Happy 8th Birthday

It is hard to believe that you are now 8 years old. You have done so much growing this past year. It is unreal as to how fast you are changing before our eyes. You have gone from that little girl so unsure of herself and full of anxieties to a young lady with confidence and loving life.

You have a best friend who has taught you so much about friendship, and given you so much more confidence. I have to admit that when you were born I always dreamed of the time you, your best friend and I would go shopping, to the park, out to lunch, and many more things. We are doing these things now.

You have your favorites, and not so favorites, but you challenge yourself through your least favorites, and vocalize very appropriate when it is just too much. You are opening up again and showing others just how gifted you are, and teaching everyone something they know nothing about. Your manners are so great, and you use them very appropriate.

I am so proud of my 8 year old! You are blossoming into a very intelligent, compassionate and sweet young lady. Never lose your sense of imagination, it will take you far!

Love Mama!

A few pictures of your birthday celebration:

Selena's Birthday

We had quite the surprise on Selena's birthday, her youngest brother Michael William was born at 12:03 a.m. She was pretty excited to think she was celebrating her birthday with her youngest brother. He is joining the Foster family with their brother Junior, which comes with much joy and relief.

For her actual birthday party we had our friends Aunt Kelly and Tony over for cake and ice cream. A tradition we have had since Selena's first birthday, I don't think she could ever imagine a birthday without her Aunt Kelly there. She informed me this year she wanted to decorate her own cake, so I didn't run out and order one. While we didn't get one baked, we purchased it, and asked for the kit so she could indeed decorate it herself, the end result was Selena's birthday cake.

We did something a little different this year with Selena's birthday, we took her to the store and allowed her to pick out her very own birthday present. She had no problem knowing exactly what she wanted, and was so excited to see that they had one left in the store. She picked out Pop the Pig, game. I have to admit for a kid's game it is pretty fun, simple, and packed with surprises.

Some of the other gifts Selena received were some Poly Pockets, My Little Ponies, a fuzzy warm blanket and a new outfit. I would say that she got a little spoiled this year for her birthday, but I guess she deserves it. We had fun between celebrating during the week at Chuck E. Cheese, and then the celebration at home, it was a great 7th Birthday for Selena.

Just a couple more pictures of all her fun on her birthday at Chuck E. Cheese! Now to finish getting ready for Christmas!

My Baby Is Growing Up

Dear Selena,

How can it be that today you turn 7 years old? We are celebrating so much here this month, but your birthday certainly has not been forgotten. With a trip to Chuck E Cheese, on Wednesday with very special friends, you experienced a full afternoon of total bliss. It is hard to believe that I could fill your pockets with tokens and hardly see you except when you came running back with a hand full of tickets for me to keep, then off again you ran to find and explore all the games and fun. Every so often from across the room I would hear your sweet little laugh or a squeal of joy. Now tonight for the second part of your birthday with more family friends, birthday cake and presents.

What else are we celebrating besides your birthday, and Christmas of course? Well, let's see let's start with the little things that you are so over the top about. Your thrilled to know that Uncle TJ and Marie are not only going to have a baby, which you wish would come today, but sorry honey it won't be here until Summer, but the fact that they are getting married next week. You love your new Aunt already, and Grandma has a little secret, she thinks Marie is pretty sweet too, and couldn't imagine a nicer Daughter-in-law.

Now for the Greatest thing we get to celebrate as this year comes to an end, yes, that is right your adoption! We are so close now, just waiting for the GAL to email us her report for our approval, then off to the Attorney it goes to be filed in court next week! We will be your forever family before the end of the year! We couldn't be happier to  make this dream come true for you, but there is one more piece to this puzzle, that's right you are also making our dream of a forever family come true as well!

We love how much you are growing, you remind us every day how smart you are, but not only that but you prove to us how smart you are and how quick you learn new things. Your passion for the world around you remains your constant, and I love the way you see the world.

I look forward to the next year with you, for the newness of your forever family, and for all the laughter, fun, and joy that you bring into our home.

Love,
Grandma (Soon to be Mom)

Turning 6

We kept Selena’s birthday pretty simple this year and spent it with family. Aunt Kelly and her boyfriend Tony came over for Pizza and Birthday celebrations. It was nice keeping it low keyed this year, though we know that Selena really had fun.

I got Selena really good, as I hid her cake in the laundry room. I suddenly announced that I forgot to pick up a birthday cake. Selena was truly disappointed and went on a hunt through the kitchen in hopes that grandma was just teasing. She really came to the resolve that I hadn’t picked up a cake. Aunt Kelly kept her attention by reading a book to her, as I snuck out and brought the cake in. Selena had no idea that I was setting the cake up on the dining room table. When Kelly finished reading the book I called Selena in the dining room to open birthday presents. I only regret that I didn’t have the camera ready to capture the look on her face when she first spotted a cake sitting in the middle of the table.

