Oh Happy Day!

Brenna turned 7 today. I could go on and on about the heartache of watching my baby grow up, but I won't. Even though I am amazed at how quickly it has gone by and I miss the idea of having Brenna little forever, the truth is, I really like who she is. I enjoy the times we talk about her day or she shares her ideas with me or I hear about different things she thinks she will like. I like to watch her figure things out, be a little more independent, develop her own sense of who she is. And if she stays on this path, I am very much going to enjoy spending time with my daughter.

I know the hardest part is yet to come, but that doesn't deter me from enjoying now and looking forward to what is coming. And I hope in 7 years or so, I can still say, "I loved those years, but I don't want to back or be stuck here." Because ultimately, the best is yet to come, as well.

So in the mean time, we threw a great party for our seven year old. But before we get there, here is a few pre-party shots.

The outfits du jour

Brenna loves Legos and finally got her own set.

I love this picture so much!
Josh hid the big present from Grandma and Grandpa around the corner while B opened a few others. He sent B to get it and B yelled "It's HUGE!!". Piper ran around the corner and responded the same way. Then all we heard were giggles as they came into the living room.

The huge box was a pony for their American Girl "cousins".

Now, on to the party. Brenna requested a book theme because she loves to read. We planned several activities, but really only had time for the best two. The kids did Mad Libs, which was first for many of them. Apparently, adjective is difficult to grasp when you are 4ish to 7ish. But I think they all had fun. We had the almost mandatory pizza, cake and ice cream. No, no cakepops for us this year, they didn't fit the theme. But Josh did make this delightful creation!

(click to enlarge)

Then we had a story for the kids to read. Since we knew how many were coming, we wrote a story with that amount of characters. After everyone drew their part, I read the narration and the kids read their lines (that were color coded to their character). This was a lot of fun. I think the kids enjoyed it even more than I thought they would. What I loved most about this was how the older kids/better readers would willingly and kindly help the younger ones with their lines. No one was embarrassed or left out. It did my heart good to see how helpful everyone was. Not that I should have been surprised.

The cast of "The Princess Play Day"

The end!

It was a great day. I'll be ready to do it again in a year or two! :)