corrine turns 11

Somewhere along the timeline of months past, our sweet Corrinneee girl turned 11. I cannot believe how the time goes whizzing past us at warp speed when we aren't paying attention.

Once upon a time, this growing girl was a baby in my belly. I gained a TON of weight while pregnant with her. If you don't believe me, just ask me to show you a pre-baby picture of myself and you'll go, "Holy. Moly. Girlfriend. How long did it take Michael to roll you to the car when you were in labor?" And I'll tell you, "He didn't roll me. He used an electric cattle prod to get me going." Come to think of it, maybe that would explain why my labor with her was so fast. Seriously. My uterus started contracting at 2 am, we arrived at the hospital at 3:30 and our first little princess was born at 4:44 am, weighing in at 8 pounds and 4 ounces. Her poor little face was bruised and purple from her rush to enter this world. And from the time she made her debut all the way up to this very day, she has been the sweetest, most soft spoken, beautiful girl. She has a heart of gold, the tenderest of feelings, and an innocent naivete about her that will make you want to wrap her in bubble wrap to keep her unfettered from this crazy world.

This year for her birthday, Corrine wanted to invite a few friends to go swimming and then back to our house for a sleepover. She requested cuppy cakes instead of a cake cake, pizza for dinner and "random fun activities" before bedtime.

After swimming, we came home, ate pizza and then sang to Corrine over a single candle on a big beautiful cuppy cake. And then, as if by design, her friends proceeded to take their cuppies and smoosh them in Corrine's face. She thought it was hilarious and we all laughed. From there, as you can imagine would happen with 5, 11 year old girls, it turned into an all out cup cake smashing event. All but one girl got cake-in-the-face. Including Laynee, who was not to be left out of such a big girl fun time.

When they finally managed to remove the frosting from their faces, they decided that makeovers would be the next big thing. I suggested they add a little spice to their festivities by turning on some Veggie Tales tunes and singing along. They all looked at me like I was crazy, but then one girl had this bright idea...

...and from there, the singing never stopped. They had so much fun changing wigs, painting different faces and making different silly faces. It was hilarious and super fun to see the personalities of each sweet girl shine through.

When all was said and done, I think our girl had a fantastic day. She is so much fun to have around and I cannot wait to wrap my arms around her and squeeze her 'til she can't breathe! (FYI, she's been in Utah visiting the grandparents, WITHOUT US! for 3 whole weeks. She comes home on Tuesday and I couldn't be more excited! It's almost like waiting for her to be born all over again!)