Kate is 8!

My dearest Katie Ru,

Today is your 8th birthday and you are spending it at camp! I am really proud of you for being brave enough to go away to camp all alone!!!!  You begged us to be able to be there for your birthday because your brothers told you how AWESOME it was when they have seen people celebrate a birthday at camp.

You have brought so much laughter and joy to our family.  You have made each and every one of us a better person just by being you.

This year was a great year for you.  You excelled so much in first grade.  You had straight A's all year long!  And I am sure that was not easy since you were very busy.  You continued with another year of ballet and violin.  But your true love this year has been competitive gymnastics.  You are constantly tumbling around.  You have such focus and you never complain about going to your 4 hour long practices!


You love ice cream and frozen yogurt.  You loathe vegetables but you will eat them (because we make you).  You take SO long to eat that it has become a family joke.  You love lego friends, your American Girl dolls, TV, and playing with your best friend who lives next door.  You also love to do arts and crafts and create things.  You have a very artistic and creative mind.


You sing every night in the shower.  Actually, you sing and dance and tumble all the time.  You have a great sense of humor and deliver perfect one liners.  You also still say the cutest and funniest things sometimes (google it up, Mama!).

You LOVE to read and your favorites this year have been Alvin Ho, The Toys Go Out series, Ramona and Beezus and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.  Oh and you find the Mo Willem books hilarious too. We are so proud of how far your reading has come!  It is miraculous.

Even though you had lots of great accomplishments this year, I am most proud of your generous and tender heart.  You truly are filled with God's love.  You look for the best in others and even have trouble believing when others aren't being kind.

Your confidence has also grown tremendously this year.

I feel SO incredibly blessed to love you here on earth.  I am the luckiest Mama in the world to have you as a daughter.

You and Daddy have such a sweet relationship.  You are silly and goofy together...

You do things like bake and garden together...

You have such a strong relationship with your brothers.

You have softened both of them in such fabulous ways.  And although you are close to both of them, Will is more like a teacher and protector/big brother and Harry is more like your best friend.  He plays with you and teaches you everything.  I cannot imagine a sister and brother being closer.  You are such a good sport and keep up with the boys fishing and playing basketball! I hope you are always this close to them...

You are such a sweet friend to all those around you...

And our relationship is so special.  I cannot even put it into words.  You are just a part of me.  I love our special times cooking (banana pancakes), reading and "snuggle-cuddling," watching our favorite shows (The Little Couple, Say yes to the Dress, Sophia the 1st and our old favorite Little Miss Spider). You are just such a joy to be around.  You think everyday is "The BEST day ever!"  I love how everyday when I pick you up from school, you put your arm around my waist and we walk out of school arm in arm.

We all love you so much Kate.  Thank you for all of the love and joy you bring to us every single day.  I know 8 will be great because you have so much gratitude and such a positive outlook that you make every day fabulous!

Love,
Mama


{Tomorrow I will post how we celebrated Kate's birthday the day before she left for camp}