Happy Birthday, Lucy!

Okay, so Lucy's birthday was back in August, but I want to document the event for posterity, so I'm going with it.  

Lucy had a birthday!  My girl is eleven years old.  We put on quite the party for her this year.  She begged and begged for months to have a sleepover party.  We kept trying to talk her out of it.  Mostly because we didn't want to feel like hypocrites to her friend's parents.  We don't allow sleepovers (except for rare special occasions), so it seemed weird to say, "Hey!  We won't let our kid sleep at your house, but send your on over!"  In the end, we decided to not worry about what other's think (Jason's problem, not mine ;).  So....we planned for a sleepover. 

Lucy helped me do a little decorating the night before.  She was more than a little hyped up and excited about the events to come.  

Eleven eleven and twelve year-olds in our little town house was CRAZY TOWN!  Lucy was in heaven the entire time!  It was worth it just to see her so happy.  That being said, there won't be another one.  

She requested peanut butter pie this year.  

The candybar game was a huge hit.  Lucy's group of friends are a great group of girls.  There's rarely any drama and they are all very sweet.  

Jason made homemade pizza for the group.  

Most people know that Lucy is DYING for a dog.  She has been for years, but her mom is too mean.  A couple of her friends got hamsters over the summer.  She really wanted one, but didn't think there was anyway her animal loathing mother would give in.  Well.....I did.  Lucy is the proud owner of a miniature hamster.  

It was so fun to see all of her friends so excited for her to find out.  A few of them knew before hand.  

We gave her the cages for her birthday so that she would be able to go pick out the rat, I mean, hamster.  She named him Cookie Dough.  

Happy Birthday to our sweet Lucy.  She is such a great kid.  The list goes on and on when it comes to her.  She is so funny and makes us laugh with her quick wit.  I love that she's becoming a great friend that I can talk to and ask her opinion on clothes and hair.

Lucy is a ittle overscheduled right now.  She's still on the swim team.  She played soccer and now is signed up for flag football.  She plays the flute in the band and she is on the school newspaper staff.  She stays on top of everything and she got all A's for her first semester of middle school.  Her teachers went on and on about how great she is.  She has one teacher, Mrs. Schlecter, that we all love and she loves Lucy, too.  Next year we will need to limit some of her extra-curriculars, but for now all is well and we usually only have one or two meltdowns a week ;).

Everyone always makes comments about Lucy's fashion sense.  She has a very unique style that she totally pulls off and looks fabulous.

Lucy always tries to do what's right.  Even when she gets really upset and has a mean tongue, she's quick to apologize and make things right.  She turns to prayer in times of trouble or worry.  She was really nervous for a swim meet last month and so she decided to fast for comfort and peace of mind.

I don't know what we would do without our Goosy.  Her spunky, sassy way of life makes our days brighter.  She is such a big help with the boys and only complains a little about how hard it is to have three little brothers.

We love you, Lucy!