Rolling by the Dozen

Today we celebrated Mercy’s 8th birthday!

I gave Mercy the options of donuts, kolaches or me picking her up something from Sam’s for breakfast. She decided she wanted brownies, so that’s what we had!

We sang “Happy Birthday”, and then everyone enjoyed the extra sweet breakfast.

Mercy could hardly wait to open her gifts after she finished breakfast. As she opened each present, she guessed who it was from…and she guessed correctly every single time.

Mercy loves drawing and is very into fashion, so most of her gifts revolved around those things. She was very excited.

Mercy immediately opened her new sketchbook and started drawing.

Mercy wanted to go to Chick-fil-A for lunch. We headed that way but found out it was still closed for dine-in. Her second choice was Panera Bread, so that’s where we went. Mercy just loves the Creamy Tomato soup there.

For at least a month in advance, Mercy has been planning her special day. The thing she wanted to do most was for me to take her, Jubilee and Treasure out to eat and to the mall.

Claire’s is Mercy’s favorite store. We had way too much fun shopping there! Haha.

After a little shopping, the girls got popsicles. They loved every lick and every bite.

Then, we went back to the RV. The girls modeled the clothes they bought and showed off their accessories from Claire’s. Brothers laughed and sisters oohed and aahed.

We ended the evening reading what we’d each written to Mercy in her journal. She thanked each person and gave each a hug. I could tell she had a really good day, and I’m so glad she did!

Happy 8th birthday, Mercy Rain! 🌈

Girl, you are so spunky, cute and fun! You love saying funny things, hearing funny things and laughing so hard you cry. You are very fashionable, and you are confident creating your own style. You love wearing fake glasses, dangly earrings and headbands. You like fixing your hair and your sisters’ hair in cute styles. Your favorite colors are teal and turquoise. You choose those colors every thing, every time. You are a really good artist. I am always amazed by the pictures you draw. You seem to enjoy drawing more than any other activity. You do love playing outside. And you love talking. I think it’s so cute when you and Jubilee go on walks and talk to each other. You are the youngest girl I know who loves money and gift cards. You know that means shopping, and you love to shop. You are quite the little entrepreneur. Recently, you were gifted gummy worms. You ate probably half, gifted a couple and sold the others individually to your siblings. I’ve said it before, but you are easy to parent. You are just a very happy and content little girl. You love playing with your siblings, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you sitting around bored. I love getting to be your mommy! I love laugh-crying with you. You are one sparkly and special girl, and I just love who you are! I love you so very much! 💖

After traveling around many of the United States staying in RV parks over the past couple years, we decided to buy an RV park!

We have searched for and pursued different investments over the past ten years. We have had some that have fallen through from reasons ranging from a seller passing away to not getting approved for a bank loan. All the stars aligned for this one. We did put in a lot of effort to get to this point, but things that we could not have made happen did as well. We are very thankful for family and friends who have supported and encouraged us, and we are thankful to God for bringing together what we could not have on our own. We closed on the park last month.

It is an already established park that has been shut down for about a year due to the previous owner no longer being able to run it. It was thriving prior to closing, so we are hopeful for a good future here as we prepare to reopen.

We are currently doing the kind of thing we love, renovating! We are remodeling two buildings on the property and building out one that started with just studs.

The first building will be the office, laundry and rec room. The middle building we are calling “Manager’s Quarters”, which means we’ll be using that for personal use. The last building will be men’s and women’s restrooms. We’ll have two toilet stalls and two shower stalls in each.

Look at this team of helpers we have! Our oldest five have asked us to put them to work, especially the boys. They have been genuinely so helpful, and they are racking in some money.

We are currently living in our RV on the property, and we plan to continue to do so for awhile. We are thrilled to have more space and to be able to spread out a bit more with having that middle building in addition to our RV. Our kids are really happy to settle for awhile, and they are very excited about this new adventure! We are about 30 minutes away from our old hometown, so our kids are happily back at music lessons with their old teachers.

