Happy Birthday Josie-Tatum

Josie-Tatum turned 6 years old today. Having a 20 year-old daughter, I'm already aware of how time flies, but, oh how time really seems to have flown since Josie-Tatum joined our family. Yes, her birthday is one day after her referral day. She celebrated her first birthday in an orphanage, with no fanfare. We've certainly made sure that never happened again.

I've learned some lessons through the years I've been a mother. It's like the chance the start over again...and this time I know
***The house does not have to be spotless to allow guests to come over.
***The best gifts are often not material things.
***Every child is ABSOLUTELY unique.
***Every stage of life with your children is different, and each one can be enjoyed in a different way.
***And, just like my mother taught me...every child deserves to know how special she is on her birhtday.

We spent the early part of the afternoon celebrating another birthday, my nephew Carter turned 1 year old today. I took these pictures of the girls before my battery died.....so I don't even have any pictures of the Birthday Boy....but the girls had a great time.



Then, we celebrated as a family, just the 7 of us,plus Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Bobbie, Cousin Joshua, Cousin Trey, Mrs. Delaine, and an adult friend Robbie. We are planning another celebration later.....JT is accustomed to having a pretty big party, so I wrapped all of her presents from us individually. She received things she needs, a dress for church, church shoes, school clothes. And, from Aunt Bobbie,
The Tinkerbell movie.




Here is where we plan to celebrate in 3 weeks. That's why Josie-Tatum's presents were less "wants" than needs.

And, her gift from Grandma and Grandpa was a $20 bill inside a princess photo album that she put all of her Disney World pictures in.


I've posted recently about my daddy. Well, here's a quick tidbit about my mama. She is the cake baker/decorater in the family. She takes care of every birthday cake in the family, AND wedding cakes. It's her hobby. Most childre's birthdays she uses items to decorate the cake that will be toys for the kids. Not this year, though. She used a "used" Barbie. Since Barbie was too tall for the cake, Grandpa was forced to amputate both of her legs below the knees. Take a peek.


And, for those who wonder how Ellie is doing. You will see she was in typical "Ellie form" this weekend. She enjoyed hamming it up tonight as the family celebrated. The first picture, though, is I how I found her last night when I told them to go to the bathroom so I could help brush their teeth. She was actually standing in her brace, with her right leg, the one attached to the hip that was operated on...hiked in the air. There is NO stopping this girl.