Happy 5th Birthday Caroline!!!

Caroline and Steve December 2008 (from our Christmas card photo shoot courtesy of my sister Molly - I couldn't resist this picture of Caroline and her Daddy.)

Thanks for this one too Molly!

My little girl Caroline is growing up and I cannot stand it! She has been anticipating her birthday like crazy and has been asking me all kinds of questions along the lines of "at Christmas will I be 5?" " Next summer will I be 5?" When we see Kayleigh and Bobby next will I be 5?" I try to remind my kids as birthdays approach that they will never be the previous age ever again so let's enjoy it! They never get it but I guess being little is all about trying to get bigger. I think I remember those days. Now that I am beginning to see how much they grow, I am trying to soak them up like a sponge and enjoy each age and stage that much more.

What I want to remember about my Caroline at this age:

She is a Tom Boy. We call her Sporty Spice. Her favorite shoes are camo and pink sparkle sneakers. She is totally into layers; the more the better. Always has at least two shirts on, if not more, and often layers leggings under everything, including her fluffy fancy church dresses. Her favorites? Character: TinkerBell. Food: chicken nuggets, french fries, steak, & vegetables. She has a big mouth. I mean, physically large, easily twice the size of Lindsay's. The big mouth comes from Daddy; (the small mouth comes from me...oh the irony...) Candy: Starburst, Kit-Kat, and GUM! Hairstyle: Two ponies or a flat-ironed flip - she is growing out her hair after all! TV shows: "Frank" (Franklin), Maggie (& the Ferocious Beast), Miss Spider, and Sesame Street (though she won't admit the latter.) What she likes to do with her sisters: Loves to color with Lindsay and play most anything actually. Kate - she likes to "poove" her (she made up this word) - to blow a raspberry on her tummy. She adores preschool and Mrs. Packer. She can write her name and is getting pretty good at forming all her letters - I am so proud of her - Caroline is not the shortest name on the books and she has done a great job "perfecting" her lettering. She knows a crazy number of the 50 states. Sure, there are genius children on Jay Keno and Oprah who knew all 50 states at 18 months but this is impressive to me nonetheless. She loves to come and tell me the new state she learned. It is funny - she can tell me about the state but doesn't remember the name so I rattle off several until her No's turn into a Yes! She is at this strange age of tetering between toddler hood and big kid hood. But, she plays up really well and is great to the little guys too - she is truly a good friend.

And now for the fine print:
She has her personality quirks and strange tendencies, I'm not gonna lie! She can be so sweet and gentle and poof! That girl disappears and a snarly grump enters in her place. She can get a little mean and verbally aggressive - I know she doesn't mean to be "mean" - she is probably being a typical middle child trying to assert herself and show some authority so we are working on appropriate reactions and how to treat people with more kindness more often! it is a work in progress. But I find that the more I spend quality time with her the less snarly and unnecessarily aggressive she is in general. She gets carsick. It doesn't happen too often around here since we don't have a curve or hill anywhere near us. But everytime we travel, you can set a clock by her getting sick. Poor thing.

One school outfit she was particularly proud of. She chooses her clothes every day. She definitely has a different sense of style than Lindsay. Looser requirements for matching.

LOVE the fake lace-up socks with the silver sparkle shoes. So Caroline.

These are the camo and pink sparkle sneakers. She adores these and wears them whenever she can. I wish she would want to learn to tie them...

Oh, the week she needed to decorate an "F" and a "T" she was in heaven!
F for Fairy and T for TinkerBell of course!

Daddy was able to drop by the preschool Thanksgiving Feast and check out our little Indian. Caroline was beyond thrilled because Steve does not often get to participate in school events except for the twice a year programs.

My little baker helping in the kitchen.

Not little orphan Caroline. One thursday I had a lot of house-work and decided to make it a "teach Caroline all the household skills she will ever need to know" day and she had such a great time and was grinning from ear to ear all day. Sure, less got done than I wanted but we had fun together and even stopped to read together a little bit.

Love you baby!!!!!! 5 years ago you were my favorite Christmas present and still are!
Happy Birthday!!!