Her First Handful of Years

"How old are you, Moriah?"

"I'm FIVE!" she answers, her delight evident even as she speaks just those two words.

Five is a lot!  Five is big!  Five is a whole handful!!

This is how we celebrated our darling daughter's fifth birthday.

It happened to land on a Sunday--the Sunday that our congregation was having a fellowship lunch together after our morning service--and so, first thing after she woke up, Moriah helped me make a fruit pizza that we could take as part of our contribution to the meal.  

She loves fruit, especially strawberries, so much that it really wasn't surprising that she chose fruit pizza rather than birthday cake this year.

I've been known to do the same thing.  ;-)

Last year when Grandma Fisher came to visit, she brought with her several gorgeous dresses for Moriah to grow into (Jeff's mom is an enthusiastic yard-saler and finds incredible deals on all kinds of things, including little girl dresses!); and so, on this very special Sunday of Moriah's birthday and Palm Sunday, she got to wear a new-to-her dress that made her feel like a princess.

But of course, she IS a princess--loved and admired by her king, her queen, and all the knightly princes that surround her.  :)

After our church service and lunch, we came home; and then it was time for Moriah to open her gifts.

So much anticipation!!  :)

If there were a theme for this part of the day, it would be "Simple Gifts," because, although there were quite a few presents for her, they were mostly small, inexpensive things that I thought would bring joy to her heart.  Simple gifts, truly.

She began by opening her cards from Grandpa and from us...

...and Tobin kindly read them to her.

Shav wanted to see, too.  :)

She began with a shiny purple bag...

...and discovered something she'd been asking for: a Slinky!

Two, in fact!  :)

And then she opened a package from Tobin...

...which contained a bead necklace that he made for her.  :)

Her next gift was a notebook that she can draw in; it has a cat (her favorite animal) on the cover, and we also gave her a set of colorful pens to go with it.

And then she opened the giraffe bag that had a new set of dry erase markers in it.

She (and Tobin and Shav) draw very often on the white board, and the old markers had been getting worn out.

A new set is good incentive to draw more!  :)

And then she opened a package that had a tin in it, full of candy, just for her.

She had seen her big brothers have their own special candy, and she had expressed a desire to have some candy that was all hers.

Now she has it!  :)

Then she opened a bag with three activity books in it: one is a dot-to-dot book, one is a paint-with-water book, and one is a Strawberry Shortcake coloring book.

She was particularly excited about the dot-to-dot book because she had been asking about those recently.  :)

We also gave her a new swimming suit which will hopefully get used quite a bit this summer...  :)

...and a little stuffed animal cat that says "meow" when you squeeze its tummy.

Moriah had wanted a little cat (she has two that are bigger, but needed a little one so they could be a family) :), and she rushed to give a thank-you hug when she saw this cat.  :)

She loves cats so much--and is so nurturing--that I wish she could have a real one.  Maybe I've outgrown my cat allergy?  Maybe we could have one someday??  ;-)

Her next gift was a new bowl and plate set--pink, with owls on it.

She was delighted and told me then that at Sally's house (where Moriah loves to go to play), they have a plate like that.  :)

I didn't get a picture of it, but we also gave her a new bright pink hooded towel that our neighbors sewed together for her, using two bath towels and a hand towel.  Her old one had faded so much that you couldn't even tell it was pink.  This new one is so big that she'll be able to use it for quite a long time!  :)

Then she opened another bag and discovered a new pink hat that Jeff had gotten for her...  :)

...as well as a new set of pink flip-flops and some new white shoes.

The last gift was a shelf to hang on the wall by her bed so she'll have a place to put her treasures.  :)

Moriah was so sweet, cheerfully expressing appreciation for her (simple) gifts...

...and then getting to work right away in her dot-to-dot book.  :)

Since then, she has thanked me a number of times for her gifts and seems particularly delighted with her activity books and her new little cat (whose name is, I think, Fluffy, although that seems to still be changeable!).  ;-)  She drew a lot with her new dry erase markers this morning, ate lunch on her new plate, and used her new colorful pens to draw lots of pictures in her cat notebook this afternoon.  This evening, she wore her new flip-flops as she played outside.  I am learning more and more that very often, simple is best.  :)

Later on her birthday afternoon, I wanted to take some pictures of Moriah; and she very willingly obliged.  She's used to me taking pictures of her (I wonder how many I've taken during the past five years?)  :)

She is beautiful in my eyes...

...and indescribably dear to my heart!

That evening, we got to go to my dad's church to watch him sing in the choir for their Easter play, so that was a fun outing that happened to land on Moriah's birthday.  And then we came home and had another fruit pizza--except this time, we put candles on it.  :)  David lit them...

...and Moriah blew them out.

I had reminded her to be sure her hair didn't swing forward and get near the candles, so she very conscientiously held her hair back.  :)

We munched on popcorn and devoured the fruit pizza and thanked God for the gift He gave us five years ago...

...the gift of this sweetheart of a girl who loves to be with people and often asks me "what should I do?" (which usually means, "can I do something with you?")...who sees the world through the lens of relationships and interprets the lives of both humans and animals in terms of their family connections (just one example, one time we were driving and hit a bird with our car--her response was immediate: "that birdie's mommy will come and take care of him so he'll get all better!")...who bubbles over with affection and loves to throw her arms around us and give us "starfish hugs" (a term that David came up with, I believe)...who can't yet pronounce "sp" so words shift, like "spoon" becomes "foon" and "spark" becomes "fark" and "spot" becomes "fot"...who loves to look at the letters in the beginning lessons of our learning-to-read book and sound them out (although we're not doing any formal education yet)...who surprises me often by seeing a need and taking the initiative to meet it (sometimes overstepping her boundaries a little, but doing it with the best of intentions--like today when she was trying to bring Benjamin down the slide from the trampoline all by herself, and I was afraid she or he or both would fall)...who gets a big smile on her face when she tells people "I'm the only girl!"

Where would we be without our Moriah Pie-uh?  What would our family be like?  What would our house be like without her pink socks and baby dolls and all the noise and emotions--good and bad--that come from her?

I don't even want to think about it, so instead, I'll declare with all the fervor I possess:  "We love you, Moriah, and we thank God for you.  You are a beloved, precious, adored, exquisite gift from His heart to ours, and we are so grateful He chose us to be your family.  Happy fifth birthday, little big girl!!!!!"