SIX!

My baby is six years old! 

Honestly, her life has not flown by like I hear so many moms say.  Can I remember her being a baby?  Absolutely!  But I has seemed like six years.  I barely remember life without her.  I don’t know what I would do without someone to take care of.  But it has seemed like 6 years.

I am thankful for that too.  I want to feel like I have had her for 6 years, that I have been present for her days, that I have enjoyed them, that I have lived through them (ha!), that we have experienced them together.

There she is, the morning of her birthday, February 23.  She was so excited to put her 6 year old shirt on…look at those sleepy eyes.

She had been planning her party FOREVER and came up with the theme eons ago…Tangled.  I made her a banner with the Tangled sun on it and hung it up in the hallway so she would be surprised when she woke up.

We hung some purple balloons too…classy decorations-ha!

Matthew took her to breakfast that morning and I am so sad that there is not a picture of that…oh well.  There is always next year.

Matthew had conferences at his school that night, so he didn’t get to join in on our festivities.  He was sad and I was too!  I’m so glad that got to spend the morning together, over donuts, though.

Elyn, Rives and I went to her school for lunch.  (I always look at pictures of Elyn on “non-school” days and am baffled by her clothing choices…that girl has her own style, that’s for sure!  She gets to pick out her clothes for T/Th and I get to “help” on M/W/F.)

Nora has been talking about this birthday sticker for WEEKS. She was so excited to get it!  She even put it on her pajamas that night and slept with it…sweet girl!

Nora and her sweet friends…Isabella and Lydia.  She loves those girls!

After we picked up Nora from school. we headed to get our toenails and fingernails painted…such a treat for us all!

They loved their nails!

I told Nora we could eat wherever she wanted to eat…her choice!

Her choice:

Not MY favorite, but not my birthday.  The girls had a great time and Nora hit the jackpot when she got 55 tickets on a game.

Two stickers now!  The Chuck E Cheese one got put on the pajamas too.

After dinner, dessert!

Showing off her nails in this picture:

My brother-in-law said, “Between the seatbelt and the “club”, Rives isn’t going anywhere!” Ha!  I guess it does look like he is in prison-haha!

Sadly, this is where the pictures end.  By the time we left TCBY, Nora was DONE with the day…very tired and crying.  When Matthew got home, we opened presents and rushed everyone off to bed.  Even though the end of the day was not the best, I hope she has good memories of all the fun we had throughout the day!

Nora,

Happy birthday baby girl!  You made us “dad” and “mom”, thank you for that!  This year has been such a growing one for you!

You started kindergarten and absolutely love it!  You are sad on days you don’t get to go and, after the first week, don’t complain too much about getting up in the mornings.  You love your teacher, Mrs. W, and have some good friends in your class.  There is one little boy in your class, “Conner”, and he doesn’t stay in y’alls class very much of the day.  I assume he is in some special needs classes.  When we were making your birthday list, you specifically mentioned him and said, “No one has invited “Conner” to a party…we need to invite him too.”  I love that you thought of Conner!

Your daddy and I are always rookies when it comes to you.  I’m sorry that we have to test everything out on you…that stinks for you!  Being the oldest can be wonderful and extremely frustrating.  We are probably more uptight with you than we will be when Elyn and Rives are your age.  We don’t want to mess you up and, because of that, we tend to “overdo”.  Thankfully you haven’t held that against us…yet.

You have a sweet heart and already show us how you love God.  You love going to Bible class and do a great job of retelling details of the lessons to us, afterwards.  You love to sing praise music and I’m impressed with how much you can remember from songs.

You still LOVE television and movies.  Much to your disappointment, though, you don’t get to watch very much of either.  Since we get home so late (around 4:20 most days) by the time you have played, done your homework, eaten dinner, gotten ready for bed and we have read together and said prayers there isn’t time for tv or movies.

We still shelter you in regards to entertainment.  You don’t really get on the computer and play any internet games.  I am sure you are in the minority in your class when it comes to “gaming”.  You love the Wii but mostly you love to bowl on the Wii.  We don’t play on the Wii very often.  As far as tv watching, we still limit it to Disney or Nick Jr…and you are perfectly ok with that, and so are we!  You have your entire life to be exposed to “older” things.  If you still want to watch Mickey Mouse and Phineas and Ferb, we are NOT going to discourage that!  You also prefer Disney movies to just about anything else.  I love your innocence and it will break my heart the day you “learn” something mature.  I don’t shelter you out of my own naivety…I fully intend to introduce you to topics on a more age appropriate timeline.  I hope we can talk openly and I can be honest about not so naïve subjects one day…I just don’t want “Hollywood” to be the one to decide when those conversations should take place.

You have pretty much the exact same friends you have had your whole life….Gibson (#1), John David, Elyn, Sterling.  You have made new friends too, sweet, sweet friends in your class.  But, if I were to ask you who you wanted to invite over to play you would tell me Gibson first and follow with other friends after that.  I think it is so sweet that you two are still best friends.  I have no fairy tale dream that you will be each others bridesmaids in your weddings one day (I really hope you will though) but I am thankful that your friendship is 6 years old!

You still sleep with your two pink blankets, every night.  Just like you did when you were one.

You love to draw and color and write.  You love to sit with books and could for a long time.

You probably could still get a nap every day….kindergarten and its busy schedule does not allow for that though.  You fall asleep on the way home at least 2 out of 5 days.  When it is time for bed, you are READY to sleep and it drives you insane if Elyn keeps you up.  She does a lot of things to annoy you…little sister right, I guess.

I love you so much Nora!  You are a precious little girl!  You have a personality that baffles us at times, very emotional!  I pray that God will use all that emotion to serve Him.  Thank you for teaching me to more gentle and think before speaking.  I love you and your heart!