T-H-R-E-E!

Oh my goodness! I cannot believe my little girl is 3 years old!

This picture describes her perfectly right now.
Full of JOY!
Uninhibited, relentless JOY!

Most days you can find her in a Princess dress. She loves playing pretend and dressing like the character. Usually she will tell me, "Mom, I'm Cinderella..." or "Mom, I'm Jake (a pirate)." She then expects me to call her by their names, instead of her own. What an imagination.

What a personality! Daily she says things that leave me in stitches. Both Bryan and I look at each other and shake our heads, a lot. She has never meet a stranger and typically is the center of attention. Definitely something we will have to watch and continue to shepherd her heart in preferring others and fleeing from prideful ambition. Right now its all innocent fun. She is full of life and spunk. I love it.

On Mady's actually birthday this year it was a yucky, wet rainy day. So we had our bff, Moriah over for cup cakes (my sweet friend Annie brought over because I had a 1 week old and was unable to plan something fun for Mady's actual birthday) because it was Moriah's birthday just he day before. They had a fun Princess playdate.

Later that night we sang and celebrated again with another cupcake.
The girl has a major sweet tooth!

Mady is our little spit fire! I often describe her this way because that is totally her personality.
She is eager to help and often intuitively knows when someone is hurt or upset. She is ready to ask "whats wrong", take care of them and offer not only a band-aid, but her puppy and blanket too. Bryan and I love this about her. She already is nurturing and loving. Maybe a future nurse like her Mimi?

Mady knows all her letters, both upper case and lower case; their sounds and often will recite them when she sees them on signs around town. One of her favorite thing to do is to go up to license plates and recite the letters and numbers. I have started to use flash cards to help her start memorizing some sight words for reading later. She can count to 20 and even surprised us yesterday and counted (some what) in spanish. We have no clue where she picked this up! She knows all her colors, shapes and is learning concepts like seasons, months of the year, "nocturnal vs. diurnal" etc.  She is like a sponge and loves to learn.

She also knows several bible verses and has LOTS of songs memorized. I have begun teaching her basics about the bible. Like all the books, who wrote them, how many, new and old testament, etc. She prays in the evenings and at meals and loves to hear stories from her Jesus Storybook Bible. Her favorite continues to be David and Goliath.

One thing to note about Ms. Mady is her love for all things music. She loves ALL kinds of music and dance! Anything from kids songs, to bible songs, worship songs to Mumford and Sons to Hall & Oats to Andrew Peterson to Florence and the Machine. She has a wide array of interests (mostly because of Mom and Dad's interests). She has rhythm too. Dance class is next on our list.

Mady goes to Mother's Day out twice a week and loves it. Being very social, this has been a great thing for her. She loves to do the art, finger painting and crafts. She learns songs and plays with new friends. I always get a report, via Mady of the days activities and which kid shared and which one did not. Oh my! Yes.

At her well visit she was right around 32lbs (65%) and not sure how tall, but she was in the 20%tile for height. Growing just fine. Healthy as can be. We even had her blood tested to see what her nut allergy was (number wise) and she was negative! Thankful!

Overall....doing very well!

Dear Mady,

We are so thankful for you and the beautiful young lady God is growing you up to be. We are exceedingly proud of your kind and tender heart towards others and thrilled for your love for your new baby brother. You are a great big sister!

It is a joy to be your mommy. I can think of NOTHING I'd rather do, than spend my days with you and your brother, serving you all and helping your daddy. What a great blessing you are. Thank you for your love and laughter! You keep me smiling, little one.

Love,
Mommy