We have the best big trees here! You can’t beat having good shade trees in Texas. Our kids are spending a lot of time outside enjoying the playground, rope swings and four square volleyball.

We took polls and had some family and friends vote on the name of our RV park. Unanimously, all voted for the name Rolling by the Dozen RV Park, so that is what we chose!

We have 50 full hook-up spaces. Over half are pull-throughs. Our park is big rig friendly. We’ll have 4 coin-operated washers and dryers. We are going to offer high speed WiFi. We have a playground and picnic tables in the shade. And we have a beautiful pond with a waterfall. It’s a spacious, pretty park about ten miles outside of College Station, TX.

We are working on our website and reservation system, along with finishing up renovations. We plan to open the park in about a month.

Thank you for coming along with us on our traveling journey, and now you can join us on this new adventure! If you RV, come visit us!

We recently settled in Snook, TX. It’s a little tiny town with a population of about 500 people near Bryan/College Station. I’ll update more on that in the near future.

Yesterday, Cherish turned 12! One of the things Snook is known for is Slovacek’s Sausage, so Cherish decided she wanted to try some kolaches from there. She chose strawberry, raspberry, cherry, apple and sausage filled kolaches.

We made Cherish a kolache stack and sang “Happy Birthday” to her. She blew out all twelve candles in one breath. The kolaches were so good that several kids said they are going to choose those over donuts for their birthdays, too.

After breakfast, Cherish opened gifts. Tapestry has been teaching Cherish to play ukulele, and Cherish has wanted her own ukulele for awhile. I got her the cutest one with the best reviews I could find. She loves it!

And this surfer swing we got her is a big hit with the whole family, young and old.

Cherish asked me to take her, Tapestry, Liberty and Jubilee to Mod Pizza and the mall.

If you’ve never been to Mod Pizza, it is worth trying! You choose what size pizza you want and go through the line picking toppings. We love going there, but it is pretty pricey for our whole family so we mainly go for special occasions.

We have hit the stage with our older girls where they just love going shopping at the mall.

I told Cherish she could pick an outfit, and I bought a long sleeved shirt for each of our ten kids. Cherish chose the cutest clothes!

If you have shopped with girls, you know how it is. They used some of their own money to buy some extra clothes and some jewelry, make-up and hair things from Claire’s.

I will say that our girls are pretty frugal and very thoughtful with how they spend their money. We don’t shop at the mall unless it’s a special occasion like a birthday, so this was so much fun for our older girls!

After shopping, the girls thought that ice cream for supper would be a good idea. It was a win for sure!

We headed back to the RV after ice cream. The girls showed their brothers and sisters all the stuff they bought, and we surprised the other kids with shirts. They were all excited.

Then, we all read Cherish what we had written her in her journal. And we ended the evening playing outside until about 10PM. Cherish had the best day, and we had a blast celebrating her!

Happy 12th birthday, Cherish Jael! ♥️ Cherish, you are just so sweet and lovable. You are easy-going and generally happy. You’ve always been athletic and enjoyed the great outdoors, and that hasn’t changed. You have followed in Manning and Tapestry’s footsteps and now love to read. You barter candy in exchange for reading Manning’s kindle as often as you can. You are a great pianist. I love hearing you play. You are petite and proud of it, which makes me happy that you embrace it. I think you are so darn cute, and I would not add an inch to you! 😍 You jump to play cards with me if I am looking for a game buddy. You love having conversations. You are very into fashion and are always dressed super stylish. You love dangly earrings. You enjoy styling hair and often have a line of sisters waiting to have their hair done by you. You are besties with Tapestry and Liberty, but you’ve always been one to play or hang out with any and all. You are sensitive to others’ feelings, and you are very empathetic. Love and compassion really wrap up who you are, which means Cherish is the perfect name for you! You are a precious daughter to me, Cherish, and I love and cherish you so very much! ♥️♥️♥️

Yesterday, our second to youngest, River, turned five years old!

