Sweet Angel Madeline

I cannot believe that my Sweet Angel is now six. I cannot believe that six years has passed since her birth and the hectic month after. It has not been an easy six years for her and there have been times that she has struggled to stay alive, but in these six years she has triumphed over every trial and every struggle, and she has done it with dignity, grace, courage, and the most beautiful smile ever. Madeline has taught me what it means to be courageous, what it means to embrace your trials, and no matter what to always smile through every storm. I am honored to be her mother and to enjoy her sweet spirit each and every day. I am glad Heavenly Father saw something in me that I did not see in my self six years ago and sent Madeline to me. It is a joy to walk along side Madeline through the ups and through the downs. I can only imagine if my joy is full now, how much fuller it will be in the years ahead. I know it will not be an easy road ahead for Madeline, there are still a lot of unknowns, but what we do know is Madeline will continue to shine and bless the lives of those that she comes in contact with. Madeline is truly a blessing and a joy to have!

Now to get on with business. Madeline is not much for birthday parties, she loves to spend time with her family, especially daddy. Knowing this it sure made things easier in planing her special day. We started off the day with her favorite breakfast, spaghetti. Yep, you read that correctly, spaghetti. You see Madeline does not like any breakfast foods, so for breakfast she usually has some kind of pasta or left over dinner. Spaghetti is her favorite and she can and will eat it all day long (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between). Madeline was thrilled when she woke up in the morning to find spaghetti waiting for her. Around lunch time it was off to spend the afternoon with Mommy, while the boys played with friends. First, we went to Olive Garden for, you guessed it, spaghetti, then we went to toys r us for Madeline to pick out her birthday present from Grandpa Croft and Sharon, and then off to the party store for her to pick out her birthday balloon. Our kids get to pick out a balloon at the party store on their birthday. It doesn't cost a lot of money and it is like gold to them, guess I can't complain about that. After our date it was time to head home for dinner and I am sure it is hard to guess what we had, yep it was spaghetti and again Madeline couldn't be happier. After dinner it was time for cake, well cookie cake that is with butterflies decorated on top (you know I wasn't going to leave butterflies out). After all of the festivities there was still one more activity for Madeline to do, have a date with Daddy. Madeline chose to go to the community swimming pool and splash around with Daddy. Madeline had a lot of fun, and at the end of the day she was smiling from ear to ear; I think she felt like a true princess that day.