This year was the birthday Elsa has been waiting her entire life for.
Elsa turned ten years old on May 10th. Ordinarily, the first double-digit birthday is a pretty big milestone, but when it is also a Golden Birthday? Magical.
Even just the idea of turning ten seems to have resulted in an increase of maturity and insight (with maybe a hint of the attitude and emotions that accompany that growth). Whether we are ready for it or not, Elsa is growing up.
4th grade has been a big leap for her and her classmates as this was the first year they changed classes and had to navigate having multiple teachers. Yet it came as no surprise that Elsa continued to do very well in school.
She also added to her responsibilities by picking up a couple of new activities this year in addition to ballet and another amazing Nut Remix performance. Elsa participated in her school's chorus (early morning rehearsals took some getting used to) and played her first season of church league basketball. I was particularly delighted that not only did Elsa choose basketball, but also that she proved to be pretty aggressive on the court. (The added bonus was that she didn't seem to mind that I'm a loud sports mom.)
Even with these new commitments, there has still been plenty of time for reading, playing at the park, and riding bikes. And thankfully, the elaborate games of pretend with her sister, brother, and friends have continued as well.
After all the anticipation, suddenly Elsa's Golden Birthday was upon us. May 10th was a Wednesday, so the bulk of the celebrating would occur over the weekend, but there were still some traditions to attend to. Little Sister was so excited that she stayed up late to help decorate and woke up early to be the first to give Elsa a gift.
The birthday breakfast of choice was fried eggs (from our chickens!) and was followed by the customary socks-underwear-book gift and birthday call from Grandma. Elsa celebrated at school and then passed the time during her sister's ballet class with the annual sheep photo shoot.
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| When did she get so long? |
The birthday girl requested duck at our neighborhood Chinese restaurant as usual, but this year, we actually ate there, which made dinner much more festive. We came home with time for family gifts (thank you!) and macaron treats.
A fun day to be sure, but the big fun happened over the weekend when Elsa hosted her first sleepover. Four of Elsa's friends joined us for the night, and it was everything you'd might expect. Well, it was what I expected. I think Jon was a little overwhelmed.
Elsa and the As--all four guests have names that begin with "A," making them sound like a rock band--did all the traditional slumber party activities down to their hilarious attempts at "Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board." They stayed up way too late and got up way too early, but they had so much fun. I may regret saying this later, but I would be happy to host such a sweet group anytime.
And if that wasn't enough, Elsa finally received the gift she'd been anticipating for years: getting her ears pierced. One of the friends from the party talked her mom into letting her get her ears pierced as well, so Elsa got to share the experience with her, which was really special.
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| Two brand-new holes in her head |
The entire birthday affair was really special. After all, Golden Birthdays only occur once in a lifetime.
