Lily,
I know I say this as each year passes, but I can hardly grasp that FIVE years ago tonight, I was in a hospital room, holding you, counting your fingers and toes, and staring in amazement at God's precious new gift in my life. Time is flying by and I love the ride we are on with you! In your fourth year, you've started big girl pre-K. You've learned to write your own name, both first and last without any help, you are starting to read sight words, and love working on addition and subtraction problems. You are still a very shy little girl in groups, but have definitely come out of your shell to make new friends at both school and church this year. You are still taking gymnastics and have improved so much this year. You are almost doing cartwheels and handstands by yourself! You are a great big sister and love to help "mother" Bear most of the time. You have shown more of a stubborn side to your personality this year, which while frustrating to me at times, I know it will be an important part of you as you grow. I pray the Lord will use this to develop you into a strong, driven young lady who stands up for what she knows is right! You are starting to really pray meaningful prayers and I see such compassion and sensitivity in your words as you are expressing thanks for the people you love and your concern for those sick and hurting. You are the ultimate "Daddy's girl" - and he wouldn't have it any other way either! When asked what you want to be when you grow up, your response is always "a mommy"! How reassuring this is to me, especially when I feel like I'm failing miserably at being a parent! I am so thankful for the joy you bring to our family - what a blessing it is to be your mom!
To celebrate your birthday, we had dinner on Tuesday night at your favorite "Chick-a-lay" as you and Bear call it! You had your usual chicken nuggets and sweet tea and then got to open a few gifts. We even brought you a cookie cake - sugar cookie, not chocolate - to have! You loved the flip flops, outfit, and pillow pet that you got from Mammy, Paw, and Unc! Nanny was in town visiting and got to join us too!
For your actual birthday today, I brought cupcakes to your class to enjoy after lunch. I loved watching you beam as your classmates sang Happy Birthday to you! I, of course, teared up, because it doesn't seem like you should be old enough to have 19 friends in a classroom, singing to you! What am I going to do when you start kindergarten in the fall??
After school, you were devastated to discover that we missed the mailman - and your package from Mimi and Grandaddy and wouldn't be able to get it until tomorrow. To help ease the disappointment, I gave you a gift from us - the new Bambi movie - and the tears were gone! A few hours later, the doorbell rang with another birthday surprise, your gift from Uncle Travis and Aunt Jaclynn.
We are celebrating your birthday with a tea party with a few little friends on Saturday, so more birthday stories to come! Happy Birthday angel - we love you bunches and bunches!