Selena loved all her gifts, though she didn’t get any toys, she did get a new pair of pajamas, a custom designed bracelet, and a real watch.

Stay tuned as I will be telling you more about her gifts, the birthday banner, and how it feels to have a 6 year old.

Selena’s New Pets

This little fellow has visited this stump every morning. We asked Selena to give him a name, she chose “Pecker”. We talked her into naming him “Woody”. We have so many birds in our yard from blue jays to pigeons. I love watching as Selena runs around the yard with her finger up in the air making bird calls thinking the birds will one day fly down and land on her finger. Wouldn’t that be a shocker if one actually did?

Friday evening Selena had a birthday party to go to. She had a lot of fun, while all the other’s were older then her, she still had a lot of fun in the games. This was also a farewell party for her “Best” friend who is leaving her grandparents to go live with her mom. She will be back to visit at times, so it isn’t like Selena will never see her again, but it was still hard for Selena.

The kids had so much fun making prom dresses out of toilet paper, popping balloons, which once again Selena was not able to break her balloon by sitting on it, and running around just having fun. Pizza, cake and ice cream always makes the party better.

We will miss you Miss T, but we know that we will be seeing you again soon. Have fun with your mom and your baby sister and take care. We love you sweetie.

Making Memories

I think for a child turning 5 is one of the most memorable times there is. They come into turning 5 with so much realization of the world around them. School, rather it is homeschool or public school is so much more of a reality. Selena was very anxious to turn 5 and still refuses to let us forget that she is now 5 years old.

In an attempt to savor this time just a little bit more with her, I left the birthday decorations up until she finally said we could take them down. We then made a little something that she can save to remember her special day with.

Using one of her pink paper plates from her birthday party and the confetti that we had spread out on the table along with some white glue, we made her own number 5.

She first had to pick through the confetti and separate all the balloons from the cakes and Happy Birthdays. After she got three different piles we got started. Using the smaller balloon confetti she made a 5 with the white glue, then poured the confetti over it. She then decided to use one Happy Birthday confetti along the bottom and some of the cake confetti around the entire plate. She hasn’t decided yet where she is going to hang this, or if we will just save it. I do know she had a lot of fun making it and is very proud of her birthday memory.

Oh For Birthday Parties

Selena and I got busy yesterday, she wanted lots of birthday decorations. I unfortunately had an allergic reaction to a medication and was not able to go out and get everything I wanted to get. Selena and I decided we could be creative and decorate a lot without going to the store.

Of course we had a Happy Birthday Banner, now that is a must especially for a 5 year old, don’t you know. Well then she wanted some streamers.

I had pastel ribbon, so we curled every last bit of the ribbon and gently attached it to the light over the dining room table. Selena just had to have the green bow attached as well.

Now come on what would a birthday be without a balloon? When Papa picked up the cake of course he picked up a Birthday balloon. I quickly covered the table with a pink table cloth and spread out some birthday confetti. At this point Selena was beside herself waiting for all her friends to arrive.

We had one very happy birthday girl. After everyone left, and we were tucking her into bed, I asked her “How does it feel to be 5?” She answered, “It feels great!” I then asked, “Do you feel any different?” Selena quickly felt her head, body, arms and legs and informed me, “NO I feel just like I did when I was 4.” I assured her that throughout this year of being 5 she would have many changes in her life.

Papa’s Birthday

Last week we celebrated Papa’s birthday. I wanted Selena to use her new found skills in arts and crafts to make Papa a birthday present. I basically told her that we would use a particular poem and prints of her hands. She had to decide where to go from there.

She wanted to use paper plates, and blue paint for her hand prints. I never questioned her ideas, only obliged by giving her 2 paper plates and helping her paint her hands blue to make the hand prints. She made one hand print on each plate, then set them aside to dry.

She then asked for a hard piece of paper, I figured she meant card stock. She wanted white, so once again I just obliged. She grabbed her markers and began to create. She drew a picture of Papa then began to decorate the sides with flowers. She asked me to cut out the hand prints. She then went to work gluing the poem and two hand prints on the paper just where she felt they should go.

When she was all finished I said, “I thought we should write Happy Birthday and the date so that Papa would remember that you gave this to him for his Birthday and that your hands were this big on this date.” She asked me to do that part for her, so I did.

