THREE!

my dear sweet jilly...

i cannot believe you are three.  wow!  sweet girl, you are a treasure to your mommy and daddy.  you have the sweetest voice and personality...full of smiles and snuggles....curious and compassionate.  what a blessing you are to us.  you love to sing and chatter...you have a fabulous giggle.  you are tender with your brother, and you are quick to keep up with your big sisters.  you are communicating more and more clearly...you count to twenty and sing your ABCs endlessly....and you have been memorizing Scripture and catechism questions right along with Elizabeth and Kate.  you are delighted by life...and you delight all those you come in contact with.  today we went to Target and you picked out your very own backpack....and proudly wore it through the store...Monday you have your first day of preschool...whoa!  how did my baby get so big!?

jillian, i pray that you would keep this joyful spirit...that as you grow your life might be marked by a heart that delights in all of the little blessings life has to offer (and the big ones too!).  i pray that you would know Jesus...that you would learn to walk with Him and please Him.  oh jilly, i pray your heart and life would be hidden in Him...that you would learn from Him to live a life marked by love...a life marked by compassion and obedience...not begrudging obedience, but obedience that stems from knowing He has chosen you, adopted you, redeemed you...knowing that He has lavished His grace upon you.  jilly, we love you so incredibly much, but the truth is that in reality you are HIS...and He loves you even more than we could ever love you.

sweet girl, i pray that you would love and treasure His Word...that it would guide and guard you as you walk through life...as you grow and learn....as you become a young woman.  jilly, oh that you would make Him your guide....that you would embrace the beautiful hope of His calling.

sweet girl...we love you!

for your birthday, you asked for an elmo cake AND a zoe cake...mama speaks love through cakes, i guess...so i made you both ;)....elmo cupcakes and a zoe cake

on your birthday we had pancakes for breakfast...and after swim lessons we had dinner at applebee's....where you had french fries...the only request you made for your birthday dinner ;)

 you helped poke each little m&m nose onto elmo...

 then you opened your present....your own baby monkey...you named him elmo...and you rocked him and snuggled him and tucked him in his hammock...you were so incredibly sweet with him jilly...and your delight, oh sweet girl...it was so purely ecstatic...it made me cry to see you so pleased and joyful...

 you tucked monkey in right next to your big girl bed...precious

and then there was your party...you asked for a party with maureen and emmett...so we had them over with a few extras...and we ate hotdogs

...and we bounced... :)

 make a wish! :)

some of us even got so excited "we" fell over backwards in our chair ;)...lol!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the sweetest THREE year old i know!