Happy Birthday, Brynn!

Happy 4th Birthday to my sweet little girl!

Four years old...I feel like you were just a baby and other times it seems like it was so long ago. How did I get lost in time?

You are so full of knowledge, interested and intuitive. "Tell me a story, momma!" is something you often request while lying in bed trying to waste time so you don't have to try and fall asleep. You are my little night owl and could stay awake until 10 if we allowed it.

A true Teacher's Pet you are indeed. You love pleasing your teachers and every teacher wants to keep you in her class even when they know you can be sneaky and sometimes ornery. A girl after my own heart, for sure.

Your little cackle makes me smile. Your kindness melts me, especially when you exhibit it towards your brother. In public.

Do you know how smart you are, little one? Sometimes you do. :) One of your favorite lines is, "But mommy....______."

Bargaining is a strategy you have grown to utilize often. 3 more minutes...no FIVE more minutes...no TEN more minutes. :)

You love shopping and have strong opinions about what is purchased. "Oh mom, look at that shirt, it's SO cute!" Again, a girl after my own heart.

A bad habit you've picked up recently includes chewing your nails. We have tried to use the bad tasting meds but they aren't working.

You speak in Spanish, especially when naming colors and saying numbers quite often. It's even more cute when you review them with your brother.

You love to wrestle and mess around with Baylen. I often have to ask you to stop wrestling around, esp. before bed when you two seem to be the most wound up.

You can become addicted to TV very quickly so we have to limit it for you. You love to watch Dora, Mother Goose, Little Einsteins, FiFi, and Handy Manny. You also enjoy watching parts of movies, such as anything Disney Princess.

You LOVE music. Lots of your favorite songs you hear on the radio and it's crazy how quickly you can pick up lyrics to a song. I love how I will hear you randomly singing parts of tunes while you're in the bathroom, getting dressed, or playing around. "Baby I like it! Don't stop baby, Don't stop baby!" I hear that one sung often. And it makes me smile.

You love to read and have been working really hard to read our little site word books. You want to know what they say. You can recognize word sounds and can sound out some spellings of words like mom, dad, pat, and a few others. You are still a fan of so many of the books you have been loving for some time now: Pinkalicious. Purplelicious, The Kissing Hand, Puff the Magic Dragon, etc.

You can recognize all sorts of numbers (up to 40 and sometimes 50) and point them out whenever you see one.

Still afraid of anything in costume, you take off full speed for safety the minute it's spotted. Last weekend when we went to Chuck E Cheese's, you saw Chuckie and your face went white. You ran full speed back to our booth and started breathing heavily and tearing up. YOu buried your face in my shoulder and asked if we could go home. After scanning the crowd for 10 minutes, you decided it was safe to go back to riding and playing games until you saw him again and this time, it was all over.

Emotional Roller Coaster is something you have been riding for some time now. When you have a tough day at school, you come home cranky or super upset and cry and cry. It breaks my heart. Your heart is easily broken and you tend to fight back (even though you forget about that part).

You are still a little tiny love. Tiny for Life is what I often say to you. You are inching your way into some 4T clothing but still fit into quite a few 3T items. You love wearing dresses, costumes, jewelry, and hair accessories, of course. Your brother is now taller than you but you don't seem to notice. You're still a sweet little 29 pounds with loads of attitude and personality. Your hair is really long (past the middle of your back) and you've agreed to let us grow out your bangs.

You LOVe coming to my school to hang out. Whether it's drawing, cutting, watching me hang up posters, etc. Whatever it is, you just like being there.

Miss Conversationalist: You say the cutest things and are so sincere. "That was the best Hawaiian party EVER, mommy!" "It's an awesome, sunny day out!" Many nights at dinner, we can't get a word in edgewise because you are talking non-stop. Hopefully this doesn't get you into trouble once you go to school. haha

You LOVE dance and practice often at home. It's fun to see you dress up in your different costumes just because you want to. I'll never forget the day you walked downstairs one Saturday morning a few weeks ago with your pink dance recital tutu on and said, "I'm wearing this to Costco today, mom!" We had some stares at our second stop (grocery store) and a lot of smirks but you loved being YOU.

Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday, little Brynnie! We love you so much and have loved watching you grow up even if it's been way too fast. You bring so much joy to our lives and we are so blessed.