She woke up to birthday banners Tapestry, Cherish and Liberty made for her. She got dressed up in a cute dress because she is a girly girl who loves her dresses. Then, she went with her daddy to choose donuts from a new donut shop.

These were some special and different donuts that included toppings like Oreo crumbs, Fruity Pebbles and bacon.

We sang “Happy Birthday” to River. She had the biggest smile on her face as she worked hard to blow out those five candles.

Then, each kid chose two donuts and enjoyed every bite.

River opened gifts after breakfast. Her very favorite gift was clip on earrings from Mercy. We got her a Yoto Player, which was something new we had never seen. All the kids thought it was pretty amazing. It has little cards that you insert to play songs or stories.

After opening presents, Manning read River her new book. And then, she spent the rest of the morning enjoying her new gifts.

We went to Freebirds, River’s request, for a late lunch. River ate chips, a burrito and a cookie.

Then, we headed over to spend the rest of the afternoon at the children’s museum in College Station. River had a great time, along with all her brothers and sisters, there.

When we returned to the RV, we ate dinner and read River what each of us had written to her in her journal. Then, we ended the night with River in our bed eating popcorn and chocolate and watching Peppa Pig online.

River had an all around great day, and we loved celebrating our 5-year-old girl!

Happy 5th birthday, River Grace! 💕 You are the cutest and sweetest little girl! You are happy most of the time. You ask for what you want. You don’t hold back how you feel. You have a quiet but strong voice. You are small but mighty. You rarely take things personal or get offended. You hold your own. You give and share sweetly. You, also, like to receive. You want all things to be equal and fair. You ask a lot of questions. You want to know what we are doing and especially why we are doing it. You are a good back seat driver, often letting your daddy know when he should stop, go or turn. 😉 You love fashion and all things girly-girl. You like to build with LEGO’s, draw, color, play games and put on acts with stuffed animals. You and Treasure are little besties – quite the dynamic duo! You ask for me to kiss your neck often. You are so ticklish that it causes you to erupt in laughter. Your giggles are the cutest. When I feel someone behind me ticking me, it’s almost always you I find when I turn around. You are an adorable and precious daughter, River G! I absolutely love getting to be your mommy, and I love you very, very much! 💗

Yesterday, Jubilee turned 9 years old!

Jubilee and her daddy got up extra early and went to pick up donuts. When they returned, Jubilee showed her brothers and sisters all the great options she chose.

We sang happy birthday, and Jubilee blew out all 9 candles with one breath. Then, the donuts were devoured.

After breakfast, everyone got dressed and Jubilee opened gifts. She was especially excited to receive a hammock and a cute miniature purse.

Ryan has been going through an RV tech and inspector school. He stayed in Athens for class while the kids and I made a 3 hour drive to our old hometown.

A friend from church passed away from Covid last week, and we wanted to be there for the funeral. We enjoyed seeing a lot of friends, but of course, it was under sad circumstances.

I told Jubilee we’d celebrate her birthday for 2 days when we found out the funeral was on her birthday. She was especially excited when I told her we’d stop to get her a convenience store snack on the way home from the funeral. We rarely do this as a big family, so Jubilee thought this was the best thing ever. Haha. She chose peanut butter pretzels, skittles and gum.

We made the 3 hour drive back to Athens, ate dinner and ended the day reading Jubilee what each of us had written in her journal.

Today, we drove about an hour to Plano. We ate lunch at Jubilee’s choice of Chick-fil-A.

Jubilee got nuggets, fries, root beer and an ice-cream cone.

After lunch, we headed to the mall to get Jubilee’s ears pierced. We let each of our girls get their ears pierced when they turn 9. Jubilee could hardly wait to get hers done! She chose sparkly pink heart studs, and she hardly flinched during the piercing.

Then, we walked over to the Crayola Experience – also at the mall.

