Nine.

At nine years old, Ellie is graceful, and beautiful, and witty, and compassionate.

Her dad and I sometimes look at each other, and ask how it is that we got so lucky, to have Ellie in our family.  Ellie puts others before herself, sacrifices her wants for the wants of her siblings, and is always thinking about kind things she can do for her friends. She is so nurturing. The other day she told me, "Mom, you need to have one or two more babies so that you can teach me more, and I can practice taking care of them. So then one day, I'll be a good mom."
 

 

Her nurturing heart is exposed each week as she rides horses. She spends Saturday mornings at the stables now, and her love for those horses has quadrupled, just in the last couple of months. We thought that horseback riding would just be a phase, I never imagined she'd want to stick with it this long.  Ellie's always been our dancer. Last Summer she was invited to be on Company at her studio, and she was beyond thrilled.  For the last year she has been doing both, dancing and horseback riding.  But in November, we forced her to choose between the two [very time consuming hobbies], when she was asked to move up at the stables and be part of a riding group, where she'd begin learning to competitively ride and show. We thought the choice would be tough, and that she'd be heartbroken over quitting one of her two favorite activities. But, she understood that five days a week of extra curricular activities [dance, horseback riding, and piano] were just too much. She looked at us with eyebrows raised,  a "duh" expression on her face, and said "I want to ride horses."  And she's never looked back. In fact, she is now saving her allowance for her own horse. No, seriously.

Third grade has been awesome for Ellie.  The Spanish is finally clicking, and her reading in both languages has taken off. She loves homework. I know, right? Sometimes she even creates her own "homework" projects.  Last week, for example.  She checked out an information book from the library, on rabbits.   She read it, and then put together a book report, with full color pictures, for her English teacher.  Just for fun! Her school is doing the "Jazz Reading Program" right now, [Schools in Utah compete by reading. Schools with most recorded minutes will get a visit from a Utah Jazz basketball team member. Timpanogos has been a winning school every year since Ellie was in Kindergarten!] and the students have been asked to read at least 60 minutes a day.  Ellie's doubled that every day, since the contest began.  Fingers crossed!

Nine years old has proven itself to be a lot of fun.  Ellie and I craft together, watch movies together, make treats together, and laugh A LOT.  I've always dreaded the thought of my kids getting older. I mean, who wants their kids to grow up?  But, I have to say that I'm enjoying the stage with Ellie. Having a nine year old bff daughter is pretty cool. Now.... how to keep her from turning ten.