Gloria's 11th bbirthday!!

This past week Gloria celebrated her 11th birthday. Words cannot express how grateful I am for my Gloria. She is a wonderful daughter. I cannot believe that my sweet little girl is 11! Gloria is my oldest child and she has been a wonderful big sister to her brothers and sisters. For Gloria's birthday this year, she decided that instead of a party, she would rather have go on a shopping spree (hallelujah!!!).  It was a really nice birthday- of course I gave Travis the option to go shopping with Gloria or to stay home with the rest of the kids.... to my relief (and Gloria's) Travis chose to stay home and let the girls go shopping! We brought along 2 of Gloria's best friends, Emma and Samantha. We started out at the mall. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and then went to build a bear where the girls got to get their own new friend to take home (I love the fact that these girls all still love going to build a bear!!). We spent almost 2 hours in build a bear... it was so much fun!!! The girls all had a blast and it was nice for me to find a comfy place to sit and relax while they ran all over the store choosing items and dressing their bears!  After that, we met daddy and the rest of the kids at an all you can eat frozen yogurt shop!! The kids were able to put as many flavors of fro-yo as they wanted into their cups, put many toppings on and eat til they were sick!!  So, fun!!! We went home and had some cheesecake. It was a great birthday and I hope that all my children decide to do that for their birthdays from now on!! I didn't have to plan a party.... decorate for a party.... clean up after a party.... prepare gift bags or entertain 20 girls for hours on end. Yep. That was a perfect party!!

Here are a few fun facts about my oldest child.

1. She loves to dance!! She dances around the house all day every day. She dances in classes. She dances at school. She is our dancing queen.

2. She loves to read. She will pull out a book and read anytime she has a spare minute.

3. She is still playing the guitar, but a lot of her passion for it is gone. She still does her lessons each week- but she rarely pulls it out to practice... I hope this is just a phase she is going through, she is really good at the guitar.

4. She is brilliant. She really is. In all of her schooling and reading she really excels and enjoys learning.

5. She is very spiritual. I love that she loves the gospell and it shows in her actions.

I love my daughter so much!! Happy birthday, Gloria!!