{8 and a Half}

Little Miss Riley turned 8 and a half yesterday!!
What a fun snowy, Christmasy half birthday
It's funny because I remember my first Christmas as a mom so clearly
there is a Christmas song by John Denver (HUGE fan)
and when our CD player finds it on shuffle mode it instantly
brings me back
and still makes me teary.

Riley and I took our date on Sunday
a bit early
but that's ok
We went to one of our very favorite places
Borders!
We got some of their delicious hot chocolate
a snickerdoodle cookie
and had a lovely time.
We chatted, people watched
and of course browsed for books.
It was wonderful.
When did this little girl grow up so fast?

We started the big day with a huge miscommunication blunder
It went something like this.....
"Where are the cookies you made for my class....?"
"You wanted me to make cookies for your class?"
"Well, yeah, we always celebrate my half birthday in school since I'm a summer birthday".
"Mrs. M didn't mention half birthday this year...."

"It's ok mom....don't worry about it"
Tears
Sniff Sniff

GUILT!!!

So, my quiet morning with Aubrey turned into a mad cookie baking scramble.
But it's ok, she's worth it!

We kept our tradition and gave Riley a book.
She is so into these American Girl books
and I love the way they are written.

You can tell that Janey was very proud of her homemade card

and truly happy for her sister.

She knows how much she wanted that book.

{Aubrey is already sleeping....but she was there in spirit!}

This was funny...

right before this picture Janey said, "great she's gonna have her nose buried in a book now!"

And she pretty much did!

Give that girl any form of the printed word and she is lost.

Here are the famous cookies

You can tell they are a little light on the frosting.

Must have used too much on the school ones!

They are chocolate sugar cookies with mini M&M's baked inside.

They are seriously the most awesome cookies!!

For Christmas we bake them again and just use the red and green ones

Let me know if you want the recipe.

a little happy there while we sang

"Happy Half Birthday To You"!

she added in the "cha cha cha's" 

of course

Janey was very concerned that we couldn't put candles in the cookie

so we improvised

see the half one

see there goes that book

 she's gone :)

I think Janey enjoyed the cookies

What do you think?

She is a chocolate lover like her momma

Happy Half Birthday My Sweet

I hope you feel how much we love you!