Happy 8th Birthday, Jessica!

It is really hard for me to believe Jessica is 8 yrs old! She seems so mature and grown up... I am really not sure I am ready for the years ahead! We are very proud of her... she is sweet, caring, loving, sensitive, tender hearted... and is truly a tremendous help to me with the twins. She will be starting 3rd grade in August!

The tissue box... we gave Jessica a big surprise for her birthday... and I couldn't quite figure out how to tell her what it was. A few days before her birthday, she read me a journal entry she had written the year before when we were still in NC and she and James went to the Spring Outing with their Indian Princess Tribe (which she terribly misses). She wrote about how much she loved camp... the only bad thing was that her nose was runny and she didn't have any tissues so she had to keep going to the bathroom to blow her nose. Well... there came my idea! We wrapped up a box of tissues for her to tell her... she gets to go to camp in July with her best friend, Madison. She misses Madison a lot since we moved... but we are fortunate that they still keep in touch via email and snail mail and that we still see them fairly often. Well... here was her reaction when she opened the box of tissues... what kid wants a box of tissues for their birthday?

And here is her reaction when we told her that the tissues are for camp so she won't have to spend so much time in the bathroom...

We also took her to dinner the night of her birthday (June 18th)... she chose Chili's. It was a really nice dinner b/c there was a breeze blowing and we got to eat outside. Here she is enjoying her milkshake with her very proud Mommy...

The weekend after her birthday, we had a sleepover with a couple of friends. Of course, she chose a Hannah Montana cake! She invited Allie (our neighbor and her classmate), Melanie (Allie's little sister and Jaycie's friend), and Annie (a wonderful new friend she met at church!). The girls had a great time... we had pizza & cake... danced around to the Jonas Brothers' CD, made glass window catchers (this takes more time than you think it will!)... and watched the premier of "Camp Rock" on the Disney Channel. Then... they all crashed in the living room!

Melanie, Annie, Jaycie, Jessica, & Allie