Stella's 8th Birthday!

It's so hard to fathom that 8 years ago today, we were at Miami Valley Hospital and Stella was born! I remember it  like it was yesterday. I went into the hospital in the evening of June 3rd (I was being induced and my doctor wanted me there the night before). 18 hours later Stella Marie Langley was delivered by emergency c-section. At 6:11pm Stella entered the world and graced us all with her presence! She was 6lbs 4oz and 21.5 inches long. She was just perfect and absolutely beautiful. She had a head full of brown soft hair and big bluesh/grey eyes. She was the first grandchild on both sides and the first great granddaughter. She was and still is our little miracle.

Today she has blossomed into a beautiful young lady. She's a young vibrant and active 2nd grader, ops I mean 3rd grader. She loves to play soccer, basketball, toss the football with her dad, go swimming, ride her bike or scooter, play video games/wii and climb on her swing set.

This past Tuesday, Todd and I took a birthday treat to her 2nd grade class at school. Since her birthday falls on a Saturday and the last day of school was on Thursday, we went on a Tuesday. It was Todd's first time visiting her class and Stella was so excited that her daddy was there. Since there are so many kids now a days with food allergies, we opted for popsicles for her birthday treat. Not to mention that it was 90+ degrees out on that day so popsicles were a great choice. Todd sat at Stella's desk and all of the kids huddled around. Amazing that he was able to get up from that little desk chair.

Stella's class enjoying popsicles!



Stella showing us around her classroom.



Stella and her 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Schmitt



Stella's 2nd grade class

Early on during the school year, a family at Five Points Elementary School donated this historic flag to be put on display at Stella's school. Her school collected donations to have it properly framed and preserved and asked the students to give the names of family members that had served our country. Stella submitted the names of both of her great grandfathers, Phipps Langley and Clyde Marshall. I was able to find their names amongst the hundreds of stars on the wall. What a great honor for Stella and her great grandfathers to be a part of her school history!

Finally, before the day was over Stella's class got to make one final visit to the computer lab. It's hard to believe that nowadays kids take typing class in the 2nd grade. Both Todd and I didn't take typing until we were in high school and even then it wasn't even on a pc. I suppose its the sign  of the times and well, we are just old!

Stella in the computer lab on typing pal

Even Daddy got to come along too

This year Stella decided she wanted to have a soccer themed birthday party and since her soccer season had just finished up earlier this week she wanted to have her soccer team over.




 

Stella found this cute birthday frame at one of her new favorite stores in the mall, Justice. She thought it would be fun for all of her friends to sign it when they arrived and we would print out a group picture of the girls at the party to put in it. What a great way to remember your 8th birthday!

After everyone had arrived, it was time to eat! Stella opted to have pizza rather than cook out. Thankfully the weather was nice so that nearly the entire party took place outside in the backyard.

The girls eating pizza!

My parents (Teta & Gido) and my sisters family came over to help us out with Stella's party. With Todd and I tending to the birthday girl and 9 of her friends, we needed someone to watch Jonah and manage Buckeye (our dog).  They helped us out tremendously. Sarah and Teta took turns handling Jonah. However neither of them really wanted to share him (if you can imagine that). Todd and Mikey played outside with the girls. Poor Mikey took a lot of abuse from those girls. So glad it was him and not me! :)

Auntie Sissy and her Jojo

Uncle Mikey, how did you manage to get Jonah away from Teta and Auntie Sissy?

The girls played everything from football, soccer, monkey in the middle, corn hole and a little bit of acrobatics on the swing set!

Stella and her friend Reagan with the same soccer outfit from Justice.

Todd and Gido keeping an eye on the girls outside.

Teta feeding Jonah while I tend to the girls and the party.

Earlier this year, we got Todd a cookie cake for his birthday and it was so delicious. At that time, Stella said "Mommy, I want a cookie cake for my birthday too." Ask and you shall receive!

Yummy cookie cake- great idea Stella!

Happy 8th Birthday Stella!

Hard to believe my baby girl is 8!

Todd set up cornhole in the backyard and the girls had a lot of fun. Even Teta got in on the action and she has quite an arm! Mike said "I want Teta on my team." Who knew Teta had knack for cornhole!?!



Cornhole!

Teta & Stella

Auntie Sissy managed to wrangle Jonah away from Teta!

Uncle Mike playing with the girls.

Later on we had an ice cream sundae bar! It was a great snack to have after the girls had played so hard and were worn out. Stella choose all the toppings: colored sprinkles, chocolate chips, M&M's, marshmallows and hot fudge. The ice cream flavors included: chocolate, strawberry and chocolate chip. It was so fun and so yummy!

the toppings!

yummy ice cream!

adding their toppings...

Sophia picked out Squinkies for Stella's present.

This is the group picture of the girls that Stella wants to frame in the picture frame the girls signed.

Soccer team plus cousin Sophia!

Jonah had just woken up from his nap and he got in on the group shot too!

No picture is complete without Jonah!

It's very hard to believe that my baby girls is 8 years old already! Where does the time go? She is simply getting way too big too fast. We wish her many many more blessed birthdays and we look forward to continuing to watch her grow into a beautiful young lady!