And then she was five

I still can't believe my little Ju Ju Bean, who surprised us ten days early and entered the world rather quick and painlessly, is now five years old. She's a rock star. She quotes movies like no bodies business. She remembers all of the funny one liners and uses them at all the appropriate and most hilarious times. It's super funny. She's also great and remembered anything dumb you say and using it against you. On our way home from Acadia I dropped my phone and shattered my screen. I was very distraught and Cody said, "no big deal, I'll fix it." Too which I replied, "you can't just buy a new screen, I'll have to earn it." She now says, "I'll have to earn it!!" After everything. Julia had a very fun birthday. She started her day bright and early with pancakes. The night before she was going to bed she said, "all I really want is a gum ball machine." So I made her pancake into a gum ball machine, which she loved, but was even more excited about the real deal. This was a big month for Julia. She had kindergarten graduation, a dance recital, she turned five and got the coolest pink BB Gun from my parents and a pink dirt bike that she loves (and has had her first crash--yikes! Flipped her bike and rolled a few times. Covered in road rash with a gnarly scratch on her helmet, but jumped right up with only a few tears.) as if that wasn't more than enough she also got a trip to build-a-bear, got to go to her first day of kindergarten, and a birthday party. This year will be hard to top. We had a great turn out (19 kids) to Julia's sandcastle birthday party. We were fighting with iffy weather but it turned gorgeous and she loved every second of it. 

Julia is a joy. She is soo sooo close to reading with confidence. Her preschool teacher says she's doing awesome, she will only read for me on rare occasions. She loves projects, painting, gluing, and coloring. She still hates sleeping, but is doing so much better. She's as healthy as a horse and checked out perfectly at her five year checkup. She took two shots in her leg like a champ, not a flinch or a tear to be seen. Julia is an amazing helper. She loves cooking and helping clean. Julia is a thinker and is always asking questions and wanting things explained. The other day we were driving in the car and she said, "I'm just really surprised that nothing changed when I turned five. I thought I'd feel different or be different, but it still feels the same."  She may think nothing has changed, but I can't believe how much she has grown and learned in the last year. I love her to heaven and back.

Kevin worked his little tail end off and earned enough money to get a new dirt bike. He loves it and is doing so awesome. He was $21 short and worked so hard to earn those last dollars. He did several things, but one of them was spending three hours picking rocks. He thought for sure he might die, but when he finished his last job and went out on his dirt bike about his third time around the yard he yelled, "I've been waiting so long for this!" I hoped he learned the reward of hard work. 

We are gearing up for our trip to Idaho this summer. We are counting down by the number of sleeps. It's getting so close and we can hardly wait to see our families. It's hard to believe it's been a whole year. We hope you all are catching up on your sleep, because in 15 more sleeps, you won't be getting much for awhile. We are so truly blessed and we know it!