It was really a lot of fun. The kids were able to create their own Crayola wrappers. They took selfies with each other, and those were turned into coloring pages. They melted crayons into race cars and emojis. From our oldest to our youngest, each of our kids really enjoyed this!

Jubilee had such a great couple days. She felt special, and she had a lot of fun!

Happy 9th birthday, Jubilee Hope! 💗 You are sweet-spirited, empathetic and caring. You really love people and you are good at showing all that love. You are also hilarious. You spontaneously do the most funny things, causing everyone around you to erupt in laughter. You almost always have a song in your head and heart that is flowing out of your mouth. From funny songs to meaningful songs, you easily create great lyrics on the spot. You love listening to music and singing. You enjoy painting and creating. You are very neat and organized. You like to know what time things start and how long it will take to get somewhere. You ask for and seem to enjoy chores, and you do an amazing job at any task given to you. You befriend others easily and often. You are a friend to any and all. You almost always seem happy and like you just really enjoy life. I love when you randomly come up to me and say, “Mommy, let me give you a hug.” You add sparkle, sunshine and lots of happiness to our family and to others. You are unique, one-of-a-kind and oh so fun. I love you very, very much, Jubi, and I am so very happy I get to be your mommy! 💖

I can hardly believe our baby is THREE!

This morning, I woke Bravely up a little before 9:30. The girl likes her beauty sleep. She was not thrilled about the idea of going to choose donuts. It didn’t occur to me that she had not known the other kids go choose donuts on their birthdays because she is always sleeping when they go. Ha! Mercy came into in our room and told Bravely how fun it is to pick donuts, and that did the trick. Bravely headed out with her daddy and happily selected donuts.

Bravely returned and proudly showed her big brothers and sisters all the donuts she got. She originally chose a chocolate one for herself, but she switched over to a pink one by the time she got home.

We stacked some of the donuts on a plate, added three candles and sang “Happy Birthday”. Bravely really enjoyed blowing out her candles. It was hard work!

We rarely have donuts other than on birthdays, so everyone gets excited about them when we have them.

After a late breakfast, Bravely opened presents. She loved seeing and examining each new thing. She especially loved a teeny tiny stuffed bunny Mercy gave her. She immediately wanted to try out her new toys and play, so that’s what she did until lunchtime.

Bravely had requested to eat at Chipotle for her birthday. It’s about an hour drive from where we are, so we chose to take her there last night. They happened to accidentally give us an extra kid’s meal, so Bravely got to have that for lunch today. She loves Chipotle quesadillas, rice and beans.

Ryan and I called Bravely into our room while she was playing, and we showed her the “big girl bed” we got her. She has still been sleeping in the bed with us. I’m not quite ready to move her into the bunk room, so I bought her a little mattress to put at the foot of our bed. I wasn’t sure what she would think, but she loved it. She couldn’t wait to take a nap and test it out, and she slept peacefully there for a few hours. We will see what she thinks about sleeping there tonight. Haha. I will miss having her in our bed, but it’s time.

After nap, we had dinner and then read Bravely what we had each written in her journal. It was a little hard for her to sit still and listen for that long, but she tried!

Then, we got in the van and drove to a park close by. We saw a rainbow on the way, and another rainbow when we arrived at the park. Bravely loves playing on playgrounds, and she was very excited to try out a new one.

Bravely soaked up all the love and celebration, and I could tell she had a really great day!

Happy 3rd birthday, Bravely Love! 💕 You are the cutest, spunkiest, most precious little girl. You are almost always full of things to say. You often say, “Mommy, I love you. You are the bestest mommy ever, ever.” You, also, make jokes and love to laugh and laugh. You dance around when you are happy or excited. It’s not your fault, but we sure have spoiled you. You get candy, toys or most anything you want from all your older siblings – and usually even your mommy and daddy. Sometimes NINE siblings give you a piece of chocolate! You love the endless attention and gifts most of the time, but there are times you just want to be left alone to play by yourself. You love to sing, color, draw, build with toys and play outside. You still love to sleep by your mommy and to cuddle with your mommy. You rub my arm as comfort. You still charm everyone we meet with your beautiful blue eyes, glasses and smile. You add so much joy and sunshine to my life, to our family and to everyone around you. You are so precious, Bravely, and I am so very happy I get to be your mommy! I love you very, very much! 💗

Today we celebrated Rhythm’s 14th birthday!

