Double digits for Elise!

It's a truly happy birthday indeed when you get to
hold a kitten.

 Elise turned 10! Amid all the appropriate fanfare, thanks to careful planning before our big trip. She noted all the times people exclaimed "double digits!" to her throughout the week, and seemed slightly disappointed that there weren't more. Still, it was a good day.

As per custom, we started the day with Lucky Charms. But these weren't just any Lucky Charms: these were fruity Lucky Charms! Elise has been excited about these for nearly a year, and stressed as well. With the last birthday of birthday season, she worried that her sisters would choose this cereal for their birthdays, and she wanted the new flavor to be a first for everyone on her birthday. (Complicated, right? This is my life.) I made no promises, but she got her wish. The pink, loosely strawberry flavored tidbits got us off to a great start, in one sense, anyway.

Naomi made all kinds of fun
animals for Elise: a parrot, a 
cat, a unicorn and a squirrel.

Naomi was quick to offer up her gift, a make-your-own felt donut animal kit. And of course, Elise was all smiles as she surveyed the decorating job we'd all helped with the night before, and the birthday button we pinned onto her. Celebrating comes so naturally to this girl and she relishes every minute.

The turtle cake!

Our day was going to be packed, so I got started right away on Elise's cake: white cake with almond flavoring (she has excellent taste!). Elise loves nothing better than decorating her own cake on her birthday, and we made this one look just like a colorful sea turtle. She has great ideas when it comes to cakes.

As Matt had taken the day off, he joined us as Elise opened a few more presents. We quickly got stuck on a coral reef game and, naturally, had to play it right away. Thanks to some sort of birthday magic, Elise won! She was nearly dominated by Matt, who fortunately got into the birthday spirit just in time. 

They work! We made her wear
alllll the padding outside.

Then she opened rollerblades, as I'd remembered that once she'd thought 10 would be a good age for rollerblades. She'd since forgotten, which made the surprise even better. She couldn't wait to try them, so Matt took her out on the trails after a little practice in the kitchen. She loved the smoothness of them and rollerblades several times daily, usually with a sister running along beside.

Amazingly, all of this activity took us right up until lunchtime, which was to be Matt's famous chocolate-chip pancakes. [This birthday brought to you by...sugar.] Afterward, we hurried to get ready for Nature Club, and it's ensuing party, which started out super-simple (just Nature Club + cupcakes) and ended up accumulating a craft, goody bags and decorations. Honestly, though, we wouldn't have it any other way for our sweet Elise.

Elise still loves goody bags above all else, and she'd taken care to put them together the previous day. Kalina, Matt, and Naomi decorated the deck, Elise compiled the craft supplies, and I made sure all the details were handled. The weather cooperated by being my definition of perfect: 70 degrees and sunny.

Guests were early, but we were ready. The girls rushed out to the stream to find supplies for the nature craft, and Naomi and her little 5-year-old friend (she loves 5-year-old friends) pulled half her Calico Critters and dolls outside onto a picnic blanket to play. House rules right now include outdoor playdates, but not indoor--much to the consternation of several 5-year-old friends. But we make it work and I'm secretly delighted by the arrangement for all the reasons you can probably guess.

After a bit, we started our nature craft: making nature-print necklaces out of oven-bake clay and natural materials. The girls got really into it, and made an average of 5-6 each. Fortunately, thanks to the other mom who stuck around, I actually remembered to bake them. Unfortunately, because of my rush to toss them in the oven after having forgotten for so long, I forgot to check the holes to make sure they were big enough for the string. Fortunately, we made it work.

The girls played on the zipline while we cleaned up (Naomi and her friend were still going strong in the driveway with toys). When I heard "let's go to the stream!" I quickly called them up for the decorated cookies we'd picked out the day before. Because I know how the stream often goes, and how the result is not conducive to cleanly eating cookies. 

Everyone but Elise devoured theirs (I think she finished hers the day after her birthday, liking to nibble and savor), and then she opened her presents. Her friends apparently know and love her very well, as she received all her favorites. 

And then it was stream time. Miraculously, no one ended up too dirty. The parents arrived as we were distributing goody bags and trying to poke thick cord through small holes to finish necklaces.

It wasn't hard to blow out all the
candles on this chilly evening!

Then, we quickly switched gears for the birthday dinner with Grandpa and Marianne! Elise had chosen macaroni and cheese for her meal (my stovetop version), which Matt supplemented with grilling and I supplemented with steamed carrots. Unfortunately, I hadn't found the usual pasta or the usual cheese at the store but, like many things 5 days after a big trip, we made it work. 

