Allison turned 8 today. She is growing up so fast. Last night we started celebrating and went out to eat for her birthday. She picked Tucanos. The girls love this place but it is on the pricey side so we don't go there too much. Allison says they have way too much good food and she doesn't know when to stop.
She was so full she couldn't sit up.
No birthday dinner would be complete with out getting sung to. Allison always likes the attention but gets shy about it.
She loved that she got to stand on her seat and play a tambourine.
She had a wonderful time.
Today she was so happy that she got to open one of her gifts before church. We normally wait until later in the evening with dinner but since they were scriptures I thought it would be appropriate to open it before church. She was very excited to have her own pair of scriptures finally.
For dinner Allison picked to have Hawaiian haystacks one of her favorite meals.
She was very excited to have the special blue plate and special glass. She was not letting me forget anything. Since I have had a cold for the last couple of days Kevin and Allison decided that a Costco Cheesecake would be good or her birthday cake. I was not complaining because I am really exhausted and the cheesecake is yummy.
Allison had a great birthday and it is hard to believe that she is 8 already. I don't know where the time has gone. Now we get to prepare for baptism next Saturday. We can't wait for all the family and friends that are coming to be with Allison on her special day. We have a busy week and exciting week ahead of us.
This month has been crazy but thankfully I was able to pull everything together and we had a nice relaxing Christmas Eve and Christmas.
On Christmas Eve the girls and I worked together and prepared dinner and our treats for later. It is so nice to see them work with me and get things done. Madison is learning how to cook and made the sugar cookies all my herself while I wrapped in my room. It is sad to see her grow up but I love the independence that she is showing. This is the first Christmas Eve in along time that Kevin had to work and the girls thought it was really weird. He did get off a couple of hours early so he took the girls out while I continued to wrap. When they got home it was time for our traditional Porcupine Meatballs. After dinner was over we drove around to look at Christmas lights. We loved the houses that the lights moved to music. At one of the houses the family was walking around handing out candy canes. They told us a little about programming the lights and wow that is some dedication. To program one 2 minute song it takes 5 hours. We really enjoyed the lights and appreciate the hard work people put into their houses. When we got home the girls were so excited to open their Christmas pajamas. Kevin thinks I am crazy but I like them to match. I think they look so cute. Next we were on to a movie and treats. Allison ask me all week if we were going to have our candy tray like normal. She was not going to let me forget. After the movie the kids were off to bed with no fight at all. I love Christmas Eve and all the fun traditions that we have.
In years past we would have to wake our kids of up Christmas morning and I was really looking forward to that this morning but no such luck. I should have known after Madison's birthday when she was up at 4:30 that morning. We do have them trained right and they did not come in and wake us up until after 7:00. Madison wanted to be Santa(the designated gift hander outer) this year and she had her hands full keeping her sisters back. They all opened their stockings first. The girls really had a great time opening gifts and really enjoyed the stuff that they got. Madison for some reason is on this smoothie kick and asks for them all the time so we told her to ask Santa for a gift card. She was very shocked that he actually brought her one. I have a feeling that she will be asking to run out and get one tomorrow. Allison really did have a good time but I thought this picture was funny. She got through all the Santa gifts and started opening gifts from Kevin and I and the first ones were all cloths. This was just a great picture. Ashley is a huge Toy Story fan and when I saw this in the store I knew she would love it. She opened her Woody doll and blanket and then got him all comfortable next to her. She has not put Woody down all day. He even went to the movies with us. After the movie I told her that Woody was very good in the movie and she said, "Yep and he didn't talk." Oh I love this little girl. She makes me laugh so much. Kevin and I got to replace our Washer and Dryer for Christmas and I found this at the store so I thought it would be fun to have wrapped under the tree and a good addition to our doll house. I didn't let Kevin know about it but he sure got a kick out of the washer and dryer I had under the tree. Our real one gets delivered on Monday and I can't wait. Kevin did a good job picking them out.
Once all the gifts were opened the girls started playing with all the loot. We decided that Rock Band had to wait until the tree came down which is always the day after Christmas. Our house is too small to keep it up any longer. The girls did have a lot of fun with Sing It a game for the Playstation. Madison played it for hours while Allison played on the computer. It wasn't long for them to figure out that the Rock band Microphone worked and they both could play.
