Eliza is Seven!

My baby girl is seven years old! How does life happen so fast? Eliza is a delightful girl who loves life. She really is so positive about almost everything. She is always conscience of people's feelings and won't intentionally do anything to make anyone feel bad. I can't tell you the number of times I have heard her exclaim this is the best day (weekend, trip, night, etc.) ever! 

Eliza had been looking forward to her birthday since her last birthday and had picked out what she wanted to have as her birthday treat since about six months ago--crepes! My sweet girl didn't consider what she would like as a present or what she wanted to do special that day, but she just had her eye of the prize of crepes. :)

This was our first kid birthday in our house and so we had the balloon carwash at the bottom of the stairs. Grandpa (I mean the jungle gym!) came over for a visit too.

Of course we did make her crepes. She is getting bigger but still loves to help me in the kitchen, when I can pry her away from her books. 

For dinner she picked out mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. I added chicken, cantaloupe, and salad to the menu. :)

I just love her enthusiasm about everything! She loves school. She loves being home. She loves playing. Okay, she does not love working, especially Saturday cleaning. It seems like every week she has to shed a few tears and 'get over' having to do the cleaning. Bless her heart. I have heard, "Kids are happy to do any given chore until they have the capability to do it well, then they don't want to do it anymore." This could describe Eliza.

Eliza still makes a big deal about not liking chocolate, but she will eat almost anything else, so I can't complain. At her 7-year checkup she weighed 41.8 lbs which put her in the 9th percentile. She was 46 3/4 inches tall which put her in the 30%. She does like to eat though, so she must have inherited her daddy's metabolism.

Oh I love her! She just suggested to me that for her next birthday treat she might like muffins made with all-purpose flour and lots of sugar and blueberries, but no walnuts. Oh what a character!

Eliza with her birthday crepes.

This was the other thing she was truly thrilled about. Receiving presents. Grandma Lucas gave her The Secret Garden which she read three times in the next couple of days. We also gave her a disco ball and had a little dance party, but the girls bonked heads pretty bad, so we had to stop and get some band-aids. Grandpa Deru gave her a rainbow loom. We gave her a new bike and some new gear to hopefully learn how to ride without training wheels.

Eliza has been writing a lot of stories recently. She calls them her Miracle Series. She types them herself on the computer. Here is the one she wrote most recently. 

Miracle: Raspberry Bush Wishing

Once there was a raspberry bush named Eliza. Her owner wanted to make a raspberry pie and she wanted to help. But Eliza only had 10 raspberries and her owner needed 15. She looked around and spotted 3 more raspberries! She wished she had 2 more. What she didn't know was that she had wishing buds. Whatever you wished for would appear in their place. That instant, Eliza had 2 more raspberries. So she had 15.

THE  END

We are grateful everyday for this wonderful girl! We are still reading the Narnia books together and about to finish the sixth book with only one to go. She is a phenomenal big sister. She is very responsible for her age. Recently we had parent-teacher conferences with her teacher. Miss Howard started out with, "I just want to let you know first that I don't have any concerns with Eliza academically or socially." Well, of course! I know I am pretty partial, but I think this girl is about as good as it gets! I am constantly surprised by how smart this girl is. She is learning her times tables and she is only in first grade! She reads almost constantly so she often is reciting things that she is learning to us. I love it!

Eliza, I love you so much! I am constantly impressed by your loving nature and thoughtfulness of others. I am so proud of the girl you are becoming. I love how much you love the gospel, singing, reading, and being with your family. It is a joy to be your mother! Recently we decided to estimate how many times I have said 'I love you' to you in your life. We came up approximately 24,510 times of saying 'I love you.' I don't know how accurate that is, but I can tell you this: I couldn't possibly say it enough. You make me want to be a better person, and you are a delight to those around you. Thank you for being such an amazing girl!