My cute little side kick turned seven last month. In celebration of her sweet life we had fun at a rainbow dance party in her honor. The girls danced, feasted on Gracie's favorite pizza from Anna's, painted treasure boxes in all colors of the rainbow and ate the most delicious cake that even Rainbow Brite would be proud of. Here are the glimpses of her day.
{i made her this super cute and easy hair tie by tying strips of ribbon to an elastic band}
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{what's better than a rainbow fabric flower hair clip? well an overly large rainbow lollipop that's too large to possibly eat of course!} whew... try and say that five times. I dare you!
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{the cake masters suzanne and katie (aka grandma and aunt katie) did it again!}
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{it wound up being so tall that the top red layer had to get left out!}
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{i've been making the kids these shirts by ironing on felt letters or numbers and stitching around them with the machine followed by hand stitching a yarn border. another super quick and easy project. love it!}
{my favorite home school friend danielle with her little pumpkin faith who happens to be only 3 days older than my girl.}
My little lady has one of the sweetest yet toughest hearts I know. She has a heart to serve others and does acts of kindness not for rewards or acknowledgements but just to put a smile on the face of another. I adore that about her. She joyfully helps out around the house often without being asked to and rarely turns down an offer to help with her baby sister. She has made having a baby so much fun because she really helps out when I need a hand with Maggie and gives me much needed breaks throughout the day to be able to juggle all that I need to do.
.But on the other hand she is also one tough girl. Not too much bothers her and she easily brushes off situations that would most likely have our boys in tears. She is known for coming back with a positive remark about a negative situation as she always seems to be looking on the bright side. Josh thinks she's going to break boys hearts one day because it isn't hard for her to just tell it like it is about how she feels and then move on with her business. She'll probably say "Oh dry your tears you'll be fine. You'll find the right girl eventually just keep looking." Ha! I can hear her now!
.She still continues to do really well in school and is in the second grade this year. As far as her interests and activities go she is going to start a weekly horseback riding camp soon and is also starting piano lessons. She will continue with dance but we haven't decided on staying with ballet or switching to jazz. She really likes the fun fast paced jazz style of dance but she's been taking ballet since she was three and I don't want her to just walk away from it completely at this point. She still really enjoys it but with ballet alone being two days a week how many activities can a girl have! She also recently started girl scouts with our home school group and will also be in 4 H this year along with Colton.
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I am big into being home as much as possible because when families get overly busy and are running hectic lives going this way and that I don't feel that it's beneficial to anyone in the family. When we are home we have so much here to do on the farm to keep us busy not to mention the many projects with crafts, sewing and cooking that we love to get to only if time will allow. When our schedules fill up we just don't have time for anything extra that we enjoy and it seems like everyone gets cranky and life just doesn't flow as well as it could.
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With that being said I am trying to be very selective in what activities we commit ourselves to and if it requires too much time from us than I have to think long and hard if it will help develop their character or make a positive impact in their lives long term. When my kids are grown their character, morals and values will be of number one importance and that is what I feel God wants me to focus on. That makes them who they are. Sure it won't hurt for them to be a graceful dancer, to have a little rhythm, to be able to hold their own during a sports game and maybe even stroke some keys in sync on a piano so that is why I try and make some time in our lives for those things. But they certainly will not rule our lives and take over our weekly schedule.
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We've got milking to be done, chickens to be fed, family sports in the yard followed by a quick dip in the pond before we end the day with story time in mama and daddy's bed. That's the simple life I know and love and don't want to ever let that go.
