Leah ~ 5 Years

To think that my precious little Leah is FIVE is beyond crazy to me.  Time flies when you're having fun, and we definitely have lots of fun with this little one!  At 5 years old, Leah...

...is a crazy ball of energy 98% of the time.  Seriously, this girl is on the go all of the time.  She is very rarely just sitting and doing nothing.  She likes to keep herself busy doing *something*...

...absolutely LOVES to draw and color.  Not a day goes by that she doesn't create some sort of master piece for me.  She also loves to take her time when she's making something.  She's quite the perfectionist ;).

...is reading!  Noah didn't have much interest in reading at this age, but Leah is all over it.  She can put together sounds so well and absolutely loves the fact that she can recognize words when we read together.  Reading has been so much fun lately!

...has a crazy good memory!  Before she started to read, I would read a story to her and after some time she would have the entire book memorized...like, word for word!  It was pretty amazing, and fun, to watch her retell her stories.  I often catch her in her room reading books to herself, all from memory.  She also has movies memorized, which is just hilarious!  She's pretty animated when she repeats lines from movies...so cute, and impressive!

...would eat macaroni and cheese for every meal if she could.  She also LOVES chocolate milk...just like her daddy!  She's still a picky little eater too.  She's getting better, but not great.  I've noticed that I can't let her snack very much during the day, since snack foods are her favorite foods, because then she won't eat her meals.  She likes to avoid eating dinner at all costs...she always has to wash her hands {again}, go to the bathroom, go get a toy, etc...

...is very picky about the clothes that she wears.  She does not like wearing jeans because of the elastic around the waist.  She'll always undo the elastic synch, which means her pans are always falling down. Great!  She doesn't care about what she wears so much, just that it's comfortable for her.  If something is uncomfortable for her, she'll cry and cry, and whine and whine...even if it's something really little.  She doesn't like to wear socks because they hurt her feet!  Seriously!  I sometimes wonder if they actually hurt her, or she just doesn't want to wear them.

...is such a girlie girl!  She loves to play with her dolls and barbies.  She loves dressing them up over and over again, and doing their hair, and just being their mommy.  She also loves to dress up herself, and will often recruit Isaac to get dressed up too!  That's always fun to watch!  She also loves getting her nails painted and loves lip gloss and any make up that I let her touch.  Like I said...she really is a girlie girl!

...is such a happy little thing.  She seriously is smiling and happy pretty much all of the time and she is has a knack for finding the good in things.  I'm so thankful for this, and it really does add a lot of light into our home.

...absolutely loves to learn.  I've already said that she loves to read, but she also finds so much joy in learning anything and everything right now.  I know that this pretty much comes with the age, but I just love her thirst for knowledge.  She's a good little thinker and will ask me questions about anything and everything.  It makes me happy that she thinks so deeply about certain things.  She's a little smarty pants!

...is SO excited to start kindergarten next year.  She is constantly asking me if she can go now!  I'm not too excited about her being at school every day and I always tell her that we need to really cherish these moments when she is home with me, but she still would rather be in school ;).  She really does love to learn.

...is the social butterfly of the family.  She can make friends so easily and is not at all afraid to go up to people and make friends.  Whenever we go to the park, she will always find someone to play with...always.  And she so friendly about it and has so much fun with whomever so plays with.  Noah was not like this at all, so it's interesting to watch Leah put herself out there so easily.

...is such a great sister to her brothers and sissy.  She and Noah have really started to get along well lately, which is SO great.  They actually play for long periods of time and really enjoy one another's company.  She and Isaac have always had a great relationship and they seriously love spending time together.  Leah is so good at keeping him happy and so enjoys making him laugh...they always have a good time together.  And Kate...Leah LOVES that girl more than words.  Their bond is amazing and it makes me so happy that they have one another.  Leah just loves having a little sister and is always wanting to hold her, that is when Kate will let her.  Leah has always enjoyed being her little protector and will always sit with her and play with her.

...love, love, loves music!  My parent's gave her a nano for her birthday, and it was seriously one of the best gifts for this girl.  She pretty much goes around the house all.day.long listening to music and singing.  It's so adorable.  Just today, she was listening to some children's hymns, and I was amazed at how she had all of the words memorized.  I think that music really is a calming influence for her...she really enjoys it.  I'm thankful for this, since music is such a big part of mine and Doug's lives :).

...loves to dance!  We got Just Dance for Christmas and she absolutely loves to play it.  I'm surprised at how good she is too!  She's also in a ballet class, that she just loves.  I started her in a younger class, but her teacher came to be after 2 months and told me that I needed to put her in a level up because she was catching on so easily.  She's now learning so much more and just loves going each week to dance.  I LOVE that she loves to dance, since that's what I did as a kid and through high school.  I really hope she wants to continue dancing :).

...loves to express her love for everyone around her.  She is constantly giving all of us hugs and kisses, which is so sweet.  She also tells me that she loves me to the SUN and back all of the time.  She says the sun instead of the moon because she knows that the sun is farther away!

This girl means the world to us.  She has taught me so much as a parent, and I'm thankful for her and her presence in our home every day.  She's precious beyond words, and we love her to the SUN and back :).