They keep getting older!

A. celebrated her 11th birthday today.  We started the morning with a birthday breakfast of omelets and donuts.  She opened her presents this morning (even though we always tease the kiddos that they have to wait until the time of their birth. She would have to wait until 11 pm in that case!) and was excited with all the "dough" she got. She's ready to shop!  She wore a cute birthday present skirt and shirt to school. L. and I took her out to lunch at McDonald's (although I tried to convince her to try somewhere--anywhere!--else). Then we went home to work on her cake. When I excused her from school, the secretary asked for the reason. I said "I'm taking her out for her b-day lunch and for fun!" The secretary looked pained to write such an excuse, so I just offered "family reasons" and she cheerfully scribbled that down.

A came up with her own idea for her cake, and it turned out so cute. I had such a good time working with her on it. She also made some bacon and eggs! She LOVES bacon and eggs.  Actually, they're made out of white chocolate, yellow m&m's, tootsie rolls and caramels. Yum and fun!

We had Olive Garden for dinner and the highlight for A. was the singing. She just loves that!  We finished the evening with cake and ice cream.

We are so thankful for our Lu. She loves learning, creating, helping, singing, doing what's right, and thinking of others. She's a beautiful young lady, inside and out! We need her in our family and are so blessed to have this energetic, fun-loving, motivated gal in our family. We tease her that her first year was rather challenging--she'd rather scream and cry than smile--but it was just her strong spirit cramped in a tiny body that just didn't do much at first. Once she started moving, she was a happy gal. We love her BUNCHES!!

A. at 3 months old, wondering if this life was all it was cracked up to be. 

A. at 5 years old, calmly looking on. Life IS good!