Téa’s baptism announcement/invitation

I’m so lucky to have good friends. Lisa took the pictures and Heather made the invitation. Both of which I’m not very good at. Thanks ladies! Téa just looks so grown up. Sniff, sniff.

The Par-tay!

Téa’s party turned out great.  Her only complaint… “it didn’t last long enough”.  I can deal with that.  If that’s the only thing that went wrong, then I succeeded.  While planning this shindig Téa chose to have a soccer theme.  I was thrilled that I wouldn’t be doing frilly, girly things.  Made life easier.  She told me the two things that he party MUST have are a piñata and a treasure hunt.  Right…that required work, let me tell you. 

Four days before the party I got to work on the piñata.  I knew it would take a few days so I was proud I planned ahead.  I bought a beach ball at the dollar store, made my own paste/glue junk and got to it.  Silly me didn’t get any pictures close up of the piñata before it was destroyed.  Oh well. 

The party started with the girls hanging out side so I could hide all 12 clues.  Writing those 12 clues took some time since I had to make them rhyme (did you catch that rhyming thing…)  Each clue led them to something/someplace around the house like the dryer, oven, piano, bathtub…you get the idea.  Every other place had a prize for everyone to put in their goody bags. 

Each girl got a turn to read a clue…

I had so much fun watching the girls read the clue and then screaming where they had to head to next.  The last clue led them to the back of the van for their grand prize…

My awesome home-made piñata!  Since we lacked a place to hang the piñata Mark was great enough to volunteer to hold the ball up while the girls swung a wooden bat.  What a brave man.

Here’s Breanna just about to break it open. 

And Téa taking her turn.  By now it’s so close to coming apart. 

And then it finally opened up and the mayhem commenced. 

I did get some great pictures of my soccer ball piñata after it was destroyed.  Poor thing.

After the violence was over it was on to presents and then cake and ice cream.  My sis-in-law Leslie sent me a picture of an idea that would save me time in the cake department.  I didn’t want to spend hours decorating a cake so this is what I made…

Unfortunately I ran out of black frosting so this was the best I could do.  And it only took 30 minutes to frost.  Sweet!  Téa kept thanking me the rest of the night for the party.  She realized all the time I put in.  It made it all worth while.  Happy Birthday kid!

It’s Great To Be Eight!

*Just a little note: I wrote half of this on Friday on her birthday but finished it Sunday. Lame how it didn't save the date of her birthday for the post.

My little girl is not so little anymore.  Téa finally turned 8 today.  The anticipation for this birthday has been at it’s peak all week.  She’s just really sad that she has to wait a whole month to be baptized. 

Of course, Téa had to wake up early since she was so excited to open presents.  She’s lucky it was her birthday or I would have sent her back to bed.

Don’t you love the crown Mark made?

Since her birthday was on a school day it was low-key.  I made her favorite breakfast, Dutch Babies (some of you call them German pancakes, whatever).  They are a great excuse to have lemon juice and powered sugar in the morning.  Yum.  I did buy some treats to share with her classroom.  I had Calista and Piper with me when I brought the brownies to the school and Téa was just so proud to show off her sisters.  Most days my girls do love each other.  We topped the night off with Movie Night and let Téa pick the movie (and eat endless amounts of super buttery popcorn). 

It’s hard to believe it’s already been eight years since the day I became a mother.  I still remember so well the feelings I had the day she was born and how worried I was when I didn’t hear her cry for a few minutes.  I didn’t even get to see what she looked like for a good 25 minutes and it about killed me.  After 9 months of carrying her I just wanted to hold her in my arms and see her face.  The doctors whisked her away to the other side of the room before I could catch a glimpse of her.  That day was the start of a whole new life for me; one I would never change for anything.  What greater calling is there in life than being a mother? 

I normally don’t get sappy on here but turning eight is a big deal in our religion and I guess it makes me ponder things a whole lot more.  And the fact that last night we found The Perfect Dress for her baptism was kind of an emotional moment for me.  We made it a date night for just the two of us.  We went to eat first and then headed to Dressed In White.  A few hours before I had checked out the website to know what to expect cost wise.  I found the dress that I wanted for her but didn’t say anything about which one it was in the store.  We tried on four dresses which according to her weren’t too “frilly”.  I was excited that my favorite was in the running.  After trying on all of them she chose her favorite…which just happened to be my favorite.  It is simple, yet elegant for our little lady.  Only 27 more days until the baptism…but who’s counting?  And the birthday party is tomorrow.