I have a 5 Year Old?

I can hardly imagine a time when this sweet smile wasn't a part of my day. This girl has brought joy, laughter and occasional frustration into our lives, but I wouldn't change a bit of it or her.
OC has a tradition of calling the children up on stage once a month to celebrate birthdays. ( all the names are read, we sing to them and a sweet prayer is said) I took pics on her first one and now we are on number 5!!! I really don't believe it. Her sweet friend Avery was part of January's blessing also.

On her actual birthday Nana, Papa, Uncle Jeremy and the Gilreath's (along with Mommy, Daddy and Christian) celebrated with a small pizza party at the house. She loved Tangled (Disney movie about Rapunzel) and her Daddy found her a wig and dress while we were in New York. Mommy was going to pass, but Daddy knew his little girl would look sooo cute and of course she did.

We kept with the theme and had Publix do a Tangled cake

the boys singing to the birthday girl

Mommy is so proud of her sweet girl

A few presents...some cd's for her new player, some Hello Kitty things and LOTS of Barbies. HK and Barbie are her "new things" that she is into

Baylor~ You are a mover and a shaker. You start your day off running across the floor to our room (love hearing those little feet) and you keep on going until we make you go to bed. Downtime really isn't in your vocabulary. Your smile and laugh lights up any room. You have so much fun playing with friends. Especially dress-up or Mom and Dad. Disney princess' are still a big favorite, but you are moving on to Hello Kitty and Barbie too. To say you love music and dancing is almost an understatement. You are in Pre-K three days a week and LOVE learning/being with your friends. Going to church, ballet, tap and gymnastics round out your week. Once again, mostly about moving, flipping or dancing. You do love your class at church and learning about Jesus. You work so hard at learning your memory verses and remembering the stories. I know God has many great plans in store for you and I can't wait to witness it.

You have a very sweet heart, but can be a little cranky...especially with your brother. For all that you say you love him you seem to get a kick out of annoying him too! Not that he doesn't do his fair share:) I enjoy the glimpses I get into what your future relationship might look like.

You are a daddy's girl. Your favorite jammies right now are your "I love Daddy" ones...you love showing them off and telling anyone you can how much you love your daddy. It is definitely returned b/c he can't get enough of his girl. If he is working or in school late, you make me promise that he will come kiss you when he gets home. I love watching the two of you together.

Not that you don't enjoy some good mommy time too. We enjoy are two "us only" days a week and I know I will miss that next year when you are in full time school. I (and so many others) am caught off guard sometimes by your beauty. I had no idea what a beautiful little girl you would turn into when I held that skinny 6 lbs five years ago. We are working hard to make sure our attitude/behavior matches what everyone sees on the outside. You have your own ideas about what you want to do AND how they should be done-that can be a little frustrating at times, but I know I will love that you have your own opinions when you get older. I am so honored that God saw me worthy of being your Mommy. Words really can't express the love you have shown me and I hope you know how much I treasure you. I am so thankful for all that you bring into our lives and can't wait to see how you grow in the next 5 years.

Love you,
Mommy

P.S. Just so you know...I spent a lot of time crying the past few weeks just thinking about how big you are getting (did the same thing when your brother turned 5). I'm going to blink and another 5 years is going to have gone by. I think it's just me being a little sad that you aren't my baby anymore, but I am so happy and excited to see what kind of young girl you are going to become.

SEVEN

The weekend before Christian's birthday was supposed to be Baylor's dance recital. Perfect right? All the fam can be in town for two events with only one trip, right? The recital got postponed until JULY, but we still were able to celebrate our favorite 7 year old. Yes, you read that correctly--my baby boy is 7!!! I can't get my mind around it. He is still the same sweet natured boy he's always been, but now there are other definite boy traits thrown in...burping is so funny (according to him) and he acts silly for whoever will laugh and play along. But he also has started having conversations w/ me about things he never would have thought of before. He listens to everything around him and is aware of what's going on. How many 7 year olds do you know that are worried about the oil spill and how it will affect the animals? or will look up and tell me if it's going to rain b/c of the types of clouds he sees in the sky? Jeff and I couldn't have asked for a better boy!!! We have so much fun and are so thankful God blessed us with him.



Tex, KayKay, Nana, Papa and Uncle Jeremy all came to celebrate. Christian picked The Snappy Tomato b/c he says they have the best pizza ever:) We invited our good friends, The Shipps and The Bilbos, b/c they are like family to us. We met the Shipps just before we had Christian and they have been such a big part of our lives ever since. Jeff met Tim & Tressa when he started at Lipscomb and they became my friends when Jeff and I started dating in '96...you do the math...we've known them a long time.

Jeff and his little buddy Levi

He did not want a cake b/c he loves the dessert pizza at Snappy

We love all things Star Wars!! Books, games, Leggos and action figures

Lila, Ruby and Levi gave us the coolest R2D2 game

Big surprise...he's already reading one of the books he just opened

I had to put this one in b/c I love how Caleb and Ruby are both looking at the other kids w/ those BIG smiles:) Christian is the oldest of the group, Lila is almost 6, James is almost 5 (lots of summer birthdays) Baylor is 4 1/2, Ruby is 3 1/2, Caleb is 2 and Levi rounds us off at 1. So between the three families we cover the age bracket

Toy Story 3 came out a few days after his birthday and we invited a few friends to watch with us. The theater was a nut house, but it was very smooth for us b/c I had a little helper doing all the work. She saved our seats, got the boxes all set, took drink orders. I highly recommend doing the party plan if you are going on opening weekend.

Everyone had a little box with popcorn, gummies, a drink and their glasses for the show

Our best bud Patrick

Making a wish...he thought about it long and hard before blowing out those candles

Baylor is all about the silly faces

The rest of April

Jeffery turned 35!! and I tried to surprise him w/ a party at Arrington Vineyards. The weather did not cooperate so we ended up at my parents empty house instead...still a fun time.

Baylor said the sweetest little prayer before one of her soccer games

and Nana and Papa came to watch

Christian and Jeff went camping at the zoo. Here he is trying out his new sleeping bag before they went

The kids helped Jeff plant some flowers in the front. Baylor REALLY was into it and is so proud of her pretty flowers. I need to take an after picture to show you just how pretty they are

Our "tea" party

Baylor wanted to have a Belle party. We decided it would be fun to have a little tea party with her little girlfriends all dressed up in their princess clothes. We invited everyone to our "castle" on Saturday, January 9th.

Mrs. Teapot was part of the decor and I made an Enchanted Rose

The royal table

with a place card for each princess

Gigi's cupcakes

Here we are waiting on our friends to arrive

Everyone was able to color a Belle or Belle and the Beast picture as they came in

KayKay gave out princess tattoos

We played musical chairs (very funny to watch)

and I read a princess story

All our beautiful Princess'

Top Row (R-L): Ruby, Macy, Harper, Lila, Fenley and Avery
Bottom Row (R-L): Caroline, Baylor, Evy, Becca and Natalie

What birthday would be complete without your best friend?

The birthday girl w/ her cupcake and "tea" (apple juice)

near the end of the party we turned on some princess music and the girls just danced. I think they had the most fun during this unplanned portion of the party than anything else:)

Faith was a little camera shy and wouldn't get in our group pic, but I had to have proof she was there:)

KayKay, Nana and the birthday girl

In one of the games everyone got a prize w/ 3 little rings and press on earrings--here's what Baylor decided to do with hers...