Marley's Birthday...the big 10!!

Marley turned 10 years old this year! I can't believe I have a 10 year old...Man...I'm getting old!
She had a pretty boring birthday this year. She basically picked out EVERYTHING she was getting. She's been saving her money for a while ( a whole year or more). She'd think about spending it on little things like candy or what not...then she'd think, if I saved it I could get something BIG!

So, she saved and saved....and finally bought herself a Nintendo DS Lite. Mike and I made a deal with her, that because she had worked so hard and long to save her money, we'd contribute $80 towards her purchase! If it was important to her...it was important to us, AND she'd appreciate it and take care of it! (even better right?)
Anyway...so Mike being the expert in gaming around here, took her to buy her system. She had enough left over to buy a game, and Mike told her she could pick one out for her "birthday" present. She couldn't play it until her birthday... that was hard for her :)


,and saved Big Brain Academy. She bought Mystery PI for her birthday. She's thoroughly loved playing these games, and has been very kind about sharing with the family.


I needed some extra help one day...Metta's birthday to be exact...so I had Marley go with me to run some books to the library, and then to the store to buy the birthday cake. We dropped the books off, and I told Marley I needed to run into a specific store to find something. She didn't really question...too much about what I was looking for. We went to the SR Mall. Marley followed me in, and around the mall until we found what we were looking for. It was pretty busy. I went up to the register and asked about forms for getting Marley's ears pierced. That's when she figured out what we were doing!!! I had been telling her for YEARS...she'd have to wait until she was 12 to get her ears done...She's proved herself this year with grades and the jobs she's done, so I figured she could handle it.


Here she is sitting in the chair getting ready! They let her hold a teddy bear because she was a bit nervous about the whole thing.



I was a bit "picky" about where the marks on her ears should go. I made them mark her right ear again :) She was pretty brave sitting in the chair. When we got there, a little girl had just had her ears pierced, and she was bawling! I thought Marley might change her mind because of it! She didn't! She was surprised at how quick it went!









So now she has pretty little flower earrings to wear! AND...she's already excited about the different types of earrings she can wear! She's vowed not to wear huge hoops! For now we'll stick with studs and small ones. She was very excited about her surprise birthday present!

Her birthday cake was 6 individual fluted cakes...one for every family member!


She had fun blowing out the candles!

She got an outfit from each of her sisters...
Man...you'd think we could be more creative with our gifting!











Marley got a pair of much needed levis to go with each shirt. She knew about all of them...no fun surprises.
The fun was making her WAIT to open them :D hee hee hee!




We made her wait until the very last one to open her DS game :) Aren't we such nice parents? She was excited to get it out and play with it. She also created profiles for each family member! Such a sweetie!!!


She thought that was it! But....it wasn't!
We had a little something packed away that she never knew about!

We decided she needed a "for fun" game. Learning games are fun, but it's ok to have some "fun" games too!
She had a fun birthday despite the fact that she knew MOST of her presents! We're looking forward to a fun year! She is growing up so fast!
We love you Marley!!!

Special thanks to...
Grandma and Grandpa Arnold...she used her money to help out with her DS system she so desperately wanted!

Grandma and Grandpa Reece...She's trying to find a game she wants to buy for her DS with her birthday money! She's already got some ideas!!

Joel and Linda...She loves the personalized notebook and pens. Who told you that my girls LOVE to write!? They do that more than anything else! It was PERFECT!!!

Here's to #10 and Counting!!!