Happy 13th Ellie Belly! You are officially a teenager...and you're VERY excited about it! You have a had such a great year this year, you took some theater classes and discovered a love of improv, you did so well at summer swim, you had a great school year and I was so proud of you for working on organization and keeping up with your assignments.
Ellie, you have such a fun personality! You are quick witted and you do great imitations of people. We never know exactly what you're going to say but its usually pretty funny! You bring a personality that is all your own to our family. I love that you are unique and a little quirky and I can't imagine our family without you.
You love animals and will always jump at the chance to pet sit for the neighbors. You especially love cats...nothing better than getting cat snuggles while you read your book! This year we said goodbye to our sweet Franklin and that was hard. He was a part of your life for almost 13 years and we all cried a lot of tears. You have really missed not having a dog around and have asked me a LOT when we can get a new one.
You still have your deep love of reading. You tear through books and your favorite store is a book store. I love that you are starting to read more and more books that I have read. You generally prefer the genres of adventure, fantasy, and dystopian novels. Percy Jackson and Land of Stories are probably your favorite series right now. I always laugh when someone asks you about a book and you just light up and give them a loooong synopsis of the book and detailed descriptions about all the characters. You just get so excited that you can't contain yourself!
You have really gotten into art this year. I love seeing the drawings you create and I love watching how your skills have developed over the last year. You got lots of art supplies for your birthday and I can't wait to see you grow even more as an artist!
This year we went on some trips...you went to Dollywood with school, we went to the mountains to tube and ski, went on a cruise for spring break, and went to the beach. You have become such a good skier and love hitting the slopes. You love going fast! The ocean is definitely your happy place. You LOVE to roll in the sand and you love playing in the waves. It brings you so much joy! You had a great time on the cruise. Ice cream available all day is probably your favorite thing but you also enjoyed all the different ports we went to.
This year I've realized that you're perhaps an adrenaline junky. You LOVE an adventure and are up for whatever. Among your siblings you have always been the one willing to "go first" when it comes to trying something new. This year you got a gift certificate for a ropes course/zip line park and you and I had the best time there! The longer and faster the zip line the better. And the higher and harder the ropes course the more you loved it. I love having a kiddo who is always up for a fun adventure! This summer we went to the lake with friends and you learned to drive the jet ski. You had a blast driving it and loved going fast. We're definitely going to have to find a way to channel your need for adrenaline into safe activities!
Ellie, I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for you! You light up our lives and we know you are going to do great things in life and will bring so much sparkle to those around you. Keep being the best YOU!
Love,
Mom
