HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

My goodness, November is a busy month for birthdays in my family.

And today is a very special one. My baby, Jayla is a half-dozen years old today :-).

WOW...it's so hard to believe that on Tuesday, November 20, 2001, this beautiful child came into our lives.

Just as I've said over my past 2 years of blogging, this day is always so bittersweet for me. I'm thrilled to death, everyday, to see this little lady blossom, grow, and learn. She has the most amazing personality and her character simply oozes with tenderness, gentleness, and love.

For those of you who have had the opportunity to meet her, you've only seen just a small part of who Jayla really is. You don't have to be around her for long before she makes you break into laughter. She has the sweetest spirit. Words can't express how much I love this girl and how thankful I am to God for trusting US with her care. What a blessing she is.

Well, you've seen what a beauty she was when we first brought her home from the hospital...puffy eyes and all, lol. But check her out TODAY, at the age of 6 years old!

Sorry, but pictures of Jayla are just like Lay's potato chips...you can't have just ONE! lol

Happy Birthday, my sweet girl!!!

Today at Jayla's school was Grandparents and Special People day. Jayla wanted her Grandma to come and have lunch with her. But she said she wanted me and her daddy there too. Just so happens, daddy took the past few days off for our birthdays. So we were both able to join Jayla and Grandma for lunch.

When a child has a birthday at her school, they are given a special "crown" to wear. So today was EXTRA special for Jayla. It was so funny, last week, they sent home the form telling us about the upcoming luncheon. On that form, they also had the menu. Well, Jayla isn't much of an eater and I knew she wouldn't eat the basic Thanksgiving dinner that was being served.

Jayla proceeds to tell me that she doesn't like any of that and she wants me to bring her something else to eat :-). My MIL reminded me that she'd gone to G'Parents day with Markell a few years back and she wasn't too fond of the menu either :-). So it didn't hurt her feelings at all that Jayla wanted something else to eat. Long story short, we stopped at Chick Fil A and got lunch for the 4 of us :-).

The school has a rule that no outside (fast food) restaurant food can be brought in. However, as long as we don't bring it in the "original packaging", it would be fine. So on the way to the school, I was stuffing CFA sandwiches, nuggets and fries in foil and sandwich bags. The teachers said it was alright if we brought softdrinks in. It was fun.

Jayla even got to have a professional picture taken with Grandma.

Well, Jayla wanted me to share one more of her birthday surprises with you. Today is the last day of school for the Thanksgiving holiday. Last week, the teacher sent home a note saying that Jayla was chosen to be the caretaker of the class "pet", over the Thanksgiving break. Ok, if you're keeping up...that's a total of 5 days!!! :-) Needless to say, Jayla is VERY excited about being given this responsibility. Also, she's the very first one of this school year to be chosen. And how cool for it to happen ON her birthday.

Well, without further ado, allow me to introduce to you...SWIMMY the Beta Fish.

For the next 5 days, Swimmy will reside in Jayla's room. I ask that all of you take a good look at him for me. You know, just in case "something" happens to Mr. Swimmy the fish and he needs to be replaced, LOL! By the way, do dogs eat fish? I hope not.

Ya'll have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a great time with your friends and family. Save me a wing!! :-)