Esther's Birthday!

 We celebrated Esther's birthday over the weekend--John had school all day on her actual birthday so we moved her dinner and cake to Sunday.  She was happy to spread out the celebration as much as possible.  I told her she could get her ears pierced for her birthday if she wanted to--we went to the mall and walked around for a bit while she "thought" about it.  Then when she decided we headed to Claire's and an 18 month old was getting her ears pierced--we should not have stayed to watch because Esther lost all courage and we left before both the little girls ears were even done.  Alas, no ears pierced this year.  I told her there is no rush--she has the rest of her life ahead of her to have pierced ears--enjoy non-pierced for now.  :)  I just felt bad because she wants earrings SO BAD and I think she would have gone through with it if she hadn't witnessed that little girl crying.  I'm sure she'll get her courage up some day.  I can't believe she's 8!  Esther is a wonderful sweet girl.  She knows how to work hard, is an excellent student, and is quickly learning the piano.  She LOVES to play with friends, do crafts, color, and ask questions.  She has a very curious mind and wants to know about everything--especially if John and I are talking about something that she wants to overhear!  :)  Esther is an amazing big sister--Isaac is coddled by her love and attention.  Sometimes she has him pretend to be a baby and she is the mom.   She is very good with her little boy cousins and she would have been an amazing big sister to Iris.  She is very sweet to Lucy too and reads to her every night for a little while.  Speaking of reading.. Esther is a READER.  She was supposed to take 5 reading tests this last term and I didn't even have to prompt her to but all on her own she has took 13!  I'm glad she loves reading as much as me.  Esther loves to shop and learn new things like cooking--we have a new goal of helping make a dinner once a week.  We had a fun celebration and Esther couldn't stop smiling. We had tortellini sausage soup and sweet potato casserole, and salad for her dinner and ice cream cake for dessert.  She loved her presents-especially her new lego set, new scriptures, her matching outfit to her American girl doll, and her special book from her angel Grandma.