J-bird turns 9!

Our dear Jessie.

I know I'm prejudice, being this girls' Mom and all, but she is beautiful. It's a good thing she's so cute because her spunk and attitude give me fits sometimes. Grandpa Bennett nicknamed this look she gives "the black widow" because it's a look that could kill.

See what I mean? At-ti-tude. That's not even straight to the camera or we'd all be dead. To her credit, Jessie knows what she wants and she rarely backs down until she gets is. She is a wonderful, fun and mostly patient big sister to her two crazy brothers and sweet baby sister. I hope Jessie and Sydney will be great friends and close sisters. I didn't have a sister growing up and I look forward to watching my girls' relationship blossom. Sydney thinks Jess is the best because she sings songs with her, plays with her outside, and loves to be her walking buddy when we are out in public.

Toby missed playing big kid games with Jessie while she was away this week. Their favorite game this summer, which Jess always suggested first, was dodge tag out front. Jessie is so competitive that I know it was hard for her to let her younger brothers hit her. J realized, after some coaching from Mom, that is was more enjoyable when everyone was having fun, not when she won every time. Logan especially loves dodge tag when J holds his hand to run "super fast" past Toby. He really knows how to push J's buttons in an attempt to get her attention. J is learning to ignore the pestering and play nicely with Logan, and then they are best buds.

When I think how Jessie has changed and grown in the past year I realize that she is very independent. Independence comes with the territory, as the oldest child, but she really can handle herself and her siblings when I ask her to. She has learned to cook more in the kitchen, I can count on her to do her schoolwork without nagging, and she loves to be put in charge so she can boss the boys around. I've learned that I need to hold my temper and always try to speak with a nice tone even when I'm at the end of my rope, because when Jessie switches on little Mommy mode, she parrots me pretty accurately.

Jessie is a very determined little girl. I can tell she really thinks things through in her head and if they don't turn out the way she planned, or more likely, if her plans contradict MY plans then she gets upset quickly. We are so much alike in ways.

I love that my pretty little girl is brave and tough underneath her girly side. She yanks out loose teeth like it's no big deal, she loves wrestling with all the boys in the house, and she is not afraid to get pummeled by a softball, which happened many times this past season. The girly side of Jess loves to play with ponies, Polly Pockets and her stuffed animals, and they are often playing house or doing battle with the boys' robots and action figures. She started taking piano lessons almost a year ago and finds that she loves it. My wish for her is to be proficient on the piano and then find another instrument that she loves just as much. That's my goal for all the kids, actually. Finally, Jessie has found a spot in her heart for reading. We have been trying to teach her to enjoy a good story, and it finally clicked this summer. She devoured a book a day for a couple weeks which tapered down a bit as we got busy.

Ssshhhhh, it's a secret that J still likes to sleep with her "softy" (blanket) that I made her at age 2. I hope she still loves it when she moves out of our home. She's gonna kill me if and when she reads this, but it reminds me that she is still a child. I rely on her help so much, yet I am constantly reminding myself to cut her some slack to be a kid.

We had a birthday celebration that included a movie of J's choice (at home), bowling, window shopping at the pet store, and dinner at Fresh Choice with Grandma's and Grandpa Dave. We came home for cake and presents which Jessie was pleasantly surprised with. "When did you buy presents?" she asked in surprise. When you were sleeping over at Brennah's house, my dear. We tried to get a trip to the beach planned for the day, but none of J's friends could go and after over-doing it the day before, I was not able to get everything ready without the Mister (at work). We opted to stay home and do the beach another day. The only thing that would have made the day perfect for J would have been some time in the pool. We will make up for that tomorrow.

I thought I could whip up J's cake in the morning while the kids lazed around and watched a movie, at Jessie's request. The cake dragged into the afternoon and threatened to self destruct before I even finished because of the heat. I didn't realize it was 99 flippin' degrees here yesterday, and our little room air conditioner couldn't keep up once I turned it on late. Thankfully, the cake didn't melt, but the frosting was on the brink. J requested a star cake and was happy with the result. I'm still going strong with my goal to make everyone's birthday cake in our family, and attempt to put something special into it. It feels good to just do something I've always wanted to try. Sounds like a Nike commercial eh? Just do it.

Chocolate and french vanilla cake with almond buttercream frosting. It turned out all right. The Mister didn't like the frosting, but he's a hard one to please when it comes to cake. He's not a frosting guy either. If anyone has an awesome recipe for frosting I would love a copy. I gotta get it right for the Mister's birthday soon.