Allison's 12th Birthday

My little girl is 12!  I really can't believe that she is so grown up all ready!  We are so proud of the young woman that she is becoming!

Unfortunately, Allison's birthday happened to fall on our busiest day of the week...Wednesday.  We try to make birthday's an extra special day, but the celebrations were pretty limited this time.  There was one pretty big surprise for Allison, though.  When Braden and I came home from his Occupational Therapy Appointment we had a special visitor with us....Grandma Rigby!!  Everyone was super excited to see her!

Allison also had a card to open every three hours from Mom and Dad.  Her present from us was a girls night in Dallas, and Grandma flew in to enjoy it with us!  The festivities began on Friday afternoon.

 We started out at Dillard's Clinic counter for Allison's mini make-over.  However, the make-up artist (can't think of their official name at the present moment) wasn't back from her lunch break.  So, we moved on to stop number 2!!

 Off to get her ears pierced!  She looks a lot happier in the before picture than in the after!  I kept telling her that she didn't have to get her ears pierced, but she said that it would be alright as long as she could hold my hand.  Boy does that kid have a grip!  She seriously looked like she was going to pass out.

 Here is the after picture.  If that isn't a forced smile!                             

The make-over was perfect.  The lady was wonderful and told Allison that she didn't need very much makeup since she was already beautiful.  We walked out with lip gloss, blush and powder.  The perfect amount!

 After our beautification, we were off to eat.  The Iron Chef was in order.  The girls had a grand time.  I spent most of the time out in the car with Julianna who would cry every time I tried to sit down and eat.  The chef was awesome and put on quite a show for the girls.

 Here I am trying to smile and keep my eyes open.  I'm already feeling pretty tired!

Allison thoroughly enjoyed herself!  After a delectable meal we were off to the Galleria--only the coolest mall in Dallas--where we shopped til we dropped (okay to be honest until I dropped which didn't take very long!)  We also ate the most delicious cookies EVER--lemon ricotta from the Nordstrom Cafe.  Oh they were to die for!

And I must say that I was super happy to check in to our hotel.  We stayed at the Embassy Suites up by the Galleria.  We chose to stay there because of their location, the opulent room accommodations, and the gourmet breakfast!  Okay, really we chose to stay there because it was free and they had swans swimming around in the foyer!  The swans were definitely a hit...especially since we were planning on ordering a movie and eating treats in our room.  However, this hotel didn't offer pay per view movies...Can you believe it!

The girls spent a lot of time wandering around the hotel and talking on the cell phone to everyone whose number was programmed into their phone!  Grandma was gracious enough to supervise their escapades because Julianna and I were in bed by 10!  The next morning we leisurely got dressed, ate breakfast and headed home.  It was definitely a night to remember!

Happy Birthday sweet Allison!