Brooke is 6!

6 years ago today, at 7:30 in the morning, on Easter Sunday, my water broke...as I was getting ready to go to church. Nearly 15 hours later, Brooke Ashley joined our world making it so much more joyful.

Today she had a great day! She had donuts for breakfast...

She got a surprise phone call from her friend who moved away a few months ago...

She was sung to at Sunday School, getting to pick out a special prize...

She got more presents from Mommy, Daddy and Brenna...

and from PaPoo (the locket she's been begging for!) ...

also presents from Nana...

All in all it was a fun day for her!

We have been blessed...truly blessed...to have her as a daughter. She has such a kind spirit, a gentle soul, and a loving nature.

She is beyond beautiful in my opinion (and I am not one bit biased I promise!), both inside and out.

She is soft spoken, but soft hearted as well. She never gets in trouble at school or elsewhere. Literally never. I can't think of a single incident. Now, at home, she gives us our fair share of sass then and now. But a true sign of her personality is how she acts for others.

I wish sometimes she could be more assertive, but I love her even more because she is not. We work with her on learning to be more assertive and she does improve. But it is definitely work for her.

Her favorite things include Barbies, dancing, writing, and reading. She loves making and wearing jewelry. She is a true girly girl. She loves twirly skirts and lots of pink.

She is in Kindergarten and is excelling beyond my wildest dreams. She is reading on a mid 2nd grade level and is doing math above the first grade level. While in Kindergarten.

She is a follower. She is cautious. She will not run off from us and even only recently began venturing to go to the restroom stall alone, and then, only if we are standing nearby, and only after a long talk about how its ok.

I have watched her grow into a beautiful little lady. She's a thinker. She's a problem solver. You can see how she tries to figure things out and how quickly she does. She wants to know how things work and why they work. I don't always have the answers for her. But she's persistent.

She only gets in trouble these days for that persistency. For asking over and over again to do something, after being told no. But other than that, she's such a good sweet girl. She's caring towards her sister. They do have their moments, but they love each other so much! I'd hate to think of them not sharing a room...they would both be brought to tears over it I'm sure.

At Kindermusik, she is doing well and learning to play the recorder this semester. After learning the glockenspiel and the dulcimer. Her strength thus far has been the glockenspiel and now the recorder. She didn't do as great on the dulcimer. Not a string instrument kinda girl I guess. ;P Next Fall, she will begin piano lessons with her Kindermusik teacher.

In dance class, her strong suit lies with ballet and jazz. She enjoys tap, but is much better at ballet and jazz. She still enjoys gymnastics too when she gets a chance to do something..as she's not currently enrolled in any sort of gymnastic classes.

If I had to pick one thing in school that she has a weakness in, it would be spelling. And only because that's not something they really work on yet. But she still spells phonetically. However, her handwriting is really pretty good! Her reading, as I said, is beyond excellent for her age! She can read entire chapter books on her own now. (her favorites are Magic Treehouse series and Junie B Jones - even though I don't particularly care for Junie B Jones) She comprehends well and can recite back what she read easily.

She doesn't have specific chores around the house, but does help out tons. She washes her own dishes now. She cleans the table off. She puts away clothes and will help sort laundry. She helps massively with Brenna. From everything to helping her go potty, helping her get dressed..pretty much anything we ask of her she'll do. Along with being a follower, she's a rule follower too. ;)

She does have a fear of pain. Anything from splinters to taking bandaids off to an ant bite. She has a great fear of any of these sorts of things. Another something we are trying to work on for her benefit.

She is overall such a sweet sweet caring kid with a gentle nature, a sweet spirit, and a giving heart. We love her so so much! And while it is so bittersweet to see her evolve into such a big kid, we love watching her grow into the little lady she is quickly becoming! Happy Birthday to my sweet Brooke! :)

PS - Most of these photos were taken the day before her actual birthday, after her party. I decided to take her on our own little photoshoot. What fun we had! And just another testament to how sweet a daughter I have... when we were getting ready for bed later and I was asking about her favorite part of the day (expecting to hear about a moment at her party or a particular present she got), she told me, "my favorite part of the day was when I was with you, taking pictures...cause you're the most fun and the best mommy ever."