My Twinkle Josie

    My twink is 11-years old!!!  I started calling Jos "Twinkle" so long ago, now it has shortened to "twink" and that is just what she is a twinkle of pure heaven, something so perfect and right.  I am absolutely positive I would not have survived a home of so many crazy boys without this girl by my side.

     I don't know anyone who knows Josie who doesn't absolutely adore her.  She always tries to do her best and make others happy.  She is a people watcher, like her mother, and has always found teenagers quite interesting.  She thinks they are loud, self-centered, cocky, and way too cool for their own good.  (I think she is pretty spot-on).  Well, a few years ago she claimed she would NEVER act like one even if she were forced to endure the teen years.  I guess time will tell, but she is getting closer.  I find it quite humorous.  I will keep you posted on her progress or lack thereof.
     She loves life and trying new things.  She is the least picky eater I have ever seen.  I love trying new recipes and one time decided to try cooked spinach - in my defense, the recipe said it was good.  Well, any of you who have tried cooked spinach, probably know that most people don't like it, it is slimy and pretty gross really.  Anyway, we told all the kids they had to eat it or no dessert.  LOL.  I definitely didn't eat mine, gross, I don't like much.  I don't think Jared even ate his and he will eat just about anything I try to make.  None of the other kids were willing to even try it, but Josie ate her whole plateful!  Jared and I were shocked.  And, she didn't eat it for the dessert, but just because we told her to.  She is VERY obedient.  It still makes me chuckle though.  I try not to do that to her anymore.  (She still hates spinach! oops).  Her favorite foods are her dad's fish, creamy potato soup with garlic, doughnuts, & ice cream - all kinds.  "Ice cream's delish!"                
     She loves school and is an excellent student.  Her favorite subjects are spelling (she still has 100% on any test she has ever taken) and reading/English.  She usually loves going to school unless there are dumb boys in her class.  Luckily, she still doesn't like boys, except as friends.
      She still likes playing pretend with her friends and with her family.  She is always good to play school with Jake and Jainie.  She loves playing with dolls still as well.  She has 5 American girl dolls now and loves each one.  She giggles all the time when she is with her friends and it brings my heart such joy that she is so happy.  She loves quizzes - taking quizzes, giving quizzes, reading them, etc.  I had to fill out 2 yesterday, one about sports and one about when I grew up.  She thinks they are hilarious!
     She loves dancing and is VERY talented at it.  I think she would dance all day and night if she could.  Jazz is the genre she likes the best right now.  She would love to try ballroom but can't get either of her brothers to cooperate and dance with her.
     She is an amazing person and has so much in store for her.  I can't wait to see what she becomes.  She wants to be first a mother and then maybe a teacher.  She is one smart, all-together girl.

This was actually on the 6th, because she insisted on breakfast in bed
and we were going to leave for our vacay on the 7th and be gone for her
actual bday on the 8th.  In honor of the trip, I made Mickey Mouse pancakes!
But, you can see her bag, all packed by her side.

So, this is the real day.  Waking up with Jainie and opening her camera.
It was actually so fun to have someone taking pics besides me, she got a
lot of cute ones that I hadn't seen.  :)

We stayed at one of the Universal Studios hotels so we could get into Harry
Potter world earlier.  It was so beautiful.  Too bad we were too tired to
explore much.  This is on the path into the hotel.

So, this is Ollivander from Harry Potter.  We went in to his shop where he chooses one person
to match a wand to.  Jake really wanted to be chosen, but was too little.  Josie also wanted to be
 chosen for her bday and luckily! she was.  It was so much fun.  He asked her to levitate some of
the boxes, she tried, but the shelves fell so we knew it wasn't that wand.  Then, he asked her to
 turn on some lights and when she tried, they started flickering but wouldn't turn on = wrong wand.
Then, he handed her the next wand and all of the sudden, a breeze blew through the room and a
 light came on above her head and we knew it was the right fit.  So darling!
It totally made her birthday!

She got to meet Captain America and thought this pose he had them do
was pretty funny.  Jake really got into it!  :)

Here she got to meet some Who's with Jaxon and Uncle Ry.  They were pretty cool.

She tried to take Marmaduke for a walk, but he ended up taking her.

She and Josh outran a dinosaur that was chasing them.
Josh barely made it!

We all LOVED the butterbeer, but the pumpkin juice was
not a favorite.  It was VERY pumpkin"y".  We bought Jos
the souvenir mug for her birthday.  Yummy froth!

For her birthday dinner, we ate at Boma, which is in Animal Kingdom Lodge.  It has
all sorts of African foods to try.  It is really yummy and a fun, new experience.  Here
they brought her out a cupcake and we sang Happy Birthday.

So, Happy Birthday to the most wonderful 11-year old in the whole wide world! We love you Josie Lyn Esther.  You are and always will be a princess!