Liesel 5-year old Story

This is so Liesel. Crazy hair, bare feet, holding Zinnia out in the garden. 

Snapshot of Liesel this year. Mom made this collage into a puzzle for Liesel. It has become a favorite Sunday afternoon pastime to put together Liesel's (and Hannah's-- she has one just like it) puzzles. 

Liesel LOVES to be silly. And this child LOVES the river. Just the other day she was lamenting that she missed river trips and said, "I think I like summer better than winter." I laughed and said, "you and 90% of American's." 

That grin on the left? I live for it. That cone on the left? She lives for it. // First road rash. And I thought it was so funny she smiled for the picture. That is soooo L. Always camera ready :)

First day of preschool (check out Hannah being a kitty at the bottom)// The girls after bath. They insist on these "robots" that someone gave to us

In October we did a 4 day river trip with the Allreds-- Owen had his b-day so we busted a piñata. // Owen, Liesel and Hannah swimming in potholes. 

One day LIesel and Owen called me downstairs to show me that they made me lunch-- a hot dog bun pb and strawberry sandwich and a homemade pickle. // Look at this picture! She looks like she could be 20!!

This child and sand. She lived in this baggy swimsuit with hearts. She LOVES hearts. // Painting

Dying easter eggs// holding Felicity. I love her feet. 

Had a movie night with the projector and screen checked out from the library. We watched Lion King. They were in heaven. // Beloved Aunt Lindsey in Liesel's wedding dress before I resized it for Halloween

Painting plein air with the girls during Moab's plein air art fest (we were at arches) 

Grand Canyon this past January

Labyrinth canyon 4 day (or 5 day?) river trip

San Juan Mountains, CO-- American Basin. I love braiding flower crowns. 

My adventurous little girl. 

That smile is so genuine and often on the river// Liesel in her wedding dress costume. It's bustled here. 

we still talk about these guys almost daily. miss them like crazy. 

FHE birthday party for Liesel

New Anna dress from Frozen Fever and Hannah in her Elsa jammies. 

I still feel SOOOO guilty about not making her a cake. A store bought pie. I guess that's what happens when your b-day party is right after thanksgiving. 

See that cat? Liesel requested an electronic cat for her bday. haha!

It's always daunting for me to do a birthday write-up of one of my children. How do I articulate their personality? Remember the funny things they said or the sweet moments where my heart melted? It's impossible, but I'll try anyway. 

Liesel turned five November 30th. FIVE, people. She already seems more coordinated and intelligent.  At her FHE birthday, everyone went around and shared what they love about Liesel: her wide smile-- the one when she's really really happy, her thoughtfulness, her humor. Brian said that he loves Liesel because he knows that in her very core, she is a GOOD girl. She wants to be good. That is so true. She is a good girl. She feels the Spirit and wants to follow Jesus. I'm serious. She reminds me often. That's not to say she's angelic most of the time because she's totally not. She is a little manipulative, sneaky and can rage like nobody's business-- but she is also very good and wants to be good. Her prayers are very genuine and I love to hear them. 

I blubbered through all of mine. The tears flowed right away and Liesel ran up to give me a hug. But L has been my little buddy for so long. The person I would talk to for hours at the Needles and the one who would make me laugh day after day in the Tetons. I love her so much it hurts. 

Liesel is. . . 

Adventurous. She loves to climb, jump off stuff, swim and explore. She will usually try something that other's won't. She wanted to jump off the highest dive today at the pool (it's 10 feet) but right when she got to the edge the Lifeguard blew his whistle and sent her back down. She isn't always brave, but she prides herself on being bold. Socially she's less courageous, but when it comes to outdoor stuff, she doesn't like to be one-upped. 

Thoughtful and kind. She is always making little cards for people. Like, ALL. THE. TIME. This morning I woke up to a card of flowers in my favorite color (yellow) from Liesel right on the edge of my bed. I frequently hear her talking so kindly to Hannah and Sam that I just stop and listen. Usually when she looses it in anger it's for a good reason. In her prayers she'll often think of something or someone that I totally forgot. She is amazing with her chickens. The other day I mentioned that one of the chickens was missing feathers and she said, "Yeah, it's on Midnight's belly. He's been like that for a long time." That happens frequently. She knows those little hens. 

Competitive. She likes to be first. Like, a lot. We haven't tried any sports yet (except for one day of t-ball), but I'm curious how she would do. Sometimes if she's not the best at something she wants to give up, but now that she's getting older she's in better control of that. The other day she came home from preschool and announced she wanted to learn Spanish so that she could learn that before Owen since he already knew how to read first. haha! 

Strong. I love tickling her just to feel her strong little body. She has better abs than I do (but that's really not saying much). 

Artistic. She loves to draw and every single day she spends a good chunk of it coloring with markers. She loves making hearts, gardens, our family, birds, christmas trees and ALWAYS her name on it. In multiple places. Or she writes Mom or Dad on all of them. She's pretty darn good too. I love it when she draws herself and hannah playing together. I save all of those. I bought about 6 packs of markers in August and we only have about 1/4 of them. Poor Hannah can't snap the caps on all the way and inevitably many dry out. I moved their art table and chalk board easel into the office room so they could have it permanently set up. 

Nature-lover. She is so happy outside. Most kids are, really. Her love for the river is real. Every time we were on the river this summer she would talk about how she didn't want to go home. She loves to play in the sand for hours, to dig and imagine. She loves to hear story after story while we float on the boat. She loves to sleep in her sleeping bag and eat camp food. She loves finding little paths and will often request a hike. She will wander outside "planting trees' (sticks in the sand) or making graves. Wish I was better about teaching her bird, plant and animal names. 

Her current loves:

Friends: Owen and Ava are her best friends right now. Ava is a great match for her. She's vivacious and energetic. She and Liesel have great energy together and I love having her over. Owen and Liesel are already noticing the separation of boys and girls, but are still great little buddies. This year they invented two games: Snow-Raven (based off of a story I told her about a princess from a mountain with that name) and The Shelly Game (where hannah is shelly and I think some of them are cats?)

Food: She loves hamburgers and gets really excited when we have them. The other night we were going to take the whole family out for burgers. We hardly ever do this, but decided it was a good night for it. Well, Liesel didn't put on her shoes and then lied to me and told me she didn't know where they were when she actually hid them because she wanted me to find her other ones. We called off the dinner because it was the third lie she had told me that day. She was devastated but I was glad I stuck my guns. Needless to say, the lesson stuck. She also loves pizza, all things sugar (but not really chocolate that much) cold cereal and oatmeal. 

Clothing; Anything with hearts. And leggings/ stretch pants. Which get holes in about 5 minutes. She will only wear jeans when we hike (because I insist.. . the way she slides down sandstone!). She says her favorite color is teal now. 

Activities: drawing, swimming, playing make-believe with Hannah, getting tickled, attention from mom and dad, wrestling with dad before bedtime, Wild Kratts TV show, animals, Christmas, building trains with bridges, singing, her new animal encyclopedia, riding at the BMX park and playing outside. 

Doesn't like: meeting strangers, when she can't figure something out quickly, "boy colors," jeans, rice and beans, when I say I'm too busy, jobs and bananas. 

Liesel and I have been working on learning to read together. She is sounding out words and today read "me", "rat", "sam", "am", "eat", "rat", "ram" and "sat." I love seeing the look on her face when she figures it out. We are working on handwriting and her lowercase "m's" and "s's" are getting much better. 

Love my eldest baby and my guinea pig in parenting.