Super Seven

I can't believe my first baby turned seven today. She seems so grown-up. She seems taller, more graceful in movement, more mature in her thoughts. She's been explaining the properties of water to me and telling me about Abraham Lincoln.

The other day, she sweet talked my mom into taking her to the dollar-store and buying a bunch of St. Patrick's Day decorations. She came home and hung them up all over the front room. It looks really nice. I'm so glad to have someone in the house who will decorate for the holidays. It's in her blood.

My little Soph also loves to plan every last detail of parties. When she was born, of course, she was our first. And, we were such eager parents that we had to throw a huge first birthday party. By the time she was two, she was already making requests, "A snowman cake, please." I could handle all circles so I happily complied.

For her third birthday, we booked a party room at the children's museum in town for a delightful princess get-together. I wasn't really intending to throw a big party every single year, but by the time she turned four, she was really into the planning.

At four, she planned a "heart party," hanging dozens of homemade heart decorations on the walls. We had heart shaped cookies, heart shaped pizza, and gummy bears (don't ask me about the gummy bears, it was her party). I got heart plates and cups on clearance after Valentine's day, and we played with pink gak and did all the games she wanted, and had a great time.

At five, she was on a soccer team and planned a soccer themed party. At six, she created a Hawaiian luau. As all this went on, I had two more kids and started to feel less and less enthusiastic about the huge parties every single year. If Sophie had a huge party, I felt inclined to throw everyone a huge party. And, it wasn't just the elaborate party with friends. For each child, I would end up doing the big party plus a party with my side of the family plus a party with Photoguy's side. Whew! It wore me out just baking that many cakes!

So, this year, I decided it was time to break the cycle. It was hard, because the parties mean so much to Soph. But, we were successful in having a fun birthday. Photoguy and I picked her up from school to take her to lunch (McDonald's - her choice). We made special treats to pass out to her class. The whole class presented her with a giant envelope of handmade birthday cards. After school, there were presents. Then, Photoguy had to go teach a class, so my mom and I took her to do whatever she wanted. We played at the children's museum, went glow in the dark mini-golfing, and blew a bunch of tokens on ski ball and other games. Then, we met up with my dad and the boys for a nice dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Jeremiah's (her choice again). They even brought her a huge slice of apple pie a'la mode. And, there were more presents.

She gets cake and more presents on Friday night (family party) and more cake and more presents on Sunday (another family party), so somehow I think she is still pretty spoiled even without "the party." What do you think?