Heidi's 8th Birthday

One of our family traditions is that on my children's 8th birthday I bring a balloon, buy lunch from wherever my kids ask, and join them for lunch at school.Here's Heidi in her classroom right before lunch yesterday. Her birthday is today (sat, Sept. 29th) so I went to her school the day before. It was fun to eat with her in the cafeteria and to be able to have conversations with her and her friends. When I volunteer in the classroom I don't interact with the kids very much. I just do what her teacher tells me to do while they do their regular school work.
Today was Heidi's actual birthday. This morning we went to Morgan's (Heidi's cousin) baptism. After the baptism we went back to Gwen's for lunch. I brought another birthday cake. We sang Happy Birthday to Morgan, Ammon (Aaron's son), and Heidi for a Zambrana family party there. I didn't take a single pic while I was there. I can't believe I did that. Oh well.

After lunch we all went home, got out of our church clothes, then Heidi and I went shopping for some real girl time together. Above Heidi and Bun Bun all buckled up for the ride. When we got to Target (G & G Gage always give Target gift card for b-day's) I put on some lip gloss before going in. Heidi joined in. She is 8 now....plenty old if you ask me. (I LOVE make-up and would never discourage my girls from wearing it.) They grow up so fast!
B E A U T I F U L ! ! !


After Heidi LOADED UP on Littlest Pet Shop toys, we went to the mall. She told me she didn't want to get her ears pierced, but I was hoping that taking her to Claires to see all the cute ear rings she could wear she would change her mind. No such luck. She even watched somebody get their ears pierced with out so much as a flinch......still not convinced. Perhaps I should have taught her the rule "Beauty is pain." She said she was going to wait until she turns 10. I'm still morning the loss of those darling ear rings. I think this age of girls is SO CUTE! Oh well. Heidi is EXTRA CUTE even with out ear rings...one less thing to spend money on too.
We bought a little treat. She LOVED it!
Visited a cool store with all kinds of light trinkets.
All in all, Heidi felt special and loved. She is both! We love you Heidi. I don't know why Paul and I were so lucky to have such a sweet heart for a daughter but we are so happy to have you in our family. You are the sunshine in our family! We just love to watch you grow. Happy Birthday! The next eight years are going to change EVERYTHING and we are excited to share them with you.