Can It Be Possible?

My firstborn turned 7 last week. Can it really have been 7 years? I've said it before and I'll say it again: you blink and it is gone.

We kept our two birthday traditions: Mantle decorated with signs, balloons, stuffed animals and gifts, and birthday portraits.

Matt went to school and had lunch with Snapper, which instantly made her the most popular kid in the class! Matt is a kid magnet. In the evening we went shopping and Snapper spent some birthday money at Build-A-Bear Workshop. Her new companion is a cute bunny named Sweety Bunny. Probably the best part of Snapper's birthday, though, was Nana (my birthmom) flying in from Phoenix. Snapper and Pepper did not know Nana was coming until she walked out through security at the airport. I did not take my camera. Matt did bring the video camera, though.

It has just kind of happened that we only do a birthday party for the kids every other year. This was a party year for Snapper. Over a month ago we went out to breakfast together and planned out a cooking themed birthday party. Because of the level of adult supervision for this theme, we only invited a few friends. The kids arrived and decorated aprons. Then they got to choose what name to put on the chef hats I had made for them. I let each child choose whatever name they wanted, even if it was silly. And oh did they love that!

I put all sorts of pizza toppings on the table, and let each child decorate their own English muffin pizza. While the pizzas were baking, they went through a salad bar in the kitchen. Both the salad and the pizza were a smash hit!

After lunch, we played food-themed games.

The party concluded with ice cream sundaes and ice cream cone cupcakes.

I'll post chef hat and cupcake directions another time. Everyone agreed that it was a really fun party. Definitely unique, and a lot less expensive that going to a party boutique or bowling or Chuck E. Cheese's or any of the other number of birthday parties people do here.

So Happy Birthday to my sweet Snapper! I love you, Princess, and I am excited to see what God has in store for you during this wonderful age of 7.