Pumpkin's birthday!

Our little sassafras of a pumpkin has turned four on us!  In so many ways she seems so much older than her age, from her eye rolling and, "Mama ... seriously?!" to her helpful ways around the house and her strong desire to do school work.

She's a royal as royalty comes and often feels the need to 'oversee' work and give her approval.  This has it's plus and minus side.  She's thorough in her job but if you don't do things according to expectations she'll be sure to tell you, no matter your age!  She loves princesses, Elsa and Anna are her current favorites and pictures must always be taken with them.   She also loves any Disney music and will carefully retell the part of the story that the music is from.   The other day Keila was helping her shower and i walked in to hear them declare loudly, "I am Leora of Montierth, you will board my boat and restore the heart of Tafiti!"

She's definitely a charmer.  She loves to give hugs and will freely do so to anyone she deems safe.  There's an elderly couple I see about once a month.  Her husband isn't doing so well in health and because of hearing loss doesn't often interact.  When I show up with my Pumpkin his eyes light up and she runs over to give a hug and chatters incomprehensibly to him.  He smiles and nods and she sings him a song or does a little dance.  It warms my heart to see how she brightens someone's day.  

We were just coming back from our DC trip and had planned on doing her usual 'bunny-clouds-rainbows-flowers and butterfly' cake.  Big sister had to give her the bright idea of a Paw Patrol cake, something she had never considered.  She was hooked and I was left scrambling to make something out of fondant.  As you can see my cake topper looks a little stoned! 

Dinner out as usual with just Kent and I.  We had friends come over to help us eat cake and she even got a present from Ms. Mary, our respite worker who she's adopted as her personal playmate and grandma!

She's such a lively little soul, making friends everywhere we go.  Here she is at a homeschool park day playing with pretend in a rocket for hours and hopping in line to make a carmel apple with very little help from anyone. That independence is such a blessing to me as I'm often tending to Bubby.  She's grown use to it, either seeking help from big brother or sister or doing it all on her own.  In that way she's grown far more confident than her peers.

With homeschooling she expects to be included.  She takes pride in practicing her 'writing' and playing with letters and numbers.  She's bright and eager which makes her wonderful to include in any new games we try and teach Bubby.  Often we hear her cheering him on to 'write one more letter, just like me!' and clapping loudly when he does so.  I think as the years go by she will continue to push him to achieve more simply by being herself.  I'm sure she'd like to be a big sister with how she interacts with all the little ones, and yet in many ways she has always been in relation to Eli.

She's such a doll and we love having her a part of our family.  I wonder where all her spunk and spirit will take us in the coming years.  Happy Birthday my pumpkin love!  We're so grateful you're a part of our family.