Madeleine turned three in August and we celebrated with a cheerleader birthday party.  Madeleine fell in love with cheer last football season when we took her to her first high school game.  We were very prepared with snacks and activities to keep her busy throughout the game, but to our surprise, she sat on Joe’s lap the entire time taking it all in.  From the band to the breakthrough, to the kick line and kick off, she was in awe.  She talked about it all the way home and into the following weeks so I pulled out my old cheer megaphone, some pom poms and Joe’s cousins’ tiny SV uniforms they wore when he played, and Madeleine spent a lot of time playing “cheer,” throughout the year. I joke that she is head cheerleader because she is very bossy particular about formations and cheers we call.

We had fun prepping for the birthday party by painting “Go Fight Win” signs and making pom poms in a variety of school colors.  We decided to serve tailgate food like hotdogs and chips and for dessert we made a football cake.  All of Madeleine’s friends got to decorate a megaphone with school spirit stickers and then fill them up with candy from the backyard piñata.

The best part of Madeleine’s party was early in the morning when the bounce house arrived.  M and her cousins were still in their pj’s watching from the back porch as the bounce house inflated and Madeleine started yelling, “Mama mama! I want to go put my Baylor cheer uniform on and get my REAL pom poms and go do cheerleader jumps in there!!!!”  And she did.

Three Cheers for Madeleine’s Birthday! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!