Boo for Birthdays

Seriously, I don't like birthdays... well... to be more accurate, I don't like when my kids have birthdays. As a mom, all it represents is them getting just a little closer to being independent and grown up. I cry on most of my kids' birthdays (don't worry, I do it in secret)
There is one reason and one reason only that we celebrate birthdays in our home and that is because it makes my kids extremely happy. They get one day a year that is devoted completely to them and one day only. I failed with Peps birthday this year (I will be doing my best next year to redeem myself) but we didn't do too bad with AnDee's.
We let her decide what she wanted to do for her birthday and all she asked for was to go shopping at the mall and get a new dress. Im not a shopper. The whole process overwhelms me and I rarely end up buy anything because there are too many options and its all to complicated for me.
Buggy Girl however.... she is most definitely a shopper. We went in to a dress shop and looked through rack after rack picking out suitable dresses. She was very conscious of being modest and finding a dress that was conducive to both play and church. After hours (ok... it was probably more like 20 minutes, but to me and my non-shopper attitude it seemed much longer) we headed off to the dressing room with  half a dozen beautiful dresses she had so responsibly picked out. After trying them on and discussing the pros and cons of each we headed to the register where she got to use her own birthday money to pay for the dress.
I have to admit that while I am not a shopper, I was SO impressed with my little lady. She was wise about how much money she spent. She made sure she found something that her Heavenly Father would approve of and she even took my thoughts and feelings in to consideration while picking things out. She tried to pick colors and styles she knew I liked. What she ended up with was from the clearance rack (maybe she does have a little of me in her after all?) and its just the cutest most elegant dress and she has literally worn it every day since.
As a bonus her dad even let her head to the shoe store and pick out some high heels (or as Buggy would say when her dyslexia kicks in "heel highs") Then we finished up the trip with matching hair bows and headbands. She was in heaven.
That afternoon she helped me make her own birthday cake. I try to make the cake my contribution to the birthday. They request whatever they want and I try to deliver. AnDee (again) made things super easy on me. All she wanted was a round chocolate cake with raspberries on top.

Pictures are limited. I have zero pics of the dress she picked out, Ill have to post one another time.
Here are the few I did get.

Im so proud of this little lady and the amazing person she is becoming. She is so considerate and kind. She is compassionate and selfless. I hope I can be just like her when I grow up.
Happy Birthday Miss AnDee Lew!