Great to Be Eight!

While I've been in Utah bringing my oldest baby out for a college visit, my youngest baby had the gall to have a birthday without me.  Besides making me feel really old all at once, I was sad when I realized that the best time in our schedule for this trip  would take me away for her 8th birthday and even sadder still when Ellie was upset about it.   In an effort to help me feel more a part of her birthday and to help Ellie feel better about it, I thought it would be better for both of us if we gave her birthday gift to her a little early.

Since the American Girl doll was the only present she had been asking for, I knew that she would be happy about receiving it, but we were a little taken aback by the reaction that we got.

 Since the invention of birthday gifts, there have only been five reactions that were rated the most passionate, the most sincere....the most dramatic.

This one left them all behind.

There was shrieking and giggling.  There was excited jumping up and down.  There was more shrieking and dancing around the room.  It was five minutes of pure unbridled excitement.

In nearly eighteen years of parenting,  that show of dramatics was by far the most enthusiastic and unbridled response to a gift that we've ever seen.

While Ellie was simply expressing her excitement and couldn't have known what her reaction would mean to me, but it definitely made missing her birthday a little less sad for me....even if I was kicking myself for not having the video camera out.

We sure love our sweet Ellie Bellie!!!!!

Happy 8th Birthday!