Madelyn's 9th Birthday!

 

My darling girl turned 9!!!! She is truly a gem and we are so grateful to have her in our family. We were able to celebrate with lots of parties! My parents and grandparents were in town for the birth of baby Everett and so we decided to have her family party a week early with everyone.

 

It was sweet to see all of the cousins together and it was also the first time that Jonathan met little Everett. 

Our dear Grandma Starr however could not be there and so I made Madelyn's cake. She chose a  dark chocolate cake with a berry and mascarpone frosting. I surprised her with sixlets in the middle. I loved watching her face when she saw them. It was also pretty windy and so she pretended to blow out the candles for us. Love it. : )

I love her expressions as she opened her gifts. She is a girl with a grateful heart. She was especially excited about that new sleeping bag!

On Madelyn's actual birthday we went to the aquarium where she got to pick out a stuffed animal at the gift shop. Meet Lucy, the stingray.

I love sibling hugs! It warmed my heart to watch her brothers give her gifts and for the love Madelyn showed in return.

 

Madelyn chose to have a "Frozen" birthday party and wanted to watch the movie outside at the park with her friends. As the day went on, it became harder to decorate and put things up with the increasing wind. I was worried about rain but the forecast said 0% precipitation. 

Her cute friends all arrived with their sleeping bags, pajamas, and gifts and we started by eating lots of pizza! As were eating it started to sprinkle so we ate on our friend's front porch. Then it started pouring and so we hiked it inside with all of the girls' stuff and movie stuff and decoration stuff. Jonathan gets the Daddy of the Year award for taking load after load inside.



I was worried the girls, especially Madelyn would be sad, but they were as happy (and giddy) as ever. They thought it was the best adventure ever. I loved their attitudes!



We opened gifts and Jonathan helped them make Olaf cupcakes that Madelyn saw her cousin Ariel make. My friend Ashlie and I gave the girls makeovers and did "Elsa" hair with sparkly spray.



We also had frozen hot chocolate. The girls got cozy downstairs and we started the movie for them. Yes, it was "Frozen"!



By the end of the night they ended up in Madelyn's room doing their own makeovers. Oh to be 9!! What a fun age.

Happy Birthday dear Madelyn Mae!!!