Callie-gator turns 4!

I can't believe our girl is four years old. It has gone by so quickly. She brings so much love and joy to our family. She is the most thoughtful, kind little girl, telling me many times each day out of the blue how much she loves me. She and Mia are amazing together. They both love each other so much. We went to Florida last week and stayed with Papaw and NanaB and all their friends remarked how well they play together and how much they seem to truly love each other. One of their friends told me that watching them together was actually a life altering experience for her; seeing them reminded her of how much fun she has with her own sisters and she decided to move back home to be closer to them. Just from watching my girls! But they truly are a sight to see, so funny and sweet and kind together.

For Callie's birthday party with her friends, she wanted a "gin-nastics" party. So we had that at KGA. She had a blast. I will likely start her in gymnastics in the fall. She just finished swim lessons in preparation for our Florida trip. It's so funny how different things are from your first child to your second. With Mia I started her in swim when she was just over a year old. We did multiple lessons year after year. With Callie I started her young but she developed a bad ear infection and we actually ended up getting tubes. So she dropped out after lesson one. We tried again and the same thing happened; we got a second set of tubes! So this was our first shot at lessons and I'll tell you what, after six lessons that girl was swimming on her own with her face in the water! I saved myself some big bucks on lessons for her!

I hope to finally finish her birth story soon. I've actually started it and had hoped to get it complete by her birthday, but life got in the way. The good news is that we're always on the go and spending time together as a family so I hope the memories I'm giving her more than make up for my lack of posts here.

Some of my recent Facebook posts:

• Yesterday we spent another beautiful day at the pool, then had dinner on the water. Callie said she didn't like her fish sticks because "they look like they might have real fish in there". She also has a boo boo on her eye where she was whacked by a beach toy. Ice cream made that feel better though.
• Fun day at the beach! Callie doesn't remember previous beach trips so she was super excited to make sand castles.
• Today Mia received the St. Aloysius Award for being a good friend to her classmates, always being willing to help and treating everyone with kindness. She was very surprised and her family was very proud of her. 😊 
• Can't believe this sweet girl will turn 9 on Sunday. But don't think I won't be holding her and rocking her like a baby that night, whether she likes it or not! 
• Callie: London Bridge is falling down, my cheerleader.
• Callie is clearly tired and ready for bed at 6:25. How do I know, you ask? 
  • I don’t LIKE my spaghetti this way! I only like meatballs. You’re making me sad!
  • (Crying dramatically) …and you didn’t even charge my tablet! You KNOW I love my tablet! You’re not very nice to me!
  • (Do you want to go lay in bed and watch Frozen?) NO!! Stop saying that! You’re making me angry! You’re not my family!
  • (Mike asks her if she wants to dance to the music) WHY ARE YOU EVEN SAYING THAT TO ME??? YOU KNOW I CAN’T BOOGIE IN MY CHAIR!!
• Callie drew a picture of me at school today. I was gushing over it...and then she told me it's a picture of me angry with them because they didn't clean their rooms. Not sure if this is a mommy win or a mommy fail.
• Callie has had a lot of questions about God lately, such as, "Why did God make Cara's basketball game so far away?" and "Why can't I give God a hug?" Today's question, "When we were in the airplane going to Disney World I didn't see God. Did he move?" 😊❤️