"I Can't Believe I'm In Double Digits!"

That is what this cute little gal said to me when she woke up this morning.

She is not a pancake type gal so we had to improvise instead of doing the normal "10" shaped pancakes.

Unfortunately I had a killer headache last night so I was not able to go to the store to get balloons.

Another reason I am thankful that my sweet husband gave some to me for my birthday two days ago.  We recycled....

I have a little helium tank that I use for preschool sometimes, so I was able to dress up the "Happy Birthday" balloon and make it a little different for Abbie.

To say that she has been excited for her birthday would be a HUGE understatement.  She wanted to go to sleep at 5 pm yesterday so her birthday would get here sooner.  I love that she was so excited.  That means that I am doing my job right.  I want my kids to look forward to their birthdays because their birth-days were 4 of the best days of my life.

We did the annual "get checked out of school and go to lunch with mom" date.  When asked where she wanted to go, there was no hesitation.  Jimmy John's for a Turkey Tom sandwich- no tomatoes.  Just like her mama.  She truly is a "mini-me".

We had a little dinner party with all the grandma's and grandpa who live close to us.  The menu was oven-baked chicken, Rice A Roni, and cooked carrots- per Abbie's request.

After dinner we dived into a delicious cake (thanks Sam's Club for the beautiful cake).  I couldn't have made it better myself.  (True story...I really couldn't.  Especially writing on it and everything.  WAY too complicated for me.)

It was a great birthday indeed.  The weather was even "Abbie-like".  Raining one minute- beautiful sunshine the next.  :)

My little Mini-Me.

She is beautiful, 

independent, 

musical, 

crafty, 

feisty, and 

generous.

Today when we were on our way to pick up her cake and cupcakes for her class, she said,

"Mom, we need to get something else for Madison.  She is not eating sugar this year and I need something without sugar so she can have a treat."

I am so proud of her.  She didn't have to think of getting something else for her friend.  She could have just taken the cupcakes and Madison wouldn't have taken one.  But she did not want her to be without a treat.  

Abbie is amazing.

This post just happens to be Post #500 for this little ol' blog.

I knew it was coming up and I have been pondering what I would blog about on my 500th post.  Something really special.

How fitting that I would be blogging about one of my children.

They are my life.

They are the reason that I get up in the morning and spend my life picking up things, living in my car, and making meal after meal.

Some days it is really, really hard and I get really, really grumpy.

But mostly I just love it.

Thank you Abbie Ka Dabbie for putting up with this tired mommy.

Thank you for being my best helper and helping me organize things.

Thank you for working hard at practicing your violin, even when you really don't want to.  You'll thank me one day for making you do it. (Right, Mom? ;)

Thank you for being kind.

Thank you cleaning the entire kitchen for me the other night.

You are one amazing little gal and I will love you forever and always.

Love, Mom