Finally Five!

What do you do to celebrate the milestone of turning five years old? As it turns out, you go non-stop for 12 hours straight and then crash hard. We had a great day, and Lauryn is loving being five!

It's so cute...I remember being soooo excited about birthdays. For some reason I just felt older every year and I loved being able to tell people my new age. That pretty much sums up Lauryn's new attitude.

She will eat five more bites because now she is five.

Now that she is five, she thinks Elmo is kind of for babies.

Since she is five and now has a new big girl bike, her old one is a baby bike. (Although she didn't seem to think so two days ago when she rode it around the driveway).

So, her big day arrived and we were all excited to help her celebrate! At different moments throughout the day, I kept thinking about what I was doing at that exact time, five years ago. Around lunchtime, we made the decision to go ahead with the emergency c-section. She was born at 2:19 p.m. but we didn't get to hold her for another hour due to the meconium issue. (She was rushed to the NICU). Every hour after that we were visiting with her, loving on her, and staring in amazement.

We brought her home five days later and she changed our lives forever!

She LOVED her swing!

We started the day off right with a trip to the donut shop! She was the "Shining Star" at school today, so she brought donuts for the class as their morning "snack".

She was so lucky to have the Egg Hunt and Easter Party on her birthday! Here she is sprinting for the eggs. (It was a little rainy so they had to hunt indoors...not quite the challenge she was hoping for!)


She wanted to have her birthday dinner at Luby's! She requested two things...red Jello and strawberry shortcake. Waiting for her birthday present...we told her to close her eyes!
SURPRISE!!

She loved the bike and rode it all around the house.And outside.

What a beautiful girl we are privileged to have in our lives! She loves learning. Anything having to do with reading or writing captivates her.

She will try any food once. She actually likes most foods (except peas and tomatoes). Dolls, Barbies, and stuffed animals are her favorite toys to play with. She has quite an imagination and often has her sister completely engaged in whatever she dreams up. Allison adores her big sister and is happy to play along with whatever Lauryn has going!

She is a carbon copy of her mother and wears her feelings on her sleeve. In fact, it is sometimes scary to look at her and realize just how much she takes after me! Lauryn has a very, very sensitive heart and a compassionate spirit. She adores all living things (including beetles!) and is easily moved to tears (hello, mini me!)

Brent and I like to talk and wonder about how God plans to use and shape her character, and how she will be able to use that tenderness and compassion to do His work in the world. We can't wait to see what He has planned for our girl!

Happy 5th Birthday, sweet Lauryn! We love you!