Happy Birthday Katie

Dear Katie,

You are amazing. You amaze your daddy and I everyday. I know that it is said all the time, but we can't believe you are four today! Time has gone by so quickly.

Some things you are interested in:

School-within the past few months you have really gotten into school. You LOVE doing your preschool workbooks for letters and basic math. You have enjoyed co op preschool at TCC for world geography and science. You can recognize just about every letter uppercase and lower. You can count way up there as well.

Play-you are creative with just about everything in your room. Lily and Magnolia still take center stage amongst your dolls and they need lots of attention. You are a great little mommy to them and they are learning from you too! :) You recently have gotten into coloring and staying in the lines on a lot of your pages-great job. You also love to do art with glue and scissors. You are working and loving playing with Owen. Though you can be somewhat of a mommy towards him, you often are reminded to be his sister and then you all play so well together. I think you will be friends forever if you always serve each other.

Conversations-you can really communicate with us just about everything you mean. There are plenty of days when you mix up things-which is super cute-but you are definitely trying to grow up and be big! You have your opinions which lately have come out strongly, but you still work on listening to us and doing what is best at four. You are trying hard to ask people good questions and to listen and learn from others.

Clothing-you are currently wearing a size 5T and are very aware of what you like. :) You love to wear dresses, but will wear whatever is right for the occasion. Meaning you wear work clothes for working, or dress clothes for daddy dates or dress-up clothes to dance around the kitchen (which is still one of your absolute favorite things).

A few favorites-chicken fingers, coconut ice cream, hummus, water, OJ, almond milk, pizza, fruit, most veggies...actually there isn't much food you don't like! Oh except you don't like more then one piece of pineapple at a time-you think it can hurt your mouth...
Hello Kitty, Jessie-Toy Story 3, art work, pink and purple, Angelina Ballerina books, Annabelle and Fanny books, Jesus Story Book Bible, Curious George, Clifford, Gigi books-you really enjoy reading and the library, Disney music, Worship songs, are other favorites...

Sleeping-you still take a nap occasionally though most times we limit it to only 30-45 minutes or it puts your bedtime way late. You go to sleep around 8 and wake up around 7. You are enjoying your new 'wake up clock' as you are a big girl to get out of bed by yourself.

Your personality is still a go go kid. You are passionate about helping me out and serving others. You love to help other little kids with their jobs or play with toys. One thing right now is that you 'teach' your brother many things like saying new words. Maybe you are a teacher at heart like your mommy/daddy. You are still slow to warm up in social settings and if there are to many kids around you would rather just observe what's going on-instead of jumping in to play with strangers. You have worked very hard at making friends, even strangers at the park. You will introduce yourself, ask that child their name and then proceed to ask them to play. Many times you have come away from the park with a 'new friend'. You have an independent streak in you and have prayed really hard to be obedient. Your room is always messy, though we clean it up every night. I think I can say that you enjoy having everything out to play and you play with it all! Sometimes your changing table for your dolls is a table for your restaurant. Or other times your stroller is a bed for Magnolia/Lilly. You love to ask questions and have started to tell us, 'I love you', numerous times. You also share this with others like your friends or Ms. Laura yesterday.

Friends-Laney (even though she is in SC), Catie Beth, Riley (who just moved into our neighborhood), Elleanna, Mercy, Chrissa, Kylie, Anna W, Kai, Melia, Issac, Ann, Preschool kiddos, Owen your brother!...

I am sure there are many many other things that define who you are, but all in all we LOVE you to the moon and back. We love you like crazy. We think you are the best 4 year old in the whole world.

Love,
Daddy, Momma and Owen