I love the annual opportunity to think through the year and describe our kids as they celebrate another birthday. Greer is all joy...full of love and fun and spunk and personality. Our lives have been way less boring the last six years because of her and we are so grateful! There are times that she and I butt heads and times that I'm worn out with girly drama and times that she struggles so hard to listen, but mostly I adore her and thank the Lord for blessing us with a daughter that is so creative and loving and perfect for us. I honestly just love just watching her.
This past year, I feel like she has matured so much. She seems to understand much beyond her years and has come so far in the area of self-control that was.such.a.battle. for awhile. Thankfully, she is still brave and spontaneous, but with a bit less struggle (most of the time :)). She keeps us guessing and makes us laugh constantly. She has much to say about what she wears (still often changing many times a day just for fun) and how her hair is fixed. She particularly loves a fancy dress that Annalise Rucker passed down to her and is way more girly than her mama has ever been...loving to play dress up and pretend with her girlfriends.
At the same time, she is tough and can hang with the guys and gets lots of exposure to sports with Daddy's work and our family's extracurricular activities. So far, she favors ballet but is asking more about playing tennis and taking art next year instead. She is so smart, reading incredibly well for a kindergartener and flying through much of her schoolwork thus far. We have loved having her home this year and are so thankful that it has gone much smoother than we may have anticipated. Her favorite part of the school day is Bible and I cherish the drawings that she does each day for each story. Meanwhile, her daily drawings in her thankful journal includes things like flowers and swirls and designs and rainbows and hearts and her friends...it is so her and I will keep it forever. :))
I learn so much from watching her generous spirit. She constantly tries to give her toys away and wraps them up in gift bags to share with others...and draws and draws pictures to share. (We find them everywhere!) She is creative in her play and content with most anything, playing with her toys or going along with what Gehrig is into as well. They are such good buddies. The girls love playing babies, dressing up, working on Garner's preschool lessons and giving us dance performances, but also argue more. We find ourselves reminding her often that she is Garner's teacher and best friend...and I pray that they build an incredible sister bond that continues always.
She struggles to fall asleep at night (like her mama), but mostly stays in her bed and reads or listens to music sweetly until she does. The mornings are not her favorite, but thankfully we can usually let her sleep in and come out when she's ready. Every single day, she wants to snuggle in my lap for those first few minutes. And she hugs so tightly. It never gets old :). Though I know she is strong, she is also sensitive and so caring. I pray that she will always have great girlfriends and that her heart is protected from too much of the drama that can happen with girls.
This year brought the. greatest. decision. of her life when she asked Jesus into her heart. My favorite moments with her are serious conversations about the Lord and the world and how everything should be. Her understanding blows my mind. Scripture and worship are constantly on her lips and in her heart and my heart overflows to witness it all. I know that the Lord has incredible plans for her life. What an amazing gift to be her mama!! I pray for the wisdom to know when to guide her and when to let her follow her heart. She has taught me a lot about slowing down, enjoying life, letting go of control and depending on the Lord as a parent. I LOVE knowing and being with her!
As we approached her birthday in October, we knew that she wanted to go to the county fair with Madi in lieu of a traditional birthday party. We made plans to do that in early November (based on the fair schedule), but still enjoyed a couple of wonderful days of low-key celebrating with her around her big day. The day before her birthday coincided with co-op and Daddy having a teacher workday, so we met early for lunch, had treats and visited at the pavilion outside.
Birthday-eve pics...last ones of her as a 5-year-old :(
I don't think she expected anything on her actual birthday, knowing we had celebrated at co-op and had the fair coming up. We took Garner to preschool and she read her new book from Mrs. Rucker on the way, with plans for schoolwork like normal for the morning.
Instead, Daddy called and surprised her with the morning off from school and the news that she would spending the morning out with Gehrig and me! I wish I had a picture of the sweet and happy expression on her face. It melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes :)
Our first stop was Dunkin Donuts...yummy and super fun visiting
Next, we went to Toys 'R Us. Daddy sent us with a gift card and instructions to enjoy playing too. A weekday morning found it practically empty and we had so much fun being silly and looking up and down each aisle :)
One of the things she picked out was a movie...another birthday treat for Mama to let her watch something in the car while just riding around town :)
We finished up with a picnic lunch at the park. I kept finding myself tearing up with gratefulness for such an incredible time with my bigs...it was such a blessing. It can be hard for me to let my to-do list go and just play, but it was perfect. And perhaps, an appropriate way to spend the day celebrating my free-spirited child :)
The empty stage at the park called her name and I found her here after going to throw away our lunch trash...
All joy...
Our only sad part of the day was that Daddy and Garner missed all the fun. So, Daddy brought home a yummy birthday cake and we finished a perfect day with a treat for all and lots of fun rehashing of all the fun.
Happy 6th birthday, Greer Elizabeth. I feel like I've barely blinked since I posted the blog in 2007 when we found out you would be a girl and announced your name. Hoping I keep my eyes wide open so I don't miss a bit of the next 6 years...and beyond. You are a gift, Babygirl...we love you SO much!
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