It's Great to Be "8"

I can't even believe I'm writing this post. Where has the time gone? 8 years ago today, Madelyn Grace was born 4 weeks early weighing in at a whopping 4 lbs., 14 oz. She was so teeny and fragile, but perfect in every way! It is so special to me today to get to celebrate mother's day and her birthday at the same time. She made me a mother and for that I will always hold a special place in my heart for her, my firstborn. Happy Birthday my sweet Maddy Bear! I am so excited for her and this time in her life and am so proud of the girl that she is! She has such a sweet spirit and brings so much love and peace and joy to our home. She is a little peacemaker and sets a great example for her sisters!
She has had a pretty great birthday weekend so far. She was able to have some friends over on Friday evening for a birthday party. She was on cloud 9 the whole time. I love the sound of laughter and giggles and yes, even the occasional high-pitched squeals from all the girls! They has so much fun decorating their own aprons and then decorating and eating cupcakes. We even squeezed in some water balloon fun in the backyard, although that was very impromptu due to the heat, the girls had a blast getting soaked and then running through the sprinklers that accidentally turned on. Brian is such a trooper and a good sport about these sorts of things, even though he was outnumbered - 2 adult women & 14 little girls to just him! We even got to keep our good friends, Kayli and Brooklyn over night for the first time. After all the party excitement I thought the girls would head off to bed early, instead they built forts, played Barbies and watched movies until past 11:30 p.m.



Saturday the girls woke surprisingly early and were eager to pick up playing where they had left off. We also had the excitement of Brian finding a bull snake out on our driveway - the kids were pretty scared and fascinated with that. We took the Merwin girls home and continued up to Anthem, where we met Brian's parents, his aunt and uncle, one of his grandmas, his sister and brother-in-law and their 2 girls. We met at the community park where they have the Daisy Mountain Railroad. We found a Ramada down by a little lake that wasn't reserved and hung out there for a while. The kids also got to ride the train around the park, play on the playground and run through the splash pad. It was hot out, but it was fun to spend a few hours with family. Maddy enjoyed the presents and the extra attention too!
Such a fun weekend for a special girl!