Sunday, October 11, 2009

Happy Birthday Ally!!!

Happy 8th Birthday Ally! And thank goodness our prayers were answered. She started feeling better on Friday, so we were able to move forward with the birthday weekend as planned. It really turned out so wonderfully.....better than I could have even dreamed. I think I had a little angel sitting on my shoulder all weekend helping me to get through! There were no problems (not even the slightest) and everything just went beautifully. Sigh of relief. She started her birthday by opening her presents. She received:
1) The rush hour game
2) Two little (tiny) aquatic frogs in their own water aquarium (she begged for this)
3) An IPOD (she LOVES music now, and loves to have it at the hospital)
4) The new "Wizards of Waverly Place" soundtrack (which I have included a song in the slide show below)

The frogs were her favorite thing (of the whole weekend, she said) and she named them swimmie and bubbles. After her presents, she went to her brother's soccer game, even though she didn't really want to. Mid-afternoon we left to take her over to the Greene. Here she got a pedicure with her two best friends Madden and Madison. What else did you think the girl who does nails 24-7 would want to do for her birthday? (did I mention that she wants to be a "nail technician" for Halloween?) We then did a little shopping and had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. She was just dying for them to sing to her (I don't know why!) She must have asked me 10 times to make sure they would do it. Her sweet Aunt Jess, who spent the day with us, made sure that happened for her. The look on her face when they did was priceless.

After the big day, she asked if Madison could spend the night for her birthday. They were so cute...they got their pjs on, climbed into her double bed, and watched Monsters vs Aliens on a little portable DVD player in the bed. Little sister Carly even snuck in between them for a little bit, but Evan was NOT ALLOWED. Poor guy.

She then spent a good part of her Sunday hanging out with her Aunt Gail (my mom's sister) who came in from New York. We only get the privilege of seeing them a couple times a year. They had great fun coloring and picking pumpkins and gourds from Pa's pumpkin patch. We had the whole Mills/Hess/Spencer/Cahill clan over for an Italian dinner complete with Ally's choice of cake....ice cream sandwich cake. I am getting tired just writing about all of it.

I know I promised some photos of Ally's first eight years. I will do it! But not today...

Also, I am meeting the woman to try to "talk" to my mom tomorrow. We moved it. Some of you have emailed me wondering, but no luck yet. I will give it a try. I am cautiously optimistic, but have nothing left to lose. I need to feel my mom close, and I have lately, but I want to try for more.

Last year on Ally's 7th birthday I wrote down some of my favorite traits about her/reasons to love her. I mentioned that she is always kind to everyone, sweet as can be, always mature, and that she is quite creative. She also has the same gift as her father has....she never makes anyone mad! For year number eight, I would like to add a few reasons that I love her.

She is wise beyond her years now, never questioning, just accepting.
She is stronger than most people I know.
She is still kind and giving, but even more so now...always reaching out to teach others something she may know.
She is loving.
Most of all, she is inspiring. To a whole army full of people.

Here is a video clip from her birthday. Maybe you can watch it and feel like you celebrated with us. I wish everyone could have been there.




8 comments:

  1. So happy she had a great day. I could see and feel the relief on your face today. All of you deserved a happy day. Please remind her she gets to celebrate again. Joshua will not be happy until he gets to celebrate with his girl. Good luck tomorrow, can't wait to hear about it.
    Oh yea, love the video. :-)

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  2. What a blessing! So glad that the weekend went well and that you were able to enjoy it so much! Thank you for including the video, just great to see her happy smiling birthday face!

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  3. Yahoo! You really did have an angel on your shoulder. SO good to see Ally wearing many smiles and having fun. I'm sure you were all full of joy. When you need a lift, go back and watch that great video you made! Happy happy!

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  4. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALLY!!!! I am sosososo glad for the celebrations over the weekend. That is fantastic. Wish I could have had a pedicure too-even though fall is here and i think it's time i put the flip flops away. Happy Birthday to you too, Janel. All of the things that you love Ally can be attributed to you and Jared. Don't forget that. I hope you took some time to celebrate for yourself too. Thanks for the slide show- looking forward to hearing how the thing with your mom goes. I've always wanted to try with my dad, but never quite had the gumption...not sure why though....

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  5. Thanks so much for the birthday video! It was great! A special birthday for a special girl from such a very special family! You did have an angel on your shoulder - it was your mom peeking in and enjoying it all with you. I loved the color Ally picked - orange. Very anxious to see how the meeting with your mother goes - but I have signs from my mother, sister, and son-in-law all the time. I'll tell you some time. Your strength is awesome.

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  6. I love that you write out reasons why you love her on every birthday. That sounds like it will one day make an amazing graduation gift, or something like that. And I hope you're telling her these things every day as well. I might have to start doing something like this for my Caleb man, starting back on the day he was born. :-)

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  7. Sweet Ally, your smiles are contagious )and your toesies are dah-ling)! Though we have never officially met, I am certain you and I would be fast friends and you are the type of girl I would have loved as a student. Say hello to your sweet froggies for me and give your mama a big squeeze from Arizona! Happy, happy, happy birthday!

    Amanda

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  8. What a wonderful video/slideshow....thanks so much for sharing. Love the smiles....

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