Kyndall's 7th Birthday

In September we celebrated Kyndall's SEVENTH birthday.  Don't ask me how we got to this point because I'm still trying to figure it out for myself.  How did that tiny 6 pound baby we just brought home from the hospital suddenly turn into a beautiful little girl??  The years are absolutely flying by and while I love each new stage we get to experience with her, I often wish I could pause time just for a while and soak up each chapter just a little longer.

She smiled the day she was born and she's been smiling ever since

Seven year old Kyndall is beautiful, smart, witty, kind, compassionate, sensitive, artsy,  independent and responsible.  She loves fiercely with her whole heart and carries her emotions on her sleeve.  She is sensitive to the needs of others and seeks out the unloved and unpopular and is a friend to everyone.  She loves all living creatures and has a soft spot in her heart for God's creation.  She sees beauty in the ordinary and takes time to appreciate the little things in life. A simple arrangement of clouds in the sky to her look like beautiful pictures painted in white across a blue canvas.  A single bunch of weeds popping up through the sidewalk look like a beautiful bouquet of flowers meant for picking. Her mind is so creative and her thoughts are deep.  She loves Jesus and enjoys memorizing scripture.  She prays for those less fortunate than herself every single night before bed and someday longs to meet our sponsored children across the globe, Alicia and Enyer.  She can hold adult-like conversations but still enjoys playing make believe.  She's extremely mature for her age and has proven herself very responsible.  She would rather spend hours creating masterpieces upstairs in her art room than playing with dress up clothes or Barbies.  She is so creative and is constantly "rescuing" things from the trash that she says she can use for her artwork.  I truly believe she is a younger version of my sweet MeMe who was also exceptionally gifted in art and was known for collecting odds and ends and hoarding up ordinary objects and reusing them for artistic purposes.  Kyndall is an exceptional reader, a great writer and obviously a fabulous illustrator.  She remains a picky eater, refusing any veggies or meat.  Like her mother, she hates the mornings but could stay up all night long.  She loves all things pink and sparkly but enjoys fishing and hunting and riding roller coasters with her Daddy.  She has recently taken up a love for gymnastics which has been a great way to get her out of her extremely cautious and careful comfort zone.  She is helpful and polite, always using her manners by saying "yes mam" and "no mam", "please" and "thank you".  She is making straight A's so far in first grade and is right on track with her benchmarks.  She's growing like a weed and currently weighs somewhere around 50 pounds, is 49 inches tall, wears a size 7 in clothes and a size 3 shoe and has lost 8 teeth.  She is happy, healthy and remains our greatest joy in this life.  We absolutely cannot imagine our lives without this little miracle of ours.

Though her actual birthday was not until September 20th, we celebrated a little early on the 16th.  Both sets of Grandparents flew in for the birthday party which she chose to be a Paw Patrol (specifically Marshall the fire dog) theme.  It was a pool party, held at our neighborhood clubhouse which turned out to be the perfect location.  She only wanted girls to be invited which was just fine with me and her Daddy!

Yes, we fed our guests out of dog bowls.

Kyndall painted these two canvases herself as decoration for the party

Kyndall and her sweet friend from church, Bree

Our neighbors April and Steve are SO good to Kyndall and she adores them as well

Nonie and Poppie

The best part about having a September birthday and living in Texas...It's still pool season!

Sweet girls!  

Kyndall and her BFF Ashlyn who lives across the street from us.  These two are a pair!

Poppie and G-Daddy

Our precious neighbors and Kyndall's "adopted Grandparents", Dr. Joe and Mrs Lindsey

I hope these girls always think I'm as fun as they do now! Ha!

Mrs. April and Mr. Steve gave Kyndall the coolest gift!  Since she loves Marshall so much and he's a fire dog, April had the firefighters she works with hold up all the Marshall themed gifts she and Steve were giving  Kyndall as well as a personalized sign just for her.  She LOVED it!

Ashlyn, Katie, Malani and Kyndall...Sweet friends!

She definitely racked up on the Marshall loot

The day after the party Ashlyn came over to eat leftover cupcakes and check out the gifts.  I love these two sweet giggly girls!

While the Grandparents were in town we also celebrated Poppie's birthday which had been a couple weeks prior.  Kyndall hand sketched and colored this amazing piece of art for him and he actually cried when he opened it.

Nonie and Grammy had a drawing contest with Kyndall to see who could sketch the best version of Marshall

The day of Kyndall's party was also the day I celebrated THREE YEARS since my liver transplant.  Although I wanted the day to be all about Kyndall, I also wanted to take time to remember my donor and the gift that he or she gave me.  It's hard for me to believe it's been three years already.  In a way it seems like just yesterday but in others it feels like ages ago.  I am so thankful for these three extra years of life I've been given.  Because of the selfless act of my donor I've had three more birthdays, three more Christmases, three more wedding anniversaries, three more years as a Mommy, wife, daughter, sister and friend.  It was extra special having my liver-versary land on the day of Kyndall's party because the entire day I was filled with such gratitude just for the simple fact that I was able to be present and HEALTHY for another one of her birthday celebrations.  I pray I'm able to be there for many, many more.

Matthew surprised me with this cake in honor of "Grace" the liver's birthday.  Pink and green are my favorite colors so it was perfect!

Sweet friends also remembered my special day all on their own and surprised me with special treats

While the Grandparents were all in town we were able to have lunch with Kyndall at school.  Matthew was even able to take off work and join us.  Kyndall has quite the fan club!

The fan club was also able to see her in action at gymnastics

They also had the opportunity to watch her cheer at her Upward football game

The fan club on the sidelines

Group prayer before the game

We also celebrated her birthday with a special family dinner at the restaurant of her choice.  She chose habachi...

The servers made her dress up and dance around the room and Nonie was the only one willing to do it with her!

Opening gifts from the family

Every year since she was a toddler Nonie and Poppie have given her a special pair of earrings

Great Grandma always sends her money which she really looks forward to

The night before the party my team helped me assemble all the treat bags for the party guests

The following week was her actual birthday (September 20th) so we continued the celebration a little longer.  We had a few surprises for her before school that morning. 

What a difference a year makes!

I had lunch with her at school and brought a special birthday treat for dessert from out favorite local bakery

Another treat after school was out

For dinner she requested Mexican so that's what she got

One final treat for the day

I'd say Kyndall's 7th birthday was one for the books!  She managed to celebrate for a solid week and there's no doubt she is well loved by many!  Each year of life with our little girl just gets better and better so we're excited to see what year 7 holds for us!