8 is Great!

 We had a birthday this weekend, and lucky for Brooklyn, we also had a visitor.  Sorry it's so dark, we were playing with settings, but I wanted to post this pic to prove our adopted family was here (Erica!) and helped decorate the cake :).

On to the Birthday Girl!  Brooklyn turned 8 on Saturday and we had a great day! (Aside from the trials of it not being someone else's birthday and him wanting something because she was getting something.  Sigh.  That's a never-ending battle...).  We did presents in the morning since everyone was there and no one could wait a minute longer.  They didn't even wait for Jon to get his breakfast!  Lucky for them, he didn't mind.

 Brooklyn is very into La La Loopsies these days.  They're a version of Strawberry shortcake to me.  Whatever works for her, I say....

 And, of course, Star Wars.  She's been begging for a shirt and, turns out, they're impossible to find geared toward girls (except at Disneyland where they are seriously overpriced...); so, she got a night shirt.  Works for us!

 More presents.  Mason and Julianne did pretty well at letting her open them.  Trying not to hover was another story....  Birthdays are SO exciting!!

 And, the present.  She's been begging for one for a while so Jon and I decided it was time.  It was all she got from us, but she was in heaven.  Her face pretty much says it all, although the bouncing up and down on the couch was a good indicator, too.  She even shared with her brother.  Eventually.
 After presents, we visited the Farmer's market and then to Red Robin for lunch.  Her initial choice was McDonald's, but after hearing RR would sing to her, she was persuaded :). 

 By the time we got home, the DS was charged and the playing began.  Hooray!  I'm glad we can treat her to gifts she wants and she was happy.  One only turns 8 once, right?

 Later, after we played and took pictures (THANKS, ERICA!!), we had dinner and the Yates joined us for cake and ice cream.  Brooklyn requested a La la loopsy cake and we were obliging.  The mints worked perfectly for buttons, and although the dolls are more creepy in this form (vs. the regular form), they worked great for the cake.

Happy Happy Birthday to Brooklyn!  I can't believe she's 8.  I was remembering when we had her and it seems so long ago and not that long at the same time.  With all of our babies, Jon and I didn't find out the gender until the birth (it's way fun that way, I highly recommend it!).  Jon said through most of the pregnancy with Brooklyn that he wasn't ready to be the Daddy of a little girl.  Turns out, he was.  She was born on a Wednesday by c-section.  She had been head down pretty much the entire 9 months but during the last week, flipped to a breech position.  So, luckily it wasn't an emergency section but still scary!  She was a super easy baby and very flexible as a toddler.  She is still great with the littler kids and willing to tag along as we run errands and do not fun things sometimes.  She's very smart and loves school.  Like me, Brooklyn is a reader.  She's already read all 7 Harry Potters and is ready to do it again.  We are super proud of her and so glad she's ours.  Happy Birthday, babe!