Kalina is 8 and June was great

Kalina decorated her own
birthday cake by her request.
We enjoyed vanilla cake,
vanilla icing and
sliced strawberries. Yum!

Backstage ballerinas,
beautiful inside and out.

There are dozens of things I could write about the month of June. We began with a beautiful ballet and performing arts recital, which Elise was proud of because she didn't mess up in a place she often messes up and Kalina was delighted with because she enjoyed being a Lady Licorice villain. They both performed very well, Elise earnestly doing her very best to give the audience a good show (and succeeding!) and Kalina adeptly and gracefully leading her class around the stage.






And then Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit! We did several crafts we're still talking about, and Kalina figured out swimming under water in the hotel pool. They both took their first pony rides and fed birds at Grant's Farm in a very magical morning. The pony rides were "bumpy" and lots of fun--neither Kalina nor Elise were the least bit scared, although Naomi, who was expecting smaller ponies, opted out.

The 100+ parakeets in a feeding cage were enchanting. The bird Kalina singled out and bonded with hopped onto her arm, a couple more made it to Grandma's hat and shoulder, and one walked onto my arm. Then, with only a few minutes of convincing, bribing and baiting, another finally hopped onto eager Elise's arm. Naomi was vehemently opposed to letting any birds come close to her, so we all got our wish. Perfect!

We also managed to catch plenty of nice fish with Grandpa, including Elise's first catfish, of which she was super proud, and a small collection of minnows and a tadpole.

But of course, June wouldn't be June without a celebration of our oldest girl's birthday!

A few weeks ago I asked Kalina if she'd like to do anything special for her birthday. She thought for only a moment before her awed, enthusiastic voice replied, "Get a library card!" Later, she realized she also wanted to hold a birthday celebration for her mice. I knew we could manage these, and probably a few more surprises as well.

Kalina is a girl that exudes "It's my birthday!" enchantment, regardless of the fact that there are presents and cake and other festivities. She woke up glowing, and glowed all day long, whether brushing her teeth or unwrapping a new pair of roller skates.

This particular morning was a busy one: after a bowl or two of birthday cereal (Lucky Charms, in this case), and a present from Naomi (a sweet stuffed lamb--Naomi's own idea that was very well received by her big sister, who good-naturedly agreed to the name Naomi suggested) it was time to head out to VBS. But wait! The heavy Birthday Girl button didn't work very well on Kalina's light shirt. We needed one more present, which conveniently happened to be a pretty birthday dress. Birthday Girl button in place (which has earned its weight in extra birthday greetings from friends and strangers alike), we headed out the door. Kalina was thrilled that all of VBS sang happy birthday to her at snacktime.

Kalina's mice celebrate their
"birthday," too!

Lunch was also to be special: Kalina and I were to go out on a birthday lunch date, complete with shopping afterward. After all, isn't it sometimes fun to pick out your own birthday present? Kalina thought so! We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and wandering around Petco for an hour oohing and aahhing over everything from bird treat holders, to a friendly cat and a cat with a funny haircut, to a new kind of rodent wheel. But what held Kalina's attention the most was a new mouse cage. After examining several, calling Daddy for permission and even researching in-store via smartphone, Kalina chose a wire cage with connectors that would allow her to hook up her tubes into all kinds of neat configurations. Happy birthday Kalina, and happy birthday Cupcake and Brownie! We lugged the cage to the van, shared a free cookie from the people at Jason's Deli (thank you, birthday button) and headed for the library where a nice librarian who recognized my name (thanks to the hundreds of books I request every year *hiding my head in shame*) and helped Kalina sign up for her very own library card.

Back at home, Grandpa, who had been watching Elise and Naomi, was recruited to assemble the cage, with plenty of help from Kalina, of course. Soon, Brownie and Cupcake were celebrating their birthday with a brand-new home so extensive they could get lost in it! Sweet!

We went out to Kalina's new favorite pizza place for supper, then returned home for cake and presents. Kalina loves to savor her moments, which meant that each card and gift was lovingly unwrapped, explored/read and only reluctantly set down so we could open another. And even so, bedtime was quite late! But it was a pleasure to see Kalina so thoroughly enjoy all of her gifts and feel so loved to be thought of by all of her favorite people.

