Happy Birthday, Mattie!

My little girl turned FIVE yesterday!  I just can't believe it.  In some ways she is still so little... She still loves to snuggle, she still requires so much involvement in so many ways, she still wants to be carried around for Pete's sake!  She is still very attached to her mama - no bonding issues there!  But then she seems so big at other times... she wants to do as much by herself as possible (or more).  She wants to do everything Jacob does.  She wants to do everything everyone does, for that matter.  And there is more opinion, sass, and drama in her thirty-eight pounds and forty-two inches than I would have thought humanly possible.  For real.  I have often said about her that "I have to wake up ready to face her" every day, and that about sums it up.  I have hope that there will be a time where there are fewer battles.  (If there won't be, don't tell me anytime soon.)  I also know that the spunk and stubbornness will glorify God one day... He has given her the strength to move mountains when the whole world is against her!

As challenging as Mattie is, she is also full of life.  She makes us laugh more than all the rest of us put together.  She is spunky, resilient, thoughtful, complimentary, forgiving, daring and helpful.  She does want to do the right thing, even though it often eludes her initially!  She is very creative and seems to have dancing in her bones.  Dancing truly seems to be her heartbeat.

She is also all about sparkles and glitter... the sparkly-er the better, as far as she's concerned.  Here she is opening a pair of silver glitter shoes I got for her in a moment of insanity.  I got them because I know that she'd love them.  I, however, think they are incredibly tacky!  But I'm fairly certain I'm going to see a lot of tacky in the days ahead, so I might as well get used to it.  It's a battle I'm (often) willing to skip.

I fear we'll see them every day.  (And I did not make her pose like that.  She still loves to dance!)  She is also very excited of late about all of the new hairstyles available now that her hair is longer.  (And now that I think about it, is complaining less about it not being blonde and straight.) 

She received her long awaited pillow-pet. The gift that has brought the most laughter thus far, though, is the whoopie cushion Jacob bought with his own money.  :)  He bought her that and some bubble bath, because he knows she keeps using up all of our shampoo in the tub when she's not supposed to.

She wanted chocolate cake with pink icing.  We made the buttercream icing pink by cooking down raspberries and using the liquid to replace the milk in the recipe.  She was very pleased with it!  And I was excited to have a cake for her that she could eat until her heart's content (because it was totally safe).

She also decided she wanted to decorate the cake herself!  Many of you know I am a woman who will never, ever fight someone over a job that involves anything in the kitchen (especially one as stressful as a birthday cake) so I was more than happy to pass this on to her!  No pressure for me and incredible pleasure for her!  She chose the toy set (we don't buy cake toppers anymore, just small toy sets), frosted the cake and sprinkled it exactly how she wanted it.  She has also played hours with Rapunzel et al since she licked the icing off their feet.  :)

Happy FIFTH Birthday, Mattison Joy!!  I can't imagine life without you in it, my girl who loves to wear princess dresses and dig for worms.  I'm so thankful God gave you to us!