Brisk Me Away

1.11.2020

Annie is 5 and a HALF!

Being a number and "a half" is a big deal when you are little! Annie turned 5.5 on November 26th. She is growing up so quickly! She's matured so much over the past 6 months. Below are a few notes to remember about this phase in her life!

In mid-November Annie had spent some time with her buddy Nora Kate, and she came home saying she was ready to go get her ears pierced. We had offered before, but she said she thought she was a little bit too little still:)

Ruby watched intently the whole time and held Annie's had for moral support!

She was so brave! She teared up right after it was done, but didn't actually even cry! We were all surprised since she is usually pretty emotional, but I think since it was HER idea, she was determined and all in! She did great!


This is on the 26th-special Thanksgiving project at school!

That evening we went to top golf. It was our last day of school before Thanksgiving break, so we did something to celebrate!


Helping me with some Thanksgiving side dishes at Grandma's house! 


-Annie goes to preschool 3 days a week. She LOVES school! She could have gone to Kindergarten this year, and I think she would have done just great, but I am so happy to have another year with her before we begin the full-on school routine. School has done a more intentional job this year to make it a "teaching year" and we bought preschool curriculum for them to use. She is SO proud of each thing she brings home from school each day. I've done a little with her at home, and she is definitely an emergent reader! It will not take much for her to put it all together-and she wants to read so badly! She knows all letters, sounds, blends, and reads many CVC words. She writes her name well and copies everything she sees in writing with pretty good accuracy! She can count to 100 and identify her numbers...loves all art/craft/cutting projects the awesome preschool teachers do! Some of her best school buddies are Owen and Connor (of course), as well as Mae, Viera, Anna, & Scout.

-Annie loves all things girly. If it's sparkly and pink or purple, she's a fan. She loves to paint nails, shop, dress up, etc. Some more favorites are swimming, her ballet and tap class, and cooking with me! She always begs to bake! She's started getting into WellieWishers (thanks to buddy Nora Kate!), and we've had fun reading the little chapter books together and watching a few episodes about these American girls.

-Annie is my shadow. She loves to help and clean. She's really good at it! She also is great at helping me find things I've lost (remote, glasses, etc!). I have really come to depend on her and she is an awesome helper. She is by far the most affectionate of our kids, and she adores snuggling, hugging, sitting close and holding hands. She tells us she loves us SOOOO much and that we are the best daddy and mommy in the world, etc. Very sweet. She and Steven in particular have a special bond in this area-I think they share this love language! She knows where to go if she needs prolonged snuggling.:)

-Annie has started talking about spiritual things much more lately. She is really taking it all in and can re-tell many Bible stories. She loves hearing from The Jesus Storybook Bible and her prayers are so sweet and heartfelt! This is another sign of maturity for her. 

Below are a few random notes about our 5.5 year old that I've occasionally jotted down. 

-Talking on a pretend cell phone. Sounds like such a teenager. "Yeah, girl". 
-Says, "Amen. Praise God." after each prayer! 
-We went to Sound waves with all the family (indoor water park) and while we were there having fun, she said, "I hope Grandma DeWitt and Belle aren't lonely". They had stayed at home:)
-I had painted my toenails, and she saw them and said, "Look at Mommy's toes! That color is lovely!"
-She had 6 inches cut off her hair in July. I was DONE with tangles! And wet swimming pool hair!
-Sweet prayer in September-"Thank you God for making the world and for sending Jesus to die on the cross to forgive us of our sins. Thank you for making us and this whole beautiful world. I love you God." 
-"Did you see Ruby? She's so cute today!"
-"Get to the HQ!" Says this while on playground with her school buddies (I think she actually says HCube-haha)
-She spent a couple nights with Grandpa and Peggy. They bought her some mermaid babies and she mothered them the whole time. Grandpa said she had been pretending nurse her babies! As soon as I picked her up, she said in the car, "When we get home, I have to milk my babies." She was taking the mothering very seriously!
-She loves to pretend to be older than she is...she will take a pretend Diet Coke around with her and talk about "drinkin her diet coke". Ha! She cracks us up! I probably wrote this on a previous post, but another time she was pretending and said, "I'm smokin' and drinkin a Coke!" Where does she come up with this stuff?? Ha!
-Loves "cheese grill" (what she calls grilled cheese)
-"All I can say is-today is a GREAT day!"
-We were talking about what we wanted to do when we grow up, and out of the blue, Annie said, "When I grow up all I wanna do is drive and honor God." 
-"Chop, Chop!" She uses this phrase when I'm hurrying everyone along.