When you turned seven years old it really took us by surprise! How could we have been parents for SEVEN whole years already? It seems like the time we have spent with you has gone by so incredibly quickly. Such joy. Such a privilege to be your parents. We adore you. Your whole family adores you. You are a wonderful wonderful person.
Although you are very mature, you do have the ability to be quite silly at times. It's important during these times we remind ourselves you are just acting your age! You are usually such a little mini adult that sometimes this is hard to remember! You like to excel at things. You are not a fan of performing and do not want to be the center of attention among strangers. You are quite outgoing in our house though. You often put on little performances or pretend to recite lines for a commercial. It's very cute. You love to sing, dance, and be funny. You tell us you would love to perform on stage as long as nobody claps at the end because that makes you feel too shy. That said, you have plans to sing the national anthem live- first at Mission BBQ, and then at the Super Bowl.
You are incredibly nice to others. The only exception to that is sometimes your siblings, particularly Liv- you tend to have short patience with her... Recently we started something called "Sweet Sissy Stickers". You and Liv are working on being very kind to one another, and listening to what the other person is saying. It's been going well! Pretty soon you two will have enough stickers for a fun sister outing- I can't wait for that! Most of the time, the three of you play very nicely together. You love to be the Mommy and have Liv & Evan (or Kelly and John John) be your babies. Sometimes they yell, "Mommy! Mommy!" and when I answer you all say, "No- not you! You're GRANDMA!!!" Oh my. -smile-At school you are very calm, and considerate. I've never heard from a teacher that you are misbehaving or doing anything against the rules. I (very) rarely see anything come home from school that has a mistake, and you do all your homework independently and accurately. You are very smart and you work hard to show what you are capable of. That makes Mommy and Daddy very proud.
Mostly people call you Jillian, but you don't mind being called Jill or Jilli. Mommy calls you Bunny, Bun Bun, Jilli Bun Bun, and Punkie Bear sometimes too. Silly Mommy.
Right now your interest in sports is limited to ballet and tap. You also like gymnastics and yoga. You have recently developed a desire to play softball or try cheerleading- maybe we will get you signed up for those next!
Right now there is no music you love more than the Frozen soundtrack. It seems to be the only thing we sing- morning, noon, and night. Those songs sure do get stuck in your head!!!
You just recently started reading Nancy Drew books. This makes Mommy very happy as she remembers reading at least 100 of them growing up. You also like the "Magic" series (puppy, kitten…), American Girls books, Boxcar Children, and Rainbow Magic books. There's pretty much nothing you won't read. You love to read and you're awesome at it- very fast, with great comprehension and retention. You're such a hard working little girl.
For breakfast your favorite foods are pancakes, waffles, sausage, cereal, cinnamon raisin toast with butter and fruit. For lunch you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit salad, chips with guac, turkey roll ups with avocado, hummus with pita chips, strawberries, and soft carrots. For dinner, your favorites are spaghetti, black beans with cheese/macho nachos, corn on the cob, grilled chicken, salmon with rice and hollandaise, and steak with blue cheese. You recently discovered you like brussels sprouts and green beans (if they are dipped in tzatziki)! When we go out to eat you always want to go to Outback, Texas Roadhouse, Capital Grill, Two Rivers, or Mission BBQ.
Your vocabulary is extensive. You love to use big words and are very descriptive. It is so much fun to listen to you talk. We love to hear your big brain in action. When you are starting to get frustrated about something, your voice raises about at octave. You also use a similar voice when you are trying to explain your behavior or a choice you have made to Mommy or Daddy. Mommy asked you why you do this and you said it's because you "think it sounds extra sweet".
You've recently become very interested in silly TV shows like Garfield. This type of humor really makes you laugh (and laugh and laugh). Sometimes you watch a show on your Kindle when you are getting ready for bed and you come out laughing hysterically about something very silly. Mommy & Daddy love this because it's almost opposite your normal personality where you don't have much patience for ridiculous things/behavior. We are glad you can be amused by these things sometimes!