When I asked Kalina if she wanted to do anything with her friends for her birthday, Kalina said she'd like to do an all-day, drop-off birthday playdate. We compromised on a six-hour drop-off playdate, with five friends because she really has five very lovely friends who get along well together, and pizza for lunch instead of the traditional Russian dish she would've rather had (but probably would've seemed a bit strange to her friends).

Kalina's rainy playdate party with
friends! (No faces and in the distance
for online privacy reasons.)  Did you
notice that Kalina kindly distributed
the family umbrellas among her
friends, wearing only a raincoat
herself??

The day was rainy, but that didn't stop the girls' fun. After initially following Kalina around from mice, to piano, to room, to basement, and back again, they settled into playing nicely together. I kept Naomi happy, pizza was delivered and nobody was in tears. I felt almost peaceful.

And then we started the craft. I knew making hand-sewn mice would be a challenge, but it was the only craft idea I could possibly come up with that Kalina was excited about. (Mental note: next time just pick something myself and be confident she'll love it--because she will.) As it turned out, although enthusiasm was high, sewing skills were all over the map. Fortunately, I was the only one losing patience with endless weird knots and short ends, and each girl managed to complete a mouse. They soon headed off to the Mousetrap board to feed them cheese and attempt to trap them. Fun!

Thank goodness another mom arrived to visit and help, and she helped me put cupcakes on the table for the girls to decorate, and generally manage the chaos that now ensued. But in truth, the "chaos" was sweet, simple, nice chaos and except for the occasional two-year-old tantrum, easily managed. The playdate ended up lots of fun, for me as well as for the girls. Except possibly those endless weird knots... (How did you do that?!? And why?!?)

Kalina treated us all to a
homemade fairy punch one
day.

It's been a big year for Kalina. As a seven-year-old, she gained lots of confidence and ability in activities she's been pursuing (whether of her own accord or her mother's) for years. Kalina learned the basics of a couple new instruments, most of the cursive alphabet, the sign language finger alphabet, how to knit, how to bike without training wheels and how to swim underwater. She was the best ballerina in her class after a two-year gap in lessons (really), took off with piano and enthusiastically dug into Spanish, in addition to making great strides in her other school work. In the kitchen she can chop (carefully), make scrambled eggs and cookies and mostly follow a recipe. She knows her globe very well, has lots of Bible verses memorized and can talk intelligently about many subjects in science. She's been interested in how things work lately and worked her way through a book about inventions. The girl can remember a tune she's only heard a couple times, long ago, and pick it out on the piano, then add simple accompaniment.

Kalina is very gently working on training her mice and continues to pursue meaningful relationships with every animal she sees. She currently wants to be a pet shop owner specializing in mice, rental penguins and axolotls. And yes, she still adores Lisa (formerly known as Lamby), sleeps with her, brings her places, dresses her up and occasionally talks to her.

Kalina plays a duet with
Uncle Tom

Kalina loves stories of when she was little, and has a heart for those who may be a bit helpless themselves (little children and, of course, animals). She's sensitive, dreamy, sweet, smart, funny, trusting and full of beauty. While Kalina may never be on time of her own accord, she puts her whole heart into whatever she's doing, and it truly shows. She likes to organize things and beautify the table, for instance, and has even been known to straighten her own drawers and nightstand without being asked, but would much rather be on "toddler duty" than clear the table, sweep the floor and other such proletarian tasks (although vacuuming is okay).

She dances instead of walking at times (especially when we're in a hurry), excitedly captures all manner of bugs and worms in her hands, and even once, bravely killed a bee that she believed was going to sting her friend. (Yet if you ask her to go down to the basement alone she'll immediately recruit a sister to accompany her--thank goodness she has two.)

Naomi loves to match with
Biscuit!

The girl spends much of her spare time reading everything from Peter Pan (unabridged) to other less-classic fairy books, and has branched out to other memorable characters such as Ramona Quimby. Some of her very favorite books were written 100 years ago by author/conservationist Thornton Burgess, about the lives of little animals in the woods.

Yes, Kalina's head is often in the clouds, but she's responsible and kind enough to come back to earth on occasion. And we're all very glad she does, because we're so thrilled to have spent eight lovely years with our dear, sweet Kalina!





And now just a few pictures from the Fourth of July:

It's nice to know that the Hanks
fireworks tradition will be passed
down...sort of...

Over the Fourth of July, Elise taught
Aunt Debbie how to finger knit!