Karianna is 9!

Happy Birthday to Karianna!!!!

She's had two parties so far (technically three if you count her classroom party today), but I still have to dedicate a post to Karianna as my brand new 9-year-old!  Here are some of the noteworthy things about Karianna:

1. Karianna is super responsible and capable, even at the young age of 9.  I can trust her with so many things, like babysitting James, getting lunches/snacks, doing more complicated chores, walking to activity days on her own, taking care of her own money/jewelry, doing her homework, studying for tests, etc.  The list could go on and on.  Perhaps this is the result of being the first child of many, but these are traits that seem embedded in her, which is awesome.
2. Karianna is confident.  I am so SO proud of her in this area.  I was worried for a long time that she was struggling to believe in herself and not be so hard on herself.  She has come so far.  Last year she was in a talent show and just did a great job.  She sang a duet-sometimes solo- in the primary program and did awesome.  She tackled swim team this summer and really believed in herself. She started this school year with an attitude that absolutely evidenced her confidence.  It is beautiful to see her evolving in this manner as a young woman.
3. Kind of on the same note, Karianna has a great deal more confidence when it comes to learning.  Things have always come so natural to her, she used to freak out if something was hard or if she didn't do so well.  She isn't doing that so much anymore!  We have had many moments in the last few weeks where she has brought home some math homework that unfortunately her teacher isn't teaching so well (that's another story).  Karianna has come to me in every case and asked me to teach her how to do it-and then she lets me teach her.  She hasn't always done that in the past!  She will ask questions, answer my questions, and then take it upon herself to make up her own practice problems once she catches on.  Yesterday she was doing 3 digit by 3 digit multiplication that her teacher had just put on the board, told the kids to copy it and figure it out.....again, not going to comment on the teaching strategy, but Karianna was a bit confused by the box strategy her teacher was trying to show.  She caught on with me guiding her through it within 5 minutes and now is just so confident.  I realize this is a long #3, but it is just so awesome seeing her do so well and KNOWING she is capable of it.  
4. Karianna is a smart cookie. I know that is assumed in #3, but she just is.  Her 4th grade work is all extension work right now as much as possible because she needs it to keep progressing.  She still loves to do spelling bee format when we review her spelling words, and I continue to be impressed with her ability to "see" words in her head.  She is super proud that she has passed off mathblasters through 7th grade, the highest level you can go.  
5. Karianna takes a lot of care to put outfits, jewelry, and hairstyles together each morning.  She pretty much does it on her own, unless I feel like doing something more complex with her hair.  Her confidence level in this area is fun to see as well, especially as she grows older.
6. Karianna's musical talents are growing!  She is loving violin and is progressing nicely even in the 3 weeks she's been doing orchestra.  She still loves to sing and readily accepted the challenge to sing a solo in the primary program this year.  In the last week, she has been asked by 2 different parties of people to sing the solo just for kicks-she did it both times and sounded beautiful-pretty much made me cry.  I'm going to lose it during the actual primary program at the end of October...
7. Karianna continues to love art.  She draws all the times, or sketches might be a better word.  She also loves to make art projects, I just have to make sure to provide her with construction paper, glue, and markers that work.  
8. Karianna loves going to achievement day activities twice a month.  She has passed off all her year one goals (and several year 2 actually) and has memorized all her articles of faith, with the exception (I think) of 13.  I have challenged her to bear her testimony in church-that is something that makes her nervous, so she is working up the courage to do that next month.  
9. James loves Karianna.  I mentioned she is a great babysitter for him, and it is true because he loves her-he will ignore the other kids or get mad at them if they try to do something with/for him...but he listens to Karianna.  It's such a lovely relationship, and I hope it continues as he gets bigger.  She loves the other kids too, but as with most siblings, she gets frustrated with JD and Jordan bugging her or doing boy things she doesn't care for, and she gets frustrated with Sara touching all her things all the time (I don't blame her for that one).  However, she will go and play silly olympic/chase type games with the boys, and she will pull Sara aside and give her a dance/gymnastics lesson randomly.  I think underneath the slightly teenager-attitude, she really does like her siblings.  

I'll stop there since Karianna is 9 and that is 9 things!  We sure do love Karianna and I just cannot believe time has gone so fast-I have a young woman on my hands, and she exceeds every expectation I may have had when it comes to my oldest daughter.  Happy Birthday Kariana, we love you!