Madeline's 8th Birthday!

On September 22, 2012, this precious girl of mine turned 8 years old! She is looking so grown up these days! We decided not to do friend parties this year, but just keep things simple. Here she is in a new outfit her Nana had sent her, ready to open presents

Her Nana and Pawpaw got her a new outfit for her Molly doll. I love the vintage 1940s swimsuit!

Aunt Lindsey and Uncle John go her some Kanani books to read. They no longer make that doll but Madeline still wanted to read her books.

She also got his neat book about the year 1944. Madeline is fascinated by the WWII time period after getting her Molly doll so this book has been a lot of fun for her

Stopping to pose with her little brother. These two sure fill my heart with joy!

When we asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she only told me one thing. She wanted to go get a "real" pedicure and manicure. Now, I'm not really into making my little girl a diva and rarely get pedicures myself but she is such a good girl with such a good heart, that I decided to allow her to have it done, as it was all she asked for. I found a very reasonable place with a kid sized Pedicure chair. The people were so nice and treated her to extra designs for free in honor of her birthday! I let her choose the color, which was also hard for this mama!

Its not my style at all but it made her so happy! She so enjoyed the experience and had such a grateful attitude about it all that I was so glad I decided to indulge her on this request. She said she wants to do it again next year:)

For the rest of the day, we let her invite one friend over to play, and she chose, Macy. They played dress up a lot, hence the strange outfits below:) Madeline wanted to have her cake when Macy was over. She chose strawberry cake with cream cheese icing made as a sheet cake, not a layered one. The Happy Birthday candles came in handy again:)

So silly while we sang to her!

It was such a fun day of celebrating our big girl!

Dear Madeline,
I can hardly believe we are already celebrating another birthday with you! 8 years old sure sounds more grown up to this mama!
You have had such a good year! You loved first grade and became an avid reader. You love most books but most especially American Girl books. You join the Gifted and Talented program at school and scored extremely high on your state test at the end of the year.
You still love dance, gymnastics, art, and you started piano lessons this summer. You overcame your fear and can now do a back hand spring and round off back hang spring all by yourself. You are quite the performer at your dance recitals and did well in your first drama camp this summer.
You are an amazing big sister. You are so loving and patient with Will and love having a new baby sister. You already say that you can't wait to be a mama someday:)
You are growing spiritually as well. You have a bigger interest in the Bible and are developing in your prayer life. You have started classes to prepare for your First Confession and First Communion this next year. I am so proud of the deep questions you ask as they often challenge me and help me grow as a Christian too!
You still have such a good sense of right and wrong and want everything to be fair. You are learning to work through difficulties with friends and your brother. You still have your fiesty moments and love to question mom and dad but are easily redirected when you need to be:)
I love you so much and look forward to another year of enjoying my girl!
Love,
Mom