Sky turns 6.

My little bestie turned 6 this October 5^th. I never took a moment to blog about it and I wanted to be able to look back and remember this point in Sky's life + amazing person my daughter is turning out to be.

Pc credit Kelly Leighton Photography

McKayla Schuyler Farr, my dear, you are the sweetest gem to this mama. I can barely write this first sentence without choking up about it. I just love so much who you are! You’re the most caring, tenderhearted, free-spirited person that. I. know. One of my favorite things to do is to watch you play! I get lost in your own little make believe lands when I see you using your brilliant imagination. You sweetly play with your stuffed animals and make sure they each get a turn to play with you. And you are kind to others in your make-believe world. When you write stories, you always write so lovingly about your friends and your brother. 

Sky threw a birthday party for her favorite Tie Dye Doggie this year. All her puppy friends came, and wore party hats. She and I decorated our main level and she took all day to prepare for it. :)

I love all of our conversations we’ve had this year. Such great conversations that have been pretty deep for a six-year-old. You have lots of questions for mommy about Jesus and about life. And one short little 3-minute life-changing conversation we had on the way home from school finalized my decision that we should try out homeschooling this year, when you articulated so clearly to me (after a great day of school), “Mommy, I really just think we would both really love homeschooling. I think God will help us through it, and I think it might be what he wants us to do”. I will never ever forget that conversation and the assurance your little voice gave me from the back seat.

This is a pic of you + Gray mailing our "Intent to Homeschool" form. 

Your first day of homeschool. 

And a pic of me + you the day we went to our first homeschool review through Frederick County.

You love others and have such a heart for each person in your life. 

You are a great friend to your brother and are such a little mommy to him. It melts me when I see the two of you playing sweetly together!

...And you love your aunt, Summer!! You have the coolest friendship with her! It's been awesome that we've been able to do so much together as a family. You two are really like sisters.

You've done so much art this year through the art classes that you've taken, and art here at home. You love to sit listening to music and paint. I think it's hysterical how silly you get when you're doing art! You get so goofy and talk to yourself in silly voices, yet you're able to still concentrate enough to come up with awesome pieces. It's one of my fav things about you right now.

I love how much you value my opinion. While I want you to form your own tastes and preferences and encourage you to do so, you still think your mama is cool and you tell me that you want to be like me. Like me?! It’s humbling, and I’m honored. Your opinion matters so much to me too, sweetie! I love that you wanna be my little twin right now. It's the best.

Sometimes when we’re doing school together, one of us gets flustered and so we take a 10 minute break. And when we come back, you will say joyfully, “Let’s try this again, SHALL WE?!” I love that! You are so quick to forgive me when I am not explaining something clearly to you or if I am unfairly expecting more from you than I should.

And I love your love for learning. Girl, you are smart. Like, woah.

I'm thankful for your growing but genuine desire to know Jesus. You are just learning about who He is and you desire to know truth. Lately you’ve been wanting to read your Bible or have me read it to you. When we listen to music together at home, your preference lately has been to listen to music about The Lord rather than other music that I might turn on. Your yearning to know Him has been provoking to me this past year, and I wanna have your kind of faith. Because girlie, you are learning right now how to enjoy life and realize that it's a GIFT that's been given to you by someone who's made you. It's amazing for both daddy and I to observe.

Your favorite season is summer and your favorite place to be in all the world is the beach.

You love puppies and dolphins and horses. {In that order.}

You love to dance and twirl around. (This is a pic of you dancing in my old dress.)

And you still won't let anyone lay scissors on your hair.

You mean the world to your daddy and me, Sky! I tell you every day and will continue to till my final days that you are the daughter we’ve always prayed for. You truly are our little dream come true. We adore you.

11.15.13 Thu.

Just got back from our first meeting with our homeschool reviewer through Frederick County. Feeling so grateful that God leads us each to make the best choices for our families. We had such an amazing experience last year at the awesome primary school up the street from us. And I was so nervous pulling Sky out of that to teach her at home. She thrived there. 

But you know, she is thriving here at home, too. Sometimes I need the kind words from someone other than myself to take a hard, detailed look at what we're doing and tell me, "what you are doing here is amazing. Don't give up."