Bee Charmer

Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. . .

Today is THE day! Our sweet, silly, tomboy is four years old. I seriously can’t believe we are already here at this milestone. She is like a for real kid now. Like is argumentative, opinionated, sarcastic, but still cute so it’s kind of funny kid. She is everything and more than I hoped for in a little girl and I wouldn’t change her personality for anything… well depending on what day you ask me on.This child is bull-headed, hot-tempered, and full of independence. She really doesn’t need me there. I just follow along because, well, she lets me. She is Idgie Threadgoode… but kind of cuter.I have thought about doing a Fried Green Tomatoes themed shoot for awhile now. I’ve bounced around ideas for wardrobe and props for at least a year or more. I finally decided to shoot this past Saturday. I literally had one outfit pulled together. So at 10pm, on Friday, I went to Walmart to see what I could find. I don’t know why I do this to myself, but this is how it happens. Every. Single. Time.Shout out to our local honey makers – Jennings Apiaries – for the sweet prop!I’ll admit that part of the last minute “go ahead” was because I hadn’t shot her yearly birthday picture. We didn’t even plan a party this year. Our whole life is still kind of crazy at home. Remodeling is still happening, work is busier than ever, and we have been sick on top of it all. So basically we just suck this year. Next year, we will go all out. Promise!Ryan Kate knows that she isn’t getting a party this year, but she honestly could care less. Or, at least, that is how she is acting. We plan on keeping it pretty low key today around the house. Then on Saturday, she will have her first gymnastics recital and we’ll have pizza and cake with family.

If I’m being completely honest, I wish this was how every birthday was. Party planning stresses me out! I always want to give her the moon and the stars and I end up going way over budget and I hardly even get to stop to take pictures or enjoy the friends and family that come. I miss the days when everything was so much more simple. If you had told my four year old self that we were going out for pizza and ordering a cake for my birthday I would have been so excited. I can honestly remember maybe four actual birthday parties. And for no other reason than people just didn’t do Pinterest parties every year.I want Ryan Kate to be raised this way, in a way, too. I don’t want her to expect the moon and the stars. I want her to appreciate them when they come but not anticipate their yearly arrival.

She already thinks that the world revolves around her on a daily basis, so we needn’t prove that to her on her birthday! ...that’s not entirely true. She doesn’t think it just happens to revolve around her. She makes it revolve around her. If something isn’t happening the way she wants it to, she figures out a way to make it happen. I’m not talking about her throwing a fit to get her way (because that does happen). What I’m talking about is so much more than this. Watching her figure out ways to become more independent blows my mind. If we tell her no, because we are too busy or it’s not time for whatever IT is that she wants; she will figure out a way to get it on her own. It doesn’t matter if she has to run all the way across the house to get her stool to stand up on top of it to reach something, or if she has to run out in the rain (barefoot – mostly naked) to get something out of the car. She’ll get the job done. With or without you.I love that about her. I love so many things about her. Her fearlessness is by far my favorite though. I hope she never loses that. I hope that she never doubts herself or thinks that she can’t do something because she doesn’t have someones help. I hope that she always finds a way, her way, on her own.