Happy Birthday Becky!

Today Becky is 9! Can Anyone believe it? I sure can't believe that time has gone by so quickly. Not too long ago, it seems, she was watching the Stadium of Fire fireworks with daddy from the window in our hospital room. They had a great view.
Sean and I knew we had our hands full when she started walking and talking at 9 months- which had progressed to full-on sentences by a year.
She's our little artist, always drawing pictures, writing books, and producing "plays" for her siblings to perform. She loves her Achievement Girls nights (and is so bummed that it's over for the summer), piano lessons, and swimming. She even ventured into Cheerleading and has found something else she can enjoy. He favorite sports are swimming, golf, and ice skating.
Becky loves everything pink, pink and pink. Oh, and also things that sparkle. Becky loves to dress up and is looking forward to going to a school without uniforms next year. She's always asking me which jewelry she should wear - which definitely makes her a Gammie's girl.
Becky has a little phobia performing in front of people, and she absolutely hates her freckles, which makes her so much like her mom (I love hers, but I hated mine when I was little). The dark hair she was born with has come back, replacing the short-lived blonde. Her eyes are brown and she's lost almost all of her baby teeth already - at one point she seemed to lose one a week!
Becky is the best helper to her mom. She loves to take care of her younger siblings, especially when they were babies. She can't wait to babysit, and I have to admit that I'm looking forward to that, too!
For her birthday this year she wanted to get a "big" present instead of having a party (I admit, I bribe my kids! They can choose between a party and a present that would cost about the same as a party - last year she got an IPod). This year she wanted her very own American Girl Doll. She'd been getting the magazines for a while and gave it a lot of thought. She decided her first doll would be Molly. We took her to downtown LA (the 35 miles took almost 2 hours!) to the Grove Mall where the American Girl Store was and when we walked in I had a flashback of getting my own AG doll (Kirsten, when I was about her age). We were in the store for about 45 minutes, long enough to visit the "homes" of all the girls to make sure she knew exactly which doll she was going to get, the doll's pj's and bathing suit. It was heaven for her! Sean, Alex and James were so patient as we looked at all the beautiful doll clothes and accessories.
When we were done there we got back in the car and drove the 1/2 hour back to our neighborhood. We stopped by Toys R Us so she could spend some of her birthday money on a Barbie and Barbie Horse, then to Target where she spent the rest of her birthday money on a new outfit. For dinner we joined Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Leslie, Uncle Ian, Aunt Melissa, cousins Korben and Karsen, and Great-Aunt Cindy and counsin Robyn at Mi Casa, then went back to Grandma's house to play and chat with family.
Ahhh, but the birthday hadn't even really started yet! Today we went to the flag raising at church, then off to Build a Bear at Downtown Disney to get her kitty fixed and get Patriotic Puppy, which we named Uncle Sam. We ate Jamba Juice, walked around, and explored the hotels.
When we got home Sean set up the slip-n-slide for the kids to play on and the kids half-wore themselves out for over an hour. Each person in our family gets to choose a meal to eat out on their birthday, and where they want to go. Becky chose Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner, so we're hoping they finish wearing themselves out there before we go to Grandma's for fireworks.

I love Becky so much! She is special in so many ways, but most importantly to me because she was my first baby. When she was born I became a mom. I will be forever grateful that she chose to come to our family and share her special talents with us. Our family wouldn't be the same without her smiling face and bright countenance shining in our home.
Happy Birthday, honey!