Tag: four years old

a Thanksgiving birthday

MarthaKimball1 Comment

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Sorry for the overload of photos, but I just can’t resist their sleepy head hair and puffy sleepy faces on their birthday mornings.  They wake each other up at the crack of dawn on each of their birthdays and run out to open presents.  Philippa likes to take things just a *bit* slower than the other two usually, so we hid a few of her presents around the living room for fun and also to help slow down the gift opening just a bit.  It worked and she thought it was a blast to find presents!  For a while she’s been asking for these two dragons she saw in a magazine, and every time we asked her what she wanted for her birthday she would mention only the dragons.  Philippa is my girl who loves girly things but also scary monsters and dragons.  🙂  For a while her favorite color was black.  She’s just her own little person.  We also gave her a book, the sweater I had knit for her (which wasn’t much of a hit but I am happy with it, at least 🙂 ), and a magic sketch boogie board.  Simple little things, but she seemed happy with it all and especially happy to have family come over later for Thanksgiving dinner.

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We hosted my parents and my brother and his family at our house, my parents made the turkey and we made the rest but with many hands helping.  It was really sweet and fun and my favorite moments were the final frenzy in the kitchen, all of us bumping into one another and divvying out tasks left and right as we got everything onto the table.  Later we sang happy birthday to Philippa over chocolate cake, homemade ice cream + berries.  What a sweet, full happy day.  I hope that it was a happy Thanksgiving for all of you as well, gathered with family, friends, loved ones over full plates that represent how well our God provides and cares for us and our daily needs.

Dear Philippa Ruth, my little sweet snuggly baby who is getting so tall and grown and lanky now.  I was the most afraid going into labor with you after having such a traumatic birth with Noah.  But you came so easily and you were born as I was laughing.  We’ve called you “the boss lady” from the start because you are determined and you know what you want.  That being said, you are such an easy-going and happy spirit in our home, usually the one to share the most easily and to play happily with whomever is around.  This year you grew from a toddling little girl to a big girl, it seems.  You learned how to go potty and now you’re giving up night time diapers.  You learned how to ride a bike and became a big sister.  You love doing school with Noah and often are learning right alongside him, even though you don’t need to be yet.  You love to laugh and you bring a lot of laughter to us all.  We all adore you and I’m thankful to God for your life and the unique gifts and joy you bring to our family!  Happy 4th birthday sweet girl.

now you’re four!

MarthaKimball2 Comments

15590014_10154686787277605_2767830364848305978_n.jpgmy dear sweet boy

never lose your tenderness.  be brave enough, be strong enough to be a tenderhearted man in your generation.  it is a beautiful quality of yours, something i love most about you, even if it is often misunderstood.  it isn’t weakness or shyness to be tenderhearted.  our Savior is tenderhearted, and maybe those with tender hearts see those that others pass over so quickly–the lost, broken, hurting.  it takes tenderness to extend compassion.  so don’t let a cruel hard world pound out of you your tender heart.  stay soft, stay breakable.

my, what a year you’ve had.  you have literally transformed before our eyes.  maybe this is so unusual to us because our phoebe girl grows so slowly, but you are surpassing her this year.  you are really growing up!  you moved into your own boy room, and have since loved the privacy that gives you, even though you don’t love being alone in the dark of night.  you’ve begun to battle nightmares almost nightly, and often come snuggle with us in our bed.  it’s the first time, though, that i’ve really seen you turn to the Lord in prayer on your own.  you are beginning to learn to pray on your own to your Heavenly Father, and not to be afraid to speak freely to Him.

this morning i said, “noah!  you’re not three anymore!” and you said, in a distinctively more grown-up-sounding voice, “i know but i still call you momma.”

you love playing with your sisters, and do so well with both of them.  your favorite things lately are to play that you are dogs, running around in the house and yard on all fours, and to play drums constantly to whatever music we have going in the house.  you are addicted to movies much to my chagrin.  🙂  you have learned so much alongside phoebe in our first year of home educating, and i can tell you are so bright and eager.  you still love to be tickled to tears before bedtime, as you always always have, and you love to be sung to.  you love trucks and cars endlessly.  you love to help me in the kitchen, really to help with any task.

i am so so proud of you, son, so thankful that God gave us you.  you came quietly on this december day four years ago, but with so much drama somehow at the same time.  what a champ you were as your momma struggled to recover in the weeks following your birth.  i especially want to tell you that i’m very proud of you for the way you have loved phoebe in all her health battles this year, being protective of her and looking out for her.  the way you told her you missed her while she was gone to winston salem.  it’s not easy having to bend to someone with a special dietary need, and yet you do it quietly and with such a good attitude.  thank you, son!  your daddy and i adore you more than we can ever ever say and we thank God for the gift of you!

happy fourth birthday, my favorite boy with the best giggle!