And she is now in double digits! 10 years old- how did that happen?? It seems like only last year that I was bringing her home from the hospital and moving into the house we now live in. I remember every detail of her birth and my time in the hospital with her. I remember it as one of the most peaceful times of my life. My kids were all healthy and doing well. I had 2 awesome boys that were pretty much self-sufficient, my husband had a great job, a new house almost ready to move in to, and a beautiful baby girl. I remember thinking that I had finally made it! I had got through some pretty serious issues and we were now in a stable part of life, ready to raise our cute little family, and totally at peace. And now... we have somehow been through 9 additional summers, completed 5 years of school, and is certainly now a "tween." Breaks my heart that she is not still that baby I can hold in my arms and not let go. But I am so lucky because even though she is no longer a baby, she is still our baby. She is the sweetest thing and still lets us "baby" her, although I know it drives her crazy. I'm so happy she has kept her sweetness and the loveable spirit she was born with. Just as when she was born, she brings such a wonderful spirit into our home. 10 years ago, she truly changed our family.
This year, I thought it would be fun to start a new tradition on the kids' birthdays. I usually decorate if it is a party year but otherwise, I have just brought them a balloon bouquet. I figure even if we don't have a formal party at the house, why not decorate and make the day even a little more special, right? Well, my thought was to get up early the morning of her birthday before her and decorate her room. Unfortunately, she was so excited for her birthday that she was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7AM. So I had to ban her to watching cartoons for awhile (which wasn't too hard) while I worked a little magic in her bedroom transforming it into a party room. I had my 2 helpers (Dad and Jake) out blowing up balloons in the garage. I am horrible at blowing up balloons so I gave that little project to them. Jeff had the brilliant idea to use his air compressor in the garage so instead of only having like 5 or 6 balloons to decorate, she got alot! They did enough that I was even to bury her bed in balloons, so that was fun.
These are her presents, pre-opening. NOTE: Her main gift this year was a new bike, not shown above.
And these are her presents, post-opening. As you can see, still no bike shown. Sadly, the bike we chose had to be special ordered and was not in for her birthday. So we wrapped up a bike bell instead. This new bike is purple and SO cute, it will be well worth the wait. :)After opening presents...We were off for a day of fun with family and friends at Lagoon.
Maddy's 2 friends, Lindsee and Olivia that live on our street were out of town. So she chose these 3 cute friends to share the day with her. Left to right, top to bottom: Brea, Megan, Paige, and Maddy. Man, did these girls have fun!
Dad and Jake came along for the rides, too. (And me but I'm the official photographer.)
Megan and Maddy
Paige and Brea
I can't tell you what a delight it was to be with these girls. There is nothing better than to hear the sound of a little girl giggling...other than 4 girls giggling. They had a such a riot and they all got along so well.
These girls were brave, too. They rode almost all the rides, even the big ones, even ones that Mom wouldn't ride. Of course, that's not saying much. :)
Here-they were on top of the world. Okay, just the ferris wheel but there are some fabulous views from up there.
And here was the only hiccup in the day. Jeff REALLY wanted Maddy to try a new ride. Maddy REALLY didn't want to. I'm not sure exactly how it happened but somehow they got her in line for the ride. Her friend Brea loves the Rocket and agreed to ride it with her. But it was a long 15 minutes waiting in line. I think her fears just got bigger and bigger as she had to wait. It broke my heart to see the worry in her little eyes. Her friends were sad, too. They thought it was weird that her Dad was making her do this. But it is a strange custom in his family to take the young kids and scary rides. Kind of crazy, I know.
It was nice to see this (above), aka. RELIEF, when she came back down. Although she still hates the ride, against all of her Father's hopes, I think that she was proud of herself for trying. We were certainly glad to get that over with! They made ME try it last year and I'm sure if there were pictures taken, I would have looked much worse.
This is the Fabulous 4 waiting in line to try out the new ride of the year, OdySea. As our luck goes, they shut the ride down for repairs right as it was almost our turn. Oh well! Plenty more fun on other rides.
This is Maddy and Brea on the Dinosaur Drop. It is the kiddee version of the Rocket. As you can see, it is much more Maddy's style. She's all smiles, which I love to see!
We had to ride the water ride to try and beat the heat.
As you can see, it worked. We all got soaked!
I couldn't resist snapping this picture of Maddy and her Daddy. SO sweet!
