27

Aug

Evie’s Birthday Celebrations!

We partied hard for Evie’s first double digits birthday! Family celebrated one afternoon and Evie had a few friends join her on another afternoon and evening to celebrate #10. Thank you all who helped make her feel celebrated!

Evie chose to do a S’more themed party… so we tried to make things kind of “camp-like”. It ended up pretty cute with some simple decorations. Party success!

  • Party time!
  • My first attempt at a balloon arch… not bad!
  • S’more Brownies!
  • My sweet girl!
  • Evie got a new bike, thanks to some Henry connections! She was in desperate need of a bigger one, and now she’s flying around! Woo!
  • One of the greatest hits of the gifts – Evie got a wand! She has made the plunge into the world of Harry Potter. She is ALL in.
  • Cheeeese
  • Great Grandma P and Logan
  • Cousins! Next year we’ll hopefully have our Maryland cousins joining us! 🙂
  • Grandma and Grandpa Baldwin with our 10 year old!
  • Grandpa and Grandma Henry with the birthday girl!
  • Aunt Tara and Uncle Ryan!
  • So glad to see Woody – it has been several years!
  • Coleman and Lauryn with Evie!
  • Olan made this outfit all by himself after having watched Into the Spiderverse the night before. He was so proud.
  • Spoiled little lady.
  • These ladies all got along great and had a ball! By the end of the night they had worn out my decibel meter and inhaled every morsel of visible junk food, but such a fun crew they are!
  • This party was on THE actual hottest day of the year. We still got to enjoy the pool next door (soooo nice!), but brought our outdoor activities inside. Instead of a campfire and a movie outside in the tent, we just grilled and pitched the tent in the basement! Much cooler!
  • I think the pool party could have lasted the whole party!
  • I just really love Evie’s friends.
  • Sillies!
  • Evie’s birthday was on the first day of school this year! Mama didn’t feel like cooking a big breakfast could fit in the schedule, but we still got to blow out some candles on her Lucky Charms cereal! 🙂
  • She got the golden snitch from the Booths and was pretty darn excited about it!

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16

Aug

A Decade of Evieness

Evie sure has made the last ten years of our lives count. Although it does seem like it’s gone fast, I think of all the growth that God has allowed to happen in our family in the last decade and I feel it. Ten years. Wee-oo.

Our girl has morphed from little kid to big kid this year. The transition of the third grade year is real. She still has the most care-free, in the clouds, unique drumbeat that she’s always had, but we’ve seen glimpses of a mature, thoughtful, and upright human being emerging. What is God preparing her for? Something great, whether big or small. We are so proud of what God has done in her and the challenges she has and will continue to overcome.

The things Evie is drawn to this year: music (she’s got a real diverse Spotify playlist going), reading insane amounts of books, dragons, chickens, cats, frogs, small things, piano, Crunch Labs, Merge Dragons, Minecraft, cozy spots, math, being in the pool/lake, messy rooms, stories about mythology, spending time with friends, stuffed animals, sweets, school, digging, Qwirkle, riding bikes, eating massive amounts of crushed ice, creating a whirlwind of debris everywhere she goes, and hugging people way too tightly.

All these things and way more make up the most curious girl I’ve ever met. She is a thousand years different than me, but it doesn’t matter because to God, a thousand years is like a day. Evie is our incredible, God-given gift and we are so delighted to celebrate her as a ten-year-old this day!

Favorites at 10:

  • Color: yellow
  • Animal: cats
  • Food: ham sliders
  • Sweet: swirl soft serve ice cream
  • Drink: lemonade
  • Song: Church Clap by Lecrae
  • TV show: Hercules
  • Movie: Peter Pan
  • Game: Mystical Mixing
  • Candy: Gumballs
  • Restaurant: Sonic
  • Bible story: Jonah
  • Season: Fall and summer
  • Toy: Pikachu
  • Outfit: Confident chicken shirt with blue UA shorts
  • Subject in school: Math
  • Special class: Computers
  • Book: Once Upon a Camel by Kathi Appelt and The Thirteenth Cat by Mary Downing Hahn
  • Friend: Bristol Isaacson and Jayce Bicking
  • Thing to do outside: swim
  • Future career: open a complicated origami store or an engineer

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16

Aug

Dear Evie

To my dear girl who is now a decade old:

My, oh my. This is where it starts to feel like time goes by too quickly. You are more than halfway through your years as a child under our roof, and that just doesn’t seem right. I have very much enjoyed the gift of being your mom, and I am anticipating what God has in store for you as you enter the second half of your years at home.

I hope you always know though, that your family (Dad, Olan and me) will always be your home. Team Henry will always be rooting for you, no matter where life takes you outside of this home. As much as I feel like you growing up is going by like the Hogwarts Express on its way out of Platform 9 ¾, I can’t wait to see God shape and mold you into who He has made you to be. He has given you so many unique gifts, Evie. You are so incredibly blessed by Him.

Your love for the Lord and the way you can hide His Word in your heart. Your ability to read like you do. Your compassion for animals and people. Your refusal to give up. Your interest in learning. Your infectious laugh. Your ability to make a way even in the messiest places. Your don’t-care-what-other-people-think attitude. Your hyper-focus. Your big, soft heart. Your toughness. Your willingness to try just about anything. Your memory. Your hugs… or your body-slams. Your fearlessness. Your extrovertedness. Your carefree spirit. Your set apartedness (for lack of a better word!).

You are something else, baby girl. And God’s got something else for you. The something else part of you is what I get excited about though. You and I, we’ve had talks about some serious stuff this year. No matter how you feel about yourself, or what others might assume about you, I want you to know that God has made you exactly the way He wants you to be. He didn’t create us to be the same as everyone else, try as we might to fit in with the people around us. No ma’am, He created us to be different. So get out there and wholeheartedly embrace the different, choose to be the something else that He designed you to be!

We have faced some challenges. We’ve gone through some hard times, and some of those times are still hard. But this I do know: Team Henry sticks together, and we will continue to run hard after Jesus alongside each other, on the same team. I guarantee, it’s impossible to go wrong when we seek Him with everything we’ve got.

I absolutely 100% love you to pieces, Evie! I am delighted to celebrate you being a part of our family for ten years and running. Best little girl in the whole wide world, if I say so myself! Happy double digits, sweet girl!

Love,

Mom

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