Serenity's 11th Birthday Update

Serenity’s 11th Birthday Update

Serenity is 11! It’s wonderful and baffling at the same time. She is so funny and snuggly and determined. It’s an amazing thing watching her grow! She absolutely adores reading, and frequently you have to go “Earth to Serenity” to get her attention when she’s in a book. My mother would say that serves me right. =) I love it! She finally read Anne of Green Gables this year and adored it. She sobbed bitterly when Matthew died but she loved the book. She read the entire Wings of Fire series. I had borrowed the first few books from Barrett because a new one came out so I wanted to reread them. Well, as I finished them she was right behind me, and then she passed me and I had to check one out on the Kindle! It was SO much fun!!! She laughs aloud and is just fun to be sitting next to when she’s reading. She’s even started writing her own Wings of Fire fanfiction, creating new kinds of dragons called GemWings. She enthusiastically tells me all about her main character, Opal, and has written two prologues already.

She bought this chair for her reading nook with her Christmas gift money from Grandma =) And she uses it every day!

She still loves electronics too. Animal Jam is still a favorite, and she often plays Skylanders and Ipad with her siblings. She likes making up games in animal jam like making pretend families, or clans, and setting up really fancy dens.

She still adores Girl Scouts and is excited to continue! We went camping in a tent in the backyard, and we had a campout at Swannie in the Yurts! Finally! The girls had been asking to sleep in the yurts since they were Daisies and they absolutely loved it. Tina came to help us out on our first real campout and I was so grateful! Serenity loved having her there.

Eric got certified in kayaking so he could take the girls! Serenity loves it!

Acting is something Serenity loves. She had fun playing a blacksmith in the Drama Festival but she wished for more lines, so she has signed up for acting classes in the fall. We also went to an audition for a local theater. We weren’t going to be in town for the performance, but they let her audition anyway for practice and she loved that! Her teachers kept telling me how wonderful she was at drama practice. They would give suggestions on her performance and she would incorporate them right away, she never had to be told twice.

She loves hiking and being in nature. We went to the botanic gardens several times, and we went on long hikes in Colorado for Fantastico. Plus, for her 10th birthday trip she chose to go hiking in North Carolina looking for waterfalls! It was beautiful, and listening to her magical stories as we walked down the trail is one of my favorite memories of her ever. She brought her little fox figurine with her and wove tails of magical creatures for her. So fun! In fact, when we were working on a Journey with Girl Scouts, she called Sasha to talk to her about being a writer as she may be interested in writing when she grows up.

I gave my ticket to Wicked to Serenity in the fall. She LOVED it! We spent weeks listening to the soundtrack in the car. When Donovan read the Wizard of Oz in class she kept saying “Why are they being so mean to Elphie?!?!?!” She has definite favorite songs in the car and requests them until her siblings protest. She especially love I’m Not That Girl, and Loathing, and Defying Gravity. She loves the Greatest Showman Rewrite the Stars and This is Me. And Never Enough. I also made a mix CD with random songs I like and she loves Avril Lavigne and Hilary Duff. Set it All Free from Sing is another fun car anthem.

Serenity loves clay so when she made a map for her Newbery report for Sing Down the Moon she made a topographical map. Her teachers liked it so much they plan to add it to the suggestions for projects. They told me several times how awesome it was that Serenity came up with a theme for her projects. She chose all Newbery Books with Moon in the title. There were five so she read the fifth one on her own after doing projects for the first four to complete her set

Serenity was feeling a little nervous about band starting in fifth grade so she asked for clarinet lessons! She took them for about six months until her teacher couldn’t do them anymore. It took quite a while to build up the muscles in her face so she could make sounds reliably, but she played beautifully with her teacher at the recital! She was alternatively frustrated and elated by the clarinet so I think it was a really smart decision to get lessons beforehand. Hopefully she can enjoy band and Mrs. Call can enjoy her!