WHEW – well, here we are! Braelynn is the big ELEVEN today!
This week has been a great exercise in learning, maturing, and being flexible. Have we learned all of the lessons perfectly? No, but we’re learning!
Braelynn was so excited this year to plan her birthday party on her birthday. Since she now shares her birthday with her cousin Zoe (how special is that?!), she conceded that last year, Zoe should have her birthday party on her birthday (since she was turning 1!) and so we planned Braelynn’s party for the following day.
Having your birthday party on your birthday might seem like such a silly little thing, but it means a lot to Braelynn – so she was absolutely elated to plan her party this year on her actual birthday.
We created invitations and handed them out – inviting our family (and a few of Braelynn’s friends) to a party immediately following church on Sunday (today). We planned to feed everyone lunch and then have a lovely How To Train Your Dragon themed party. We had warm and fuzzy thoughts toward having a full house, with everyone celebrating our sweet girl.
Well – to jump to the end of the story: none of our plans came to fruition. As it stands, we are currently getting absolutely walloped by a massive snowstorm – with forecasters predicting that we will get anywhere from 10-18″ of snow TODAY (and by the looks of things outside, we’re on track to hit the higher number, rather than the lower). It is absolutely blizzarding outside!
And so, needless to say: it’s been a week of pivoting. Knowing the storm that was coming, we moved her birthday party up to Friday night, but her friends weren’t able to come, so we rescheduled their part of the party to next week.
As I’ve been trying to show Braelynn (while she’s been so sad to have to change our well-laid plans) – look at the bright side! Instead of one party, she now gets three (our family party on Friday, we have our own plans to make today very special with just the 4 of us at home, and then her party with her friends next week), AND God decided to give her her favorite thing of all for her birthday: a TON of snow.
Needless to say: we will always remember Braelynn’s 11th birthday as being something extra special.
As a little update:
- I think my favorite thing about Braelynn in her current season of growing and maturing is her tenacity and determination to learn new things and excel at them – specifically creative things.
For example: her ability to take yarn and create absolutely anything using her crocheting skills is unmatched. She learned how to read a pattern this past summer, and while she’s followed certain patterns for certain things, she’s become even BETTER at just knowing what she wants to make and going for it. Last week, she sat over at her Great-Meme’s house and while they were visiting, she crocheted her a hummingbird, a flower for it to sit on, and a bumblebee. No pattern, just inspiration and the willingness to go for it. It’s incredible.
Another example: she loves to draw, but over the last few months, her drawing has kind of hit a wall. She’s become bored with it and really needed something to renew her spark and take her work to the next level. So, a few weeks ago, we did a bunch of research and found her a YouTube channel she could watch that would teach different shading and sketching techniques. All of a sudden, her art has exploded – she’s been drawing up a storm! She’s been learning about light, and shadows, and how directional light effects how you shade your drawings – it’s been incredible to watch.
And that’s the bottom line: if she sets her mind to learning something – she has no problem teaching herself! She loves the challenge and the learning process and the end results of her seeing this incredible process of learning and growing. (Now, if only I could figure out how to apply this same passion for learning toward SCHOOL!) - Speaking of school – Braelynn’s in 5th grade and it’s a challenge! She is challenged every day in her logical thinking skills, her reading comprehension, and her ability to problem-solve equations that take multiple steps to complete. It’s definitely not easy, but I love seeing her push through and grasp new concepts (although, sometimes it takes longer than I’d like!) She has to take a big test at the end of this school year, so that’s just another looming challenge to work toward!
- Between her birthday last year and her birthday this year, Braelynn has complete “Phase 1” braces (which is why, if you compare the two years’ photos, her teeth look drastically different!) She had a rogue tooth come in that not only was sitting sideways, but also behind it’s neighbor – so we got her evaluated and her orthodontist said: “Yep! Better to fix that tooth now, while all of her baby teeth are still falling out and things are still very easily moveable, than to try to fix it later!” So, we completed an 10-month “Phase 1” braces program – and she just got her braces off a little over a month ago! She now has a retainer to help keep everything where it should be, and they’ll keep evaluating her to make sure things are well (especially as she still has a few baby teeth to lose). In 2 years, they’ll re-evaluate to determine whether she needs “Phase 2” braces (the more traditional braces) or not (but we’re hopeful to not need them!) She talks all the time about how nice her teeth look now and how “terrible” they looked before – her smile has come a long way, that’s for sure!
