Happy 4th Birthday, Josephine Mae!

Dear Josephine,

Today is your 4th birthday! Happy Birthday sweet girl!!! You have had such a great year and have grown up so much……I can’t believe it! We love you soooooooo much! Here are some things about you that I’d like to remember when you turned 4 years old and some things you might like to know about what you were like on October 12, 2018.

1. You are a ‘can do’ girl. If there is a will, there is a way. You will always try your best to do everything yourself, if possible. There are some things that Mama would like to do for you (you are the baby of the family, after all), but if you can do it, you’re going to do it yourself. You usually impress us with all the things that you make happen simply by putting your mind to it!
2. You are the MOST loving child. I always say, if someone needs their heart filled, just put JoJo in the room. Your favorite thing to say is “I love you so much and I want you to know.” You are very free with expressing your love for people through words and through the best hugs. We will just be going about our day and you stop to say ‘I love you so much’ and you tell all the special people in your life (teachers, friends, family, etc.) how much they are loved by you. It’s a quality that I SO admire in you.
3. You love to play with Play-doh. It’s one of your favorite toys. I’ve always been anti-Play-doh because of the mess, but you earned it as your potty training prize. You like using your mixer and waffle maker to make food for everyone in the family.
4. You started preschool this year and you absolutely love it. You would never have guessed it was your first time away from Mama. You do great with all the routines and rules at school and are super happy that you get to take the bus.
5. Your best little friend right now is Avery. She is one of our neighbors and is in your preschool class. You also love to play with Gabriella, Blake, Sloane, Alma, Sutton and Brooks.
6. You are having a Halloween themed birthday party with some of our neighborhood friends. You are dressing up like a flamingo. Mama made you the costume, per your request. We are going to play Halloween themed games and have some yummy treats!
7. Your favorite meal to order at a restaurant is chicken nuggets, french fries, ranch and apple juice. In that exact order. And don’t forget the ranch because it’s absolutely part of the meal! You like to place your own order with the waiter. You also love these little salami sticks from Trader Joe’s, apples, grapes and chips. You are sometimes adventurous and will try things like blue cheese (which you surprisingly liked).
8. You love candy. You are always trying to think of ways why you should get to have a candy. I went potty…..’can I have a candy?’……I made my bed……’can I have a candy?’.
9. You are taking dance class this year at the same studio as your big sister. Your teacher is Miss Kym and you are doing a rotational class with tap, jazz and ballet. You love Miss Kym.
10. You also love worms. Whenever we are outside, you ask Mama to find you some ‘friends’ in the dirt. You are super girly, yet super not…..all rolled into one.
11. One of your favorite things to play is babies. You have lots of babies and all the things for them…….cradle, high chair, bottles, diapers, etc. We like to joke and say you run a daycare around here. You were the same way last year. You’ve asked for a baby for your birthday, so you will be getting ANOTHER baby this year.
12. You get yourself dressed and pick out very well-coordinated outfits. You also can do all your buttons, zip your coat, put on your seatbelt and put on your own shoes.
13. You like riding your princess bike outside in the driveway. You still have training wheels on it, but I would guess those will be coming off soon.
14. Your favorite color is pink.
15. You love to sing songs. You’ve been singing SO many of the songs that you’ve been learning at school……Crazy Color Creatures, Good Morning song, the Hallway Train, Sally the Camel, Peanut Butter & Jelly and you also love to sing the song from Moana (although you call that movie Mulana).
16. You are hot and cold with your brother and sisters. Somedays they are your best friends and other days you want nothing to do with them. You are sort of sassy with them from time to time when you say ‘stop looking at me’. You’re lucky you are cute because they even think you’re cute when you are mad (well, we all do).
17. You love to draw pictures. You usually draw a potato, which is super funny. But just recently you drew the first sort of real looking person…..with a head, eyes, arms and legs. When coloring in a coloring book, you are very meticulous and like to try your best to color in the lines.
18. You are soooooooooo excited to go to Disney World in December. You’ve been asking about it since we said we were going. We will be going for a week and missing school. You know that we are going after your birthday, so hopefully you realize it’s not RIGHT after your birthday. You are looking forward to meeting the different princesses and Mickey and Minnie.
19. You love, love, love to have your picture taken more than any other child in the family. You are really photogenic and always ask if you can ‘model’.
20. I think you are going to be left handed. We can’t say for sure at this point, but you definitely have some left handed tendencies. No one else in our immediate family is a lefty.

JoJo, what would we do without you? You are seriously such a fun child and it’s hard to believe you are mine. You make everyone around you smile and bring so much pure joy into this world. Our family wouldn’t be nearly as bright, funny, silly, goofy or loving without you as part of our fabulous 6. Thank you for always being a bright light in the day and making me feel like I am the best Mama in the world. Happy Birthday Jo, we love you sooooooooo much!

I love you from here to the moon and back again!

Love,

Mama

Photos by Stephanie Kelly Photography