Sweet girl,

Here we are on your 5th birthday, and I’m not quite sure I have the words to describe you… Your personality just keeps getting bigger & bigger, and so does your heart. Last night as I was putting you to bed, you asked me if we could share our highs & lows for the day, which is fairly common. Your highs last night were “being 4,” “spending time with my family,” and “having a little sister” & my heart just about burst out of my chest. You are so full of love, kiddo, and it makes my mama heart so proud.

You can’t wait for kindergarten, and have loved being in your dance classes this year. You still get eaten up by mosquitos like nobody’s business, you’ve lost two teeth, and this summer, you learned to swim.

You are still obsessed with dresses, but now you want them to be fancy ones! And those high heels that you got for your daddy daughter dance are your most common choice of footwear – unless it’s your flip flops!

You display your emotions with all the commitment of an award-winning actress, which sometimes makes for some funny facial expressions! But mostly, sweet girl, you laugh. And I love it!

My heart already hurts to think that in just a few years I won’t be able to get photos like this one on the right… you’ll just keep growing & while I know that means our relationship will grow too, I know I’ll miss this perspective of looking down at that sweet face.

Some of your favorite things from this past year are:

• Moana, Henry Hugglemonster, Octonauts, Boss Baby, Despicable Me 3, & Tinkerbell movies (you’re still constantly asking us for “an episode”! You also tend to “let” us choose what to put on, “as long as it’s something new.”)
• Unicorns
• Lunchables, granola bars & the little lollipops you get at the end of dance class
• The “5 Minute Stories” series of books
• Rapunzel – even though you’ve never seen Tangled, you read a book about her & decided she’s your favorite – which makes your book-loving mama pretty happy!
• Playing family with Pumpkin, and recently you’ve both started to call each other Max & Brooke while you play and it always makes me laugh
• Swimming
• The beach
• Feeding the animals at the local feed store
• Finding other kids to play with at the pool or the beach
• Listening to the CD of songs from Vacation Bible School in my car, and listening to The Beach Boys in Pops’ truck
• Playing/fighting with your sister
• Playing Eye-Spy in the car or making up your own games to play (with rules that I sometimes can’t follow, but you’re quick to remind me if I play incorrectly!)

Those cheeks of yours still turn rosy after just a few minutes in the heat!

Your hair is still pretty much always wild, and while it drives me crazy trying to tame it in the mornings & seeing how wild it is when I pick you up from school, photos like this make me appreciate how that beautiful wild & free hair fits your personality so well.

I absolutely adore this photo of you, Peanut!

Sweet girl, this year has had a lot of good moments & a lot of tough moments. You have a strong will to go along with that big heart of yours, and that can make for some battles in our house, but I am glad you’re strong. You’ll need to be as you continue to grow up. But my hope & prayer is that I can continue to cultivate that loving heart along with that strength of will. Because you’ll need that too. (Although the way you love & care for others, I have a feeling you might be cultivating my heart more than I am yours.)

Thank you for continually teaching me to slow down, to play, to apologize, to find wonder in the little things, to find joy in the everyday, and to be a better version of myself. Thank you for making me laugh, making me work on my patience, and for sharing highs & lows with me.

I love you to the moon & back!! Happy birthday, sweet girl!