And this is Jeff and I with the 4 girls at the end of the day. It truly was such a pleasure celebrating Maddy with them. They were well-behaved, got along good, and made Maddy's day the perfect birthday.
After we dropped the girls off, Josh had got off work and Jake had finished football practice so we were able to grab a quick bite of Arby's and come back for more fun as a family.
While the boys rode the really scary rides, like Wicked, I took Maddy over to ride some kiddee rides she thought she would still love. As you can see from her expression above, they were not as exciting as she remembered them. The cars used to be her favorite but she was so huge in them now, whe wouldn't even let me take her picture. She couldn't stop laughing over that. I can't believe we're past the Puff the Magic Dragon roller coaster stage. She is really growing up.
And seeing this picture makes me laugh. I wish you can see the other 10 pictures that I took trying to get this one. I kept getting Jeff but couldn't see Maddy. The ride was moving so quickly it was hard to get anything but a blur. But in all the pictures you can see Jeff's green shirt and him making faces. Very funny! I'm glad I was able to get this cute one, though. It is the new OdySea ride that she had wanted to try out.
And at the end of the night, she got pictures with her brothers...
...and Mom and Dad.
Maddy's 2 friends, Lindsee and Olivia that live on our street were out of town. So she chose these 3 cute friends to share the day with her. Left to right, top to bottom: Brea, Megan, Paige, and Maddy. Man, did these girls have fun!
Dad and Jake came along for the rides, too. (And me but I'm the official photographer.)
Megan and Maddy
Paige and Brea
I can't tell you what a delight it was to be with these girls. There is nothing better than to hear the sound of a little girl giggling...other than 4 girls giggling. They had a such a riot and they all got along so well.
These girls were brave, too. They rode almost all the rides, even the big ones, even ones that Mom wouldn't ride. Of course, that's not saying much. :)
Here-they were on top of the world. Okay, just the ferris wheel but there are some fabulous views from up there.
And here was the only hiccup in the day. Jeff REALLY wanted Maddy to try a new ride. Maddy REALLY didn't want to. I'm not sure exactly how it happened but somehow they got her in line for the ride. Her friend Brea loves the Rocket and agreed to ride it with her. But it was a long 15 minutes waiting in line. I think her fears just got bigger and bigger as she had to wait. It broke my heart to see the worry in her little eyes. Her friends were sad, too. They thought it was weird that her Dad was making her do this. But it is a strange custom in his family to take the young kids and scary rides. Kind of crazy, I know.
It was nice to see this (above), aka. RELIEF, when she came back down. Although she still hates the ride, against all of her Father's hopes, I think that she was proud of herself for trying. We were certainly glad to get that over with! They made ME try it last year and I'm sure if there were pictures taken, I would have looked much worse.
This is the Fabulous 4 waiting in line to try out the new ride of the year, OdySea. As our luck goes, they shut the ride down for repairs right as it was almost our turn. Oh well! Plenty more fun on other rides.
This is Maddy and Brea on the Dinosaur Drop. It is the kiddee version of the Rocket. As you can see, it is much more Maddy's style. She's all smiles, which I love to see!
We had to ride the water ride to try and beat the heat.
As you can see, it worked. We all got soaked!
I couldn't resist snapping this picture of Maddy and her Daddy. SO sweet!
And this is Jeff and I with the 4 girls at the end of the day. It truly was such a pleasure celebrating Maddy with them. They were well-behaved, got along good, and made Maddy's day the perfect birthday.
After we dropped the girls off, Josh had got off work and Jake had finished football practice so we were able to grab a quick bite of Arby's and come back for more fun as a family.
While the boys rode the really scary rides, like Wicked, I took Maddy over to ride some kiddee rides she thought she would still love. As you can see from her expression above, they were not as exciting as she remembered them. The cars used to be her favorite but she was so huge in them now, whe wouldn't even let me take her picture. She couldn't stop laughing over that. I can't believe we're past the Puff the Magic Dragon roller coaster stage. She is really growing up.
And seeing this picture makes me laugh. I wish you can see the other 10 pictures that I took trying to get this one. I kept getting Jeff but couldn't see Maddy. The ride was moving so quickly it was hard to get anything but a blur. But in all the pictures you can see Jeff's green shirt and him making faces. Very funny! I'm glad I was able to get this cute one, though. It is the new OdySea ride that she had wanted to try out.
And at the end of the night, she got pictures with her brothers...
...and Mom and Dad.What a wonderful day!
Happy Birthday, sweets! We love you~
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