Anna you have grown so much this year physically, mentally and emotionally. You are still the brightest and happiest little person I’ve ever met and you continue to amaze me with your thoughtfulness and mature social ease. You make everyone around you feel good and special. I have numerous people weekly tell me that you are a joy to be around, or that they receive the kindest compliments from you. You are finishing 5th grade and have loved being in Mrs. Dutcher’s class. You have a big friendship group at school who are your world! Nine girls- Audrey, Maddie, Hadley, Reagen, Ruby, Olivia, Annie, and Cosette. You love these girls so much and you all enjoy doing dance class together, girl scouts, surf camp, horse camp, summer swim parties, and sleepovers. You also have your best friend Kate Judd who is a grade younger than you but who you spend most of your time with! And then of course there’s Nora and Millie who are very special to you. You are a people person and always eager to be in the mix, on the go, with anyone and everyone.
Anna- you are very much into music! You adore singing and especially dancing. You are seriously quite talented at dancing and you make fun of me for smiling so big at you while you dance. I can’t help it! I am genuinely in awe of your dance skills! I’m a horrible dancer and so It amazes me to watch you!! You love to make up dances, attend dance class (you have two days of 3 hours of classes a week) listen to music all day long, and sing at the top of your lungs. You love Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter and Charlie Puth. You attended two concerts last year at 10 years old and you loved it! First- Lizzie McAlpine in Salt Lake City, one of Evelyn’s favorite singers. And secondly, a Morgan Wallen concert in San Diego that was actually a little on the wild side and maybe not my brightest idea! Haha… you were a little out of your element but you really enjoyed the music and you looked adorable in your cowgirl garb.
You are a helper in our family and in life. You look for the person in need and you take care of them. At home, you know when I’m frustrated or overwhelmed and you always know what to say or how to help. On Mother’s day, you created an entire display of pictures of me on the kitchen table, just as I do for your birthday and it was so sweet. You are certainly messy and so keeping your room clean is a challenge. You like to collect little things and those things pile up and become a mess in your room on a frequent basis, but you are also surprisingly good at organizing and when you have the mission and purpose in mind, you can organize anything! You love watching closet organization shows and I adore when you organize my bathroom and bedroom drawers, or your bedroom. You are kind of a mystery in that way because I would definitely not describe you as neat and tidy, yet you do have a gift for organizing when you want to do so! But overall you are just a very giving person. You give the best hugs and kisses and back rubs for dad. You do an awesome skin care routine for Dane and pedicure for me; you love to serve everyone in our family.
Anna- you are a hard worker. You put your heart and soul into everything you do. Reading and math have not come easy to you. You have to work extra hard in order to understand and decode the words. You have to review and re-review math concepts and memorize math facts in order to keep up. You go to two days of extra reading tutoring with Jasmine and two days of math tutoring with Miss Anna each week. This is no fun for you but you have an amazing attitude because you want to do well. You are responsible with your math and reading homework and you are always on top of assignments. I love watching you work hard to learn and grow and never give up.
Anna- you have an incredible attitude and way of seeing life. You always look for the good. You always bring light to everyone around you. You don’t mind the hard things, because you are able to almost always see the silver lining. You might break down here and there, but you are usually able to recover quite quickly and even laugh at yourself and all that life throws your way. There have been so many times when you’ve taught me to laugh at the problem instead of get angry. You notice small details and you are a grateful person. You live in the moment and love to swing outside, run around, ride your bike, swim, play in the waves at the ocean, sing in the shower, paint your nails all sorts of beautiful colors and then take the polish off and do it again just for kicks.
This year you played basketball and volleyball with Kate and you did an amazing job! You learned how to surf and make your own smoothies. You sang in chorus and tried out for Seussical the Musical- you got the role of Who captain of the cheerleaders:). Your favorite food is fruit and spaghetti with meat sauce. You love boba tea and jamba juice and acai bowls and pineapple juice. You enjoy watching Jessie on the Disney channel and much to my annoyance- Dance Moms on Netflix. You still play pretend though you’ve hidden most of your dolls under your bed- but you love to pull them out and play house and barbies and lego girls. You make adorable to-do lists and have an extensive skin care routine in the evenings.
Anna- I could go on and on. You just are one in a million and I love everything about you. Love our conversations and love cuddling with you. Thank you for bringing so much joy and happiness into my life and for being the most amazing kid I know. I can only imagine you have SO MUCH to give and contribute to this world. You are special and wonderful in every way. Happy 11th birthday sweetie!
