Happy 9th Birthday, A!

9 years ago, God blessed us with one amazing little girl, and

He just keeps heaping the blessings on day after day.

I can hardly believe that A is 9. Even harder to believe that

we are halfway through "raising" her. (That just makes me want to cry)

I tell A often that I am sorry because I know as a first born she is the one who gets the brunt of all of our parenting tests. She takes it with ease most of the time too. I try to remember this when I am with her so that she does not always get the raw end of the deal. However, the hard parts have not even gotten to us yet.

A is a smart girl. She loves school, really wants to do well, and that makes me so happy.

She is in the gifted program at her school and for the last two years has held her own

as the only girl with up to 7 boys. A few weeks ago they finally got some new girls in the

class which I know makes her very happy.

She loves to play softball, read books, and play on the computer.

She is saving her money for an IPod touch. She has already told M that she will definitely share it with her when she purchases it. I love that she wants to make her baby sister happy too!

She loves her friends. So much so that she has taken on the role of girl protector in her class and all the boys complain about how hard A hits. They don't complain about each other's hitting, only A's. (Note: She is not going around hitting, the boys have made up this really fun - to them- hitting/kicking game, however they don't like it when A takes up for herself and her friends. As 3rd graders they think that the girls are just going to run away)

You can find her jamming out to Miley Cyrus in her room (with R and M of course), and dancing around like she is a rock star. Or you can find her cuddled up under her covers reading a book. I really love this about her, because I love to read too!

These are just some of the many reasons why I think A is special.

I am just happy that God chose me to be her mommy!

A ~ Daddy and I are so proud of you and love you so much.

Happy 9th Birthday!

Many blessings to you today and always!