Happy Birthday, Maddie!

9.  That's half way to 18!  I've been told that you're not really done raising them at 18 though. 
Maddie went to school for her birthday, and came home sporting a crown.  She had to wait until her dad got home to open presents, and it seemed like he took his sweet time!  For her birthday dinner, she chose to go to Culver's.  We LOVE Culver's (and I was just glad she didn't choose Panda Express).
 
I decided long ago to only let my girls have "friend parties" every other year, so at 4, 6, 8 and 10.  Last year because of It's Great to be 8, Pinewood Derby and her baptism, Maddie didn't get a friend party.  I was exhausted. 
So, MONTHS before her birthday this year, she asked if she could have a friend party.  I decided that would be fine.  Sigh.  I didn't realize that I would be running Primary, be doing sharing time, have It's Great to be 8 (again) Pinewood Derby (again), be speaking at the Stake Baptism, teaching preschool that week, have a Bridal shower to attend on the day we chose,  AND be super pregnant. 
But, I knew how much it meant to her, so party we did...
I decided to keep it simple. 
Ha.  Do you know me?
Simple does not exist. 
She loves owls, so we had a "night owl" party and had the girls wear their pajamas.  We had pizza, and adorable owl cups with their names on them.  We frosted cupcakes and made them look like owls, and they were sent home with an owl treat bag.  (That Maddie saw and said, "those are cute BIRDS."  Ew). 
With about a half hour to go in the party, I sat down.  Big mistake.  I realized I was exhausted!  So I sat and watched Maddie interact with her friends.  I realized just how happy she was, and it was totally worth all the stressing and planning to make her feel special!  

One thing we did that I think will become a tradition was that I went and got 9 helium balloons.  We hid them in the basement and I tied little cards to the end of them.  Each of us wrote in 2 cards things that we love about Maddie.  All day, Macie kept saying, "You need to go right to bed so you'll get your surprise."  Maddie was clueless about it, and it was cute.  Once she fell asleep, I put the balloons all over her room.  She was thrilled to wake up with bright green balloons all over her room!  The other girls loved that they felt like they had done something for Maddie. 
And the reason there isn't a picture of these balloons...because I'm cheap.  I bought a pack of balloons for a dollar and took them to the store to have them blown up.  They charged me .70 a balloon to put helium in them!  RIP OFF!  And then she says, "Do you want to add hi-float for .15 more cents?"  And I said heck no!  She informed me they would only float for 8 hours without it.  I said I'd take my chances.  (She was so NOT getting 1.35 more from me).  And the balloons lasted 24 hours.  So there.  But, I forgot to take a picture before they were sadly limping around on the ground. 

So, Happy birthday, Maddie, we love you! (Just not enough to pay for hi-float balloons).