Dear Josephine,
Happy Birthday sweet girl! Today you turn 11 years old. You’ve had an entire year of being double digits and there is more to love about you every year. Here are some things I’d like to remember about you when you turned 11 years old and some things that you might like to know about your 11 year old self……
- You still love gymnastics. You will competing USAG Level 6 this year. It’s your first year competing in optionals. Your older sister, Savannah, choreographed your floor routine and you love getting to practice now with the high school girls. You work so hard at your sport and spend 22 hours a week training. It’s insane dedication for a young girl but there is no place you’d rather be.
- You are in 5th grade. 5th grade is in junior high at our school. You have been put in accelerated math and english this year and you’re loving it. You have one homeroom teacher and a different teacher for math and english.
- You broke your right hand in 3 places this past August (luckily you are left handed). You were doing a flip flop on the beam and landed wrong. You broke two parts of your pointer finger and one major bone in the hand. You were in a cast for the start of school, but have been cleared to get back to gymnastics after several months of not being able to use your hand.
- You still love pink and bows. You no longer like to wear the big giant bows (insert sad face), but you love wearing the really light, romantic style bows. I think you will forever love PINK!
- You are the girliest girl! You just love dressing super feminine with skirts, having your hair done everyday and having everything coordinate.
- You love sparkly gymnastics leotards. We found some companies in the UK that make the prettiest leotards with crystals and you can’t get enough of those leos. You received one for a birthday present.
- You have lots of friends, but you are very selective in who you allow to be your close friends.
- Your favorite food is still chicken nuggets with fries and ranch, but some other favorites are scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, pickles, grapes, protein bars, strawberries, turkey, mac and cheese, salami, bacon and pasta. You recently tried my homemade Alfredo sauce and LOVED it. You also love super spicy foods like hot sauce and flaming hot Doritos or Cheetos.
- You are more into name brand clothing than your two older sisters. You requested some specific Nike things for your birthday that you received. You also really love things from Abercrombie Kids.
- You love to snuggle. Like you REALLY love to snuggle. You just come on the couch and need a snuggle from time to time. Everyone loves your hugs. You are super affectionate to your close family and very not touchy with most others.
- You had a boyfriend this last year which was cute. You ‘broke up with him’ which basically meant you just no longer said he was your boyfriend…..because what is a boyfriend in 4th grade? Just a sweet friend.
- You always have to say ‘See you later Alligator’ and Daddy or I have to say ‘After while Crocodile’ when you go to school or go off to gymnastics. You do not like if we don’t respond. And I also have to blow you a kiss when you go in the door from gymnastics. One day there were people in my way of being able to see you and you were not happy that I didn’t blow my kiss. Yes, probably a bit OCD about this one, but for now, we’re still going with it.
- You love things to look beautiful and, as you say, ‘aesthetic’. You like the way I arrange and wrap gifts for others and love making things look organized and pretty. I think you’d be a great designer / decorator / organizer when you grow up.
- You love riding on airplanes. You always ask if you can go on a trip. You go to Texas every summer and this year we are going to New Orleans for a gymnastics meet so you are VERY excited for that airplane ride.
- You love to give me compliments on my outfits which really makes me feel so good. Last week you told me that I looked ‘snatched’ which I guess is a good thing. You are really good at paying others compliments. That’s a really great quality in you.
- You still love all those little blind toys where you don’t know exactly what you are going to get. You love the ‘Make it Mini’ mini-verse toys where you can make tiny food. You also really love slime, squishy things and fidgets.
- You are having a small birthday party at home this year. The theme is pink bows and we have requested that everyone where pink to the party since that’s your favorite color. We are doing a craft making a large shell dish, having an ice cream sundae bar and we bought a cotton candy machine to make homemade cotton candy! You are SO excited for your party and it’s happening on your actual birthday.
- You love to make silly faces. Like REALLY silly faces. So much so, that one of your gymnastics coaches had a special award for you and she made a giant poster of all of the funny face photos that she had of you in her phone. You are really a character!
- Some of your best friends right now are Kenzie, Viv, Peyton, Clara, Lily, Jordyn and Ruby.
- You love crafts. You are a lot like me and just absolutely love making things. You don’t like doing things exactly like the instructions. You love to come into my office and just randomly sew scraps of things together. You love seeing different stitches and just being creative.
Josephine Mae, you are one incredibly special child. You light up every room that you enter and anyone that has ever met you has always absolutely adored you. You are a really easy child, you delight in the most simple things and are so grateful for the blessings in your life. You are smart, funny, kind, stylish, warm and inviting, hardworking, dedicated and silly. I hope you have the best day every and I’m SO excited to celebrate you!
I love you from here to the moon and back again!
Love,
Mama