Turning SIX

Our first born babe turned SIX years old on New Year's Day. It doesn't seem possible to me that she has been in our lives for SIX years. SIX years has flown by and I wouldn't trade a minute of it! I will take the loud voiced, determined, short tempered (like her Mommy), tenderhearted, people pleasing, bossy, beautiful young lady just as she is.

New Year's Day we started out by opening gifts.
Gabi received this sassy little purse from either her Aunt Shari or her GG??
I am uncertain.
She filled it up with all the girly necessities -
money, lip gloss, etc before we set out for the day.

This was a gift from us.
I had fun hiding it in tissue and making her search for it within the gift sack.
She chose to spend all $20 + $7 additional from her "stash" at the American Girl doll store getting Kate's ears pierced and buying a pair of white denim belted pants to match a tee that GG bought her (making outfit #3 for Kate).

Gabrielle and Kate
Apparently Mema and I didn't do the best job picking out Gabrielle's "look alike" AG doll. I think the doll with fair skin, caramel hair and blue eyes may have been a better fit. This is no matter to Gabrielle as she loves her Kate and wouldn't exchange her!

Papa and Mema stopped in to wish their girl a Happy Birthday.
Gabs was thrilled to receive an adorable Spring outfit for Kate (outfit #2) and an accessory kit for her Tini Puppini.
We spent the day seeing Yogi Bear at the theatre, grabbing a bite to eat, then doing a little shopping at the American Girl store and Dillards. It was a day well spent!
Things I want to remember about age 5:
- You have poor eating habits (you eat with your fingers, often spill drinks & make messes, tear the crust off of bread ... the list goes on) and remain a VERY picky eater (you eat very little meat calling yourself a vegetarian and a choice few vegetables). You love carbohydrates eating breads and pasta very well. You prefer any/all things sweet! You ask for ice cream nearly every night.
- You lost your first 4 teeth over the course of the past year - two on the middle bottom and two on the top middle
- You have become a great help around the house and tend to lean towards my OCD behaviors. When you set your mind to it you clean and organize to perfection and become very irritable if Dawson comes behind you and "makes a mess." You enjoy helping sort and do laundry, vacuum the stairs (however you say "Ooohhhh, my back is KILLING me!" every time you do it :P), you LOVE to help with cooking and baking.
- You have proven to have my love of reading and are quickly expanding your list of sight words and impress us all with your reading ability. I also believe you will excel at spelling as you try very hard to sound out words in an effort to spell them without assistance. I have kept many of your papers over the course of the year to look back on your spelling progression.

All Dressed Up

Sunday morning post Christmas was a morning to remember for this household. Not for any extraordinary reason. Not at all. This particular Sunday was like no other recent Sunday because our VERY independent little man whom insists on picking out and dressing himself EVERY day did his Momma proud and chose to wear one of the "dress" outfits I had laid out as possible options for him. What did mine eyes see as I stepped out of the bathroom, but my beautiful girl AND my handsome devil of a toddler son. Grab the camera!!

Christmas Morn'

Christmas morning we woke to two silly kiddos that were as excited as any other child that it was Christmas morn'. We heard them trample downstairs and then rush back upstairs at the speed of lightning to inform us that Santa Claus had made a visit to our house. Gabrielle was especially excited that he liked the plate of goodies that she and Dawson had left out for him and that he had left the plate clean.

As I mentioned in my previous post the kids didn't request much for Christmas, however they did both long for a pillow pet and were thrilled when they tore into the large gift bags revealing them. We allowed the kids to open this one gift on Christmas Eve prior to turning in for the night. Gabrielle became attached to hers from the 1st moment. She removed her bed pillow and sleeps on the pillow pet and then strategically places "her" on her bed in the morning when making her bed.

Another wish list item of Gabi's was a Barbie Mermaid Tail. This momma was NEVER a fan of Barbie or her pals so it has been somewhat of a stretch for me to embrace Gabrielle's fondness of the perfect plastic billion dollar toy. I will succumb to saying that this was $5 very well spent. She has played with the Barbie MT countless hours already - taking her swimming in the bathroom sinks and bathing with her and Barbie's b'friend Ken :)

Our little man - what do you get a rough and tumble boy?
This year he scored yet another wheeoooh wheeooh (firetruck), hot wheels tracks & storage case and some Monster Truck gear. Daddy has been great about making special time to play with D building, racing, tearing apart, reconstructing and so on.

Santa delivered a PlayStation Move, 2nd controller and a couple of kids games. This equals fun, family entertainment!
We experienced another year of abundant blessings receiving far more than we deserve. It really made me take a deeper look into my views on giving. There is something very satisfying about finding rock bottom pricing/end of year clearance sales on games and toys the kids will enjoy when you are on a tight "budget", but in the big scheme of things I can say with confidence we will scale back on our giving in the years to come. We asked the kids to each pick one large toy and several smaller items to either throw, give away or sell. I was proud of their choices as well as their attitudes. Gabi was quick to pinpoint a friend she wanted to gift the toys to which made me happy. She was thoughtful in her choice and reasoning for whom she chose.
My hope is that everyone had a very blessed Christmas season and that you each took time to reflect on Christ's love for us.