Jacey's 7th Birthday

I know I say this every year, but I can't believe Jacey is already another year older. They are just flying by.

Jacey asked if she could get her ears pierced for her birthday. I didn't have a problem with it, but I wanted her to be sure it was something she wanted to do. She changed her mind a couple of times, but she ended up getting them done. We went on Thursday, the day before her birthday, because she wanted to be able to wear her new earrings to school on her birthday. It seemed important to her, so I went with it. She was nervous, and she said it hurt, but she said she was glad she did it. (Sorry for the poor phone pics.)

For her birthday on Friday, she choose dad's fruit crepes for breakfast. Yummy.

She picked out a green shirt to wear to school so it would match her new earrings. (She choose to get her birthstone, which I believe is emerald.) And of course I had to snap some pics before school of my half-grown child.

Londyn and Calvin and I went to Jacey's school at lunchtime to eat with her and bring her the requested birthday lunch - a Subway sandwich. Unfortunately, the only picture I took was of Calvin while we were waiting for her to come into the lunch room.

After school she helped me make a cake for after dinner, which was a total flop. (My fault, not hers.) Luckily Will saved the day by turning it into a somewhat edible trifle. Jacey's requested activity for the evening (after a steak dinner) was to have people over to play games and have cake & ice cream. Thanks to my dysfunction in the kitchen, dinner was late and the game-players had to sit and wait for us to eat before we could play. (Sorry guys.) But eventually we did get to play some games. Jungle Uno is Jacey's current favorite.

Jacey has been asking for modeling clay for months, and she finally got some for her birthday. She asked before bed if she could play with it in the morning, as long as she had her work done. I said sure. I heard noises in the kitchen at a ridiculously early hour on Saturday morning. There was Jacey - dressed, teeth brushed, hair combed, sitting at the kitchen table with her clay. Someday she will learn about the luxury of sleeping in on Saturday mornings. Until then, I guess I'm glad she liked her present.

The festivities continued on Saturday morning when Grandma and Grandpa Robins came to take her out for breakfast. She LOVES one-on-one time like that, so it was a special treat. She had chocolate chip pancakes, of course. They also gave her a new tennis racquet and some tennis clothes, so she's all set for lessons to start up again this summer.

Later that afternoon was Jacey's friend-party. Because my kids only have friend-parties every other year, I think they get that much more excited for them. The down side for Jacey was that she had a LONG list of friends she wanted to invite, and I had to be the meanie who made her trim down the guest list. It didn't really surprise me that she had so many people she wanted to invite because she is just one of those kids who makes friends easily. She considers just about every kid at school or church "one of my best friends". She gets that from her dad - I've certainly never been blessed with that talent.

Jacey kept going back and forth on what she wanted to do at her party. For a long time she wanted an "Art" party, but then as it got closer she couldn't decide. She finally decided she wanted a "treasure hunt party." So I suggested we have a rainbow theme and hunt for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. She liked that idea so we went with it. I'm kind of annoyed at myself for not getting a picture of the pot of gold. It was a little bit awesome.

Our party guests made a pretty cool rainbow.

Rachel warned me that the cake was a lot of work, and she was right. But Jacey loved it, and only one kid said it was gross, so, you know, I guess it was worth it.

This is the only picture I got of the kids finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Their favor bags were in there too. They seemed to get a kick out of the treasure hunt. All in all, I'll call the party a success.

I won't get too mushy, talking about what a great kid Jacey is and how proud I am to be her mom and how much joy she brings into our home. And I won't go on and on about how much I learn from her and what a great example she is to the rest of us. And I won't reminisce about how it seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital to our little BYU apartment, without a clue in the world about how to be parents.

I'll just say that I love you, Jacey. And I love being your mom.