She's 5!

Still petite, our little preemie turns 5 today! We've come a long way from the days when she refused to eat. We still have moments of, "Hope, please take one more bite," while she's too busy checking out the world around her. But today the donut went down quick and easy - and not just the icing.

And we most certainly cannot forget that it's her birthday since she's been smiling since she got up, insisted on wearing a dress (which she claims I said she could do for her birthday), constantly reminds us that it's her birthday, and can't wait until supper so she can get her gifts and eat her cake. Poor Andrew was bombarded as soon as he walked in the door from school with, "Andrew, it's my birthday!" As if he could forget that he had to wake up a little early so we could coordinate our schedules to partake in the King family birthday tradition of breakfast donuts for all.

And so we celebrate with our HopeAnne who wants to be a "caker" when she grows up so she can make cakes for birthday parties.

On this day we celebrate with a pink cake for our pink-crazed daughter!

We celebrate with the little girl who reminded us that Jesus takes our fears and they just fly away.

We love you, HopeAnne, Hope, Hopie, Hoppie, Hop, Hopester, HopieAnnie, or whatever else you may be called...

Of course the new shoes went on right away!