Biggest Sister is Five

Five.  

How do I have a five-year-old?! She seems so old! My beautiful baby girl has left the toddler years far behind and grown into a sweet little girl.  She is smart, kind, happy and responsible.  She is so many wonderful things and we love her so very much.

Overall her birthday was a success.  Nana Joni happened to be in town for the day, so that always makes for a good time.  We decorated the house with balloons, went to the theater and watched Paddington with our friend, Alice, and ate Chick-fil-a for dinner (surprise!).  After patiently waiting all day for dad to get home from work, it was finally time to open presents.  Just before Christmas an American Girl Doll catalog magically appeared in our mailbox.  Reading it quickly became Stella's favorite pastime, and dreams of an Isabelle doll filled her mind with wonder.  In reality, Stella has never been much of a doll girl.  She would play with a doll on occasion, but soon moved on to another game where she could pretend to be a dance, chef or librarian.  Because of this history we decided to start with the less expensive Target version to see how long the doll would really keep her interest.  We figured she wouldn't really know the difference and would either love it or hate it based solely on the fact that it was a doll she could dress up and play with.   Then she opened her presents and we realized just how much that American Girl Doll meant to her.  As she tore into the wrapping paper she did her best to hide the disappointment she was feeling and said with a slight laugh, "It's not an American Girl Doll, but it sure is a doll!"  We couldn't stop laughing at her sweet honesty, and I was about ready to hand over my credit card right then and there so she could get that doll of her five-year-old dreams were made of.

Thankfully it didn't take her long to warm up to her store brand BFF, and they were soon twinning for preschool show and tell and writing each other love notes.  Her hopes for an Isabelle doll have not been diminished; however, and the other day she sat me down on the couch with catalog in hand to "make a plan to get an Isabelle."  The bad news is that Isabelle was the "doll of the year" in 2014, which means she is now only available on Amazon for twice the already hefty cost.  Oh dear.

What I want to remember about Stella at five-years-old:

She is her mother's child.  Every type A personality trait that has both served me well and made me a crazy person for the last 29 years of my life becomes more evident in my sweet daughter every single day.  I mean her current favorite "toy" is a 2015 wallet-sized calendar.  She marks off each day, has a mental countdown of when the next holiday is due to arrive, and has to ask me what our agenda is for the following day every night before she goes to bed.  Other ways she takes after her mother: despising the smell of the pantry, wanting to eat cereal for every single meal, stressing out about and not wanting to try anything she doesn't feel she will do perfectly, and using correct grammar more often than most adults.  Okay, so that last part is all her.  She is an old soul like her mama, but I think it will (mostly) serve her well in the years to come.

She reads!  Like she can look at almost any book and read 90% of the words on the pages.  I don't know how she does it, since we have only worked on reading a handful of times, but I am certain it has something to do with her amazing memory and her ability to see a word one time and be able to recognize it from that moment on.  Sorry to say it, but she is a smart girl.

She is still a great eater, but is a little more hesitant to try new foods than she used to be.  She still loves tomatoes, bell peppers, and pickles, but also loves a good sugary cereal to balance things out.  And while her sister Eliza will gladly accept any offer of a treat, Stella always politely declines until I give her permission and even then often times doesn't even want it.

It is apparent she is still growing, growing, growing as the pants I bought her for school in the fall are starting to get too small.  It's hard to believe I am now shopping in the big girl section for her clothes, and often times she is fitting size 6/6x clothing.  She weighed 40.6 pounds and was 43 inches tall at her yearly check up last week.  So very grateful for a healthy and happy girl!

School is still one of her favorite places to be, and she can't wait for kindergarten although those kindergarten shots weren't her favorite thing in the world. Being the only girl in her class hasn't caused her to skip a beat, and she genuinely enjoys hanging out with the boys at school. Some of her favorite friends are Alice, Makayla, Sophie, Sofia, Noah, Chet and McKoy.  She still loves her friends who live far away, and is always wanting to send a letter to her pen pal, Carly, or her cousins, Baylee and Leyla.

Singing and dancing are still some of her favorite activities, and almost all of her individual play revolves around role playing and pretending to run some sort of business.  Her library is still in full force, as well as her dance studio, school and store.  We have at least ten business "signs" taped throughout our house at any given time, and she has a slight meltdown if anyone disturbs her work.  She also loves art projects consisting of stickers, markers and anything she can use to make up and write a story.

Stella is slightly obsessed with HER baby sister, needing to know where the baby is and what is she doing at all times. She even changed Pharrell's popular lyrics to "Because JoJo's happy!" and brings a smile to Ivy's face every time she sings it to her.  She has a heart of gold when it comes to her little sisters, and we couldn't ask for a better leader of our pack.

