Shaelynne turns 9!

Last week was Shaelynne's 9th birthday. I spent the day shopping with Zach getting him ready for scout camp so she went with a friend's family to Dierke's Lake to play for the day. That evening we had cake and ice cream and then I took the kids to the Drive-In. We watched Wall-E and Prince Caspian. It was a fun evening.

Here's 8 things about Shaelynne:
1. She is a perfectionist in every way possible from her hair to her grades to how she expects others to act to how my house looks. Sometimes she sets the standard a little too high for the rest of us and then it's not so pretty around here.

2. She has naturally curly hair around her face and neck. She hates it. It is pretty tight curls but the rest of her hair is super thick and very straight. We've tried many different hairstyles and her favorite is slicked to her head in a pony tail. She is obbessed with making sure there is no curl. We rarely see her with her hair down.

3. She loves to clean. I wake up to the sound of her doing dishes. It's her self-appointed duty to keep my kitchen clean. I don't mind.

4. Shaelynne is always writing little love notes to everyone. I love to find a "thank you" or an "I love you" note on my bed or the fridge.

5. She loves to sing. All day long I love to listen to her. No matter what she's doing, she always sings a song.

6. I always know when she is tired because she gets really grumpy and she cries and nothing can calm her down and she refuses to admit that possibly she might be a little worn out and it's impossible to reason with her and finally she just gets really really mad and cries herself to sleep and then she is an angel when she wakes up and is full of lots of hugs and apologies. We only go through this about every other day.

7. Shaelynne is very picky about what she wears. She likes new things and she is very polite and never says whether she likes something or not. She just hangs it in her closet and NEVER wears it again. Drives me crazy! Though she hates her clothes, she continues to wear the cut off jeans and ratty t-shirt because she is comfortable instead of trying something new.

8. She has a big heart. She wants to be friends with everyone. She never wants anyone to feel left out or hurt in any way. She used to come home from school last year and tell me that the teacher yelled at one of the kids and made them cry so she cried with them. When I moved her to a different school, she cried because she didn't want her friends to cry alone. She wrote them notes every week and sent them to school with Alexys so that they would know that she was still their friend.

9. She is my big teddy bear. She loves to snuggle and gives hugs. She is good about stepping aside so that the younger kids get my lap first but if I ever slide them aside and invite her to sit by me, she suddenly becomes my little Shaelynne again and takes all the love she can get.

Shaelynne is a sweetheart. I'm lucky she's my little girl.