Sarah's 11th Birthday!

 Sarah turned 11 on January 26th!

At 11 years old, Sarah:

- is still very tall, 5 ft 5.5 inches (99.9 percentile), weighs 108 lbs (89th percentile), for a perfect BMI at 54th percentile.

- is sassy, sweet, happy, friendly, enthusiastic, smart, and messy!

- LOVES dance, particularly ballet and is VERY happy at her new dance studio.  She is being praised by her new dance teachers for her work ethic, attitude, and technique!  What a wonderful encouraging environment for her and such a change from our previous situation.

- LOVES sloths!  She got lots of new sloth swag for Christmas and her birthday!

- LOVES to read. She constantly has multiple books going at once and they are usually spread around her bedroom in various stages of being read.  She's the point leader at school for the "Accelerated Reader" program and gets to be principal for the day on February 1st as a reward for earning so many points reading!

- likes to cook and did an amazing job making us whole meals when we were all home more during the pandemic.

- is still organizationally challenged and is constantly leaving hair pins and hair binders, etc around the house, leaving lights on everywhere, and can't seem to clean up after herself when cooking.  She still earns the nickname Sloberella McSassy Pants!

A little brag time about my baby girl...

Recentlly, her new dance studio started a program rewarding the dancers for exhibiting qualities that make up their "Premiere Pillars".  These are an acronym for the studio name, Premiere:  Promote compassion, Respect all, Empower each other, Make every moment count, Inspire and be inspired, Exceed expectations, Remain fearless, Embrace what makes us unique.  The teachers hand out slips for kids exemplifying these qualities.  The very first day they started doing this, Sarah came home with one and was called out in class in front of her team for doing a great job!  She also got another one the next class and the next.  She now has 4!  She will be entered in a drawing to win prizes, but frankly, the praise means more than any prize. It is so nice to be somewhere that she is recognized and encouraged. What a positive environment! We are so happy for her!

Sarah will also be auditioning at Ballet Royale for their summer intensive in ballet and she is SO excited to do ballet all day every day for 3 weeks this summer!

Here is the arabesque photo her ballet teacher took the other day that she has to bring to her audition (along with a headshot). 

Sarah's birthday party was low key, as have all our pandemic birthdays!  We have all had COVID and I have been vaccinated, so we felt OK having Nanny and Grandpa come over to join us for dinner and cake.  

Sarah got lots of fun sloth stuff for her birthday!

I can't believe my baby girl is 11 years old already!  Time goes slowly some days, but every year goes faster than the one before it. Sarah is such a beautiful girl inside and out and we are blessed she is ours!