Sarah's 8th Birthday in pictures...

The big day for Sarah finally arrived.... She turned 8! She has been counting down for quite sometime now. Luckily for me, my energy has returned, because I sure needed it today....

Take a tour with me of Sarah's birthday in pictures....

 6:30am I wake up to find Sarah and Lund already fishing. Lund with his pole and Sarah with a stick that she tied some of my scrapbooking ribbon to.

                                       Good morning birthday girl!!!

 Daddy had a little bit of time before he got ready to go to work to show Sarah how to cast on his pole.

 I am going to show you how the ribbon-stick theory works. Sarah stands on the edge of the lake and throws it as far as she can.....

 And then she fishes.... how cute is that?!!!

  She was sooo excited to fish before school, so it helps to have a lake in our backyard...

 Then Sarah and Lund went in together and bought her a new fishing pole, tackle box and fresh worms.  (so, that would mean me running to Walmart at 8am so they can pick out the present). She was sooo excited for her first fishing pole!!

 This picture is not for the faint of heart: That is Sarah with a pair of scissors about to cut the worm in half to put on her hook. That was the only part she had a hard time with, cutting up worms. Can't say I blame her.

 So now she is ready to go with her new pole. (Time frame here is 9am-10am)

 Then, while grandma and grandpa Johnson got the other kids off on their school schedules, I took Sarah to her birthday breakfast at Denny's. You get a free grand slam on your birthday and she LOVED choosing which four things out of the whole list of choices.

 Lund picked this out for his sister to wear. He said, "Mom, I have to get this for her. She loves animals and it is her birthday!" Needless to say, she LOVED it!!!

 My OLD girl!!! (time frame here is 10:30-11:30am) She was all smiles and we talked about the day she was born and we colored as we waited for our food. It was pure heaven!

 Sarah just loved our waiter because he kept saying "Ladies, can I get you anything and Ladies, how are you doing?" She would just giggle and as he walked away and then proclaim, "He called me a lady!" So, right before we left she asked me if she could leave the waiter a note.  Above is her note..

 This is a funny story: Sarah was allowed to have one friend over for dinner and cake and ice cream and her friend Jenna came over. They went fishing again while we finished up dinner and look what they came running inside with. Jenna, who didn't have a pole, tied that same scrapbooking ribbon to a skinny long stick and caught that fish!!! Seriously!!! I don't know how the skinny stick didn't break or how that even works in physics!!!!! Amazing!!! And she caught three more fish later tonight with the same stick and ribbon and a piece of frozen corn tied to the end on a hook.  Jenna told me to print out the picture for her so she could write it in her journal tonight. She was soooooooooo excited and frankly, I haven't ever seen anything like it in my life!!

 Then, after dinner, the big moment arrived. We took her upstairs to show her the birthday present. A shelf with about a 100 beanie baby animals (seriously every animal you can imagine) and a few big stuffed animals thrown into the mix. This is what she asked for this year... a shelf above her bed with stuffed animals on it. She LOVED it..... I can just picture her lining up all the animals according to their species, breed, etc..... oh, she will be busy for hours everyday!!

 So, then her siblings hid her on her bed with all the animals.........Just look for the huge brown eyes!!!

 Time to open the presents...........

 Jenna gave her Squinkies (one of her favorite things because they are just tiny animals), and some huge bubbles.

 And Grandma and Grandpa Johnson gave her the cutest lamp ever! It is a ladybug lamp or nightlight and when you plug it in it is just gorgeous with all the different colors shining through!!! It is sooooooo Sarah!!!

,,,,,, and then we eat the birthday cake!!! Joy, do you remember when you used to sing that song. I know you are a cool teenager now, but think way back to when you used to make songs up about everything and then you will remember how to sing that line. I sang it in my head today all day long!!!

And this finishes up the day. Here is a picture of the cake after one elbow had already fallen ino it (Lund Ryan), and lots of the m -n- m's had been secretly picked off  (um..... WILL!!!)

Favorite quotes from Sarah today:
      "Mom, I can't believe everyone loves me sooo much!!!" (right after getting the fishing pole from her brother and sister)
      "This is the BEST food ever!!!" (while eating her homemade macoroni and cheese for dinner thanks to Aunt Bonnie's recipe. This is what she requested, and she hasn't eaten it in over a year when Bonnie made it for us during her stay at our house for a chemo session. It sure must have made a big impression on her and it is sooooo yummy!!!)
       "Mom, there is every animal imaginable, even a bat!!" (After thuroughly looking at all her new beanie baby animals)
       "Mom, when I get baptized it is going to be embarrassing because everyone will see me get my hair wet!" (while washing her hair in the tub and talking to her about her upcoming baptism.)
   and my very favorite quote of the day......
      "Mom, I am a miracle!!!!" (quoted out loud at Denny's after I told her again about the day she was born and how she stopped breathing a couple of hours later and the doctors had to bring her back to life and she had to live in the NICU for a couple of days undergoing a gillion tests.")  Yes Sarah, you are a miracle!! Happy Birthday with love from mom!!