Somehow she became obsessed with Taylor swift and calls her "Tay Swift" for short.  She wants to listen to her Taylor Swift Pandora station on the daily, loves texting her aunts, and runs to her room, slams the door and  just "wants to be alone" anytime she thinks she is in trouble or doesn't get her way. Basically I'm raising a tween.

Recent Stella quotes we love:

My mom gave all the grand kids a mason jar to fill with change throughout the year that will then be used to provide gifts for those in need when Christmas comes along.  Stella put some change in her jar and said, "Grandma is going to be so proud of me, because I'm saving so much money to buy stuff for Christmas for the kids who don't have any money!"  Heart of gold, I tell ya!

"Sometimes I just feel like I want to cry, but then I don't do it."  I asked her what makes her feel like this and she said, "I just don't know." I really might not survive three teenage girls!!!

We were driving to Jerome and pulled up next to a Walmart truck.  Stella said she thought the truck was also going to Jerome, but instead it turned onto the freeway to go to Pocatello.  When Stella realized it was going to the other way she said, "I couldn't have known!"

One day we were talking about how sometimes dads cry, especially when they get older.  She said, "Yeah, like uncle Lance did when Leot (his grandson) went to China!"

The girls love knock knock jokes and I was telling the good old banana/orange joke.  After giving me a nice courtesy laugh Stella says, "Mom, you just make it awkward when you play."

While I was still pregnant with Ivy we had the following conversation:

"McKoy's baby brother Asher is so cute and looks just like McKoy."

I told her sometimes brothers and sisters look alike and asked if she thought our baby would look like her and Liza.

She said, "No, I think she will look like you and dad...except maybe she will have black skin.  She should have black skin!"

"Sometimes when I eat things I pretend like they are in my belly talking to each other.  And there's a gate that won't let them back up." Okay, then...?

We had been planning and talking about giving away some of the girls' toys, so one night during her prayer Stella said, "Thank you we can give away a little bit...a tiny bit of our toys."

While in Logan one weekend we were talking about how Ryan and I met and fell in love.  Stella says, "I wonder who I will marry?  Probably Trey because he is one of my boyfriends.  Beckham is my other boyfriend, but he's kinda silly and Trey is just pretty normal and I should marry him instead."

Stella asked me to write down the names of everyone in our family and when I wrote Jeffrey Ryan Palmer she became a bit confused and asked, "Why are you writing that?"  I told her because that is actually what her dad's name is.  She looked at me with huge eyes and said, "Wow!  I can't even believe it!"

On Eliza's birthday Stella was trying to lift Eliza on to my bed and said, "I can't do it.  You are just too big now cause you are three."

Speaking of her new baby sister, "This is my baby sister and she is just so shiny (yes, shiny) and cute!  And her name is Ivy and I love her so much!"

After I had Ivy my mom took the girls to see the movie Big Hero 6.  After watching a sad part of the show Stella told my mom "That made my heart feel sad."

We missed quite a bit of church after Ivy was born due to a new baby, holidays and sickness.  We were talking about some friends from our ward and that I was in the same church class as their mom when Stella said, "Mom, do you even go to church anymore?"

Birthday Interview 2015

What is your favorite color? All the colors in the rainbow

What is your favorite toy? Coloring

What is your favorite movie? Paddington (All she wanted to do for her birthday was watch it at the theater)

What is your favorite fruit? Whole apples

What is your favorite vegetable? Pickles!  And tomatoes that are cut up and salad with ranch.

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal...rice krispies or Life

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? bunny white kind mac n cheese (Annie's brand white cheddar mac n cheese)

What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? cream peas and potatoes

What is your favorite snack? fruit snacks (always and forever)

What is your favorite drink? All the drinks, but not the mom and dad drinks.  But I like water the best! (sure ya do)

What is your favorite thing to wear? Pink Rose sweater

What is your favorite thing to play? Set up my library and everything else that I do. (meaning her store, school, etc.)

What is your favorite animal? polar bear...no leopard!

What is your favorite song? Love Story by Taylor Swift and the fast gummy bear song

What is your favorite thing to do outside? jump on the trampoline and sleep on the trampoline

What is your favorite holiday? Valentines, because it's almost valentine's.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A mommy with three boys and three girls

What is your favorite thing to do with mom? Go on dates with her

What is your favorite thing to do with dad? Have dates with him, too

What is your favorite thing to do with Eliza? Dance parties with Gibby and Liza

What is your favorite thing to do with Ivy? Just play with her

Where is your favorite place to go? Disneyland! (one time, two years ago.)