My BIG 5 year old

I can't believe she is  5 years old. We did two parties so Grandpa and Grandma could be at one, so she got two birthday cakes. Very exciting!
She was so very lucky this year because she got a teddy bear directly from Ireland. A family from my mission that I love very much, sent her an Irish teddy bear for her birthday. They are a very sweet family that I miss very much. 

She is so excited to go to Kindergarten in the fall...Luckily the shock of leaving her at a school won't be an issue because I already went through it at the beginning of this school when she started preschool. It is the same schedule as Kindergarten, so I've already done the crying thing. She loves preschool and has learned probably a lot more than I could teach her at home.  Especially how to relate to and get along with all the other kids in her class. She has many friends and always asks to play at their house. I was doing ok with her getting older, until I made the mistake of going through pictures on the computer and browsing her baby pictures. It's taken me a couple of days to recover, especially since I start thinking about how many birthday's Joe hasn't been here to see. It makes me really sad, but I know it is for a reason, and she is an amazing little girl. She has days that she will tell me she misses him, even though she probably doesn't remember him that much, but she still misses him and asks me tons of questions about him, I love when I get to talk to her about him, especially when she reminds me of him. I tell her little things about how they are similar and she just laughs and loves it. Time goes on, whether I like it or not, and we are adjusting to every situation the best we can, because that is all we can do. I guess my biggest lesson is to hold on and cherish every moment we get to be in because it won't last...things always change, so be grateful for little moments.