11 Years

Karissa had her 11th birthday on Saturday and we celebrated with a bang! My mom and Jim are here, so we had planned to go to the movies with them to see Wonder anyhow, why not on the birthday? We also wanted to go to PF Chang's to get a bunch of flight miles with our credit card before the end of the year, so we used her birthday for an excuse for that as well. We all felt really special going to the movies and right to dinner at a nice restaurant! Karissa enjoyed those activities and working on the crafts she got as gifts (kinetic sand, making slime, coloring, and helping with her own cake and frosting the cake). That's her kind of stuff.

Very excited for her slime gift! (Thanks, Aunt Karina!)

Kinetic Sand

Kinetic Sand Cake

PF Chang's (Erik slipped out just in time to not be in the pic)

...but, we were able to get him eating his noodles!! 

The cake had the best chocolate frosting I have ever made!

Victoria had a little too much chocolate frosting, apparantly, Grandpa did too!

 We had just returned from a trip to Chicago to use up our passes to the Museum of Science and Industry the day before, which a a fast, but exciting road trip!

Getting our free hot chocoalte with our membership perks.

Mirror maze, the coolest!!!

Steering the ship.

This ship from Norway is called the Jason!

Michigan race car

Clowning around

Farming the land.

My camera just missed the video Austin was watching about fertilization in the genetics section.

Karissa is really maturing. What she doesn't have in size, she makes up for with her heart and mind. Her teacher is preparing the class for middle school and encouraging them to be independent in all their responsibilities, which is very helpful for me! She is improving at the piano, loves school and most of the subjects in school, and we're looking into tumbling classes to prepare her for the next cheer season. She loves to read, do crafts (especially if it has to do with slime), getting craft ideas from YouTube, playing Minecraft with her siblings, science, and anything to do with nature. She has started a club with her friends called the Unicats Club. They're great friends!

We love our Karissa. Happy birthday!!