Of course, we started the morning with Rhythm going with his daddy to select some donuts for our traditional birthday donut stack. Rhythm chose an apple fritter and a raspberry filled donut for himself and a slew of other options for his brother and sisters.

Daddy stacked the donuts and put the fourteen candles on top. Usually I do that, but I asked him to do it while I got dressed. Turns out Daddy does it way neater and prettier. It was perfect for Rhythm as he is our kid who likes straight lines, matching and all things neat! Haha.

We sang “Happy Birthday”, and Rhythm blew all his candles out in one breath. Then each kid chose their donuts and devoured them.

After breakfast, Rhythm opened gifts. One of his favorite gifts was this pack of 30+ Asian snacks. He also received a laser tag set, flag football, the game Throw Throw Burrito, fire sticks, juggling balls, a Between Mom & Son Journal and a Between Dad & Son Journal. He really liked all his gifts.

Next, we read Rhythm what each of us wrote in his journal.

And then the older kids headed outside with Daddy to play some flag football. Y’all, we have been spoiled traveling outside of Texas. The heat and humidity here is over the top. We can hardly stand it this year, now that we’ve experienced other! Ha.

After flag football, we loaded up and headed to the Dallas area to a Chinese restaurant. The first restaurant we went to was closed for dine-in due to Covid. We were not expecting that as most of Texas is open at this point, but we weren’t thinking about how big cities may not be completely open. We quickly searched for another Chinese restaurant with good reviews. I made a call and asked if they were open for dine-in. She said, “yes”, when I told her there were 12 of us. When we got there, we realized they normally only do take-out, but they allowed us to dine in. We were really thankful as we were an hour away from the RV, it was 2PM, and we had promised our birthday boy Chinese food! Rhythm thoroughly enjoyed every bite of noodle and shrimp he took.

When we finished lunch, we made our way to Urban Air. We bought our five oldest kids the ultimate package, which we have never done. They were so excited to get to do the sky walk, zip line, climbing walls, trampolines and all sorts of things. Our younger kids enjoyed everything they were tall enough to do.

We ran to Trader Joe’s to pick up some groceries and dinner before heading back to our RV. When we got back, Manning and Rhythm played laser tag out in the dark. Then, we all told Rhythm things we like about him to end the great day of celebration.

Happy 14th birthday, Rhythm! ✨ You are a fun-loving, easy-going guy. You are a conversationalist and talk to others, even people we’ve just met, with ease. You aren’t afraid to ask questions, and you are often full of those. You grow, learn and get to know people from getting answers to all those questions. You like to know the rules and follow the rules. You spur others on to follow the rules as well. You like things neat and tidy. You are quick to clean up any messes around you. You love attempting anything new, and you usually master what you attempt because you have a determination to keep at it. You have a unique sense of humor, and you bring lots of good laughter. You are a good friend to anyone around you. You include others and help people feel comfortable and special. You are a great brother to all your siblings and a great son to me! I love you lots, and I am so happy to have you as my son! 💙

Yesterday we celebrated Tapestry’s 13th birthday!

We started the day with our traditional birthday donut stack. Like her mommy, Tapestry prefers salty over sweet though. She chose a ham, egg and cheese croissant for herself.

After breakfast we gave Tapestry gifts including a makeup kit, a hand lettering book and pens, a new Bible, a ring with her birthstone and a few other things. I had “Beautiful Tapestry” inscribed on the inside of Tapestry’s ring. We told her we wanted her to have it as a reminder of how much we love her and how much God loves her no matter what choices she makes in life. She loved the meaningful gift.

