Happy Birthday Audrey

Today is my oldest child's birthday! She is 7. She wasn't due till January 2001, but was born 4 weeks early. A total surprise to us!

Audrey is in 1st grade. She is one of the smartest kids I've ever met. She likes to learn about new things. Infact, she asked for "fact books" for Christmas. She is always interested in how things work and why. When she was 4 she wanted to learn how to read, but with my patience level I had to wait till she was a bit older to really delve into teaching her. Now that she knows how to read, she reads all the time. When we are out she will read signs and packages at the store.

TJ and I use to spell things so the kids wouldn't know what we were talking about, but we can't get away with that now! Sometimes I think she's way ahead of us and has got it all figured out.

I feel blessed to have her as my oldest child. She has been such a big help to me. Her independence sometimes exceeds her abilities and coordination. Since the time she was born I felt that her spirit was much older than mine. I felt great comfort just being with her, but felt so inferior to her and her greatness. She is a very special child. I am constantly amazed by her!

To celebrate her birthday we took her to Kangaroo Zoo. She was able to invite 1 friend, her brother invited a friend also. We invited our families to come and watch them play. After playing, we took the kids to lunch at Los Hermanos in Lindon and invited our families to join us. It was a lot of fun and Audrey enjoyed it very much! We planned this for earlier in December so that having a baby wouldn't interfere with her birthday plans. Today I will make her favorite dinner, Chinese Chicken (that's what she calls it, it's really sweet and sour chicken). I made her a cake that she picked out. I made a video of her first few months of life, including her ultrasound and the day she was born. We will watch that and maybe another movie. It will be nice to just stay home and be with Audrey on her special day!