Happy 4th Birthday June!

 Dear June,

Your birthday will always be extra special for me. Not only does it mark each year you grow older, but it celebrates the day that I became a mother. It shows the amount of years that your dad and I have survived parenthood and kept another human alive.

The first couple of years I would write about the new things you had learned to do like walking, first words, and growing teeth. But as I sit here to write about your fourth year, your milestones have already become so much more profound and complex.

This past year you continued on in your long journey of learning about things like: friendship, getting feelings hurt, telling the truth vs. lying, being brave but knowing your limits, love, fear, saying prayers, and how to be a big sister.

You are naturally kind and soft. You are clever and observant. You like empirical evidence. When I tell you that the chips are all gone you look at me, pause and then say, "Show me." Yet you have such simple faith and love for your Heavenly Father and Jesus. I have seen that it's something engrained in you from birth- to believe. It's not a slow brainwashing from us, but a beautiful truth that you can feel all by yourself.

You are very intuitive with technology. You've got a sharp mind for puzzles, mazes, memory, and matching. You are so curious about reading and spelling. You love to ask where everything comes from. All day I'm teaching you (or google-ing) the origins of pancakes, spiders, blankets, clouds, milk, and toothpaste. We often look up videos online to show us how honey is made, how do tornadoes happen and how the body works. You can tell us all about intestines and bladders and it's awesome.

You are a great big sister. You love to teach Hazel and play with her. You want to be near her and she follows you around everywhere. She's your biggest fan and you know it, you are always trying to make her laugh. But then again, you are also very interested in pushing her limits and bothering her.... all apart of being a sibling I suppose.

You are goofy as ever. You love making silly faces, voices, and telling jokes. Every other day you are putting on a dance recital for us in the living room. You say the weirdest things, I can't even begin to write those all here. But one that is a constant is you have turned your belly into your spokesperson (spokes-belly?) It's not just that your belly gets too fully for your veggies but everyday you are saying things like, "My belly says it needs to watch a show." "My belly says I can't go there." "My belly says I can't clean up those toys." "My belly is too full. But it's not too full for ice cream!"

It's no secret that you have a crazy love struck crush on Aladdin. You get sad every time you see him with Jasmine. We've had many discussions about who else Jasmine can marry instead. You talk about him everyday. You wrote him a love letter for Valentine's day. Once a week you wake up and tell me you had a dream about him. One day I asked why your cheeks were red (sun burn) but you said, "I dreamed Aladdin kissed me." One time you were doing a little jig and I said you needed to go potty but you replied, "No, I was just thinking about Aladdin!"

Your head is constantly up in the clouds, day dreaming and imagining. It can be hard to get you to focus sometimes or to pay attention when we're at a store or something. You are just off in your own land. Probably with Aladdin.

I could write about you for hours. All about your continued fascination with all insects. The pictures of people that you draw. The picnics you're always making in your room. The castles you build with blocks. Your obsession with rainbow colors. Your fearless and tender nature with animals. Your story telling skills. You are so full of life!

And having you as my daughter? There has never been a greater blessing in all of my life. Thanks for making me a mommy and for being my June bug.

During the past year June has:

Gone on a roller coaster

Gone to an Antique car show

Done lots of swimming

Worn countless princess dresses

Walked a dog

Rode horses

Played on sand dunes

Camped at a cabin

Roasted a lot of marshmallows 

 Learned to ride a bike

Become potty trained

Visited to the birds at the aviary

Collected approximately 872 rollie pollies

Picked raspberries

Gone to a museum of taxidermy animals

Painted a few masterpieces

Seen the real ruby red slippers

Ridden on a subway

Visited an Amish store

Put her feet in the Chesapeake Bay

Seen a baby panda bear

Had a kitten take a nap on her lap

 Fed lots of ducks

Gone through a corn maze

Picked a pumpkin at a pumpkin patch

Dressed up as goldie locks

Taken swimming lessons

Started going down slides by herself

Had breakfast with Santa

Decorated a lot cookies

Gone to the dentist

laid on her back in bath tub

Watched ice sculpting

Seen some real reindeer

Started going to primary at church

Taken Dance class and gymnastics

And a summer science class

Gone bowling

Made a real gingerbread house

Started swimming with a puddle jumper

Eaten lunch in a yurt

Swam in hot springs

Received her first car (battery operated...)

Set off sky lanterns 

 Attended a professional basketball game

Gone to a princess ball with her daddy and

Rode on a horse drawn carriage

Drank butter beer

Started making recognizable drawings of people. And earth quakes and maps

Learned and loves to make necklaces

Ridden on a huge Ferris Wheel

Become a cousin! And got a cousin!

Hiked some hikes

Gone to the Tulip festival. Like 8 times

Gained a new pet bearded dragon

Kissed a few boys

Camped out in the backyard

Gone through her first temple!

Gotten strep throat

Delivered May Day flowers

Read her first chapter book with mom

 Seen a few movies at the theater

 New states visited:

Montana

Wyoming

Delaware

Florida  

Also note worthy-

She went to three different capitals in one day- DC, Annapolis, and Dover

Flew on 4 airplanes

Repeat states visited:

Idaho

Maryland

Virginia

New exciting places and landmarks:

Dinosaur national monument

Yellowstone

Old faithful

Disneyworld!

And for fun, an interview with the birthday girl. 

What's your favorite color? Pink and blue and purple. And golden!
You favorite toy? Sparkly dinosaurs! They go -AHH!
Favorite TV show? Ponies and Octanuats and Daniel tiger neighborhood.
Favorite snack? Fruit snacks and penguin fishes
Favorite book? The choosing book!
Special things you like to take to bed? Pirate ship [her stuffed horse] and sass [her stuffed giraffe.] And my soft blanket.
What's your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Jam and bread and salad and broccoli.
What about for dinner? Meat and ham and... octopus. I got octopus for daddy. [she actually refuses to eat meat.]
What is something mommy always says to you? Be nice.
What makes you happy? When you be nice. When you and me laugh. 
What makes you sad? When Ben wont come. But I'm happy when Ben comes! [her uncle.]
What makes you laugh? When daddy tickles me. What happens when I tickle too?! (tickles me) Now tickle me!
How old are you? 6
How old is Mommy? 7
How old is Daddy? 8
What is your favorite thing to do? Tap on people. What? Yeah watch! TAP- you're it!
Who is your best friend? Aladdin. He's my prince and my friend.
What do you want to be when you grow up? A dancer.
What are you really good at? I don't know.
Well what am I good at? Painting roses? Umm, I'm just done. It's making me sick.
Come on, what are you good at? ...Petting a tiger. A white one!
What are you not very good at? Can't carry a big lion. Only you carry a big lion. I carry a little small one. 
What did you do today? Got to the library. 
What is your favorite food? No say 'What food do you not like?' Okay, what food do you NOT like? Chicken!
What do you like? Apples
What is your favorite song? The sunbeam one. 
What do you want for your birthday this year? Ice cream
What is your favorite animal? Snakes. No one snake. But I don't want to hold them, they are poisonous. And a robot dog. And.... my belly wants to choose something first. Cake! He wants to choose that!
What is love? It's when you get married.  
But what does it mean when I love you and you love me? Jesus can die for us.
What does daddy do for work? Works at the work.
Where do you live? In a home. Or in a castle!
Where is your favorite place to go? To a castle. Disneyland!

Happy Birthday June bug! Here's to a new year of beautiful growth!