Fifteen years ago today, David and I learned that our prayers of many years were answered. My twenty week ultrasound confirmed I was pregnant with a girl. I’ve written before about our long journey to parenthood so I won’t go into it again. However, we had always prayed for a daughter and God chose to answer that specific prayer.

Each year on May 11, we celebrate our own family holiday – It’s a Girl! Day. Caroline chooses a favorite lunch (usually Chinese take-out) and a small gift. She looks forward to this day just as much as any other holiday. Perhaps even more because it is her own special day.

Over the years I haven’t shared many pictures of our family. I’ve found it hard to walk the line between sharing too much and not sharing enough. Balancing privacy issues in general and also protecting Caroline’s privacy online overall were struggles for me. I decided this year to do a little collection of photos over the years. Okay, maybe not little. I ended up choosing quite a few, but since I rarely show pictures I thought you might enjoy seeing them – especially those of you who have been reading since before I even became pregnant. (Yes, there are some!) If you are a newer reader, you can get a peek into life thus far.

I hope you enjoy celebrating our girl with us today. She is a truly delightful blessing from God.

Caroline looks like a dolly in this one.

 

From early on, Caroline liked to look at the world differently. LOL!

 

 

The day of her first birthday in late September. She loved pictures and videos of herself.

 

 

Caroline enjoyed playing with her first birthday cake! I don’t think she ate much of it at all. To this day, she doesn’t like overly sugary foods like this.

 

 

Learning the alphabet. This is one of my favorite pictures of her.

 

 

Creativity and imagination all day

 

 

Matching dresses with her doll, Bonnie Lou, at my parents’ home. She was so cute at this age. This is another one of my favorite pictures.

 

 

During the Play-Doh phase. This is a birthday cake.

 

 

Enjoying a family outing to an apple farm. Riding in the piggy train!

 

 

Enjoying tea time with friends

 

 

The Tinker Toy phase that went on for quite some time. We have three huge containers of these. Because Caroline is gifted in the area of spatial things, this was so in her wheelhouse. I could write an entire post just about all of the things David and Caroline built with Tinker Toys over the years.

 

 

First day of homeschool co-op. We were blessed with a wonderful Christian co-op. This is when Caroline started the first year. She loved her teacher.

 

 

Fun outside raking with Daddy.

 

 

The Hundred Acre Wood Gang. Words cannot explain how much she enjoyed her stuffed animals. My mom bought her the Pooh when she was not very old. For her fifth birthday she received Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga, and Roo from my parents. It’s still one of her best birthday moments.

 

 

We took many trips to the Meijer Gardens. This is the pioneer cabin in the children’s garden area. The pictures in my post about field trips include more from the Meijer Gardens. If you are ever in West Michigan, it is definitely worth your time.

 

 

Our budding artist showing off one of her cards for a cousin’s graduation

 

 

Visiting my parents

 

 

Caroline’s first American Girl Doll. She named her Daisy.

 

 

This is Caramel. Caroline had looked at these large bears each time we went into one of the local stores where a Starbucks was located. She never asked for one, but was obviously enthralled by them. I was standing in line and asked her if she wanted to bring him home. Her eyes lit up and she could hardly believe it. Neither could David when we went in to get a coffee and came out with a bear that was almost as big as Caroline at the time. LOL!

 

 

Christmas Eve during the big bow headband stage. No, I did not make her wear them. She had three of them from Children’s Place I think – lavender, pink, and cream. They were sparkly and gauzy. She loved them.

 

 

Easter 2014. With the pink bow headband.

 

 

The duck tape phase. She made anything and everything out of duck tape.

 

 

First day of co-op. Note the Minecraft themed bag. Minecraft had arrived. (It has never left.)

 

 

For Christmas 2014, Caroline received the Caroline Abbott American Girl Doll from my parents. She was so thrilled and had no idea she was going to get it. (Curious George photobombed in a bit of jealousy.)

 

 

Stuffed animals. I’ve shared a picture of this before in my post 6 Ways Having a Gifted Child Changed My Life. There’s a reason there is a tag on my site for stuffed animals. Some creative kids love them. A lot. And they truly serve a useful purpose. I cannot even guess how much time David and Caroline spent playing with and making up stories about the animals. They all have names and the majority of them have personalities and a story. We should do an updated shot. The stuffed animal family has grown since this picture was taken.

 

 

Caroline won two fish at the big carnival that comes to our town each year. She purchased the little white one with the red spot on his head. They are still around and huge.

 

 

Happy Birthday 2017!

 

 

Christmas 2017 at my parents’ home. We purchased a nice telescope for Caroline with my parents. I had it shipped to their house so they could also see her open it. (Details about the telescope are in my post Nature Study for Indoor People)

 

 

Archery class. She wants to try skeet shooting this summer.

 

 

Meijer Gardens at Christmastime

 

 

We have a picture of Caroline sitting with the Christmas stuffed animals every year since she was fifteen months old.

 

 

What you see…

 

 

Reality

 

 

More reality. Honestly, we do laugh a lot. We are a fun family in our own geeky way. LOL!

 

 

Behind that grown up, confident pose…

 

 

Behind that sweet pose…

 

 

Reality

 

 

Another Christmas picture with the animals

 

 

Big Bear. The most important animal ever.

 

 

Happy Birthday 2019

 

 

Caroline’s 14th birthday in 2020

 

 

Christmas 2020 with the animals (in a new location!)

 

So there is a little peek through the years. I hope you enjoyed sharing this celebration with me!