Alyssa's turning 8

My little girl is turning 8 years old on Tuesday. Since last year she was completely jipped on her birthday I thought I would start a tradition I've seen some friends do and blog about my little lady. Alyssa shares a birthday with my Grandmother, her great-grandmother. It's a pretty big deal and she thinks it's pretty neat. This year since she is turning 8 she gets to be baptized. She is really excited and has been looking forward to it for a long time. That and getting her ears pierced. We let Natalie get hers done when she was 8 and so Alyssa wants hers pierced as well.



Some things I love about Alyssa:

She LOVES to swim! During the winter she still asks to go swimming.

She loves rocks. She collects them. She will put them in her pockets on our walks home from school everyday. This love of rocks she seems to have picked up from her Grandmother and Great Grandfather on Nate's side. I love it now that I understand where it came from.



She loves birds, and animals in general. When we are playing either at the park or at the school she will stop what she is doing and chase the birds. She has never caught one, but it doesn't stop her from trying!



She loves the monkey bars now that she can go across them well. She even has the blisters/callouses to prove it.

She is artistic. She LOVES to paint! She loves to paint anything from pictures on paper, to ceramics, to wood. She currently is fascinated by mermaids so she's been painting/coloring pictures of mermaids.

She is sensitive. It's a blessing and a curse.



She is a great friend. Above is Alyssa with 2 of her closest friends that are not related to her.

She is very smart and has a pretty good size vocabulary. Not only does she have a great vocabulary but she uses the words in a sentence correctly.



She can ask great questions. Alyssa this ability to ask questions that get right to the heart of the matter. She picks up on things that most 8 year olds don't. Sometimes it's a bit of a challenge because the questions that she asks are almost always the ones that you can't really answer properly in one or two brief sentences. It only gets difficult when we are in a hurry to piano lessons or somewhere else and she wants to know the meaning of life....(heeheehee). Ok that's not one of her questions, but really, the kid is a thinker.

She still loves to sit on my lap and play the tickle game with her Dad. She has the sweetest little giggle and we love to hear it.


She is a petite little thing but she hates it when people call her skinny.


She loves stuffed animals, especially her little friend Fizz the monkey.

She is honest. Sometimes brutally so. I have to tell her sometimes that even when something is true, it doesn't always need to be said.



She is a great teacher to her younger siblings. She has a way of explaining things so that people can understand them. Much like her questions she can simplify things and get straight to the heart of the matter....just like her Father.

She loves to play with her younger brother and will sleep in his room with him at night so that he won't have to sleep alone.

She has big, beautiful blue eyes.

She has my freckled cheeks.

She hates piano lessons and only kinda likes to read.

She LOVES to dance and sing. She loves ballet to be more specific and she loves dressing the part. She would wear tutu's all day and too school if I let her. She makes up songs about all kinds of things. I've heard songs about how she loves Jesus and songs about how she wants to be a mermaid. It's great.


Obviously I could go on and on with this list. I'll save some for her actual birthday party.

This girl is so sweet and I feel blessed to be her mom! I can't imagine our family without her and I'm so proud of her. She is quite the little lady. I'm thankful that I get to have this little girl call me Mommy everyday. Happy birthday Alyssa!