Lena is NINE!

Lena is nine and feelin' fine!

I'm not sure how it happened, but all of a sudden, Lena is in her last year of single digits. I guess it shouldn't be that hard to believe as she has grown a lot in independence and maturity this year. Our school drop-off and pick-up schedules have gotten more complicated, so thankfully we can trust Lena to occasionally walk (part of) the way home and hang out by herself for a bit. She'd probably do the whole thing solo, but I just can't let her walk into that building without a big hug from Mom.

Lena continues to do great in school, and we are so thankful for a teacher who gets her personality. She truly understands Lena's strong sense of justice and perfectionist tendencies (gee, where did those come from?). Reading is still a top activity, and if she didn't like her class so much, I think she would be content to hang out in the library all day.

In addition to reading, Lena still enjoys art and has had the wonderful experience of creating in the pottery studio at a local church. I don't think I have ever seen her as intently focused as I have when she is working with clay and painting her ornaments. She has even gotten to throw on the wheel and made Jon and I the coolest bowl for Christmas.

Ballet is also still a favorite for Lena. She moved up a level and was able to perform as a dancer in the Chinese Corps in this year's Nut Remix. Lena also joined her school's inaugural cheer squad, which has stretched her dancing muscles in new and fun ways. Since she is clearly not busy enough, Lena has also recently expressed interest in playing the violin, so we will see if music becomes another talent to develop. 

As usual, Lena was looking forward to her birthday as soon as the calendar turned to January. However, this year, there was no sickness or crazy weather to contend with, so all went according to plan. Lena's birthday was on a Sunday, so while we couldn't be too leisurely in the morning, it was nice to be able to say a special prayer for her in the atrium during our children's catechesis program.

After church, Lena opened a few gifts from our thoughtful family after the required sheep photoshoot. 

Making sure everyone knows who the birthday girl is

There wasn't much time to play or craft, however, because we had to head to the bowling alley to celebrate with friends. It was a wild and crazy time (thank goodness for bumpers!), complete with cupcakes decorated to look like bowling balls.

Lena chose our favorite Chinese restaurant for her birthday dinner, which meant duck and lo mein. The birthday girl also discovered egg rolls, so it appears as though Jon and I will have to start sharing. Since we'd already had the aforementioned cupcakes at the bowling alley, Lena's other dessert of choice was traditional Norwegian krumkake. Similar to waffle cones, they are relatively simple to make but quite time-consuming, which is why we typically only make them once a year. This year, all three kids were active participants, which made for a fun family activity on Lena's birthday eve. She had the genius idea to fill the krumkake with whipped cream--chef's kiss, as the kids say.

Krumkake time!

We capped off our evening with an episode of Is It Cake? in front of the fire. There was not the typical rush to bed on a Sunday night because everyone had the next day off in observance of Martin Luther King Day...which proved to be the perfect opportunity for Lena to cash in the rest of her birthday gift from us: a trip to the movies to watch Wicked. She graciously invited Elsa to join us, so the girls had a nice afternoon of popcorn, reclining seats, and getting catchy songs stuck in our heads for the rest of the day. 

All told, it was a very fine way to celebrate turning nine!