She had the day off from school... the first day of spring break. She was pretty disappointed, thinking she wouldn't get a "party" at school. Fortunately, her wonderful teacher made sure the class recognized her on Thursday, the day before her birthday. Each student colored her a picture or wrote a note and it was all stapled together in a book. Then they sang Happy Birthday. Mom also made sure there were cupcakes delivered. So she was one happy camper!
As for the actual day of her birthday, we had the table decorated for breakfast.
You can't really see because of the sun but Mom gave her a photo book about her role as Zuzu in "It's a Wonderful Life." It tells the story of how she got the part and has all the pictures from practices, dressing room antics and friends she made.
We had muffins and strawberries. Notice the "Birthday Girl" ribbon. She never forgets to wear this on her birthday!
Then it was time to go shopping! We still had some gift cards from Christmas that Papaw and Nana gave us on top of extra birthday money! Even our beloved dentist, Dr. K, sent her some birthday money!
When we walked into the store I asked for a birthday balloon for her. I didn't remember that they make an announcement over the loudspeaker about the birthday girl. I don't know if it was pregnancy hormones or what but Mom started crying!
Right away Nicole found a fuzzy blue journal that she fell in love with. It went right in the cart.
Allyson's beloved giraffe that she got a long time ago from a restaurant in Branson recently broke. She was so heartbroken that I was actually trying to find a replacement online but couldn't find one quite like it. But she found one in the toy bins! She was sooo happy! We got TWO! The funniest part was that the gift card from Papaw and Nana had a giraffe on it, too! (Nicole's was a Happy Birthday gift card, even though it had been a Christmas gift... how perfect is that?!)
Nicole bought a fishing game that the girls love to play with in the bath.
And a panda kite. And a paddleball game that can be played outside or in the pool. She ended up spending her Christmas money but saved her birthday money as she just couldn't decide!
Up next was a trip to the used book store where Mom had a gift certificate. She was in Heaven. We were able to buy a bunch of books... most of which she's already read... and even bought a book for little sister.
Next was dinner at her favorite Chinese restaurant, Mr. Yen's. Britt loathes this place but we went for her birthday. We invited her good friend, America, to come with us. Here they are with her free birthday cheesecake which Nicole happily shared with everyone.
Next was the big party!! Nicole won a martial arts birthday party for her winning entry in the pumpkin decorating contest last fall at school. At first I wasn't sure she would want a marital arts party but she was pretty excited about it.
And it actually turned out to be a lot of fun. We were the first ones there and the girls started out playing right away.
As guests arrived the leader started them off in games.
The cake was included with the party.
It was pretty exciting when the leader pulled out a samurai sword to cut it with!
Time to eat!
And now time for presents! I LOVED the rope idea. The kids weren't allowed to cross the rope. So many times the birthday girl gets bombarded and you can't get a good picture. So this will likely be incorporated into future parties.
Then a few more games.
Someone insisted on taking a picture of my pregnant belly. An 8 year old and 8 months pregnant!
Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girl. I love you more than words could ever express!!
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