AB's 8th Birthday

Can it really be?  Is it really my oldest child's' 8th bday?!!  I just can't believe it but that day has come.  This girl knew exactly what she wanted...and it just so happens that it was the birthday week that seemed to last two weeks..well I take that back it actually did last two weeks!  At one point she even looked at me and said "mom, I feel guilty that I am having two parties"  well that right there is the reason mom doesn't mind because this child has a heart of gold and most 8 years wouldn't even think twice about it but it truly bothered her to think she was being greedy by having more than on party!  She knew exactly what she wanted to do though and she even made her own invitations.  She spent many hours making sure this was just right...and in this mom's opinion it is pure perfection!

AB's birthday week started out at Kids' College.  This  might be one of her favorite summertime activities now.  She took several classes both weeks.  Here she is with her art from her painting class.

Her goodies from her "around the world in 4 days"

and her award from her acting class.  She had a great two weeks and learned about many more things like bugs, sports around the world and pets.

Little Sis and Aimee even made her birthday cupcakes...she was so proud can't you tell!

That Friday I had to work at the chamber so she came with me to work that day and then Nana paid us a visit so we could make our annual trip to Amigo Juan's for her to shake it like a salt shaker for her bday!!

That evening the festivities just kept coming.  She had her last game of the season so I brought cupcakes and after the team's big win we celebrated with cupcakes and even better the team sang happy bday to her on the field and presented her with the game winning ball signed by all the team members.  how cool is that?...but the fun kept coming

well, it doesn't look like fun when you are on a tube in the middle of the lake in the pouring down rain but to these girls it was awesome!! The next morning after the game we left with a group of girls (and their moms) to go to Lake Hamilton for the day and return that next morning.  We arrived in town just in time to hit the lake beautiful day sunny skies and then about the time we got as far from shore as possible it came a huge storm.  The mom's were all on the boat just soaked and well you can see the kiddos were on the tube...completely loving it! 

These girls couldn't get enough of this tube, we about ran out of gas trying to take them around the lake.  It is always good to see smiles like this though, it lets me know just how much fun they are having!

Little sis B even got in on all the action

some silly girls... i really don't even know what these faces were all about. The moms got to enjoy some time by the pool while the girls swam, but unfortunately AB didn't forget that I promised her an opportunity to go to Magic Springs....oh me oh my the marathon day continues...

Thanks to Bobo for taking these girls around on the lake.  It was so nice to have a change for AB to do all of her favorite things with her friends in tow this weekend.

Then off to Magic Springs it was...these girls didn't miss a thing.  We conquered the water park and the rides all in a matter of a couple of hours.  Here are some of the highlights...

All six of the girls went down together.  I was hoping to get all the other moms on there but that was not to be.

and here they come again

Little sis had herself a large time as well.

After all that fun for the kiddos the moms made the call for a little Sam's Pizza on the way home.  We had a great time catching up over dinner but these girls made sure that Sam's Pizza kept it rockin all night long. These girls gave it all they had left on the dance floor after a long busy day!

The dancing queens drew quite the attention from all the restaurant!  I think they are pretty cute too so I don't blame them...especially with the moves these girls had on display.

AB only wanted one thing for her birthday... a party where her friends could tube with her on the lake.  I was a little worried when we set out to try this but the kids had a blast and all the moms did too.  I even pulled of a themed cake from the local bakery (first time to use them but they did a great job)  Tubing has become both of the girls favorite lake activities and both of them put me to shame because they aren't scared a bit, even if mom is on there kicking and screaming!

My precious tube-loving 8 year old with her birthday cake!!

The next Friday we had been holding out for Addie's official party.  She wanted to take her friends to see Inside Out in Texarkana so we had to wait another week after her bday to celebrate on the day the movie came out.  My sister and her girls and my mom came down the night before the big party to spend the night with us.  These three took their jobs very seriously when it came to making the snack bags for the movie.  I had 17 of us going so for those of you thinking she snuck snacks into the movies...um, YEAH she SURE DID and it saved me a fortune!!  Bonus ...we had so many different treats in each bag the kids never asked for a thing!!

AB's birthday party day was quite the affair.  All the moms dropped off the girls at my house and we had 13 ride over with my sister and I then 3 others that met us there.  My sister said I owe her big time after that, but we made the most of the drive to Texarkana and sang at the top of our voices the whole way there and back.  It actually proved to be quite entertaining.  Once we got to town we went to see a movie, Inside Out, AB had been begging to see with all her friends.  We took up a whole row with all 17 of us and poor people behind us didn't know what to think (well actually I probably don't want to know what they were thinking) it was a wee bit craziness but a whole lotta fun.  After the movie we headed over to Chick-fil-a another choice of AB's for lunch and dessert.  It was a great day with all her friends and best of all it didn't involve me cleaning my house for the first time this year...Win, Win!!!

The birthday cake she picked out for her day...however, once all the girls figured out they got free ice cream this thing went unnoticed!  Except for the chick-fil-a employees who asked for it...after 15 little girls running around like manics for an hour they deserved every bite and they got to when we left!!

Chick-fil-a and these two that is almost to much to handle! 

Sad face...all the voices inside our head we tried to portray.

serious face...

disgusted face...

and my favorite happy!!

Happiest of birthdays to my precious, smarty-pants, kind, and somewhat serious daughter (poor thing with Mitch and I as parents she doesn't stand a chance)  She takes everything we say to heart and goodness knows we never seem to have too many serious moments around the house.  As my sister said, don't take her over to the dark side like you two...he, he, he. here's hoping! 

She has so many sides to her it is hard to write a description that really seems to fit but the one thing that is easy to see is she loves life (notice all the smiles) and loves God the mostest.  For this mom that is all that matters.  She has a heart as big as any child I have ever witnessed and I continue to pray that she never changes...despite the fact she has me as a mom!!  I can be a little feisty at times I will admit! :)