Happy Birthday Ruthie!

Dear Ruthie,

It's hard to believe it was only 5 years ago that we welcomed you into our lives. It really does seem like you've always been a part of our family. From the day you came home from the hospital you have wanted nothing more than to be one of the big girls. As a baby you were always happy as long as you could see your big sisters. You have always been so determined to do everything they do and NOTHING slows you down! You don't allow your size or your age to stop you from doing anything you want to do and I love your fierce determination and the confidence you have in yourself that you can do anything! You are so blessed to have big sisters that love you and are willing to let you be a part of whatever they are doing. They willingly share their toys and friends and for many years their room with you. And you also have JP who adores you and is your willing partner in crime. He is always so sad if you are not around especially at bedtime and naptime as y'all now share a room. You are pretty positive that you are a first born child so it's a good thing that you have a JP to boss around/mother! You definitely were not meant to be the baby of the group!

Ruthie, I am constantly amazed by your strength. We asked a lot of you this year when we started OIT. We ask you everyday to eat your peanut dose and you so rarely complain. You put up with every other week trips to the doctor's office in North Carolina and you rarely complain. I am SO proud of you and your fierce drive to get control of your peanut allergy. You are so excited about all the things you get to do once you finish OIT (like go to Marble Slab) but you told me you are most excited about not having to worry about people touching you. That broke my heart a bit but made me even more determined to help you control your allergy instead of letting it control you. You are so well educated about your allergy and are very good at questioning everything before you eat it and I am so excited that, if we stay on track, you shouldn't have to worry about any food you are or anyone else are eating when you start kindergarten. I know that will be such a big relief for both of us!

Speaking of school, you have a had a wonderful year this year in the 4s! You have had a little trouble adjusting to going 5 half days instead of 2 but you love your teachers and friends so that makes it a little easier. Your teachers tell me often how sweet you are and that makes me so proud! You are SO looking forward to kindergarten next year and I know you are academically and socially VERY ready to go. The elementary school has no clue what they're in for when you walk through those doors in the fall. You already know the names of all the teachers and most of the kids in the school and you're pretty sure you already run the school! You are pretty determined that you are going to have Mrs. Estes (Emmie's 1st and 2nd and Ellie's 2nd grade teacher) and while I keep telling you she doesn't teach kindergarten you are pretty adamant so hopefully you will be content with being able to go by her room and get hugs next year!

This year you more or less stopped sucking on your fingers. You still do it occasionally in the car or at night but it's more that you put them in your mouth instead of sucking on them. Sometimes I look back at pictures of you the first few years of your life and miss that sweet baby habit you had. It definitely makes me realize how much you've grown up this year. Also, over the course of this year your hair has pretty much straightened out. I SO miss your curls...you however are very excited to have straight hair like your sisters.

Your smile lights up any room you are in and you bring so much joy to those around you. You always have fun with whatever you do and people love being around you! You know what you like and don't like and have no problems with standing your ground when you want something. This causes problems for you sometimes but I know that your fierce determination will serve you well later in life! I have loved so much watching you grow up a sweet, happy baby to a fun-loving, determined preschooler. You are beautiful inside and out and I'm so happy that God chose me to be your mom!

Happy Birthday sweet Roo Roo...I know 5 is going to be a great year!

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Happy Birthday Emmie!

That short hair is because you donated your hair this year! You decided to do this because you saw a video about it and you wanted to help someone else. I was so proud of you and your dedication to growing out your hair and helping someone else!

 

Dear Emmie,

Today you are 9 years old! It's hard to believe that next year we will have a child in double digits! Sometimes I look at you and wonder where my little round fluffy toddler went and where this tall, beautiful girl came from! You look more grown up every day and it feels like time is passing so quickly!  I have loved watching you grow up. I have so many wonderful memories of you as a baby and toddler and I have enjoyed making memories with you as you have gotten older. You are a great age to do things like go to plays or go out to eat at a nice restaurant and I treasure the (rare) moments when it is just you and me. I love that you still want to hold my hand and snuggle with me.

This year has been a really tough year in school. On top of your seizures you were also diagnosed with adhd and a math learning disability this year and you have also struggled with a lot of anxiety. School has been a big learning curve too. This year you went from a teacher that you had for 2 years to a new teacher with new friends in your class. This is the first year you haven't had your best friend Evelyn in your class and that has been really hard too. And we went from second grade where you only get grades in Math and English to also getting grades in Science and Social Studies. All of that is a lot to adjust to in a very short amount of time (and we KNOW you don't do change!). There have been many, many tears (from you AND me!) and many, many hours of laboring over school assignments. We made lots of adjustments in the classroom this year in order to help you focus better and I have been so proud of how well you have learned to communicate with me when something isn't working for you.

