Happy Birthday to Maddie

Happy Birthday to me - Maddie says. She has been so excited about her birthday. And in "Grand Portie style" we did Maddie's birthday!!! Birthdays are very important at our house and the normal birthday just will not do. Following that same philosophy we planned Maddie's birthday celebration.

- Homemade birthday cake and a test run of blowing out her birthday candles on the eve of her birthday. She was a pro at blowing out the candles

- Cupcakes for her class at school on her Birthday - October 18th., made with love by her Mommy!

- Followed by a birthday trip to Chuck E. Cheese with us and my parents. She quickly realized how much fun Chuck E Cheese was and decided to forgo pizza and just play. She eventually would snag a quick bite of pizza and then run off to play again. She had a grand time. We closed the place down.

- Birthday party for her friends and family at our house. Complete with a Space Walk/Slide combo, cake and ice cream and lots of good snacks. She had a grand time. Her big present was a swing set that Keith built the night before the party (that's usually how we operate - wait until the last minute to do something) . The moment she noticed that she had a swingset in her backyard she wanted nothing to do with the Space Walk and Slide. She played on the swing the entire day. We made her get off to come and sing happy birthday to her and open presents. After singing happy birthday to her she waved the candles out instead of blowing them - I guess the practice run earlier in the week was enough candle blowing for Maddie. Then on to the "Presents". You would think that all kids love this part of the party. Not Maddie. She opened a couple of presents and loudly stated - "I'm done with that" as she marched off to the swing set. That was yesterday morning and all of her presents are still not opened.

My sister got her a little kitchen set and we did open that for her and put it together . I have eaten more imaginary hot dogs in the past day than ever before. She loves that present!!!

I am so happy, beyond words, that I was able to spend her birthday with her this year. And a little sad that I missed the 2 before. She is such an amazing little girl. I look forward to many more birthdays with her. I did take a moment the morning of her birthday to remember the mother, in China who was undoubtedly thinking about the little girl born on October 18th, 3 years before and prayed for God to give her peace and comfort.

As the days have past since Maddie's birthday, I know she can't wait until next year, she absolutely loved her birthday and we loved celebrating it with her!

Just wait until she experiences Christmas!!!