Savannah Rose is 5!!

Savannah Rose is five years old!! I can't believe my baby is so big. This was a hard birthday for me to deal with! I was weepy and actually cried the night before her big day as I decorated and made her a special birthday morning coffee cake. I am so proud of Savannah and so thrilled to be her mom; I just keep thinking if the next five years go just as fast, and then the five after that, she is going to be off to college before I know it!!

It is always hard to try and sum up your child in a post like this. (I find that the older they get, the harder this becomes). Savannah is very sweet and very smart. She is emotional and feels things very intensely; this can be an asset to her, but sometimes it can be a challenge, too. She loves, loves, loves animals. She also loves dancing. She pretty much always spends her free time either playing animals or playing dance class. :) She loves her little sister and gets kind of nervous to be away from her; she loves that they share a room and frequently says that even if we move one day, she doesn't want her own room, she would rather be with her sister. Her love language is quality time; she loves to spend time with myself and Matt, and as she gets older she requests more frequently to have special time with just mom (we call it going on a date). We don't get to do this too much but I need to try and schedule more time for it, because she just really lights up when her and I can go somewhere just the two of us. She loves to do school and frequently says that she really likes home schooling and wants to keep it up. Her strength has always been reading, but lately she has been playing around with numbers a lot and showing a ton of interest in math (more so than reading these days), so we'll see! Savannah loves reading the Bible and is very motivated lately to memorize the books of the Old and New Testaments in chronological order, so we have been working on that. She loves to memorize scripture and does a great job learning her verse for AWANA Cubbies each week. I love to see her grow in the knowledge of the Lord!

Savannah is just a delight. In some ways she can be very challenging to parent, because she is pretty strong willed and it is nearly impossible to convince her to change her mind when she has it made up. Also, she and I are a lot alike, and so I get frustrated when I see my own weaknesses and struggles reflected in her, which makes us clash sometimes! I just don't want her to struggle with the same things that I struggle with, so I tend to panic a bit when I see myself in her! I frequently remind myself that God has equipped Matt and I to parent her and that God loves her and has wonderful plans for her, so I try to rest in that truth on the hard days. :) Also, because we have some of the same struggles/weaknesses, hopefully I can help her to work through these challenges, being that I have been through them myself. I love her so much and want her to have a happy, joyous life following after her Savior, the One who made her!

Savannah's actual birthday this year fell on a Thursday, which is our busy day! It was kind of weird to not be with her all day on her birthday; she had Cubbies in the morning (while Hailey went to Puggles and I went to MOPS), so we had to get ready quickly and spend the morning at church! She initially was sad to have to go on her birthday, but it turned out okay in the end because she had a fun morning with her friends (like she always does!).

Since the girls are early risers, we did presents at 6:15 in the morning,
before Matt left for work.

She was shocked about something!

New books.

Her new Furreal puppy! She named her Fluffy.
This is the only puppy I will allow in our house.

A birthday breakfast of cinnamon swirl coffee cake before Cubbies.

She liked that I sang to her. :)

Blowing out her birthday morning candle!

A picture with Fluffy before heading out the door!

She had a little Birthday money from her Great Grandma and Grandpa burning a hole in her pocket.
We went to Target after Cubbies and she got some Littlest Pet Shop and Puppy in my Pocket animals.

Her pick for dinner was Chili's. Matt was getting home pretty late on this night,
so the girls and I met him at the restaurant around 6, rather than wait for him to come home and go together.

Cute little baby sister enjoyed her birthday, too!

They brought this complimentary dessert to our table for Savannah.
She was so happy!!! We all shared it. :)

We had a really fun day celebrating Savannah! She was sad at the end of the day for her birthday to be over, but we had a big family party planned in just a couple of days, so she was able to excitedly look forward to that!! :)