Dearest Cora,

OH sweet girl! I can’t believe that you are TWO! I also can’t believe how much I love you more & more each day. You are such a treasure my little one. Dada & I keep saying to each other how beautiful & BIG your personality is becoming, how funny you are, how excited you are, how sweet you are. You are full of tenderness & fierceness. I love watching you grow! This past year of life with you has been full of JOY. You bring so much color to the world, my little rainbow! Every single day you make me feel so many ways, I laugh & smile, my heart wants to explode, I am in awe of who you are, you challenge me & help me grow as a Mama, you calm my stressful moments with your sweet embraces. You speak new words & seemingly out of nowhere know new things, your development & brain are incredible! You are smart, silly, kind & tough. I love how you love the moon & stars, the way you sing & dance, your affection for all animals, the way you show compassion. I love your spunkiness & incredible laughter. I love watching you read & spend time in your own world as well as watch you play with Eliana & so many others. I love that you absolutely love baby Jesus & can’t get enough of Him, I know you are going to spend your life loving Him. I love how you nurture & take care of babies & that you always want to dress yourself in blue dresses. I love your independence & determination. I love that you potty trained in a week! You are becoming such a big girl. I am so proud of you, Cora. I am reminded each day how blessed I am to be your Mama, that Dada & I have been entrusted with the privilege of raising you on this earth. I love watching you & Sissy be one another’s companions, you are a perfect picture of sisters! You love each other so much, even in the moments when you need some space apart, it is evident that there is no one else in the world you would rather have as a big sister. You are each other’s champions & greatest friends. Dada, Eliana & I adore you, sweet girl. Thank you for being you! There is no one else in the whole wide world just like you & I am so happy that you are ours. “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.” Cheers to you, Peanut! Happiest 2nd Birthday!

With all my love,

Mama.

To celebrate this sweet girl’s 2nd birthday, we decided that the perfect “theme” would be the moon & stars. She LOVES the moon. She points it out every single evening & wants to go outside to see the stars. A little lover of the night sky, a little golden child who can find the moon wherever it may be. I love this about her. So, following suit with what we did to celebrate her 1st birthday alongside her twin cousin, Riah Joy, we did a combo party again. It has been a delight to get to continue the celebration of these two littles, the way we have celebrated them from the day my sister & I both found out we were pregnant together. We invited our family & some dear friends & I had the joy of hosting another party (Noah’s 30th was the first.) at our new abode.

We decorated simply, with LOTS of glitter covered stars & moons. My island still has glitter in the grains of wood. Good times. We bought each girl a giant #2 balloon & I made crowns with moons for all of the kiddos who came. We sang, opened gifts, took cute pictures, ate chocolate cupcakes, the kiddos ran around with their crowns blowing bubbles & playing inside & outside, we ate watermelon cut in star shapes, cheese cut into moon shapes, had star cookies, popcorn, & iced tea for the warm May day. It was a perfectly wonderful celebration with lots of kids. The girls loved it. Especially the cupcakes.

I’ve said it before, but celebrating the gift of life is not to be taken lightly for me. I KNOW that my children are true gifts & I never want to “skip” celebrating them with intention, showering them with love & affection, attention & praise. Birthdays are an essential part of that for me. They are a perfect opportunity to make a big deal that my little ones are treasures. I spend the rest of the year doing the same thing, but for that one day each year, I think it is a beautiful thing to show intentionality & make it extra special, even with glitter. This doesn’t mean that I go out & spend an arm & a leg to do so, it simply means that TIME slows down for that day to shower love, affection, attention & praise. It is also an opportunity to pray over our children with others as they embark into a new year of life. That is the best part of the whole day. Bathing them in prayer. So with that, I wanted to share one of Cora’s life verses.

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, the cheerful heart is a continual feast.”                              -Proverbs 17:22, 15:15

We love you sweet girl! To the moon & back. Truly.

 

Cheers,

Katie.