Month: July 2021

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! 💗