Happy Birthday Darling Daughter

I should have had this post up yesterday, but I hadn't gone through the photo albums in a long time and I had a hard time just picking out a few to post. I had to look at every one of them very thoroughly. It doesn't seem like it was all THAT long ago that you were my tiny bundle of joy. Shortly after you were born your father got leave from the Navy and we went on vacation with his parents. In the picture below it was a hot summer day and the rest of us were envious of you being able to lay stark naked in the shade.

You were a happy baby. There was only once that I remember you cried and cried and nothing would make you happy. I was in California and your dad was out on the ship. I was alone in the apartment with no one to help. I walked you and rocked you and sang and cried myself till the sun came up. Then you finally went to sleep.
You were such happy child, it didn't take allot to entertain you and make you laugh.

And you were momma's little helper. Always wanting to be a big girl. (I should have cropped ME out of this picture. LOL I hardly EVER wrap a towel around my hair, I don't know why I did this day.)
Do you remember your red cowboy boots. You were quite the cowgirl. You got your boots and cowgirl hat for your birthday...
...along with the tractors you wanted. You remember the story behind that don't you? You and I were driving down West Street in Wichita where all the big tractor companies are and you said, "I want one of those." This request rather surprised me and I asked you where you would keep it. Your reply was, "In my closet." So I later went in search of a nice tractor set for you and found one that the box it came in converted to a barn...
...it tickled you no end that you could get inside this barn for the tractors. If my little girl wanted tractors and such I wasn't about to tell her that she maybe should have dolls or something more girlie. Girls drive tractors, too.
Many birthdays have come and gone, can you believe that Strawberry Shortcake is back?

Remember the first dress you ever made? You made it for competition in 4H. I bought material to make two dresses and showed you how to make the dress by making one myself. I never laid a hand on your project. I don't remember if it was on this project, but I remember you had a problem sewing something, you'd put the wrong sides together or something to that effect. You took it apart and sewed it again only to realize you'd done the same thing over. I think you did this a third time and were getting REALLY frustrated. I rather sternly told you to put it down and walk away from the machine. You got a bit upset with me because you thought I was upset with you. Once you had calmed down, I explained that you needed to take a breather before you tried to fix your problem yet another time. When you went back to it, refreshed, you were able to get it right. You learned that sometimes you just need to walk away from a bad situation to get a fresh perspective.
Here's the dress I made from the same pattern, I also made a dress for your doll. Sorry about the funny shot of you, looks like I caught you stretching your nose. What's funny about this is I see your older niece make this same face all the time.
Remember Girl Scout camp? You only went one year, but you weren't in Girl Scouts that long, they didn't seem to be able to maintain a troop in our area. But we had a good time, didn't we?
And then there were the animals, you got her for you but she ended up staying with me.
I'm not sure if this is KC or Shadow, probably KC, I don't think Shadow was as people friendly as KC was.

Then there was 8th Grade Promotion...
...can you believe that your oldest son is going to be having his 8th Grade Promotion in less than a week?
If I remember correctly, during the trip when the picture below was taken a young man commented on how blue your eyes were. He was obviously flirting with you and this embarrassed you terribly.

The last picture from the old albums I've posted tonight is how you looked much of the time during your teen years, surrounded by children. As a teenager you chose to stay home and babysit rather than run around and do what teenagers usually do. With your babysitting money you were able to buy clothes and other things, like your glass and brass vanity, that you liked.

I used to joke and say that you were the daughter my mother never had. By that I meant that you are more like my mother than me, I was more like dad. Now, you're all grown up with children of your own, I won't tell what birthday it is. I know you had to work on your birthday but I hope you had a wonderful day anyway.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Love, Mom