7.5 :)

 My Junebug. Seven and a half! You are growing up right before my eyes and I wish I could freeze time and just take you all in! You are a beautiful and wonderful girl and I am so proud of your heart. You are so loveable and I am so thankful you are my daughter and I get to witness each precious stage of your life and be the one to kiss you goodnight each day. You are so so loved baby girl <3  

This summer has been a busy one. Well...busy for me anyway ;) Baby Zak was born early July and getting everything ready for a new baby was my priority in June and then July and August have been busy with all that a newborn entails. You have welcomed your new brother with open arms and have been so sweet with him and excited to hold him and help! You got to be there for the birth and I pray that you will take that experience and go into your own season of motherhood someday with the knowledge that birth is empowering and beautiful! I got mad at you last night because he had just fallen asleep in his high chair so I finally had a baby free moment to work and you went and grabbed his face to kiss him and woke him up haha. He is already 5 weeks old so you're getting your first taste of how quick it all goes- he isn't the always sleepy 2 week old anymore. You have been giving me lots of hugs since he has been born- wrapping your arms all the way around me and commenting on how good it is that my tummy isn't huge anymore ha. I got to play on the trampoline with you the other day and it was so fun- I had missed that while I was hugely pregnant. Your giggles were such a gift to my day! I love spending time playing and laughing with you and I am hoping to spend so much more time doing it this year. You have actually been kind of bored this summer, but you and Johanna make the most of it. You spend literally hours swinging on our porch and playing talking pretend games... it is so sweet! You girls have the biggest imaginations! You still play Barbies a lot- Ita moved your Barbie stuff out onto her patio for the summer so that has been fun. You haven't been coloring as much, but you spend a lot of time doing art. You love to go with Ita to the farm in the mornings to "work" which means working for a few minutes and then playing with Alinah. You also love to hang out with Ita in the evenings- you were sleeping in her room every night for a few months until I made you move upstairs again after you and Zeke were supposed to be laying in bed for the night, but instead you were chasing him because he had a coin you wanted and he tried to hide it from you in his mouth and ended up swallowing it.. fun times ;) I am currently working on getting your room habitable again. It is a MESS. You are a messy girl...i won't sugarcoat it haha. You love to shove things in a corner or under something instead of putting them in their proper place. and you love all the tiny things so it takes forever to sort them out and get them all put away. But you have so much love for each and every tiny little thing and if you could, you would keep it all. I threw a bunch of stuff away without telling you and now I'm just hoping you won't notice. sometimes you do, but usually it takes a few months before you miss it ;) 

We had some tamales for dinner this week and you love them so much. You also loove Ita's beans and flour tortillas. You may not look Mexican at all, but you sure love the Mexican foods! Ita often makes breakfast for you and your siblings and it is almost always eggs and tortilla and often she will add in corn and beans. You always declare that you hate cheese, but you don't hesitate to dive in on some mac'n'cheese and pizza haha. You love all junk food of course and are a great fruit and veggie eater. You love it when dad barbeques anything and you love the lentils from Costco.. 

This past school year you did gymnastics and golf and you really enjoy them both! You are eagerly waiting for the school year to start again so we get funding and can start another gymnastics class. You run around doing cartwheels everywhere and headstands on the couch and it is the cutest. You love it so much. You do your middle splits flat like a pancake- it is super impressive. I am excited to watch you grow as a gymnast and in your confidence! You enjoy golf too- not as much, but your dad sure is happy that you like it! He creates special classes for you and right now you are in a class with some of your best friends, Hannah and Olivia, which makes it way more fun for you! We are actually doing a lot with the Tasa girls this year. Their mom, Miss Rosie, will be teaching you social studies, science, and history this year every Tuesday- it is a huge relief for me to not have to teach all that and deal with 3 littles under 5 years old ;) and I think it will make your school year so much more fulfilling and exciting for you. She is a great teacher and learning and field trips are always more fun with friends. They are also in our co-op again (3rd year now!). We just had a planning meeting last night to plan out the school year and I am really excited for it. You love co-op days! We are focusing on nature, art, and field trips more this year and have some really fun stuff planned. I can't believe you are already going into 2nd grade. You are just so grown up! Just this summer, your reading took off! You are almost done with your very first real chapter book- A to Z Mysteries The Absent Author! It is so fun watching you just blow through hard words like you never struggled. We switched to the Good and the Beautiful half way through last year and it has made all the difference- you really enjoy your learning now! You are way ahead in math- about half way through your 2nd grade math curriculum and the year hasn't even started. 

You fight with your siblings quite a bit. Probably because you are home and together with them all the time so you're always up in each other's business. but also Johanna is your very best friend and I think you two will be so so so thankful for each other throughout your lives. You also love the other 3, but Jo tends to monopolize and tries to lure them away from you when you try to play with them..eek. We are working on you learning how to tell Jo no. For example, I just ordered you and Jo new earrings- you both wanted rose gold and Jo got super upset because she didn't want to have the same exact earrings as you. I told her that she was free to order the white gold if she didn't want to match with you, but that you loved the rose gold. She of course went to you behind my back and convinced you to get the white gold for yourself so she could have the rose gold and get her way about not matching. I put my foot down and she ended up getting the white and you go the rose. then she lost one of her earrings like 2 days after they came (she found it today!) and she somehow convinced you that you should let her borrow your brand new earrings before you'd even had a chance to wear them. I again told her no. I am hoping that me standing up for you teaches you to stand up for yourself a bit more! You are just so generous and quick to bounce back and smile, but I think that you really feel things much more deeply than you let on. You are a sensitive little girl and I hope I can nurture that sweet, generous, wonderfully kind heart of yours!

What else? You love to sleep in- like til 9 if we let you. When dad has days off, he loves to go up and snuggle with you in the mornings to wake you up. so sweet. I hope you always want to snuggle with your dad. Your top 2 front teeth are just a little wiggly and you tell me to feel them all the time! You are still really into fashion and dress so cute all the time, but you just informed me that you don't really like dresses or skirts anymore...what?! You also always do your hair up in tight ponytails. you are so good at doing hair- who taught you?! not me, that is for sure! You are super easily distracted because you are just always having so much fun. You get in trouble for it when it comes time to clean up the house in the evenings and you just keep dancing or playing with whatever toy you were supposed to be putting away. it would be hilarious if I wasn't the one responsible for training you to be responsible haha. but I also love your free spirit and the JOY that you embody. You are such a gift and a light in our family! You bring so much goodness and I am so so thankful that I get to be your mama! June, you are growing up into a beautiful young lady and I am so proud of who you are and who you are becoming. When I pray for you, I pray that the Lord will bless you with a long and healthy life. That you would get to die at an old age as a great grandma. and most of all, that your life would be full of joy- not happiness dependent on circumstances, but a deep joy because of the love of the Lord that fills your life. because you are confident and secure in the knowledge of your salvation and that you were made uniquely you with a purpose for your life. that the Lord never makes mistakes and that your life is honoring to him. I pray that you will look back on your life with great satisfaction and contentment. 

I LOVE you, June Elizabeth! so so much. Happy 7.5 year baby girl :)