Erin's Birthday!

Yep, I'm a little late on these posts. This was over a month and a half ago. But to remember her big day, here it is. She began by dressing like a butterfly:  butterfly pants, butterfly shirt (long sleeved in the middle of June... but it was apparently the only one with a butterfly on it), butterfly clip in her hair and butterfly wings.

Then we went to buy her scriptures and eat lunch at Arctic Circle where they have free dipped ice cream cones (and fry sauce which my kids still won't eat. They're not officially Utahns until that happens, I say.)

Erin wanted to have a party and had all sorts of plans including swimming and a sleepover, but it wasn't going to happen, partially because she doesn't have a lot of good friends. There are some girls around her age in the neighborhood, but definitely not like the other kids' ages. And she just doesn't branch out much. She might not be friends with everyone, but she will have a few really close friends in her life, which is good too. She usually plays with Alex and his friend next door. I knew I couldn't throw a party if she only wanted to invite three people and one was out of town, and the other she hadn't played with in months. So I let her invite one friend to do Build-A-Bear. Coral was her best friend from school last year and also rode the bus with her. They have played a few times. She lives really close (in the neighboring ward), but she's not next door so it takes more planning.

Erin was so happy to build Lily and be with her friend. The other kids really wanted one too, but those things are pricy. I have to say that it was pretty cool to get to choose everything, but it's probably something they'll only get to do once in their life.

After Build-A-Bear we went to our community pool and we were the only ones there. That was kind of weird, but they had fun.

Erin wanted to decorate her own cake this year which was great for me, just coming off three birthday cakes in the last two weeks. She chose strawberry cake (which is still weird to me... don't these kids know that chocolate is the best flavor???) and used the left over frosting we had from the previous cakes.

T

This is how it all turned out. It was pretty busy. She wanted an "E" on top of it all. She also did all the cupcakes.

 

Here she is with her loot. She picked out a sparkly pink scripture bag, got some scripture markers and a small blue quad with her name on it. She was pretty excited to read them at first, but that has waned. At least she has them for the future, right?

I'm so glad she had such a good day. I can't believe that she is already 8. I'm pretty sure that makes me extremely old. She is becoming so mature. She is a great help around the house and with the little kids. She is usually so obedient when I ask her to do something. She has loved learning cursive this summer, but refuses to do anything else, like say, math. She still loves art and says she wants to be an art teacher when she grows up. She has art stations all over the house:  a desk in her room, a table in her room, a table in the play room, the kitchen table, the kitchen counter, the basement table. She loves drawing, coloring, painting, cutting, putting recycling together to make things... pretty much making lots of good messes. But she loves it. She has also really loved reading this summer. She is working her way through all the Magic Tree House books right now and loves any Rainbow Fairy books or Tiara Club books that she can get a hold of that she hasn't read yet. If I try to get her to branch out and read something else, she refuses. I think she wants to finish every book in the series before she moves on. She also loves riding her bike and scooter. Her favorite TV show right now is Good Luck Charlie, which is one that I think is hilarious too so I don't mind. She is really excited about third grade this year and I hope she has a good teacher and good friends. I love this girl! Happy Birthday!