Happy Birthday Lily!!!

My sweet, smart, special and amazing little baby girl is 8 years old!!  It is so bittersweet.  She is growing up so fast!!  She is so silly, yet can be very serious and sensitive.  She is extremely caring of others, especially her friends and family.  She is an awesome big sister and a wonderful daughter. 

She is just the best!!

We gave her most of her presents at Christmas.  For her birthday I bought her a new nightstand and decorated her bathroom with all new shower curtains, towels, etc that she picked out.  This is what she wanted.  I warned her that this was her present and that she'd have plenty from her friends to open, but nothing else from Chip and me.  Of course, I had one surprise for her.  She has been asking for years to get her ears pierced.  Even more lately and she has started wearing sticker earrings to really push her point.  I kept telling her no.  But all along I planned on giving her a jewelry box with pierced earrings for her birthday and taking her that day to get them done.  I was SO excited about the big surprise since I knew she would love it.   Chip thought she would chicken out and not want to go, but I was certain with the amount she has been begging for this that she would race to the mall!

I was wrong and damnit, Chip was right.

 After all her friends went home (except for Carys who wanted to come to the piercing with us) she opened her surprise from us.

 Earrings??

 Then the fear sinks in . . .  she said she wants to do it.  But not today.  Someday.  Maybe in a couple weeks. . .

 So we all went with Carys and Grandma and Grandpa to Uncle Julios for a birthday lunch!!

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed.  Chip was sick and Lily, Dani and I were tired from the sleepover the night before.  She did want Olive Garden for dinner, so I took her and Dani -- just the 3 of us for a girl's dinner.