Through all the ups and downs in school, I have been so proud of you. I wish other people could see how much extra work you do at home in order to process and be able to apply all that is being taught at school. You are a Rockstar and I am SO proud of your hard work. When you had your 24hr EEG this summer the neurologist said you had so many seizures in the morning that he didn't know how you could even function in the morning. But you do! Yes, sometimes getting out the door is a struggle for you in the morning and sometimes I have to follow you around and help remind you what you are supposed to be doing but one way or the other you make it out the door on time in the morning.  And you were able to go to school and function. I know sometimes you get frustrated and get down on yourself because everything seems so hard and confusing but I hope one day you look back and are proud of everything you have overcome.

This year has been exciting because it seems that we have recently gotten your seizures under control (which has helped immensely with that whole getting out the door in the morning thing!). It has been a long, hard year of switching meds, dealing with and learning to manage new side effects, and trying to accept that we might just have to be satisfied with "good enough" when it came to seizure control. But then we tried a new medication. A medication with some scary side effects that the doctor had been against trying until after he saw your 24hr EEG. I had very little hope that it would work. Amazingly it did! I KNOW you must feel better overall not having seizures all the time! I have prayed so hard that we could get better control of your seizures and am incredibly thankful for this respite for you.

I constantly marvel at your sweet, loving personality. You seem to have a sixth sense for knowing when someone is hurting or needs a little extra love, especially adults. You give wonderful hugs and you give them to everyone! You brighten so many days because you take the time to give a hug to those who need it. I love how outgoing you are. You love to talk to people and find out all about them. One of my favorite stories from this year was when I went to vote and the poll manager was on crutches and you asked him if he was ok. He then proceeded to tell you all about his hip replacement surgery and all about the hip joint. You listened to every word he said. The love you have for people and their stories is simply amazing. I hope as you get older that you recognize this gift you have and choose a career that will allow you to bless others with your gift of caring.

Emmie, I can't wait to see what adventures the next year brings you! I love you sweet baby girl!

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Celebrating Emmie

Emmie's birthday is in the middle of December but we had her party yesterday. She REALLY wanted a bounce house in the back yard so that was our plan! Sadly, the weather didn't cooperate and we had LOTS of rain all day. But we made the best of it and Emmie still had a great time at her party and I think her friends did too!

Thanks to some brainstorming by some of my friends I was able to come up with some cute crafts and things to do!

We started out with the girls getting food. All of the cute ideas were pinterest…I definitely can't claim any as my own!

Once they had their food I turned on the Wizard of Oz movie for them to watch. 

About 20 minutes into the movie I told them they were welcome at any point in time to come do any of the things we and set up in the kitchen: painting nails, making an ornament, face painting, and SLIME! I figured the girls would kind of wonder in and out but as soon as I said slime they all jumped up! It was a little wild and chaotic for a few minutes there but everyone got their slime made and I was very thankful for Ainsley and Anna, my slime making experts!

Shrinky Dink ornaments...they turned out so cute!

Towards the end of the party we had ice cream sundaes and sang Happy Birthday to Emmie. It's hard to believe that in a few weeks we'll have a 9 year old!

Franklin wore his blue gingham bandanna in honor of the Wizard of Oz party :)

Ellie Takes the Stage!

Ellie decided to try out theater this year and she has been taking classes once a week at Town Theatre. She has absolutely LOVED theater and I love that she seems to have found something that brings her so much joy. She and Emma (my girls have been friends with her since they were tiny) are in the same class and they've had a great time together. And it's been really, really nice to have someone to carpool with, especially during the past 2 weeks when we had extra rehearsals!
Tonight Ellie had her first show. They combined with one of the older kid classes and did Kids on Broadway with selections from a variety of shows. Ellie's group preformed a song from Seussical and Lion King and then all the kids were in the opening and closing songs. Everyone did such a great job and we were SO proud of Ellie. She had a line in the introduction on Lion King and we had talked a lot about speaking slowly and loudly and she did great! She was so fun to watch singing and dancing on the stage and I was really impressed with all she learned this semester.
The best part of the whole night was when we picked her up and she had a big grin from ear to ear. She had SO.MUCH.FUN! She was absolutely thrilled that all of us were there and also GiGi, PaPa, Gran and Grandaddy.
Next semester they are doing Pinocchio and she's already looking forward to it (and so are we)!

Evelyn and her parents came to the show. I'm glad Amy got a picture because I had major picture fail tonight!