A birthday girl ~ we've got one around here!

Our sweet little middle child is turning 11 years old!  How does that happen? 

A newbie Ruth

I'm sure most of us always remember the day of their birth and all the little "firsts" that came along the way and then sit back and ponder "wow, this IS going by fast! Mom was right!"

My girls ages 1, 3 and 6 Notice no shoes on Mei, she always moved her feet too much.  Note Ruth is wearing purple again and Kate is watching to make sure everyone is smiling and being good!

  We can't believe how fast those young child rearing (keep them alive years) go by and love all the memories we made.  Still, we always think we need to "seize the moments" because we know they won't always be there or be the same.
Now, onto Ruth's party to celebrate 11 years of living life in our family!

 I wasn't sure how the party was going to turn out ~ would it turn out like the flop of a cake above?  At least the next 2 cakes turned out well and the party was ON!

 We had 2 friends come early for a pizza lunch and then 2 other friends came after lunch.

 Played some games... this one was "find the letters to spell P A R T Y"

 Playing pass the "hot present" around.  Unwrap 1 layer of wrapping each time the music stopped.  They unwrapped a cookies n cream chocolate bar and then they all shared it.

 I succeeded in surprising Ruth with her own apron ~ something she's been wanting for a long time and of course, it HAD to be purple.

Time for cake!

 Drawing with fabric pens on some aprons for their dolls.

 Mei wanted me to do a pansy and blue bells.  At least she thought they were beautiful!

 Saw the birthday girl and Mrs. S taking a reading break.

No party is complete without a little dress up craziness!

Here they were teaching people about brushing your teeth ?

There was no sleepover this year, so instead we had a special movie night with Ruth and Mommy and Daddy.  Ate some cake and chocolate and cuddled up on the couch.  What a simple thing to do and yet she felt SO special as we had never done this with her before.  

What a precious happy little daughter we have been blessed with and 

Happy Birthday Ruth on the 13th!