Marissa's 7th Birthday

Marissa turned 7 on June 6th. She started the day by getting breakfast in bed, which has become a bit of a birthday tradition in our family. It was definitely her year to have a birthday party. She really wanted an American Girl (and I use that term loosely seeing as she got a knock off and not the real thing... it's like saying Kleenex for tissues, right?). She got to pick her doll out and she really loves her. Her name is Sadie. Then we had an American Girl doll themed party.

I made these adorable little party hats for each doll and we just laid out some paper with some fun sayings on top to decorate. I thought it was cute.

When the girls got there, everyone got to make a tutu for their doll. Everyone was so quiet and well behaved. It was pretty much the exact opposite of Alex's party which was insanely out of control with all those boys. We played American Girl doll bingo and then played Don't Eat My Doll with Smarties.

 Here they all are with their dolls, tutus and hats. 

  They got to decorate a cupcake for them and then a mini one for their doll.

Hallie was quite the sad child due to me taking her doll's tutu and giving it to a girl that came late. I told her we could make her doll another one right after but that just put her into hysterics. It's hard to be two sometimes.

It was a really fun party. She got some great presents from her friends too. Marissa is really growing up. She did really well at school this year and loved her teacher, Mrs. Blair. She really took off with her reading and loves to read different chapter books. She likes Junie B. Jones, Magic Treehouse and the Rainbow Fairy books most. I'm really impressed at how she has been able to catch on to things with school. A couple of weeks ago I asked if she wanted to learn multiplication and she learned 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10 and 11 in just a few minutes. She can also be really diligent, especially when she wants to go play with friends. She will do her jobs, clean her room, do her workbook and practice before anyone else has even started theirs.

Marissa has been wanting to take piano lessons for a really long time, but she's been on the waiting list forever. I finally had the thought that we should take Erin and Alex's two spots and rotate the kids' lessons so that they each have two weeks on and one week off. This would give Marissa a chance to take lessons and wouldn't be more time for their teacher. Their teacher, Mrs. Hawks, said she would try it out for the summer and so far it has been great. Marissa just loves piano. I just hope everyone can progress well even though they don't get it every week anymore.

She is still a very social child and loves playing with friends. She is so lucky to have her best friend Aurora next door. They play every single day like they are sisters. She's got some other good friends that she plays with in the neighborhood. Marissa has lost 6 teeth and has 2 more that are loose. She loves wearing make up and dressing up. She is a very loving child. She always remembers to give hugs and kisses to me and Wesley and I know she needs lots of love back.

We do love Marissa so much! Happy Birthday sweet girl!