Papa was very thrilled with his present from Selena. I thought it was so fitting considering he is always so worried about her getting hand and finger prints all over everything. I was so proud of the thought process that Selena put into this project and the fact that she designed so much of it on her own. I think she was pretty proud as well. 

We Love New Toys

I always love when new toys come into the house. It always means new stories, more adventures in play, and a lot of laughter. Selena is a little confused in the picture above, as she brought most of her new tea set over to my computer, where I was sitting, she poured tea, then told me to cheer. I threw my hands in the air and yelled, “Yipee!” That wasn’t what she meant, so she told me, “No, Grandma in the cup.” I examined the little cup and informed her, “I don’t fit in the cup.” This set her little mind into deep thought.

She then poured me another cup of tea and informed me that we had to say a cheer before we could drink the tea. I knew what she meant but again I threw my hands in the air and yelled, “Yipee!” She wouldn’t give up until I took the tea cup and toasted a cheer with her then drank her imaginary tea. Don’t I sound mean?

She loves these little dollar store games. One is called Gingerbread man race. You roll the dice then move your gingerbread man the number on the dice, the first person to get 10 wins the game. There are different ways to play this game, and we will explore those down the road. The other one is Tic Tac Toe with snowmen and gingerbread men. In the picture above after playing several games of each with Papa, Selena had to line the gingerbread men up on the one game.

Today we’ve had hours of fun listening to Selena play with all her new birthday toys.

Selena’s Birthday Party

On Saturday we had Selena’s birthday party. Oh she was so excited that all day she jumped around and could hardly restrain herself as she waited for everyone to get here. We had pizza, well Selena ordered pizza as she said that was Trinity’s favorite, but she then went on to inform me that all she wanted was a grilled cheese sandwich. I could have forgot the grilled cheese sandwich because Selena was so excited food was truly the last thing she was worried about.

Our birthday girl was feeling rather excited. I took one picture and her eyes were closed, so I told her to stop and open her eyes, well I got an open mouth as well. We did arts and crafts. I had picked up some small wooden Christmas ornaments that the kids could decorate using felt tip pens.

They really had fun decorating them, though Selena was still so excited that it was her big day that she could hardly sit still at the table long enough for much. Trinity however had a lot of fun decorating hers.

I had snuck the cake in without Selena knowing. She asked me if we had cake and I told her, “Oh No Grandma forgot the cake.” Selena knew that wasn’t true but played along. She did get pretty excited when we brought it out though.

Selena had found her presents hidden in our closet a couple days ago, so we told her that they were for Trinity. She tried to give her presents to Trinity, we all had a good laugh over that. One of her gifts she happened to be with us when we bought it. In order to accomplish this we asked her what was one toy she thought Trinity would like. She picked out a Beauty and the Beast Tea Set. I guess you know she was pretty excited when she opened it and realized it was for her and not for Trinity. She did have to hold it up and tell everyone where we bought it at.

She had a great birthday party. She is now very sure that she is 4 years old. Believe me she made out like a bandit as far as presents went as well. Everything from art supplies, fun bath soap, games, a Barbie horse and doll, to her tea set. Just think we get to do this all over again come Christmas morning.

Happy Birthday Selena!

On December 14, 2006 you entered the world with a great bang! We will never forget that day. Grandma was so proud to be there through the entire birth. As you can see Papa was pretty proud to be a Grandpa. You had to choose the stormiest day though, you were born and with in 15 minutes all the lights in Olympia went out. Papa came home only to discover that the wind storm had topped a tree causing it to crash into our garage and right on into our laundry room. I don’t think any of us could ever forget the day you were born, even if we tried. You will always be known as our little power house storm.

We of course have enjoyed every year with you. Your first year you learned so many things including how to be a dog. You didn’t care for your toys, but you sure loved Brandi’s toys, she even taught you how to carry the toys in your mouth (yours of course not hers).

 

At the age of 2, you kept us in stitches with all the funny things you did, as you finally were mastering walking, discovering that sitting in boxes did not work out real well, and at times even lost track of your favorite little hoppy. You were a little ham and loved the camera as much back then as you do now.

Through your third year your imagination has at times proved to be the most adorable attribute about you. The endless stories and the most lovely pieces of art. Your expressions, and curiosity has led to some brilliant learning adventures as well as some very funny stories that will live on forever.

We are sure we will have so many more laughs with you through the next year. All your little giggles, mishaps, funny stories make our lives filled to the brim with love.

Happy Birthday Selena!

Love,  Mama and Papa!

Selena has informed us however that she is not going to turn 4, she is going to stay 3. Oh  how I wish it worked that way!

Linking to Not Before 7.