams. You were first out of the 3 sixth-grade girls on your team, too! That’s incredible! The WFB girls team placed 3rd overall, which is so impressive. It was cute – we got home late from our new dentist last night but you still went out for a 2-mile jog after dinner to prepare for today since you hadn’t had any practices in 2 weeks. And you’ve had the stupid congested chest cold that everyone around here has right now, so you started coughing terribly after your race. So all things considered, I think you did a fantastic job! For having literally just started running consistently this CC season, you kind of blew us all away with your natural ability. Congratulations, kiddo!




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November 14, 2024
You had your first middle school band concert tonight, and you did great. You played a solo and everything! I was so proud, my Shmee!!


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November 16, 2024
I finally took you out for your birthday treat meal and shopping trip today. You chose Noodles for lunch, then we went to Target and Trader Joe’s and got boba. So fun!



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December 4, 2024
You had your 12-year checkup today, and Daddy had to take you since I’m in California. Thankfully all was healthy as usual!
- Height: 5′ 1″ (65%)
- Weight: 90 lbs. (44%)
- Blood pressure: 98/58
- BMI: 17.01 (32%)
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