Birthdays, birthdays, and more birthdays!

January for our family might be as crazy or even crazier than December.  Somehow we happen to have lots of birthdays in January.   This year, my dad turned 60 years old.  For his 60th, my sister organized a surprise birthday party for him, and boy was he surprised.  It was a sweet time to get together and celebrate him.  I was able to get some cute pictures of him and my mom and their grandkids pictured below.  I think my favorite one is of my dad, Nolen, and Julia blowing out the candles on his cake.

The biggest celebration of birthdays in January was Julia's 4th birthday on the 20th!  It is so hard to believe that she is already 4 years old.  Next year, we will be looking towards her starting kindergarten, which I truly can't fathom at this point.  Julia has grown so much during this past year...  I dare say that this past year has so far been the year that brought some of our tougher parenting moments, but also the year that brought some of our proudest parenting moments.  This past fall, we started doing preschool at home, so we have truly gotten to watch Julia's mind at work on a daily basis, which has been a true blessing.  Julia is so smart and asks some crazy thought provoking questions.  She is also one of the most stubborn, strong-willed little girls (I totally claim this personality trait).  Julia loves fiercely and to witness this is so very cool.  I love the way she loves her baby brother already and the way she loves others.  We can't wait to see the plans that God has laid out for her life.  She is destined for great things.

To celebrate this not so little little girl's birthday we had a couple of fun-filled days.  On her actual birthday, Jordan took off work and we went to Pin Stack and went bowling.  Julia loved it.  We also at lunch there and for dessert, Julia had a cake pop!  On our way home, Julia thanked us without prompting for such a fun day, so we know she must have liked it.  The day after her birthday, we had a Daniel Tiger themed birthday party.  It turned out very cute.  Julia enjoyed spending time with friends and of course getting to eat way more sweets than she usually gets to.  Below are some pictures from her birthday and birthday party.

So, for now, we are going to embrace every day that Julia is 4 and not think too much about the fact that shortly, in a blink of an eye she will be 5 years old.