Brooklyn's Double Digit Birthday

It occurs to me that even though her special day was over a month ago, I haven't written a word about Brooklyn's tenth birthday.  I don't feel too terribly since we celebrated grandly back in October with our Harry Potter party.  Even so, I wanted to take a moment to reflect since it's not every day that a girl turns double digits.

On Brooklyn's birthday, I picked her up from school instead of having her ride the bus home so that we could head straight to the mall.  Clothes shopping?  Nah, none of that for my gal.  We like the good stuff.  We made a beeline for Barnes and Nobles where she spent the next couple of hours carefully spending some gift cards.  Brooklyn invited Talia to come with us because as everyone knows, shopping with your sister is best.  I don't remember everything she purchased, but I'm quite certain that a Harry Potter Cookbook was her favorite acquisition.

After sharing a cupcake in the cafe, we headed to Guacamaya where we met NomiAnn, Papa Kay, and the rest of the family.  While our Mexican meal was tasty, my favorite part was watching the kids spin and dance on the empty dance floor.  Nothing better than dining out in a place where you don't have to wrangle the wee ones back into their chairs.

We opened a few special presents, including a Kindle for our book lover, then piled into the car to drive around and look at Christmas lights.  I love how Brooklyn wanted to spend her birthday singing carols together in the car.  Once everyone's voices were tired, we headed back home for a little hot chocolate and "Pan de Elote" (a yummy Mexican corn cake.)  All in all, a wonderful celebration.

The number 5 plus 5 candles = ten lovely years together.

So what else to write about our lovely Brooklynita?  Well, as you can see, she's really not that much of an "-ita" anymore.  Almost as tall as her mother, she's definitely one of the "big kids" as a fourth grader in her school.  She's excelling in her dual immersion language program and becoming quite proficient in Spanish.  I believe the last Spanish book she read was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.  She has two wonderful teachers, Ms. Vickers and Sra. Flores, whose only complaint is that Brooklyn occasionally reads beneath her desk during class.  Well, Ms. Vickers says she hides the book beneath her desk, but Sra. Flores says that she reads right in the open.  Fortunately, both have a pretty understanding attitude as long as Brooklyn puts her book away when asked.  Thanks to the Big Ten Reading Challenge this year, Brooklyn has a pretty significant book list to keep her occupied.

What else?  This year, Brooklyn is serving on the United Nations of her school--definitely a privilege.  At the moment, her class is studying France, so she's looking forward to having Jason and I come show embarrassing pictures in a couple weeks.  She started to play the cello this year at school and is doing really well, despite some tough luck with the instrument.  At home, she's doing much better at practicing piano and making good progress with Mom.  I love how she's recently started to gravitate to the piano to play for fun.  While some might call it genetic (I loved to do the same), it probably has more to do with the fact that she likes the theme music from Star Wars.

Even more than Star Wars, Brooklyn loves The Hobbit and read the book in a day.  (How many of you can claim the same?  Not I.)  She was thrilled to receive a Hobbit lego set for Christmas, and can't wait until we let her watch the movies in their entirety.  When that day comes, Callie/Oin, we'll sure be thinking of you!

Outside of school, Brooklyn is part of a very active Junior Girl Scout troop that will soon start working on their bronze awards.  I think she deserves a second award for being such a great help with Talia's Brownie troop.  Every Wednesday she wrangles Annika through the school halls for an hour so that I can play Brownie Leader.  I honestly don't know how we would manage without her.  Her siblings love her so much, as do her father and I.

Oh, and in case you didn't notice in the first picture, Brooklyn recently got a hair cut.  Four ponytails donated to locks of love: two twelve-inch ponies taken off the back and two eight-inch ponies off the front.  The cut is absolutely adorable, and Brooklyn loves being able to manage her own hair.  I only have one complaint: it makes her look far too grown-up.

Yet even grown-up ten year-olds occasionally need snuggling.  This morning I went up to the attic bedroom extra early and wriggled in between the warm fleece sheets of Brooklyn's bed.  Brooklyn smiled and inquired, half asleep, "Where's Annie?"  "Oh, she's still downstairs.  She didn't want to come up."  "Do you really think that's a wise idea, leaving her alone down there?"  "Probably not, but there was another baby I needed to snuggle even more."

A small sigh of contentment, then Brooklyn cuddled closer.  As the oldest, a lot is expected of our Brooklyn McCall.  For the most part, she thrives on the challenge as she becomes ever more capable and independent.  Every once in a while, though, it's nice to be reminded that no matter how grown-up you get, you're never too old for a snuggle.