Happy 11th Birthday, Alyssa!

What can I say?
I can't come up with the words to say how much I love this girl.
I never could have imagined when I started out on this mommy journey what all was ahead of me.
Soon after Alyssa was born I realized that she was brought into my life for more than just sleepless nights and diaper changes. She transformed our lives, made us parents.
I am so thankful that God chose us to be her parents. She's an awesome girl and I can't wait to see what the next 11 years have ahead of us.





In honor of her birthday I'll give ya 11 fun facts about her...from my point of view.

1. She loves Starbucks (just like me) her drink of choice in a vanilla bean frap with no whip. She can't stand whip cream!

2. She's one of those kids that everyone likes. Sometimes I wonder how she'll do in Jr. High and high school. She's definitally a teachers pet. (I'm MORE than fine with this)

3. She's a bit naive for her age. (again, I am more than ok with this) she still loves American Girl dolls and Hannah Montana.

4. She loves to dance and might I say...she's pretty darn good at it. Her teacher often uses her as an example and she's always at the front of the class. She dances where ever she is, though this can be a little annoying I admire her passion for it.

5. She has been taking ballet classes since she was 4. Since we have added tap, hip hop, and Irish. Shes already talking about adding another next year.

6. She is a great big sister. She is very caring and always worrying about Brandon's feelings. Gabriella too...she's just too young to notice.

7. She loves animals and wants to be a veterinarian when she's older.

8. She is health conscious and rarely eats sweets. (not sure where the heck she got that one)

9. We call her peanut and have since we saw her first ultrasound picture at 8 weeks.

10. Shes not afraid to try new things. She's trying out for the cheer leading team in a few weeks. When I talked to her a little about the what ifs of not making the team her reaction was "it will be fun just to try". I admire that...I never would have even tried.

11. She's an amazing girl. Anyone who knows her knows this fact.
Though at the time she was a surprise to Jeff and I, we know now that she was part of God's plan all along, placed in our lives at just the right time and we feel blessed to be her parents every day.