please stop growing up. The Princess is 5.

Happy 5th Birthday to The Princess: (just a few weeks late)

Girl, you make my jaw drop nearly every single day.

The hilarious--sometimes snotty and bossy--things that come out of your mouth are unbelievable.

I've said this in your birthday letters since you were itty bitty, but your confidence is frightening. Your self-assurance is not lacking one bit.

I'm proud of that but also worried that, not unlike myself, the self confidence will sometimes prevent you from being sympathetic to others worries and fears. I pray that you'll use your strength, your confidence, to build others up.

You have started many new things this year and you want to do more and more. You're not scared of the unknown, you're ready to experience every bit of it.

You love your ballet class.

You stand, sing and speak loud and proud in your theater class.

You go to preschool, have given soccer and cheerleading a try, gymnastics, too. You'd keep doing them all if we had the time and money to haul you around to each of them!

This winter you were chosen to be in a local production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. You were the youngest cast member and didn't have any lines, but it was a great experience for you to go out on stage, wait backstage, be a part of endless rehearsals, listen to instructions and just be a part of such a great group of people.

Before the first performance I was nervous. I wasn't sure how you'd react when you came out on the big stage and saw the huge auditorium full of people for the first time.

Well, I was nervous for nothing. After the play you talked non-stop about how cool it was when you walked out and saw TONS of people and, "there were, like, only 6 seats open! It was so cool!"

You sing and dance and make up stories and songs all day long.

You love to dress up and pretend to be a mom.

You talk all the time about getting married. You dress up as a bride and pretend to get married. It's a little disturbing, to tell the truth, how fixated you are on getting married. :)

You love your friends and you talk about them all the time. You love to play and laugh and pretend.

You're still such a little princess, but you're growing up before my eyes.

I love you more than you know and I'm so proud that God chose me to be your mom. I know I've got my work cut out for me to raise you to be the Godly princess he wants you to be.

Mom