Saturday, July 30, 2011

Lauren's 11th Birthday

The birthday girl waiting to open her gifts!


I give my kids a party for their friends every other year. On the "off" years, they can choose a place they want to go to celebrate their birthday. The destination of choice is generally Chuck E Cheese.


Caleb pleased with the loot he got with his tickets.

Lauren pleased with her loot also:)




Micahel and his candy:)Birthdays are all about sugar overload, right?!?!



The birthday girl and her Mommy:)



Lauren opening her first envelope explaining the treasure hunt. Each envelope along the way, contained a picture of a location either in our backyard, or up on campus. I tried to make the pictures a little bit tricky...and involving some help from her brothers...and yes...mom and Dad.

Finding an envelope and clue...



This one had her puzzled. It was a named brick up on campus...but ...WHERE? There are many bricks with names. The shadow of the monumet, though, was her clue.

And we were off! And sure enough. There at the monument was the next clue!

Sometimes the locations went back and forth from campus to backyard, campus to backyard. UGH...didn't figure on it being SO HOT when I came up with the "brilliant" idea...haha. As you can see from this picture, sometimes Lauren and Michael went back to the backyard, while Mom staed up on campus and played photographer:)


Lauren and Caleb trying to figure out where to go next!


Finally...a VERY tired and sweaty girl found the gift and opened it! A pink digital camera!! Guess the picture shows how happy she was with that one!

Since our family is not super fond of cake, Lauren chose a birthday cookie instead. I just put a few candles on so she would have something to blow out. Although I do wish we could rewind time, and she just be turning 4, she turned 11!! Growing up so fast!!



I shared some of my sentiments on Fb on Lauren's actual birthday, but here goes again:) When I was expecting her, we chose not to find out whether I were having a girl or boy. We wanted the surprise. I must say though, above all I wanted a healthy baby. But deep down, I REALLY wanted a girl! Chris had me pretty convinced she was a boy though. Because both of our parents had boys first, he said, she was most certainly a boy. When the doctor anounced it was a girl, I could hardly believe it. And she has been EVERY bit as fun as I thought she would be. She was absolutely perfect and born with LOTS of dark hair and has had thick, long hair ever since! She was my dream come true....SO fun to dress her up and fix her hair. And added to that blessing, I was able to be a stay-at-home Mom.(thanks to Chris) I have enjoyed every minute of having a girl. And thankfully, I have had two boys since then. I cannot imagine loving my boys any more. They are a different kind of fun....but still SO fun!!! So, on Lauren's birthday, I realized once again how truly blessed I am...for I am a Mama! And that is my total dream come true and God's very best blessing to me!!!

1 comment:

Brenda said...

Sure enjoyed all the pictures! What a fun way to find a bday present! And you're right - being a SAHM is the BEST gift ever!