After gifts, we read Tapestry what each of us had written in her journal. Then, she started her hand lettering book and practiced making pretty letters.

After that, I did Tapestry’s make up for her and taught her how to apply it herself. She was so excited about getting her first real makeup. She had a hard time letting me do the eyeliner, and she was shocked at how much older it made her look. She said she probably would not wear the eyeliner regularly quite yet. Mommy’s great with that choice! Haha.

For lunch I took Tapestry, Cherish and Liberty to Panera Bread. That is one of Tapestry’s favorite places to eat. She got a bread bowl with creamy tomato soup.

Then, I took them to the mall for a little shopping. I told Tapestry I’d buy her an outfit, and I told all three they could use their own money to shop as well. Tapestry picked a cute outfit for me to get her. All three bought some soaps, lotions and sprays from Bath and Body Works and purses from Icing. We do not do a lot of this kind of thing being a big family. They had the time of their lives! And Tapestry definitely looks like a teenager in her new jeans!

After shopping, we went to get manicures and pedicures. I wanted to give Tapestry the full teenage girl experience for her 13th birthday. We do some extra special stuff for the 13th birthday for all our kids.

Tapestry got purple with flowers, Cherish got teal with a chevron design, Liberty got sparky mauve with flowers and I got teal with an Aztec design.

To end the day, we took the whole family to the cinema to see Raya and the Last Dragon. Everyone got popcorn, candy and a soda. We had not been to a cinema in a long time and were super impressed with the comfortable reclining chairs!

Tapestry said she had the best birthday ever. She thanked us several times for giving her such a great 13th birthday celebration.

Happy 13th birthday, Tapestry Noel! 💕 You are officially a teenager! You are my beautiful, mature first-born daughter. You are thoughtful, caring and empathetic. You can’t stand for one of your little sisters to feel left out, even when one may just not be old enough to do what you are doing. You find a way to make anyone and everyone feel included. You love teaching your little sisters. You teach them how to draw, ride bikes and do all sorts of things, and you enjoy assisting in their schooling. You love hanging out with Cherish and Liberty, and you have quite the sisterhood bond with them. You are a good and loyal friend to them and others. You are a good friend to your brothers as well. You are extremely creative, especially in story writing and telling. You are a great artist and musician. I personally love that you are a girl drummer – that’s just cool. 😎 You are a great side kick – always close by my side for chores, gift-wrapping, organizing, teaching, helping, encouraging and all sorts of things. Your name probably gets called most next to mine because you help, nurture and love. I know being the oldest girl in a big family cannot always be easy, but you live out that role in such a graceful way. I am thankful for every shoe you’ve strapped (Thank God we learned to go with Velcro! 🤣), piece of laundry you’ve folded, beginning reader you’ve listened to, sandwich you’ve made, blanket you’ve put on a little sister and sibling conflict you’ve helped work through. Though I have always tried to keep you from feeling you have too much responsibility, you would not have it any other way. You have let me know again and again that you want to help and be a part of it all. The older you’ve gotten, the more you and I have bonded not only as mother and daughter, but as friends also. I love having conversations with you. We talk about deep things and funny ones, God things and navigating through hardships of life. I so love who you are, Tapestry! You add beauty to my life and to lives all around you. Thank you for being you! I love you more than you could ever possibly know! 💗

Treasure turned 6 years old today, and we had a great day of celebrating!

Treasure started the morning going with her daddy to pick up donuts.

She selected a donut with chocolate icing and coconut and a donut with blue icing for herself.

We sang happy birthday to Treasure, and then everyone enjoyed donuts. We accidentally used trick candles. I don’t think Treasure was very impressed. That’s not the first time we forgot about the trick candles. I just officially added 6 kinds of non-trick birthday candles to my Walmart cart. Ha!

After breakfast, Treasure excitedly opened gifts. She got a slew of fun things from her mom, dad, brothers and sisters. A tiny basketball, clip on earrings, a larger personalized blanket and crafts were some of her presents.

