Jessica

My baby is 13 today!  Officially a teenager.  Jessica (or Jaide as many of us call her) is an amazing, funny girl.  So let me share some fun facts.

Isn't she beautiful?

She was a momma's girl.  She cried when I left her with dad or anyone else.  Wouldn't let grandma pick her up until she was two.

She never crawled, she bear walked and it was pretty dang cute. 

I wanna squeeze her like that

She fell asleep everywhere, in her highchair, on the stairs, most often on the potty. 

She's a planner.  She has her whole life planned out on paper.  Her goals, her kids names, the order they'll come, her rules (which has been a blessing because when she doesn't like ours I can usually point out 

that she's written it down as one of the rules for her own kids.)  She even knows what her and 

her husband will do for a living.

I asked her once, what she'll do if her husband doesn't like the names she's chosen she replied, 

"I'll let him choose the last name."

She hates dishes.  Her future husband will be willing to do dishes or she won't marry him.  

She says it's a deal breaker.

She's a funny girl.  ALWAYS making us laugh!

Jaide's 12th Birthday

Kindergarten graduation

She's very brave, forgiving and kind.  Last year some "friends" decided to trick her into drinking alcohol at school.  Their goal was to  make the

 'Mormon girl' do something she wouldn't have otherwise.  

Their plan worked - when she found out what had happened she was crushed.  She wanted them to know that she'd rather no friends than friends 

who'd want her to lower her standards.  

After a lot of prayer and crying it was determined (with Jessica's permission) to get law enforcement in on it.  The girls were held accountable 

for what they'd done, enough to get the message across.  

Then she chose to not press charges as she felt they'd learned their lesson.  

A teacher called me and said that the kids in her class were 

                                       talking about it and they respected Jessica for how she handled the situation. 

                                            They felt she was brave and forgiving and didn't feel they could      

                                            react the same way if it was them.  I was VERY proud of her.

Jessica is great at sports.  Her favorites are volleyball, basketball and tennis.  She's a fast runner as well but chooses the first three sports as seasons overlap with track and cross country.  In basketball this year, she made more points than the rest of her team put together.  

She was team captain for basketball and co-team-captain for volleyball.  

She holds the records at her old elementary school for the most laps run in a day and for the year.  

She ran track last year and her coach accidentally put her in the wrong event.  

She was running around the track and suddenly there were hurdles in her way.  

She'd never leaped one before.  She didn't let that fluster her too much...she took second place.

Jessica is quick to make people feel loved.  She's very aware of people around her and loves to go with me to do things for others, especially if it's a secret.

This is right next to her bed

Jessica has also been reading the Book of Mormon.  She's very adamant about reading and saying her prayers each night.  She has this hanging by her bed.  She's almost done with Alma and is excited that understanding is starting to come to her better.  

Happy Birthday, Jaide!  I love you.

Jessica (left) and her sisters Neicia and McKenna

Jaide and Santa

Jessica 

Jessica and uncle Jared just off his mission

Jessica in the beautiful sweater great grandma Anderson made her

Jessica just 3 days old

Jessica with Lexi and Cindy

Jessica and grandma Anderson (Fishin' grandma)

Jessica at our new property

Linked a day late to Emmy's Proud Mommy Moments so that I could post this on Jaide's birthday. Link up with her if you'd like to brag or rag on your kids. (Is it bad that I linked to her twice this week with the same kid? Hey it's different blogs- hopefully that makes it okay.)