Alyssa is 7!

This past week Alyssa turned 7 years old.  I can hardly believe that it is here and I don't think that I'll ever get used to it.  In the past year I have watched as she has grown physically, intellectually, and emotionally.  She has learned to tie her own shoes. She has begun playing competitive sports.  She has lost her first tooth and she continues to make everyone around her smile. 

I am so proud to call her my daughter.  She loves everything life has to offer and offers that unbiased love to everyone that she meets.  Color, ethnicity, disabilities, languages spoken, favorite colors, favorite games etc. hold no meaning to her when she meets someone new.  She is a perfect combination of tom boy meets princess.  She can talk and play Star Wars, Transformers and Super Heroes with the boys and do Princesses, dress-up, fashion and baby dolls with the girls.  Lately her favorite shows to watch are He-Man and She-Ra.  She loves to play games, read books, create arts and crafts, write stories and poems and go camping. On her mp3 player you can often hear her singing along to Katy Perry's Fireworks, Tao Cruz's Dynamite, and the Black Eyed Peas' Tonight's gonna be a good night.  When you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up she always responds with "A Movie Director like George Lucas."  She's a very special girl with big hopes, big dreams and a big heart. 

For her birthday this year we had a Mardi  Gras themed party scheduled to happen the weekend after the day of her birthday.  As for the actual day of her birthday we of course celebrated with a cake and some gifts from her brothers. 

As for her party, well like I said it was a Mardi Gras themed party.  We invited some friends over. I decorated the house with Mardi Gras decor.  We played Mardi Gras music. We served red beans and rice, crawfish and sausage jambalaya, sliced french bread, boiled shrimp with fixin's (mushrooms, potatoes, corn, brussel sprouts, onion, garlic), Baudoin and Louizianne iced tea.  For her cake I mad a cinnamon roll King Cake.  Instead of a pinata we did a mock parade where the kids lined up out front and Alyssa threw beads and trinkets to them from her wagon. Instead of games I did face painting for each of the kids and set up a photo booth where we could take their pictures. For goodie bags we gave each of them a hand painted canvas bag filled with a set of purple, green and gold mardi gras beads.  It was a fun time that was had by all whom were here.  We loved sharing our culture with our friends here in Texas and Alyssa loved  having them here to help celebrate her special day.  Thank you to everyone who helped us make this day a success!