Rosebud Blossoming

Last Friday, April 4th, was Aleia's birthday. She's 8 years old already! Can you stand it?! Not me. It's absolutely surreal. Anyway, apparently time has been on fast forward/skip ahead all this time, because it seems like she was just born the other day. . . a few short years ago, in the spring. Sigh.

Well, let's see if we can remember all her little friends that came to her birthday party. . We went to the Classic Family Fun Center, formerly known as Classic Skating. They've classed it up quite a bit in recent years. They now have a huge blow-up bouncy playground, and an enormous jungle playland, sort of like at McDonald's, but much, much bigger. Our big girl Laena recently got a job over there. . . so we scored a small discount. That was nice, but more importantly, the party was a hit! : )

Okay, let's see. . There was Brittany, there was Allison, Becca Boo. . . Caitlin, Sammy, Riley. . Of course Jeffy and Tommy. . . Elece, and well, naturally the birthday girl Aleia. . Wow, only ten children. . It seemed like a lot more when we were there. . . And then there was Uncle Clint, Charlie, and our friend Shae, who helped out a lot. Oh, and the baby Binky! It was great fun. We all had a good time. : ) I just can't believe our little girl is eight. It's so weird. Now she'll be wanting to do grown up things like putting on make-up, so she'll look like the big girls on High School Musical and things like that. . Just kidding. She's been doing that for years. : ) But at least we're not in the dark. We know what we have to look forward to. . . Because we just went through this with big sister Laenabug. So here it comes, my friends . . girl scouts and make-up, tantrums and boys, summer camps and best friends, chocolate ice cream and broken hearts. Tennis lessons, dance lessons, piano lessons, DRIVING lessons . . swimming parties and sleep overs. . . As long as there are some Daddy-Daughter dates thrown into the mix, I think we'll be okay. . . Anyway, here's hoping! Compared to her older sister, Aleia is really, really high strung. And that's saying something! She actually asked for a Hello Kitty clip board for her birthday! She always knows what day it is, and just what we've said we'd do. : ) She's way on top of it, and never let's us forget anything. So yes, we're in for a bumpy roller coaster ride, to be sure. But I wouldn't miss it for the world. She's our sweet, temperamental Rosebud. : ) On her way to growing up!