"tootsie" love...

"A hundred hearts would be too few to carry all my love for you". ~Author Unknown

Our little "tootsie" is growing up so quickly I hate to blink.  Kindergarten has been a year of excitement and growth, and I am amazed everyday by her charm and spunk.  She is more phenomenal than words can express.  From losing her first tooth to becoming the sleepover queen of Kindergarten I look forward to each and every milestone she encounters.

"tootsie" has become quite the smiley girl for photographs.  She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.  "tootsie" is the most determined little girl I have ever know, and she is always willing to take on any challenges.  Her newest goal... travel to all 50 states (inspired by a Leap Frog map she got for Christmas).  I can't wait to take that challenge with her.

The culprit... an apple.  On January 3rd "tootsie" bit into an apple and she knocked her first tooth loose!  At first she was a little scared, but then she was so excited to have it fall out she couldn't stop wiggling it.  The next day she was at lunch and she bit into a hotdog and it fell out on her lunch tray.  She was thrilled it fell out in school because she got a treasure chest to put her tooth in from our school nurse.  News around school travels fast... in less than 10 minutes I had already heard the news from the students in my classroom and the lunchroom staff!  It was a very happy day for "tootsie" until our trip home from school.  She wanted to show "pie-pie" her tooth and as she opened her treasure chest the tooth fell out and we never found it.  "tootsie" was very sad and she said, "Now my treasure chest won't make that beautiful twinkle noise anymore when I shake it".   Luckily, the tooth fairy still managed to come to our house and she left "tootsie" $2.  

The giver... "tootsie" was determined to earn as much money as she could for our school's Pennies for Patients fundraiser.  She volunteered for endless jobs around the house and she even donated all the money in her piggybank for the cause.  She said, "I don't really need any more toys so I think I should give my piggybank money to someone who needs it."  
She is a gem.

Our 5 year old sleepover queen getting ready for her first sleepover at her Kelly's house.  

Our happy little girl!

Thank you for amazing me everyday "tootsie"!  
I can't wait to watch you take on the world.

p.s. i love you