Lauren is 10!

On February 10 our Lauren turned 10 years old. Her golden birthday! I always told the kids that their golden birthday would be a special one and by the end of the day Lauren said it was her favorite birthday ever.

We started out early in the morning. I had talked to her friend's moms about kidnapping her and taking her out to breakfast before school. So I left the house at 6:15 am and picked up her bright eyed friends. Lauren was awake, but still in bed when we came bursting into the room. She was so surprised and happy and excited all at the same time. One of her friends had made her a birthday shirt saying "My friends love me" and all of the other girls a shirt saying "We love our friend" and they wore them the whole day. 

We all loaded up in our two cars and headed out to breakfast. Lauren LOVES breakfast food and Village Inn is one of her favorite places. The girls were so polite and well mannered and we all went around the table and said three things we like about Lauren. We finished up just in time to drop everyone at school 5 minutes before the bell rang. 

The girls then had their school day, but were ready for round two right after. My sister Claire was in town and able to lend a hand with the driving since Jake was not able to drive. We picked up the same group of girls, came home, opened presents and had sang the happy birthday song over Krispy Kreme donuts, her favorite. 

Then we all got ready to walk to the mall. For her "party" Lauren requested going to the mall with her friends to play. We started at the giant bubble place, where the kids got in these giant bubbles and rolled around for a half hour. They had a great time crashing into each other and were completely sweaty when it was over. Then we went to the other end of the mall and did the animal riders. They are these fun animal scooters that you can steer and drive all around the mall courtyard. We got to ride those things forever and the girls did every kind of race imaginable. Even Tommy and my nephew Will got a chance to ride on some darling animals just their size. 

After our rides we walked to the food court and bought Panda Express for dinner- orange chicken and chow mein. The kids had worked up an appetite. Then just before 7:00 pm we walked home and found their mothers waiting to pick them up after the long day. These girls were together from sunup to sundown and I never heard one unkind word. Lauren really has such wonderful friends and we are so glad they could spend the day with us celebrating her. 

Before bed we opened up her family presents and danced to Stevie's Happy Birthday song. It was a full and magical day for our sweet double digit child. Lauren has so many good qualities. She is bright, funny, inquisitive, responsible, and has a calming presence like her Dad. She is a wonderful example to her siblings and loves being creative. She is a great writer and crafter and enjoys organizing like her Mom. Lauren has a very sensitive spiritual nature and feels a great closeness to her Father in Heaven. We are so grateful for Lauren and love her so much.