37 Days: The Birthday Girl

Maggie's fourth birthday is Tuesday (May 17), but this has been an eventful week for her and I couldn't wait to share pictures. :) On Wednesday she was an attendant for our friend Sara Tarwater's Acteens Coronation ceremony. She was so proud to carry flowers down the aisle like "a real flower girl"! :) She did great. She already can't wait until she is in Acteens and is eligible to receive a crown and a scepter. :) We tried to roll her hair and make it really special, but she has my hair, which doesn't hold curl worth a flip, so looking back at the pictures I realize I must have thought that a larger-than-life bow would make it special. LOL

The RA's (Royal Ambassadors) also showed us what they had learned this year. There were probably 20 young men on stage, ranging in age from 7th-12th grade, quoting Romans 8:1-16 in unison. They had memorized the entire passage this year! I got chills hearing those young boys' voices recite Scripture. I prayed that one day Samuel would be in RA's and memorize Scripture like that. I could visualize him up there, standing tall and proud. I got teared up. :)

Yesterday we had Maggie's birthday party at Brown Farms, a pick-your-own strawberry farm in New Market, AL. Although it wasn't sunny and warm, it never did actually rain on us. I would say the party was a huge success. Maggie and Penelope had helped me decorate the chocolate cake with strawberries, so before the party Maggie had already eaten probably a dozen strawberries. She ate half of the bucket she picked at the party BEFORE the cake was even served. On the way home she said, "Mommy, my tummy hurts." Yeah, kid. No joke. I bet it does. :)

(yes, those are strawberry stains- this is BEFORE the cake was served. What can I say, the girl loves strawberries. :))

Penelope kept telling everybody it was her birthday too. :) Here she is scoping out the girls. Maggie already looks like she's going to puke. . . thankfully, she never did. Actually she hugged me at the end of her party and said, "Momma, this was the best day EVER!!!"