Mercedes turns 11

Mercedes-

Today you turn 11! I am so not ready for you to be growing up so fast. Its seems like over this past year you have matured so much. I wish I could just pause time and keep you at this age...so young and innocent. You are such a wonderful young lady with so many talents. You excel in school especially math and art. You seem to win every poster contest in school. You love soccer and hate to lose. I think I may have seen you cry a handful of times and almost all of them were because your team lost. You are very competitive..to the point it drives me crazy. In gym class you have a game called Pacer and you have never lost. I'm sure your entire class hates playing it with you! You l.o.v.e your itouch. We have to physically remove it from your hands. Sydney and Savannah just love being around you. You are so sweet to them (most of the time) and always seem to get them crazy wild right before bed. Graham loves when you hold him but you get bored quickly with him. Between school, soccer, homework and texting with your friends you are one busy lady. Growing up way too fast!
My prayer for you is that you always remember that we love you. You may not be "ours" biologically but we love you as if you were. You have been such a blessing to our family and to our lives. I can not imagine our world without you in it. You keep us on our toes and sometimes drive us crazy with your 100 questions daily. Your strength, determination, and love are an inspiration to us. We love you more than you can imagine.
I pray this year all your hopes and dreams come true!

Singing to you. Graham was very unsure about the fire coming from your cake.

Before school. You took donuts for your class.

Dinner at Longhorn, your favorite restaurant.

We surprised you with cupcakes after soccer practice the night before your birthday. Coach Shane and your teammates did an awesome job keeping it a secret. It was awesome! You were so shocked! I am so mad I didn't tape it.