Ellia at 10

As hard as it is to believe my goddaughter Kylinn is 13, it's harder to believe that her little sister, Ellia, is 10. I was there when Ellia was born, which will always be special to me. Watching her grow up has been a delight.

Ellia at 10 (affiliate link)

Each year, it seems like one of the girls' layouts comes together much easier than the other. This time, Ellia's was the challenge. When I pulled the black of her outfit or her purple hair, the page was too dark and heavy for this happy, sassy, imaginative girl. The page worked so much better when I switched to the lighter background with pinks. 

Looking back at her 9 previous pages, I've used a lot of different colors and to capture expressive and creative Ellia as she's grown. But many of the words I've used to describe her have stayed the same from year to year, which is true for Kylinn and Trevor as well. It's so interesting to me that their personalities as preteens/teens are the basically the same as when they were toddlers.