Rhianwen is 8!

The one who started this whole confusing, crazy, sweet, frustrating, fun, inspiring, eternal parenting journey. I just remember how excited we were to hold this little life. How crazy to see that she is more than halfway to being my height.

We didn't catch her in bed, but we sang happy birthday first thing!

Reading her cards. The boys are on the edge of their seats!

They love licking the candles. Now you will wonder when you come for other birthdays...are those the ones that were licked???

For her birthday party, Rhianwen wanted a sleepover. I limited it to 4-5 of friends of her choosing, and we had a fun time. They didn't get to sleep until 1am and had a lot fun!

The result of blindfolded girls putting Olaf back together. Pretty good!

We hid Anna's/Marie-Grace's winter stuff for the girls to find and get her ready for cold winter weather.

A "sleigh ride" down the hill during our treasure hunt.

We had an ice relay, "sleigh ride", snowball fight against Marshmallow the monster snowman as part of our treasure hunt, and did lots of crafts like making snowflakes and painting winter scenes, and of course watched Frozen. 

I actually enjoyed having so much time to do things instead of feeling so rushed to pack things into a 2 hour party window!

What to say about my girl? I always try to sum up her little life in a paragraph at the end of her birthday posts, but Wally is sawzalling in the same room and Corwin is screaming for me from his bedroom, and it is hard to hear myself think! So you see why I'm very behind on blogging...life is not conducive to writing.

Rhianwen has begun learning to play the harp this year and singing in children's choir, both things she loves. She's composed 2-3 songs on her own too...not Mozart, but really writing down notes on a score and putting words to it. She has loved having a dog, and his cuteness has not worn off to her. She is still very much into imaginative play. She constantly talks, if not to a person, to tell stories and narrate what she is acting out. This makes her great at making conversation but not always great at being a listener. She has had doubts about the truth of Scripture this year, but after working through the logic, she is convinced that it is believable and not a myth or fairytale. She loves dancing and also does this constantly and still hopes to be a ballerina when she grows up. I just pray that God will make His calling clear to her and that she will have the desire to walk in it.  

So thankful for my sweet girl even if we are so very different!