Eleven. Harry Potters 11th birthday is a pivotal moment where he learns he’s a wizard and receives his Hogwarts acceptance letter. Arabella decided to have a Harry Potter themed birthday… and she wanted to invite friends! We printed a letter similar to the one above and sent it to her friends. It was on beautiful award paper and sealed with a wax seal. She was able to invite 10 friends. She invited: Korina, Lexi, Amira, Arya, Sethanne, Bella, Jacqueline, Alice, and a couple of other friends from GS. 6 of them showed up! We didn’t get a photo of all of them together… I’m not sure how I missed that but we did get a photo of most of them.

But let’s back it up a bit. On the night of the 26th I had soooooo much to do. So much decorating and prep work went into this. Cleaning, decorating, crafting, etc. In no means was it professional but I had so much to do and I hope that it made her feel as special as she is. I stayed up until 4AM decorating. Thank heavens I had help because I could not do it on my own. The backdrop kept wanting to tear and was such a mess but we finally got it to work. By 3 am when I was stringing the letters my fingers were so tired and I kept dropping them but I finished and I was pretty proud of the outcome.

On the 27th we had her family birthday. JJ came and brought her a whole pack of magic feathers. The cousins came and gave her a bunch of cool goodies. We had pizza and ice-cream cake with her face on it. She seemed to have fun. Then on the 28th was her party with all of her friends. They sort of watched the movie but they mostly just ran around like crazy pre-teens. Popcorn was everywhere, they drank butterbeer out of tea cups, and probably ate more sweets than they should have.

Each kid was sent home with a wand, a small owl, a little calming potion, and any of the snacks that they wanted to take. I would say for her first party it was a hit. She did decide to be Ravenclaw for the day but insists that in her heart she is a Hufflepuff. I’m okay with that.

The whole Family took a sorting quiz and here is how it panned out:

Grammy: Ravenclaw

Grampy: Gryffindor

Daddy: Hufflepuff

Mommy: Ravenclaw

Arabella: Ravenclaw- but choose Hufflepuff

Elijah: Skewed his quiz so he could be Slytherin

The two littles… are undecided.

Eleven!!! How is she eleven you ask?!? I don’t know. It just happened. I remember when she was just a tiny squishy who loved dancing and dressing up and wanting to hold my hand. Now she’s into makeup, books, and trying to watch random people make things on youtube. She still wants to cook when she grows up. Her favorite color is still pink. But she has such a strong and beautiful personality that really shows how grown she has become. Hold on world… she is going to be a force to be reckoned with. She truly is little but fierce. Smart and kind and strong. AND… now she steals my clothes that I wore when I was in my late teens/ early twenties. HAHAH! How has this happened?!

A few more field trips were checked off our list! The snow melted enough for us to get out and take the kids to see meteorologist Mark Nelsen. Arabella, loving everything about weather was so excited. She wasn’t the only kid who enjoyed it though… Elijah and Luca did as well. Ezra, well… not so much. He was not a fan. We all walked away with some fun science and history that pertained to the pacific northwest.

Arabella found an abandoned fish at McDonald’s. We brought him home and he only made it a week. The poor guy died right before her birthday. We took him out of the tiny jar he was in and moved him to something bigger but he just didn’t make it.

We also took the kids to see the Auto Show. Their favorite thing was riding in all of the new cars… especially when they went fast!

But mostly… I have been party planning. Arabella wanted to have a Harry Potter birthday this year. Ironically age 11 is known as the “Harry Potter Birthday” because it is the age he found out he was a wizard. I did not know this before planning her birthday. Her quiz said that she was a Ravenclaw but she decided she wanted to be Hufflepuff instead. Anyway I have spent countless hours ordering decorations, finding everything butterbeer that I could, making letters that would float, hand making wands for party favors and handmaking random treats and things for her birthday. Hopefully it goes well. Needless to say I am absolutely exhausted. Of course she is worth it. I want all of my kids to know that I am glad they were born and that their birthdays are special. I will always “burn the candle” during birthday season… because I want them to feel extra special.

2025 is well on its way… so much has already happened. Our school fieldtrips have gone really well. We started off celebrating MLK Jr and all that he stood for. We visited the local spots that honored him and the church that he visited while he was in town. The kids soaked in the history with excitement and curiosity. We also watched some videos and read some books on his life and others who stood for civil rights.

Elijah and Arabella have still been going to Kids Quest and Breakout regularly. They really enjoy their Tuesday evenings at GS. Arabella was selling tomato plants so her friends could go on a trip to Colorado this spring. I probably bought more than I should and have no idea where I am going to put them. Elijah sold a few too to help her out. It’s amazing how grown up they are. Elijah got noticed for being a good listener at Kids Quest. I’m not surprised. That kid has such a great heart. When we are at NH the teachers always rave about how much of a joy he is to have in their classes. He likes to tell them that he wants to be a pastor someday. But he also wants to drive monster trucks and be an NBA player.

School has been hit or miss. They loved going to the Chinese New year event at their school. Arabella even brought a friend. Elijah is obsessed with learning anything about the Titanic and other shipwrecks. I miss the dinosaur days and though he still loves dinosaurs it’s not like it once was. He is growing up so much and it is crazy because I still see my tiny little guy when I look at him. Arabella loves history as well. She isn’t into Egyptology as she once was but still enjoys learning general history. Her real passion these days is Science. She loves anything meteorology. When she grows up she wants to be a cook or an artist.

To close out January and to ring in February we made our annual trip to the Portland Winter Light Festival. We saw some of our favorite art installations and visited a few new ones. I was bummed they no longer had a google maps for the event because it made it more difficult to navigate but we still had a lot of fun. We even geeked out over running into one of our favorite meteorologists.