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.