Opening a camp chair, like Kalina's. She also,
predictably, received a towel set, just like her
sisters did.

Elise loved every card and gift she opened, and she loved feeling celebrated, her favorite foods, and seeing her people. What an amazing 10th birthday!

At 10, Elise is in her element: she's able to carry out her own plans, she enjoys all her relationships, and life isn't too hard. The world is hers. 

Except for all the daily injustices: having to sit in the back of the van without a window that roles down because she's the only one who doesn't get carsick, having dental work, having to do school, having to clean up ever, etc.

She's quite vocal about these, but fortunately, about the good things, too. She knows how to sweetly and sincerely compliment like none other , and is still a word wizard, making us all laugh, but firmly at a 10-year-old level.

Regarding oobleck, a cornstarch-and-water substance we played with to discuss the states of matter: "Man, I bet scientists are doing a lot with oobleck!"

From a conversation: Me: Nobody loves you like your mommy loves you. Kalina: What about God? Me: Well, that's true, but... Elise, beaming: You've got to try!

Elise faithfully writes in a diary every night, and has for more than a year. (She's even inspired Naomi to as well!) She writes stories regularly, and tells them more often--especially to Naomi, who's an eager audience, and she's developing a series about uni-animals in a forest. 

She's still more adventurous than the rest of us, but also cautious--she has her limits, for sure, although they aren't always where we'd want her limits to be. Still, it's nice to see she has them. She bikes faster and climbs higher than the rest of us, but it's nice to have someone leading the way. And she's more likely to take risks, but would be considered risk-averse in other families. It's fun for us to have someone who's "out there," and will star in our plays and do the silly stuff the rest of us are a bit nervous about. She's got spunk.

Elise loves natural beauty and is getting pretty decent at drawing it. She continues to adore the outdoors, but is moving away from her dream of becoming a survivalist because, "I have a feeling that when I'm an adult I probably won't want to anymore. I mean, do you see adults becoming survivalists?"

With the goal of landing a decent part in a musical (because not many plays for children are produced by the places that are easy to drive to), Elise has been taking voice lessons from her piano teacher since February. She's enjoyed singing, and is learning a ton, including how to stay in tune. 

Elise loves language arts but doesn't like math. She's also super excited about history (middle ages this year) and anything biology (marine biology this semester). She dives into thick books and will likely finish all her birthday books (and there are a lot!) within a couple weeks.

She loves to chat with adults, and thinks little ones are cute, and she continues to be easygoing and fun, unless you're trying to get her to do math or put away laundry. Elise takes things seriously, and although she's supremely cheerful, definitely reaches a limit with people who either distrust her or needle her.

Her favorite animals, other than kittens, are probably tadpoles, and we managed to find two or three different kinds this year. Baby turtles--the kind not much bigger than a quarter--are also a favorite, and we maintained quite a few aquariums this summer. Fortunately, she's happy to help with all the caretaking. 

She still loves to bake and cook, and she "perfected" her cupcakes by adding some lemon peel. She wants to write when she grows up, and maybe be a park ranger. 

Elise received super-soft, warm,
teal boots. Doesn't get much
better than that.

Elise likes nature, crafts, good books in a variety of genres, streams, climbing, writing, baking, tasting, the color aqua-blue, sweets, cheese (and things with cheese in/on them), soft things, warm things, her watch,  skorts, jackets/sweatshirts, swimming, rollerskating to upbeat music, anything scented, yarn, silly things, virtually any animal, clever advertisements, the planet Venus, adventure clothes, running ahead, putting on plays, talking, helping Naomi (sometimes), marbles, and taking apart her treats to make sure the save all the frosting/chocolate chips/etc. for last. 

She strongly dislikes, and often lets us know: dentists, dental work, braces, her bracket (another form of dental work), windows in the van that don't roll down (hers), vegetables, math, having her hair brushed, injustice, baths/showers, super-obvious advertisements, romance, and dead-end arguments.

Rollerblades!

Elise is a great negotiator, but is at least least occasionally polite and reasonable in doing so. IF she had a vice right now (don't we all?) it would be distraction, as she can ping-pong around a room/house and never return to the original spot. To do what she was originally supposed to do. Sometimes this frustrates her (I tried to do my math, but things kept coming into my head!), but mostly it entertains her.

She has a mature understanding, many times, about what's reasonable or what's not. She often says things like, "I would have asked for a second cookie, but I know that since we got popsicles earlier in the day, you'd say no. So that's why I didn't ask." We can tell there's a lot going on in her head, and we often get to hear about it. 

Elise is truly her own person, and she couldn't possibly be any dearer. Happy birthday, sweet Elise!!

Me and my birthday girl!