Happy Birthday Laura

I can’t believe my little girl is 8 years old.    We have a deal with her.  She can have a birthday party with her friends every other year.  In between, she gets a very low key family birthday with her choice of restaurant.   This year was the family birthday.   She was still very excited about her birthday.

On the actual day of her birthday (Thursday), we got her a cake and had her open gifts.

We got her a pair of old school roller skates.  She broke them out and skated in the basement after she blew out her candles and we all had some cake.   She was not so graceful on her skates.  The good news is that she didn’t break anything and we did not end up in the ER on her birthday!

On Friday, we took her to her requested restaurant for her birthday meal.  Yes, her favorite restaurant is Chili’s!   Is this my child?  Maybe her palate will change in a few years (wishful thinking).  Her favorite meal is the Chicken Chipotle Crispers.  I think it’s disgusting but she loves it.   

We also got her a scoop of ice cream and the wait staff came out and sang Happy Birthday to her.  She was so excited.  

We are amazed that something this simple can make her so happy.  Oh the happiness of youth!  We are already bracing for the years when she would rather go to the mall on her birthday instead of going out to dinner with her parents.  Happy birthday, my little girl who will be taller than me in a couple of years.  Just remember that I will still be your mother, no matter how tall you get!

Laura’s birthday party

Laura’s birthday party was held at our home and I was praying to the weather gods for many days.  It was forecasted to dump rain throughout the entire weekend but by Saturday, it was overcast but it did not rain.  GLORIOUS!

I prepared for the party and made tons of foods.  I finally realized my OCD when I was making these mint oreo truffles last night which was taking forever after making at least 3 separate trips to the grocery store because I was completely unorganized and kept forgetting things.  They were a huge hit and really delicious but a pain to make.  I ended up using almost 2 packages of oreos because I kind of messed up the recipe.

Laura woke up at an ungodly hour and came into bed with me.  Hubby said it was around 2am but I thought it was 5am.  Anyway, she didn’t go back to sleep because she was too excited about her party.  I should have put a shot of espresso in her tea.

We rented this Moonbounce and that’s why the weather was so important!   Whoever invented this deserves some kind of humanitarian award.  The boys next door rang our bell at 10am and asked if they could play.  Laura played in there nonstop until the party which was at 3pm and continued throughout the whole day until 7pm when the mosquitoes came out in droves.   It did not rain but it was so humid, you felt like you were in a sauna.

We got the pinata (that Laura and I made) and hung it up on the basketball rim.  It was a huge hit and all the kids were having fun.  When the candy went flying, all the kids grabbed the candy and Laura stood by and had a melt down because she didn’t get any candy.  I think she was overtired from all the bouncing and lack of sleep.

She blew out her cake reluctantly and didn’t even eat a piece of her cake.  I know the pictures don’t show it but she actually had a fantastic time at her birthday.  I was so busy with the party that I took only a few pictures (shocking, I know!).  We all had a great time and we got to hang out with some of Laura’s friends’ parents as well as some of our friends.  We haven’t had a home party in a long time so it was all very good.  I must again thank God for the weather and the Moonbounce.

Happy Birthday, Laura

I can’t believe my little girl is going to be 6 tomorrow.  We had a very small family birthday for her today.  She picked out this cake with her dad last week.  She couldn’t wait to get her hands on all those jewels.

I made dinner but Laura was so hungry so I let her start eating before everyone had arrived.  It was her birthday, right?

This is Laura’s cousin, Christopher.  He’s about 17 months old and very active.

She only ate the frosting.

Cute heart sent from cousin Steve and Jodi!

Unicorn Pillow Pet.  She’s been wanting this for a while.  She was very happy.

But when I gave her the American Girl Doll that her Hah dah buh gee got for her, her eyeballs came out of her skull.

Her Ymo sent her some accessories and outfits for her new doll.  She’s going to call her Caitlyn.

Her dad went all out and bought her a Wii!  Weeeeeee!  She played with it in Florida at her Nana and Poppi’s place and was a pro already.

Laura and Caitlyn.  It’s funny because after she named her, she kept asking me what her name was.  I hope she remembers how great her birthday was.  I keep reminding her how lucky she is.  When I was growing up, I didn’t have any fancy birthday parties.   We would get cake and a card with some cash then we would have to walk to school in 2 feet of snow in bare feet, yada, yada, yada.

Good night, my baby.