Happy 3rd Birthday Charlotte Lynne!

Momma's 1st Mother's Day

Dear Charlotte Lynne, 

  I'd like to start off by describing what you are to me.  But how does one describe a sunbeam?...or a daisy as it bends toward the sun to warm her face on summer afternoon? You are my bright blue sky with big fluffy clouds...I wanna lie down on my back and take in the wonder of who you are.  If I could catch your inner spirit and stick it in a jar, much like a firefly on hot July night, I'd sit for hours admiring the beauty of your light. Your smile fills up a room like a double rainbow fills the sky after a spring rain. Your laughter is a sweet symphony, a song my ears never grow tired of hearing.  To sum it up: You are my Jubilee. My mountain top.  My favorite, lazy hammock under a breezy tree that I could sit in all day long and revel in its simplicity but sheer beauty.  That's what you are to me.

I could kiss your cheeks all day long!

I hear some mothers say they "buck heads" with their daughters, but not us, Cookie Dough.  We aren't exactly alike which I believe is why we completely enjoy one another's company.   The thing that drives me the most nuts about you is your level-head and cautiousness.  How many times a day do I say to you, "C'mon girl...throw caution to the wind!"  You look at me like I've lost my mind.  Change is not something you seem to enjoy, unlike your momma who finds it refreshing in every way.  When in new situations, you like to gage your surroundings first but once you open up, people realize  you have the moon to offer! You are a loyal friend.  You love your cousins. You play well with others and even at this age you share. (except w/ your brother but we're a work in progress, right?) You have a soft spirit, much like a solitary snowflake as it gently makes its way down to the earth below, unhurried, beautiful, and unique in every way.

Movie night w/ your best friends

Momma is saying, "C'mon girl, throw caution to the wind!"

What names do we call you? "Charlee", (everyone calls you this. Actually, the only person who calls you "Charlotte" is your daddy) "Sunbeam", "Cookie Dough", "Charlee-Oh"...and Daddy calls you "sweetie" a lot.  By the way, he is completely WHIPPED by you.  His big blue eyes lolly-gag like a hound dog's whenever he's around you.  Whenever I get to step back and watch the 2 of you interact it makes me melt from the inside out.  I remember watching your Daddy hold you when you were a baby and I'd be HIT w/ a wave of love like I had never felt before.  Funny thing is, tonight I had the exact same feeling.  It never gets old.  I hope it never does.

Buddies

Your favorite "toy" of all time...for THREE years now...is your lovey whom we affectionately have named Miss Daisy.  Miss Daisy has stuck by your side and has the stains to prove it.  You started calling her "Daisy-Oh" about a year ago.  When you turned 2 your Daddy and I thought we should buy 1 more, the exact same lovey, just in case you lost Daisy-oh.  But you know a fake when you smell it!  That was the most wasted $12 of my life because you have NOTHING to do w/ the other one.  Some other things you love...our front porch, horses, daisy's, strawberry shortcake, trains, cars, painting, being outside, your dolls, painting your toe's, and going to music class with your momma.  For your birthday, you have told Momma that you want "Chuggington" (train movie/series) and "Baby Ghana"...your little African doll!

Choo! Choo!

Holding Baby Ghana's hand

Charlee holding Miss Daisy-oh and hangin' out on our front porch

  You also love helping Momma cook...you're my sidekick!  Tonight you insisted on wearing your leotard w/ tutu, leg warmers and pink tights to bed.  Pink is your favorite color, after all.  I watched you play with your Thomas the Trains and hot wheels today and thought to myself, "She is a cool kid."  You are a perfect mix.  I think you'll be the kind of girl who shoots guns w/ her nails painted pink.  I bet Daddy will take you fishing all the time but you'll have pigtails w/ hot pink ribbons.   You love to play in the mud but as soon as your done you insist that I wash your hands.  I love it...I love YOU.

  I'll never forget a not-so-fun night when you were about 1 year old.  You were so very hot and limp as a noodle due to your fever.  I honestly thought we might lose you.  As I sat in the back seat holding you on the way to the hospital, I cried Psalms 121 over you.  I mean, CRIED OUT TO A HOLY GOD...I  claimed that Scripture over your life with as much determination a human could possibly have.  And I still do to this day.    Thank you for exactly who you are:  YOU.  I know I tell you every single day that, "I love bein' your momma!"...and maybe I say it too often, making it lose it's appeal...but girl, I'll say it a million trillion times just to make sure you know, I LOVE BEIN' YOUR MOMMA.  You were ORDAINED, CHOSEN and HAND PICKED to be MY daughter and I take my job seriously.  Ok ok, not TOO seriously but you know what I mean! Remember, you are MOST precious to Him...Jesus.  If I love you to the moon and back, He loves you to the edge of the universe and back 100 times!  If you make my world go round, you make His head spin faster than I can say "Bottabing-bottaboe!". If I say I love you so much it hurts, well than my little Sunbeam, He loves you so much He died on a tree and took on every sin of the world...just so that He could look at your sweet face and those big brown eyes and call you "My daughter".

  The year of "3"...you and me, kid.  This will be the year you throw caution to the wind, girl! We're gonna live life BIG, hunny.  Side by side we're gonna face your fears and in the power of Jesus we're gonna kick 'em and shout, "I AIN'T AFRAID NO MO'!"

We're gonna tackle the alphabet, colors, numbers, potty training, vocabulary...girl, the world is yours for the taking!  My prayer this year...the year of 3...is that you discover how to EMBRACE the world around you, like a wild mustang running on a Wyoming plain...not running due to fear, but running b/c you are free from it. Happy Birthday, Cookie Dough.  

Love, Momma

Psalm 121

¹I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come?

² My help comes from the LORD,
   who made heaven and earth.
 ³He will not let your foot be moved;
   he who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴Behold, he who keeps Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep.
 ⁵The LORD is your keeper;
   the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day,
   nor the moon by night.
 ⁷The LORD will keep you from all evil;
   he will keep your life.
⁸The LORD will keep
   your going out and your coming in
   from this time forth and forevermore.

Rodeo Time!

"I Miss Kenda!" (Kendra is our cowgirl neighbor and Charlee's hero!)

Waiting our turn at Children's Mercy

Look! It's Nemo's Birthday, TOO!

Frozen yogurt after a long day at the hospital

Your smile lights up a room