amelie turns 7!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Amie’s birthday last weekend. Her request, instead of a party, was to go to the American Girl store in Charlotte. Our family watched the three boys on Saturday morning so that David and I could take her.

First, we had to stop for breakfast at Amelie’s French Bakery in Rock Hill. Their pastries are divine and Amie got a complimentary eclair for being a birthday girl (and yes, everyone loved that her name is Amelie)!

We’re so proud of Amie for saving her allowance all year; in addition she asked for birthday money from family so that she could buy a new doll. She perused her AG catalog for weeks and decided on “Julie” before we went. I thought for sure she might change her mind when we arrived and she saw all the options, but she stuck to her decision. She loved circling the store multiple times though to check out every piece of merchandise. David was a great sport to follow her around the girliest store imaginable.

We had such a fun time together! She did a great job of not asking for anything else. After she made her final choice, David walked in the mall with her so that I could add a couple little things from us and her brothers to open on Sunday, her actual birthday.

We celebrated with the family Sunday afternoon with swimming and cupcakes.

Amie is a mature, thoughtful girl. I’m amazed by her generosity, compassion for others, and ability to read and respond to people’s moods. She’s the peacemaker of our four kids. She’s very shy when meeting people or around people she doesn’t know well, but becomes quite the outgoing talker with close friends and family.

She loves to cuddle, sing, and play pretend. She’s an extrovert and we’ve always struggled to teach her to self-entertain, but recently she’s made herself a secret “fort” in our front yard. She likes to go out there by herself and collect nuts and seeds and make fairy picnics. It makes me so happy to see her growing into herself and being at peace with being alone.

She desperately wishes she was a “good reader like Judah,” even though I tell her over and over that reading comes at different ages for different people. She doesn’t always enjoy school work, so I changed some things in her homeschool curriculum for this year, to try and help motivate her. When she finds something she loves she’s a hard worker.

She’s creative and loves fashion (and makes lots of “fashion girls” from a new art set she got for her birthday), drawing and painting, and wants so badly to learn to sew. She adores animals.

We’re very, very thankful for our girl!