update: daisy

And now, on to Daisy. My first child, the one who seems to be slipping away from childhood faster than I can believe these days!

For Daisy's 15th birthday, she and I went out around town for a little photoshoot. I really need to do this more often- it's really refreshing to shoot the kids intentionally in an environment other than our yard. And Daisy has always been so cooperative and photogenic (even though I have to re-shoot all the time because she closes her eyes so much in pictures!). Sometimes I really can't believe that she came from me & Jason, because she is so stunningly beautiful.







She and Jason went to a Japanese restaurant for their annual birthday date. Quite a lot different from when he took her on her first one at 5 years old. :)





I'm going to just jump right to the biggest thing in Daisy's (and possibly our entire family's) life this year: her new status as a licensed driver. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am old enough to have a child out legally operating a motor vehicle in public. Alone. But, I am also still in possession of a good amount of nerves and patience, because Daisy has spent the past year and a half working very hard at becoming an excellent driver. And I have to say, it wasn't as bad teaching a kid how to drive as I thought it would be. I am thankful that this is the one we had to teach first, but it still went even more smoothly than I had imagined.

So now while Hazel is taking pictures like this:


she also gets ones like this:

and if that picture doesn't capture the joy of being a new driver, I don't know what does.

You may have noticed Jason and I riding in the back seat in some of the other pictures in these updates- now that Daisy has her license, we don't have to have a licensed driver over 18 in the front passenger seat all the time. It's been fun to mix it up a little and get the perspective from the back seat now and then. Daisy is under a probationary period right now (state law), where she can't drive with any kids other than her own siblings in the car, so she can't pick up her friends yet. But she can tote my kids all over town if I need her to, and that has already been such a huge help to us. She drops her sisters off at their friends' houses! She stops at the store! She returns books to the library and drops off the recycling! She checks prices and sends me photos with her phone when I don't want to do my own shopping! She goes to yoga and the library without needing to be dropped off! It's just the most fabulous thing ever. And because I let her drive every. single. time. we went anywhere during the year she had her permit, I feel very comfortable with letting her go out on her own now because she has proven to me that she is a safe driver. Well done, my dear!



Besides driving, the main thing we see Daisy doing these days is reading. She devours books and can read for hours on end. She also reads in lots of different places.









That last one was taken at the library, where Daisy is a regular fixture. She has been a faithful attendee of the teen program there, and counts the librarians among her favorite people in the world. That program and staff have been an awesome source of social and creative activity for all of us, especially Daisy. She has volunteered there in the past and would love to get a job there (if they were hiring, which they are not. Sigh.)

Daisy is always busy being a big sister too, whether she likes it or not. She has always been so helpful to me, and as she has gotten older it is so nice to have another set of able hands to help me with everyone's needs. Since Lyle is the youngest, she often ends up paired with him to help out. They seem to get along pretty well together.





I don't have nearly as many pictures of her with Hazel and Stella, but every once in a while she tolerates being around them too.



Daisy's creative outlets recently have often been put together with her personal style. She does all kinds of cool stuff to her hair- we are always oohing and ahhing over the braids and up-do's she can accomplish. Her hair is so much thicker than mine, making it perfect for wearing long. She also does all sorts of things to her nails- always a different color or pattern. Daisy makes a lot of her own jewelry and hair accessories too- with all different materials. She has very steady hands and the patience to manipulate tiny things. Paper cutting and folding comes natural to her, and her art goes in that direction. She does lots of magazine collage work, as well as oragami. Like Hazel, I am finding that I don't have good photos of her work or her process, so I am going to have to work on fixing that.

 Here are some of the other photos of Daisy I found while looking back over the past 18 months:

Enjoying a nice fall day last year with Jason




 In the back of the truck on our Christmas tree-finding mission last year


With me during a kayaking trip this past summer


Roasting marshmallows on a camping trip this fall


Dance Dance Revolution with me at Lyle's birthday this year


Frisbee with Lyle




With her ratty friend, Ezra, in her hair


Canoeing!


Flying a kite!


Looking cool on some monkey bars!


Funky glasses rule!


Oh yeah, and her SIXTEENTH birthday in June! This post is hopelessly mixed up chronologically and I'm not even going to try to remedy that. Some days I am just all over the place, people. And that's ok.

I only got pre-date shots this year, no portraits. We had a veterinary emergency that day and I just got back to the house in time to get these before they left for their date. This year they went to dinner at a fondue restaurant and to see a play. Daisy carried some of the gorgeous gardenias from our yard.











She had a crazy fun weekend with her friends including a trip to the Renaissance Festival, and somehow we ended up having cake twice :) Cheesecake and a mud pie from trader Joe's. Mmmm.





Daisy has become a young lady before our eyes. It is exciting and fun and also a bit scary watching that happen, but I am so proud of who she is. She is a responsible and caring person and carries herself with poise and a quiet confidence. She is talented and creative, and I love having her around to bounce ideas off of. She is helpful to me in so many ways, I can't even list them. Thank you for that, Daisy. I love you.