Happy 4th birthday, Lydia!

Wow! Everyone tells you that time flies, but it's so hard to remember that during the long days and nights....... It's really hard to believe that it was 4 years ago when you surprised us all with your speedy entrance into this world!

Your 4 year old check up was a success! You weighed 29 pounds and jumped to the 5.9%tile from the 2.5%tile you'd been in. And that means no more bimonthly weight checks!!! We have a whole year to go to the doctor!! You were 39.25 inches tall and bumped up to the 40.4%tile. You are growing! Yay! You are giving up some of the milk (probably one cup a day instead of 4, but you eat a lot better - even though you're still picky.)

You are on fire to live life to the fullest, and you always have been. You make your mind up to start doing something, and you will get it done! Like how you wanted to crawl so badly, you just up and did it at 6 months. And then you were ready to walk/run by 9 months. When you are determined, you will succeed.

You learned a lot this past year..... like how to successfully use the potty. It took us the WHOLE year (and a little bit before you turned 3 too) but you made it! (Whew!) I think you were determined to either drive me crazy or drive me bonkers.... either way you succeeded like you always do :) We also gave up naps.... it wasn't an easy transition. But you were only falling asleep a few times a week and those were a battle. And if you did fall asleep, you were up until 10:00 pm, which is past my bed time. So we have "big girl rest time" where you play quietly in your room and I come get you at 3:30. It works pretty well for now. About once every other week, you'll fall asleep. But I just figure that's body telling you it needs sleep and I'm ok with that. You also learned to write your name! It is so cute and you like putting it on everything!

In many ways, you are like your daddy.... you are loving, compassionate, and kind to others like he is. You love to be organized! You will clean up mostly without being asked, and it will be organized (your way, of course.) You things neat and in order or at least in a line. You love to count things and number them. Or just line them up by height or color, even if it's just the fruity cheerios. I attribute all things smart and organized to your sweet daddy. He's the best at it! You are always a little daddy's girl. You wait at the door for him to come home everyday and you run to the mailbox with him. After you've done your "Daddy dance" for him and given him a big hug! --The Daddy Dance is you jumping up an down as fast as you can while yelling, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"--- You treasure your father/daughter dates and just any time we have with him. You listen to him and respond to him with respect. It so sweet and warms my heart to see you two together.

You always have a few of my tendencies..... you love to be creative. You can sit at the table and color for 45 minutes alone, longer if you have play dough or markers or paint! You prefer a blank sheet of white paper over a color book or pre-made anything. You just create anything you want on the blank sheets and you have it all in your head and will explain the story later. You like to decorate and move things around and sit back and enjoy them. You love to help me cook, and you eat better when you've have helped cook it, so we cook a lot. We enjoy our days together and have a pretty good schedule down.

Mondays and Fridays are our days. We run errands, have play dates, go to the gym, the zoo, the museums, anywhere we want to! Tuesday-Thursday are school days and we come home for lunch and then your rest time. Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 is your sweet dance class and you love it!  I love and adore our time together. Some days are harder than others and some days are way more fun than others. But we have a good time and strike a good balance for one another. I pray for you as often as I can. I try to teach you about Jesus and let you know how much He loves you. I hope you always remember that and that you do grow in God's knowledge daily. Just as your Life Verse says...

"Since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. 

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the 

wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy 

of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good 

work, growing in the knowledge of God." Colossians 1:9-10

My big 4 year old ready for dance class on the left! And your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd birthday parties on the right. 

Birthday morning pancakes!! We attempt to make your age number, some are prettier than others!

You were such a big girl at the check up, although you panicked when you thought you'd have to get shots. Those 5 year boosters aren't going to be any fun!!

You had an amazing trip to Disney World for your birthday! It was the trip of a life time! So we decided to scale down your party this year. We just did a small family one so Baylor could come play and I surprised you with one at school one day. I hope you had fun and enjoyed them all! Birthdays should make you feel special, and let you low how much you are loved. It's not about a big party or how many presents you get. I pray you feel loved most of all!

Your sweet class!

You love a cupcake, especially a pink one!

You helped me pick out everything form the plates to the foods! You had fun organizing!

Then we had a fun lunch and play time at Chick Fil A! You got ice-cream for your special day. I think this was your first ice cream cone!

KK and Troxy came over for presents that night and you were surprised that your Advent calendar had a pink cupcake in it too!

Unwrapping your doll house

You special Martin Miazza box!

Your beautiful crystal collection.

And your Caldecott medal winner books.

I was so happy you loved the doll house! My granddaddy Troxler made it for me when I was little and it was an honor to pass it on to you.

How I set the rooms up.... you like to rearrange them daily ;)

Sweet family puzzle from Baylor.

You wanted a "Frozen" party for a long time.... so the morning of your birthday, we had all things Frozen out for you. You were pretty pumped!!

You helped me pick out your cake, add the characters and put the snowflakes on! You were real into your decorations this year!

All your Elsa and Anna pictures from Disney.

Of course you wanted to dress up like Elsa!

Sweet baby Patty and Daddy

Happy birthday my little angel

You and Baylor put on a show for us all!

Sing your heart out!

I pray you always have a giving heart. We didn't even have a real party this year, but you were able to collect all kids of fun things for the children in Batson Hospital over the holidays. I put a message out on Facebook and all our friends came to the rescue! You were so proud and never asked to keep any of them. You proudly gave them all away in spirit of Christmas. You ask about Baker a lot and I love talking to you about him. He has a legacy that I will never forget. It allows me to talk to you about Jesus, Heaven, and loving others no matter what. We talk about how life is not fair and how we love others and Jesus through it. I pray you always choose love and are kind to all around you. Thank you for helping make some children happy on Christmas through such a small act.

Baylor and Madeleine meet us there to help deliver everything!

What a fun day it is! 

sweet Mad!

Your 3rd year in a row. Mama is proud of you always baby!

We ended up having another surprise party with your leftover cake! You invited (like you always do!) friends over after the gym to enjoy in some snacks.... it's a good thing we had a bunch to offer today! You always want to have friends over and love inviting the whole gym/park/library over for lunch!

Sweet friends!

Y'all do have lots of fun!