Braelynn Fiona | 9 1/2 Year Old Update

Summer Backyard Half Birthday Portraits in Irwin PA

Every year, for the kids’ “half-birthdays”, I take them out & do some fun (typically “themed”) portraits of them. With Braelynn being born in January and Leander born in December, I knew that we would never be able to do “fun”, warm and glowy, outdoor “birthday” portraits – so I have simply compromised with “half-birthday” portraits every year. And it’s so much fun!

I need to just delete this idea of “half-birthday photos” from my brain, because for as long as I’ve been taking these photos (9 half-birthdays with Braelynn and 5 with Leander), I have never succeeded at taking these photos even remotely close to their “half-birthday”.

Braelynn’s half-birthday is technically in June and Leander’s is in July – and yet I consistently take these photos in: August.

So, I’m taking the liberty (after all, this is my personal project, my space on the internet, and my children) to re-think of these photos as “summer portraits”. The end.
(Because let’s be honest: knowing that I’m “late” every year in taking their “half-birthday” photos just stresses me out.)

Regardless of what we call them, I took my kids’ yearly warm, sunny, glowy portraits last week and let’s just say: this process becomes more and more of a joy every single year (seriously, why do I put them off until August?) I love seeing my children through my camera – they are such beautiful, brilliant, sweet kids and I love them so much!

So, without further ado, here is a little summer update on our sweet Braelynn Fiona:

Braelynn is quickly blossoming into such a beautiful young woman. Just to witness the way her mind is growing and maturing – to see her process and think through things is completely amazing. She is so creative and smart and thoughtful and helpful to me – she truly is my mini BFF and I love it.
This fall, Braelynn goes into 4th grade (man, is that crazy!) We started school a few weeks ago in order to get a head-start before we head off on some traveling adventures this fall, and while the first day back to school was a little rough (duh), the days following have been so wonderful. She willingly pulls her books out every morning and will sit and do the work on her own that she can do on her own. It’s brilliant! Her favorite subjects remain science and math, but she’s started to fall in love with spelling too (which is wild to me, I always hated spelling!)
Over the summer, both Braelynn and Leander both started sleeping in (WHAT?!) Braelynn has always been my early-bird, waking up before 7am for as long as I can remember (okay, there was a stretch when she was 2-3 months old when she slept until 7:30am-8am, but that quickly came to an end). But spontaneously (and almost exactly at the same time), both Braelynn and Leander started sleeping until 7:30am, 8am, 8:30am, sometimes even 9am?! Who are these kids and where did they come from?! It’s amazing.
Last summer, Braelynn mastered riding a two-wheeler and this summer she mastered roller blading. She learned how to roller blade at my parent’s house: borrowing her Aunt Ruby’s roller blades (and just wearing super-duper thick socks). She read her first “big” chapter book at the beginning of this summer and we rewarded her with a pair of her very own (very pink) roller blades). She loves them so much!
Speaking of which, she still loves biking, and scootering, and has also tried her hand at skate-boarding. In other words: if she sets her mind to it: she does it. For example: she learned how to pogo-stick (also at my parent’s house) and she did 369 jumps in a row, without stopping, last week (which is her current record).
Braelynn is incredibly social and makes friends literally everywhere we go. She has no fear in walking up to a kid who “might” be her age and instantly making a friend. She has the sweetest group of friends at church and her cousins remain her BEST friends. As the oldest cousin on my parent’s side of the family, she is so amazingly kind and sweet to her younger cousins. They might be 2-3 years younger than her, but she still counts them as her BFFs.
Speaking of which: we hosted her first ever “friend birthday party” in the form of a “half-birthday” summer party and she was in HEAVEN. The “half-birthday” was our compromise over inviting 15 girls (and their parents) into our home in January. Unfortunately, the evening we picked turned out to be quite chilly (60’s) and rainy, but we still pulled off a backyard “art” party and had a blast! Not even a few rain drops could stop the fun. Braelynn was beside herself with joy over having all of her friends together at HER house – she beamed from ear to ear the entire time.
Earlier this summer, Braelynn’s bedroom got upgraded – she “graduated” from a single, twin bed, to a BUNK BED. There is no bottom bunk, so that area has become a fun hide-out/play area, and she LOVES sleeping on the top bunk. Since the bunk bed has a desk built into the side, a small set of drawers, and also a book-shelf built in – it opened up a TON of space in her room. (Which she quickly filled with “Calico Critters” and their houses – she has a whole city laid out in her room for her little animal figures and she and Leander play up there for hours on end!)
She finally hit 54″ tall at the beginning of this summer which means she can OFFICIALLY ride EVERY roller coaster at ANY park we go to! Wow, has that been a fun adventure! (Now, if we could just get her brother onto a few “family” coasters instead of the kiddie coasters he’s very much attached to, we’d be on the right path!) There is a roller coaster at Sea World Orlando called Manta that she has been DYING to ride for years now, and she’ll finally be able to ride it on our upcoming trip to Florida. We’ll be riding some really fun new coasters on that trip, but putting Braelynn on Manta is probably what I’m looking forward to the most!
Rest assured: Braelynn still has a million stuffed animals – I just convinced her not to bring quite so many this year for her photos. Fluff has been her most treasured stuffie for a long time and remains at the top of the totem pole – but he was joined on her birthday in January by “Sprinkles” (a German Shepherd stuffie). The two of them come with Braelynn pretty much everywhere and are very very special to her.
You’ll see her wearing a pink bonnet in some of the photos – that’s a bonnet my Mom bought her when we were in Williamsburg last spring and she’s loved wearing it ever since! In fact, certain people at church know her as “the bonnet girl” and always comment on how cute she is with her bonnet (and a few times when she hasn’t worn it, they’ve all wondered where it is!) So, I felt like it needed to be in some of her photos!
She learned how to swim last summer, but really mastered it this summer. The crown jewel of that accomplishment was when we went to a friend’s house with a big in-ground swimming pool earlier this summer – and she was brave enough to dive off the diving board! It was a big step in her confidence as a swimmer and I was so proud of her!
Braelynn is always art-ing in some way, shape, or form.
She draws constantly (and has no preferred method – pencils, crayons, markers, pastels – it doesn’t matter). Her favorite subjects to draw are dogs.
She has crocheted about 100 whales (which she’s given to all of her friends and cousins as gifts. I think some kids have entire families of whales by this point!) She’s also crocheted other animals, blankets, and random items. (She doesn’t use a pattern at all. I’ve tried to teach her, but she much prefers to create things out of her own creativity – and I must say, her projects usually turn out pretty amazing.)
She got a sewing machine in the spring and started sewing all sorts of little things – clothes for her stuffies and Calico Critters, pillows, etc. We did get a pattern and she followed it to sew herself a skirt!
She loves to paint and has no problem at all sitting down with a canvas and painting anything.
She is easily the most creative person I’ve ever met. When she gets an idea – she pursues it with everything she has until she accomplishes it. Her favorite thing to buy is white t-shirts, because then she can draw on them with her fabric markers and she can create her own designs (she even made herself and Leander matching t-shirts!)
I am constantly in awe of the things she comes up with and the ideas she has (yesterday, she came downstairs and had created a whole slew of animals out of pipe-cleaners!) I can’t wait to see where her creativity takes her!