Madalynn Turns 8!

Miss Birthday Girl Madalynn was mostly smiles today, as usual. The only frown she gave is when Daddy asked the birthday girl to go clean her closet! Somehow she got around that chore by pulling the birthday and puppy-dog eye "cards" with him.

God has been developing the many talents He gave her this year. Wit, creativity, happily serving others and her sense of humor are the strong character God mixed together in His proportions to make Madalynn one-of-a-kind.

Creating is one of the things Madalynn does best. I don't mean just drawing a pictures. She has a keen sense of design and can take all sorts of situations and materials and make them into something not only coherent, but FUN! She is always "arranging" things like her room, the boys' room, her treasures, etc. Her natural creativity paired with her confidence turns out some really neat stuff.

I can tell when Madalynn has been the only one picking up toys because they're always arranged in some sort of fashion. I had a glass bowl on the kitchen table one morning full of lemons and limes. I had just dumped the fruit haphazardly into the bowl. She asked, "Mom, can I arrange the fruit?" I said, "Sure, as many times as you want!" I watched her (as I loaded the dishwasher) as she thoughtfully placed the lemons and limes one by one into the glass bowl, "reorganizing" them to look pleasing. She even left a couple out on the table right by the bowl so her arrangement didn't look too purposeful.

Scrapbooking is one of her new favorite creativity/humor outlets. She and I occasionally sit down after the other kids go to bed and do a scrapbook page or two. Putting together a layout is natural to her (therefore fun).

Madalynn is reading like a pro, and reading for enjoyment is another one of Maddie's favorite things. She always takes several books to bed with her to read before drifting off. She loves to laugh, so when she comes to a funny part in a book she's reading, she'll stop and have a good chuckle and sometimes share it with me.

She's still the girliest tomboy I've ever met. She wants to look GOOD. Pretty dresses, shoes, jeans, jewelry, lip gloss...you name the "girly" desire, and Madalynn's sure to have it. She still counts her pet turtle, Slider, along with the lizards, toads and bugs outside, among her "friends." She came running in and shoved a big toad in front of my face a couple days ago. "Look, Mom! This is the toad we found last summer that was missing an eye!" Lo and behold, the toad was minus an eye. She then came in yesterday with a lizard with a huge "bandage" on it's tail inside her new bug cage. (In all seriousness from Madalynn) "Mom, we accidentally cut this lizard's tail off, so I got some paper and tape to wrap around it to help him heal. I finally convinced her to unwrap the lizard's tail and let it go so it could regenerate a new tail in his own "home."

Creative as she may be, Madalynn is very emotionally in-tuned and down-to-earth. She knows when someone is hurting and lonely and goes to them with gifts and offers to help in any way. She immediately goes and grabs her sibling's favorite blanket and brings it to me to help comfort them if one of them gets hurt. I've never aksed her to do this, she just sees an opportunity to help someone feel better, so she fills the need. She realizes that Daddy likes the house clean when he gets home, so she picks up her stuff and leads the younger ones in picking up their belongings so she Travis will feel relaxed when he gets home. And did I mention how great of a big sis she is? Although she takes care in relating with her brothers, Madalynn spoils Miss Jillian to the core! She gives her manicures and pedicures, does everything she can to cater to what Jillian wants or thinks is fun, and plays cutesie little games with her to entertain her.

I made and mostly decorated a cake for Madalynn per her request. It's waiting for her final touch. SHE wants to put on the "frosting roses" detail. Imagine that!