On Kinley's real birthday we had candles at breakfast like we usually do.
We used her same birthday party decor for the house but had a little 7 year old photo shoot in our front yard before we set it up.
She looks SO big to me!
Her poses :)
Then we had family over for dinner and cupcakes and opening presents. It was such a fun night celebrating our big girl!
Kinley has always been nervous and cautious about the fire from birthday candles but Honey's firecracker candle took it to a whole new level.
Piggyback rides by Gram to bed.
Kinley has been loving her new "active wear" she got from Honey.
And my favorite gift she got is her new polaroid camera.
It is so fun to have instant pics of family and friends when they come over to play.
Her school had a closed campus to visitors on her actual birthday for state testing, so Dylan and I took her lunch the day after and she had the most fun table of friends that got to sit with her.
These are the sweetest girls!
Dylan at lunch is always a challenge for me and a hit with the kids at school lunchtime.
Kinley loves showing him off.
Have to keep up the birthday questionnaire tradition.
1. What is your favorite color? FUSHIA
2. What is your favorite toy? ROLLER BLADES
3. What is your favorite fruit? STRAWBERRIES
4. What is your favorite tv show? FULL HOUSE (the original, not Fuller House)
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? NUTELLA SANDWICH
6. What is your favorite outfit? A LONG DRESS
7. What is your favorite game? JENGA
8. What is your favorite snack? GOLDFISH
9. What is your favorite animal? LEOPARD for wild animal and CHICKS for a pet
10. What is your favorite song? SHAKE IT OFF
11. What is your favorite book? THE BOXCAR CHILDREN
12. Who is your best friend? AG, MILA and ELLA
13. What is your favorite cereal? THE FROZEN MARSHMALLOW ONE
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? SWING
15. What is your favorite drink? DR PEPPER
16. What is your favorite holiday? MY BIRTHDAY
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? TY
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? CINNAMON ROLLS
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? LAVA GRILL (HIBACHI)
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A VET
Kinley Gay,
You light up my world.
Each year that you grow older is another year I celebrate being a momma. You made me a mom and it is the GREATEST gift. You make it such a fun experience every day.
You have the sweetest, servants heart.
It is a gift given to you by God himself and your dad and I have not one bit of claim to it. You are gifted at knowing and looking for ways to serve everyone you are around. The only two times you got in trouble this whole year at school is when the teacher asked you to line up and you were too busy cleaning up the book area or closing everyones ipads for them on their desks so they wouldn't lose their batteries and didn't line up fast enough.
You look for ways to serve your brothers and me every day.
You are my BIGGEST helper and I literally could not get through one day without you.
I have to remind you that you don't have to take it all on yourself.
I am your mommy and I LOVE being your mommy.
You can just be friend, sister and daughter for now.
I love when I still see moments of your babyness but they are fleeting quickly.
It is very rarely you play in your dress up clothes.
It is not too often that you want to watch a cartoon tv show.
You don't have to ask me to read you a story anymore because you can do it yourself.
Thankfully, you still love to role play and live in that creative world of yours still.
When you do, I never want to pull you out of it.
It is precious.
You are such a good leader and I see it all the time with your brothers.
You love to tell them what to do and how to do it.
But, you really aren't bossy.
You have an idea and you go with it but if they want to change course, you let them decide and run with their idea too.
You love school but mainly for the social aspect of it.
You are a great friend and have made some precious friends at school. I will never forget when a mom came up to me and said how thankful she was for you because you made her daughter, who was brand new to the school, feel so welcome.
She said her daughter came home from school around Thanksgiving and said she was so happy because you had said out loud in class that you were "thankful for your new friend Abby."
She had tears in her eyes just telling me about it.
The academic part of school is growing on you. For the first time this year, I saw you come home and say "I'm not good at this and I don't want to try anymore." That is way too much pressure for a 1st grader! We are working on making school and learning FUN and I am hoping that this summer and next year we can get your confidence back. You are so smart and I know you can do anything you love well.
More than anything, I want you to know and love Jesus.
I don't care if you are the best at math or reading or spelling.
But, I DO care that you hunger for God's word.
I DO care that you love learning about the Bible and about Him.
I DO care that you learn who Jesus is and his characteristics and attributes and want to be more like Him and love like Him.
I am so, so thankful for you Kinley.
I learn more from you each and every day about how I want to be as a mom, a friend and just a person.
I am humbled and so, so grateful God let me have you in my life.
Happy Birthday Angel Girl.
Love,
Mom
That was just so beautiful linds!! Love that gorgeous girl and so thankful for her sweet kind spirit and her heart!!
ReplyDelete