Natalie's birthday fell in the middle of a lot of craziness since Joe broke his ankle but hopefully it was a good one for her. We made some crepes for breakfast for her. I had to take Joe in for his surgery consult that day and Becca was nice enough to watch Eve for us. She sent me this picture of her enjoying lunch at their house:
Natalie was in the middle of a crazy time for her with rehearsals after school for the high school play, plus water polo practice (which she later dropped in order to do drivers ed), plus practicing for the state drama competition which she performed in. We waited for her to get home before having the kale salad she requested and ice cream sandwiches made from our favorite Haagen-Dazs flavors. She got some gifts, including an iphone so she was thrilled about that. We changed the rule slightly from when Lizzie got a smart phone--she was 16 and it was the middle of her sophomore year--to just middle of sophomore year since Natalie is so young for her grade. She also got some other little things like The Office merch:
She got these balloons and then entertained us all by singing "Sound of Silence" in a helium-chipmunk voice:
We also were able to get the tree up and decorated like we normally do on her birthday:
Natalie grew and experienced a lot during the past year. Moving, starting at a new school, trying all sorts of new activities and meeting new people will do that. I love that about her--she is always willing to try new things and not just half-heartedly; she throws herself into them. She is such a hard worker and her hard work pays off. She started voice lessons in Clovis and then continued them with Becca when we came to Idaho and her singing has improved so much. She also has improved a lot in her acting skills since joining the drama team and working hard at that. I love to watch her face light up when she talks about an upcoming performance. She comes across so fearless, although I know she does get scared. She's so good at doing in anyway even when she's scared and doing it well.
She worked so hard physically on the swim team, too. She got really fast at freestyle and had some opportunities to race in relays because of that. She improved her times a lot. She didn't finish the season as strong as she'd hoped she would but again, she had a lot going on. I was impressed when she joined the water polo team, too, since that is so physically grueling and I think she was sad to have to quite to take drivers ed. She's not afraid of a challenge.
She still excelled in school all year, even with the challenge of Covid and at-home learning for basically a year. She was so eager to make friends when we moved to Idaho and is the kind of person that goes out of her way to be nice to people and put herself out there even though it's scary. She has made friends and has such a kind heart that people naturally gravitate towards.
She developed a strong love of NBC comedies over the past year and watched quite a few of them during Covid. She loves introducing us to the best episodes to get us hooked and wanting more :). She loves studying up on the behind the scenes of the shows. She also became an even better baker and chef over the past year. She can make basically anything she wants to these days and she does it well. She loves food like me and I love appreciating good food with her. She is a wonderful big sister and makes us all laugh frequently. I love her empathy and care for others and her family.
We love our Natalie!
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