My Amelia

Amelia turned 9 today. Next year is double digits. I have only one year left of her being less of a tween.

9 things I love about my Amelia (in no particular order other than what came into my head):

She loves her sisters. Even if her and Evelyn can have their moments, she really does love them. She goes out of her way to play with Lucienne. She includes Audree in what she's doing even though there's a 5 year age gap. She likes helping Evelyn learn how to read. When Audree has trouble going to sleep I'll often tell her to go see if Amelia is still up and snuggle with her. I'll go in and check on them and Amelia's out with a still-awake Audree snuggled up close.

I love how capable she's becoming. She has a few meals under her sleeve now. She does a great grilled cheese sandwich, can make pancakes better than I can and can scramble eggs. She's even made cookies with very little assistance (I just double check on quantities with her). The ability to read certainly opens up a lot of windows. But I love that she loves doing this. She's often in charge of making Saturday lunch for everyone.

I love having late night manicures with her. It's usually as a result of me tucking her in and getting a glimpse of her cat-like nails. I'll grab the clippers, a nail file and some polish and do her nails while we chat. That's really only started since she got her own bedroom (can't really remember when that was...sometime last year when Rene finished renovating the summer kitchen and we moved the treadmill out there). If Evelyn got wind of it I'd be in trouble!

I love how she really knows the difference between right and wrong and wants to choose the right. She made a goal this year of reading the entire Book of Mormon by herself. I found a reading chart online that has her reading about 15 versus a day (Rene and I are trying to keep up too). But she really seems aware of moral actions and is making connections between decisions and eternal consequences. Now would be the time to get her to write down her choices around the famous pitfalls of teenagehood and post them on her wall.

She's neat and tidy!! I don't have to ask her to pick up her clothes and she usually remembers to make her bed. She always clears her place setting from the table without being asked.

She loves to try new things. I hope she never loses this. We have to work on perseverance when things don't come naturally to her but she's always open to giving something a try.

She likes to help. From cooking dinner, to chopping wood, to buying groceries to painting. I think right now it's the feeling of being "grown-up" and that we trust her to do tasks on her own. I love how she'll take suggestions and come up with ways she thinks will work too (and most of the time they actually do).

Whenever she does a craft of project it's for someone else. She's learning to knit and wanted to start off with a scarf for Evelyn. She's made bracelets for everyone except herself (friends, teachers, sisters, even me). She wrote a learning-to-read book for Evelyn. She made shell barrettes for Audree. I love how she thinks of others and what would make them happy.

And last but not least, I love when she's happy. She has a great laugh...a kind of bubbly cackle that makes other people laugh too. She has such a huge impact on this family - I don't even think she realized how much her sisters ride on her emotions. When Amelia is happy, everyone is happy (unfortunately it goes the other way too).

So that's our Amelia. We are so blessed to have her as part of our family. She's going to do great things in this world and I think she'll be a shining example of good to her friends.

We love you Amelia. Happy Birthday.