She's Eight!

We started celebrating yesterday afternoon with a party with all of Alyssa's friends. Our birthday girl had requested a Hannah Montana-themed get-together.

"It was just totally awesome!" according to Alyssa. And I had so much fun planning it.

We used the cute little tin purse, pictured here, for a game. It was filled with all sorts of Hannah Montana goodies; nail polish, lip glosses, brush, bracelet, necklace, etc. The girls took turns removing items, sometimes up to four items, and two teams competed to figure out what Hannah lost from her purse.

Alyssa's place setting. I made each girl a personalized autograph book. Every rock star signs autographs, right? And each guest got a sparkly pen to do the signing.

The cupcakes. Strawberry cake with a vanilla pudding center. Yummy!

Some of our rock star snacks.

Signing autographs. Aren't they so cute?

Playing "Pin the Microphone on Hannah Montana." Alyssa is thrilled to have a this new poster for her room.

The guests. Back row: Jasmine, Rachel, Linsey, Emily, Abigail and Brinkley. Front row: McKenzie, Jenna, Alyssa, Kaelynn, Lydia and Kaylie. On the landing: Amber.

This morning, Alyssa woke extra early and I found her sitting on her bed, writing in her new sparkly journal that she received from a friend at last night's party. She said she wanted to write all about her party so she'd remember it.

We had muffins for breakfast so we started the day by singing and blowing out a candle.

Alyssa requested McDonald's for lunch. The kids thought it was so great to be able to leave school for a Happy Meal.



Alyssa took cookies to share with her classmates and then more cupcakes to share with her gymnastics teammates at tonight's practice.

She requested "noodles with white sauce" for dinner and then we had one more cake and candle-blowing for good measure.

Eight years sure do go by quickly. Seems like yesterday this tiny, beautiful little girl joined our lives. Now, all of the sudden, we've reached a milestone birthday. She's looking forward to being baptized soon and also can't wait to have her ears pierced.

Happy Birthday to one super special girl! We sure love you!