Treasure spent the rest of the morning crafting with her sisters.

We let Treasure pick anything in the RV that she wanted for lunch. I kid you not, she really wanted some of Bravely’s baby food pouches and a breakfast bar. We made it happen. Haha!

After lunch, we each read Treasure what we had written her in her journal. She smiled and giggled about what each of us had to say.

Then, we headed to the Children’s Museum of the Brazos Valley. Treasure and all her siblings had a blast playing and exploring. Even our older kids found some fun things to do.

After the museum, we went to Treasure’s choice of Mod Pizza for an early dinner. Treasure ordered a pizza with cheese and sausage, a no name cake and a soda.

When we got back to the RV, Treasure got to ride her brother’s electric scooter all evening. She thought that was a real treat!

Then, we ended the day with Treasure in our bed eating popcorn and chocolate and watching Paw Patrol.

It was a great day! I think Treasure felt special and loved, and she got to do what she loves most…have lots of FUN!

Happy 6th birthday, Treasure Bliss! 💖

Girl, you sparkle and shine! You make everything fun. You are a very determined little girl, and as a determined woman myself, I see that as a good thing. You can and do accomplish anything you set your mind to. You never see yourself as too young or too little. You can climb any tree, scale any wall and learn any skill. You are fearless and brave to the core. I think I tell you to be careful more than I do any of my other kids, but I also let you do things I would not have let your older siblings do at your age. You prove you are capable of so much. You play hard from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed. I have to scoop you up and convince you to sit in my lap for just a minute or two. You like to be hugged, but you are too busy to sit for long. You are fun-loving and caring. You are a joy to parent. I hope you know how very much your mommy loves you, and how happy I am with who you are! I love you so much little fierce and spunky one! 🔥

Five days after Manning’s birthday, we celebrated Liberty’s 10th birthday!

To start the day, Liberty went with her daddy to pick donuts. She chose an apple fritter and a chocolate coconut donut for herself, and she brought a slew of other options for her brothers and sisters.

We sang “Happy Birthday” and enjoyed the donuts. Then Liberty opened gifts from all of us. Also, we went around and told her what we like about her.

One of the gifts Liberty got was a Pom Pom Making Kit. She and some of her siblings spent most of the morning making cute pom poms.

Then, we loaded up and headed to Chick-fil-A for lunch – Liberty’s choice. She enjoyed nuggets, fries, a brownie and root beer.

After lunch, we went to Target. Just Liberty and I went in the store. She wanted to shop for a cute skirt or dress. It took awhile looking around before she found the perfect thing. She knew this dress was the one once she saw it.

After shopping, we enjoyed an afternoon of jumping at Urban Air. Our whole family had a blast there!

Then we headed back to our RV park and ate an easy dinner. We had a foosball competition that Liberty’s team won. And we ended the night by reading Liberty what each of us had written to her in her journal.

Liberty had a great birthday, and we loved celebrating it with her!

Happy 10th birthday, Liberty Pearl! 💖 You are my cute, sweet, fun girly girl. You like all things girly and fancy. You are very disciplined and devoted. If you commit to something, you do it. Your funny side has emerged. You have a way of doing and saying things that causes me to laugh so hard I cry. I love hearing you sing. You are a great artist. You draw some really amazing pictures. You are a fun story-teller. You love, love, love to watch and caretake Bravely. I think you are foregoing your own fun by taking her to a playground, but you have convinced me that IS what is fun for you. You are a great little sister and big sister. You easily bounce back and forth playing with younger and older siblings. You have always acted very mature for your age. It’s easy to believe you are 10 because you act even older. You very much want to make sure people are ok with you, and you are quick to make things right if you hurt anyone. Most nights you tell me, “Best mommy ever!” And I respond, “Best Liberty ever!” You really are a jewel and pearl to our family. You add sparkle, pizzaz and shine to life! I love you so very much, and I absolutely love being your mom! 💗