I came home tonight from shopping and the girls had a play for me to watch. I was so proud of them. As a parent I wonder if I am teaching them what is right and if they really know why we celebrate Christmas. Tonight they helped me think I was doing something right. We have a tradition of reading the Christmas story out of the Bible on Christmas Eve but we haven't ever acted it out before. It was fun to watch the girls act it out in there own way. This really made me feel the Christmas spirit and forget about all the craziness. I love my children and the example that they are to me.
Madison was very excited for her birthday. She had a hard time falling asleep last night and woke up at 4:30 this morning. She even thought it would be nice to wake Allison up at 5:50 so she could be excited with her. I wish I could say that they got to bed early to make up for it but they got to bed late because of all the celebrating.
We started our evening out by letting the birthday girl pick where she wanted to have dinner. Everyone thought they needed to put their input in but ultimately it was Madison's decision. She picked Cafe Ole, which is her favorite restaurant. I need to look back and see how many birthdays she has spent there. It has been a lot. After ordering our meals we let her open gifts. I was very nervous that she was not going to be happy because there were no toys. She didn't provide us with a lot of ideas of what she wanted and what she did tell us, none of them were toys. It seems kind of young to start not getting toys or maybe I just am not ready for her to grow up. She ended up loving everything she got. I was very relieved. At Cafe Ole they give you a free fried ice cream on your birthday. I know that plays into why she picks it but you would think with how shy she is that wearing this hat every year while they sing to you would make her pick something else. When we got home I had one more surprise for her. I like to surprise the girls with a special cake on there birthday. Most the time I make it but this year I had a coupon for Coldstone cupcakes so I thought I would surprise her. I took Ashley with me when I bought them and just hoped that she would not ruin the surprise. Thankfully Ashley is really starting to learn what a surprise is and the secret stayed a secret. She was so excited when she saw them and realized they were Coldstone. She is kind of picky about her sweets so I knew I had to be careful but I knew I could not go wrong with Coldstone. I got the best picture of her blowing out the candles. It is great. I love it. Madison had a great day. It is hard to believe that my little girl is 11. Where has the time gone. She is the most amazing daughter. I love watching her and seeing what a beautiful young lady she is becoming. I am very grateful and proud that I can call her my daughter.
P.S. Every night before Kevin goes to bed he checks on the girls. This weekend he checked in on Ashley and this is what he found. Kevin thought it was so funny. He doesn't normally take pictures of things like that but he didn't want me to miss it. We all got a good laugh the next morning when he showed us.
I don't know how we got the idea or when it started but we have had Madison's party planned for quite a while. She wanted to do a scavenger hunt at the mall. I thought it would be ok but was a little nervous with doing it in December. We thought it would be fun to invite the moms so I would not have to stress about losing someone. We kept it small and she invited 5 of her good friends. We split up in into 3 groups of two. The scavenger hunt was a lot to fun. The girls really had a lot of fun. After the scavenger hunt we were off to The Cheesecake Factory for birthday cake. While we were waiting for our cheesecake the girls had some fun with our loot from the scavenger hunt. They thought it would be fun to try the lipstick sample. They had a lot of fun playing with it. Madison didn't want to be sung to but a birthday party wouldn't be the same without singing. She turned bright red and got embarrassed but it was worth it.
We really had a great night. It was one of the easiest birthday parties I have ever done for my kids but really a lot of fun. Madison has great bunch of friends and their moms are a lot of fun too.
She was so full she couldn't sit up.
She loved that she got to stand on her seat and play a tambourine.
She had a wonderful time.
For dinner Allison picked to have Hawaiian haystacks one of her favorite meals. 
She was very excited to have the special blue plate and special glass. She was not letting me forget anything. Since I have had a cold for the last couple of days Kevin and Allison decided that a Costco Cheesecake would be good or her birthday cake. I was not complaining because I am really exhausted and the cheesecake is yummy. 
Allison had a great birthday and it is hard to believe that she is 8 already. I don't know where the time has gone. Now we get to prepare for baptism next Saturday. We can't wait for all the family and friends that are coming to be with Allison on her special day. We have a busy week and exciting week ahead of us. 