- At the beginning of last year, we got our passports, so that opened the door for us to travel internationally for the first time! And so this summer, Braelynn (and the rest of us) traveled into Canada (her and her brother’s first time leaving the USA!) What a fun experience! It was a quick trip, but we’re looking forward to another Canada trip this coming summer (and more fun adventures in the works!) We visited 12 amusement parks this year, but Braelynn’s favorites were Epic Universe and Legoland. She is now tall enough to ride EVERYTHING, so she added lots of new coaster credits to her bank this summer. If you ask her what her favorite coaster is, she says that she has “lots of favorites” and “it’s too hard to choose”. We’re so thankful for our thrill-seeking daughter (it makes riding coasters MUCH more enjoyable as Derrick and I can now ride most rides with a partner!)
- Yes, Fluff and Sprinkles are still very much alive and well. They’re quite worn, but they’re obviously well-loved. Braelynn’s picked up a few new stuffies over Christmas and her birthday, and as much as she adores them, nothing will ever take the place of Fluff and Sprinkles. She truly loves her stuffed animals though and has them all lined up on her bed – it’s quite the sight to see!
- I’m so thankful that she still has a beautifully vibrant imagination and she still loves to play with Calico Critters and Legos with her brother. I know that as she grows up, that imaginative play will fade away, but for now, I love that it’s still alive and well. They have an entire city created for their Calico Critter families AND in another section of her room, she has all of her Lego figures set up. They have now have all of the Ninjago minifigures, so that’s a huge thing that they play with, but recently, both Braelynn and Leander have become OBSESSED with Star Wars – so that’s become a new favorite thing to play too! It started with Derrick showing Leander a little bit of the original Star Wars trilogy and he just ate it up like candy – he could not get enough. Braelynn has a bit more reluctant – she wasn’t sure she even wanted to watch the movies at first, but she’s slowly come around to it and now she’s as obsessed as her brother. They both took some of the money they got for Christmas and specifically bought Star Wars Legos (and they both got lightsabers too!) Needless to say: our house is quite the vibe.
- I already mentioned Braelynn’s friends who will be coming next week for a little party – I’m so thankful for the girls at church who are Braelynn’s age that make up such a sweet little friend-group! They are all so sweet together and have the most precious bond.
If you ask Braelynn who her “best friend” is though, she’ll always tell you, her cousin: Cameron. They don’t see each other very much, but they video-chat a few times a month and that keeps them close!
Braelynn is the oldest cousin of all her local cousins – but this year she’s really leaned into that roll. She loves her cousin Zoe (as birthday-twins, they’ll have a special bond forever) – but she REALLY loves her sweet new baby cousin Ruth, who was born late last summer. She never passes up the opportunity to hold and rock Ruth, to talk to her and love on her – it’s so sweet! Alethea is closest to Braelynn’s age and recently, Braelynn taught her how to crochet! So, now they sit and have crocheting “parties” together.
Of course, Leander and Braelynn remain best friends and love each other so much (although, they definitely have their share of disagreements on a daily basis). They are (usually) quick to say they’re sorry though and seek forgiveness, because let’s be honest: they love playing together and can’t be apart too long.
And lastly: how could I forget: Braelynn has the sweetest friendship with our neighbors, Bob and Karen. They’re a retired couple who live right next door and Braelynn has adopted them as a sort of third grandparents. She will literally sit and talk their ears off, she is constantly drawing them pictures and writing them notes (which she delivers to their door), and she is always looking for ways to help them (whether it’s carrying groceries in or shoveling their sidewalk) – it’s really really sweet.
I can’t believe my sweet girl is already ELEVEN years old. She’s growing and maturing in beautiful ways and I love watching her change into a lovely young lady.
If you want to take a trip down memory lane, here are the links to the past birthday posts I’ve written about Braelynn!
Happy 10th Birthday
Happy 9th Birthday
Happy 8th Birthday
Happy 7th Birthday
Happy 6th Birthday
Happy 5th Birthday
Happy 4th Birthday
Happy 3rd Birthday
Happy 2nd Birthday
Happy 1st Birthday
