American Girl Trip to TX

Ruby and I went on our fun surprise trip in January. I still need to upload pictures from my "real" camera, but it's been weighing on me to at least write about it while the memories are somewhat fresh. 

It was my sister-in-law's idea originally. Then she and David planned it together and he surprised us with it for Christmas (video here). So we went to Dallas to stay with Aunt Natalie and their family since there is a doll store there. Ruby's cousins had all been to a doll store, and she had always wanted to go. She is at such a perfect age to do this. 

She was an easy traveler and appreciated everything SO much. She had a smile on her face the whole time and kept saying "thank you so much" for everything. It was really great to have the one-on-one time with her. It is so rare to get that much time with one child. It makes me want to take a trip like this with each of my kids. 

The store was awesome. I loved it, too! I about wanted my own doll - haha! She took her Samantha doll on the trip (the one that was originally mine as a girl). She got her (the doll's) ears pierced and hair fixed at the "salon" there. Then later in the day, we went to the mall and got RUBY'S ears pierced! She will always remember exactly where she was when that happened. She was so brave and knew she wanted to do it. It was so cute. 

She chose the girl of the year, Isabelle. Aunt Natalie had fun buying it for her and picking out a few outfits/accesories for her. (We are so thankful for Aunt Natalie and all she did for us on this trip - what a huge blessing!!) Ruby LOVES her new doll and sleeps with her every night. I love these American Girl dolls because they keep girls YOUNG and interested in dolls longer. And interested in reading! I love that they come with books and stories. Anything to keep them young and carefree for as long as possible.

It was fun spending time with cousins and having such special treatment for our weekend away. 
We will never forget our special trip! 
 

Ruby's surprise party!

Some of you may know that my husband David recently spent some time in the hospital. Eleven nights total, to be exact. He had to have surgery for crohn's disease related issues. 

Well it happened to fall right on Ruby's birthday, which was a bummer. Ruby and I had been planning to do a fun "salon" type party, but I told her we'd have to postpone it. She was such a sweetheart and even said 'well maybe next year.' Like I was going to put it off that long!

I had a few friends who caught wind of this and offered to help in any way. So, long story short ... all my amazing friends stepped in and put the entire party together! I hardly did a thing, besides coordinate the timing and who was doing what. One friend brought decorations, another brought goody bags (with homemade lip gloss and bath salts!), another friend brought all the things for hair, makeup, and pedicures! (she owns a salon). My cousin brought the cake! Grandma helped set up everything and put the food together. Several other friends came to help with hair and nails. 

I am just floored by the goodness of my friends and so very thankful. I know Ruby felt so special. She was WAY surprised and these photos give you a glimpse at how awesome it was. 

We had it at the church and I tricked her by saying we needed to rush over for a meeting I forgot about (on a Friday evening - ha!) She was SO unsuspecting, it was perfect. 

Thanks again, dear friends, for all your help in making this a special birthday for sweet Ruby!

Get ready for a ton of photos now...

Ruby turned SEVEN!

I can't believe my sweet little Ruby is seven years old. She is such a bright spot in our family. We started the day with breakfast in bed. She was kind enough to share with her brothers and sister. You can see that Simon and Greta stole donuts.

Then she put on her new birthday shirt and headed to school. I was always jealous, with an August birthday, of kids who had birthdays during the school year - I don't know why! Later that day i took balloons and donuts to her class. I think she liked the special attention. 

 When she got home from school, I was most excited to let her open her "big" present ... her rainbow quilt! She knew I had been working on it and had seen the quilt top, but didn't know that I had finished it. She was SO surprised and loved it a lot. Yay! ((I plan on taking better pictures of it and making a separate blog post. If you follow me on instagram, you've seen #rubysrainbowquilt.))

Happy 7th Birthday Ruby!