Both Matt and I have commented that this seems like the biggest birthday yet. It's like the official end of the "toddler" years and into the "little girl" phase.
I captured all of the photos of the fun birthday celebration that we had for our sweet girl at the farm in Wisconsin, but I wanted to take a moment and capture what Brinley at 5 looks like. Oh Brinley girl, it's hard to describe exactly what you are like. I wish I could truly capture the essence of you here in words, but I know I will fall short. My biggest overall sentiment when I think of you at this age is BLESSED. We are so so blessed that you are our daughter. You are a wonderful little girl, very smart, kind, caring and protective of your little sister. You're funny, silly, athletic and oh so curious about the world. You like the rules (especially when it comes to safety and car seats) and your teachers at school say you're a dream. You like to test the boundaries with Mom and Dad though and this past year with Becca in our lives has thrown you for a bit of a loop. We are working with you on controlling your temper, rolling with the punches when you think things aren't fair and treating each other with respect and kindness (Mommy is working on this too!)
It's our greatest desire to create a strong and happy family for you girls to grow up in so that you may have the very best start in life to be all that you can be.
We also made the very hard decision to give you one extra year of pre-school and wait to send you to Kindergarten until you are 6. It was a really tough choice for us as you are so very smart and in so many ways very ready for kindergarten. However, since your birthday is in the summer, you will either be one of the oldest in the class or one of the youngest. We decided that not rushing it, giving you one extra year of early childhood education, more play time and more time to gain confidence in your skills would be the best decision for setting you up for future success.
I really hope that you'll be grateful for this decision someday sweet girl and you'll understand that we made it with your very best intentions at heart. We want what is best for you and we believe that giving you the gift of more time is it. We never want you to feel like you were "held back" or "not ready" as that wasn't the case at all. We had the opportunity to give you more time and so we took it!
Watching you join the "school agers" for summer programming this year was so fun though. I even got to chaperone two of your field trips. You are really growing up!
We've noticed that you are becoming much more helpful around the house. You love to help mommy unpack from business trips and make it a game to run and put everything in the right spot. You also are very helpful with Becca and we can trust you to watch her for a few minutes while we run upstairs or go in a different room for a minute to keep her safe and make sure she doesn't put anything in her mouth or try and climb the stairs. You also had several nights this summer where you had "sleep overs" in her room as you told me that "being by her makes my heart happy, Mom." I love watching the relationship that you two are building and pray that you will be lifelong friends.
You are also a very sensitive girl and are attuned to the needs of others (not always you're parents, lol, but definitely your friends). If someone is sad, you go over and comfort them. Also, during emotional movies or books you will often cry. Your sweet heart is the best and I hope you never loose that.
As you make this transition from toddler to little girl and grow more and more in your understanding of the world and who you are, it is our prayer that you will come to believe in yourself, be proud of yourself and know that you can accomplish anything that you set your mind to! We hope your desire to know and love God continues to grow and your faith will serve as a comfort and firm foundation for whatever lies ahead.
You are absolutely wonderful sweet Brinley and we love you to the moon and back! Happy 5th Birthday!
I captured all of the photos of the fun birthday celebration that we had for our sweet girl at the farm in Wisconsin, but I wanted to take a moment and capture what Brinley at 5 looks like. Oh Brinley girl, it's hard to describe exactly what you are like. I wish I could truly capture the essence of you here in words, but I know I will fall short. My biggest overall sentiment when I think of you at this age is BLESSED. We are so so blessed that you are our daughter. You are a wonderful little girl, very smart, kind, caring and protective of your little sister. You're funny, silly, athletic and oh so curious about the world. You like the rules (especially when it comes to safety and car seats) and your teachers at school say you're a dream. You like to test the boundaries with Mom and Dad though and this past year with Becca in our lives has thrown you for a bit of a loop. We are working with you on controlling your temper, rolling with the punches when you think things aren't fair and treating each other with respect and kindness (Mommy is working on this too!)
It's our greatest desire to create a strong and happy family for you girls to grow up in so that you may have the very best start in life to be all that you can be.
We also made the very hard decision to give you one extra year of pre-school and wait to send you to Kindergarten until you are 6. It was a really tough choice for us as you are so very smart and in so many ways very ready for kindergarten. However, since your birthday is in the summer, you will either be one of the oldest in the class or one of the youngest. We decided that not rushing it, giving you one extra year of early childhood education, more play time and more time to gain confidence in your skills would be the best decision for setting you up for future success.
I really hope that you'll be grateful for this decision someday sweet girl and you'll understand that we made it with your very best intentions at heart. We want what is best for you and we believe that giving you the gift of more time is it. We never want you to feel like you were "held back" or "not ready" as that wasn't the case at all. We had the opportunity to give you more time and so we took it!
Watching you join the "school agers" for summer programming this year was so fun though. I even got to chaperone two of your field trips. You are really growing up!
We've noticed that you are becoming much more helpful around the house. You love to help mommy unpack from business trips and make it a game to run and put everything in the right spot. You also are very helpful with Becca and we can trust you to watch her for a few minutes while we run upstairs or go in a different room for a minute to keep her safe and make sure she doesn't put anything in her mouth or try and climb the stairs. You also had several nights this summer where you had "sleep overs" in her room as you told me that "being by her makes my heart happy, Mom." I love watching the relationship that you two are building and pray that you will be lifelong friends.
You are also a very sensitive girl and are attuned to the needs of others (not always you're parents, lol, but definitely your friends). If someone is sad, you go over and comfort them. Also, during emotional movies or books you will often cry. Your sweet heart is the best and I hope you never loose that.
As you make this transition from toddler to little girl and grow more and more in your understanding of the world and who you are, it is our prayer that you will come to believe in yourself, be proud of yourself and know that you can accomplish anything that you set your mind to! We hope your desire to know and love God continues to grow and your faith will serve as a comfort and firm foundation for whatever lies ahead.
You are absolutely wonderful sweet Brinley and we love you to the moon and back! Happy 5th Birthday!
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