Your favorite thing to do with Mommy is cuddle and watch a special show, like Mako Mermaids. You also like to go on Mommy daughter dates. You recently told Mommy, "I can't wait until the two of us just go shopping together for, ya know, stuff we like…" You also like to be a monkey baby in the shower.
When you spend time with Daddy you like to play tackle, or monkey in the middle. You like to play with Daddy down in the basement because you think he is "like the jungle gym of the basement!" You like to go on the boat with Daddy and love it when he pulls you around on the tube.
You like to play with Liv because she is, "much more understanding than Evan." The two of you read together, do crafts, and play in the yard. You love when you get to stay up late and have 'sissy snuggle time' in the same bed together. Listening to the two of you cuddle and laugh makes us incredibly happy. You really are such sweet sisters.
Despite his lack of understanding (haha!) you are very very sweet to Evan and play with him a lot. Your patience with him is incredible. You make such a sweet little high pitched voice and say, "He's soooooo cute" or "Hi there little buddy bud." You read to him, help him get ready for bed… the list goes on and on. You will be such a great Mommy one day…You are still not a fan of desserts that are too sweet. Your favorites right now are homemade whipped cream, M&M's, caramel, and ice cream "flavors like vanilla or other flavors that are not too sweet like birthday cake- yuck".
You love to play outside with balls and bugs. Inside you like to use the computer to do Khan Academy. You also like to play board games. At Grandma & Grandpas house you like to Kayak and play darts. You also like painting, and playing in the attic. You are great at climbing and show this by monkeying up the door jams in our house, climbing up the front columns of the house, and then jumping off for an "Angel jump". You are very inspired by the athletes on American Ninja Warrior and tell us all the time about how you would like to play on an obstacle course like that.
Right now you're planning to be an orthodontist. You think this is the perfect combination of your interests. You want to help people smile more, you want to design an office space, and you want to design clothing. Your plan is to design T-Shirts for the people who come to your office. You also, "want to make a lot of money" and think this would be a good way to do that. -smile-
You don't like bed time. You say you have "too much to think about and do to want to sleep". We understand, but this is something we need to work on! You stay in bed (for the most part- there's a little popping out at times -smile-) and read for hours and hours. You 'go to bed' around 8pm and fall asleep around 11pm most of the time. Yikes!
Your birthday party was a lot of fun. Mommy really enjoyed planning it with you, buying supplies and setting it up. You two worked well together and had so much fun! Picking a theme this year was super tricky… you really just wanted to have a lot of games, and a Maypole. We decided to pick the colors we would plan around, and then try to fit in a "May Day" theme as much as possible. We like to have an open house for your friends to come over. We had your party from 10:30-2:30 and invited friends to stop by for 30 minutes, or the whole 4 hours. This works well because lots of people have sports and other commitments this time of year. You ended up having about 30 friends over- it was perfect!
This was the first year you complained a little bit about taking your birthday portraits. Mommy thinks it was because we brought your brother and sister along. Usually we try to find a minute to take just the birthday kid, but that didn't happen this year. With the other two running around and playing, it was just too tempting. Despite a bit of grumbling, you posed like a champ, and love being a model. You always have lots of ideas for posing yourself and this year was no different… "How about on this tree… near this stair… laying on this dock…" My oh my… you're getting so big.Yes, this letter is long but there is a lot to remember about you at this age. You are absolutely incredible. Anyone who spends time with you can see what an incredibly special young lady you are. While it is hard to see you getting older each year, it's such a treat to watch as you accomplish new things and become more and more of your own unique little self. Mommy and Daddy could not be more proud of you. Thank you for being such a wonderful person. We're beyond thrilled to call you our daughter.
Happy 7th Birthday, Jillian! We love you so much!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
Links for all Jillian's Birthday Photos! (Password: Kulesfamily) *with cap
Jillian's Birthday Party
http://nancykulesphotography.smugmug.com/Kules-Family-Photos/Jillians-Birthday-Party
Jillian's DC Trip
http://nancykulesphotography.smugmug.com/Kules-Family-Photos/J-7th-DC-Trip
Jillian's 7 year old portraits
http://nancykulesphotography.smugmug.com/Kules-Family-Photos/Jillian-is-seven
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