Our Eight Year Old

Can you believe Alison's 8!!!  In some ways she seems much older than that, but on the other hand it seems like she was barely born.  It's hard to imagine our lives without her.  She's such a happy, excited, thoughtful little girl!  We all just love her.

We started celebrating early this year.  Even though it was a Saturday and she could have slept in, she woke up before 6:00am.  She was ready to get the party started!!  We opened a few presents in the morning, but saved a few for later.  Then we ate not one, but TWO of her favorite sugary cereals for breakfast (Cap'n Crunch and Cinnamon Life).  Ugh.  After that, it was time to get ready for her 10:00am birthday party.

We only let our kids have "friend parties" in kindergarten, when they turn 8, and when they turn 12 (if they even want one then).  On the other years, we celebrate with our own little family.  By setting those ground rules from the beginning, we avoid lots of begging and pleading for parties every year.  It just so happened that this year, both girls had parties.  Wow!  What fun!  Ali has been planning her birthday party since the beginning of the year.  (That's just how Alison rolls.  She is currently worrying about how she's ever going to be able to find our house once she starts driving.)  Anyway, she was torn between having a a few friends spend the day at the beauty college with her or having a big party at home.  She ended up going with plan B.  We had 14 kids over for a cat-themed party.
 

Ali Cat.  Showing 8 fingers for her 8th birthday.

Josh was a real tiger!

Nicki looks sweet enough to pet.

I spent the first hour or so of the party painting each child's face like a cat.   Meanwhile, David and Suzette (who graciously agreed to come help out) helped them make headband ears, play "pin the bow on Hello Kitty," "eat the doughnut off the string like a kitty" and "crack the cat" (where you try to make each other laugh, but cats never laugh, as we all know).    After games, we ate brownies with mint chocolate chips melted on top, ice cream sundaes, and gold fish crackers and Swedish fish (you know, because cats like fish).  Oh, and of course milk, which I let them, drink out of cups instead of lapping out of bowls.  We opened presents.  Alison got so many fun things from her great friends and family!  Then, they just played or watched a Hello Kitty movie until their moms and dads came to get them.  I think Alison had a great time. I hope everyone else did too.  I'm pretty sure Sue and Dave didn't.

Painting faces.

Happy Birthday to you!

That's a lot of kids!  Wish you could have heard the noise level!

Say, "Meow!"

The rest of the day was fun as well.  Alison chose Cheese on Bread for lunch.  Grandma Shirley stopped by and wished her a happy birthday.  Grandma and Grandpa Gee came over to visit and give her a gift.  Her most exciting present of the day was a coupon from them saying they would take her to lunch at the restaurant of her choice.  Then, she and Nicki played with her new toys while I tried to squeeze in bottling a batch of salsa.  For dinner, she ordered pizza and ate it while watching "Rio" with dad and the other kids while I went to the general Relief Society broadcast.  She really liked the movie. 

Turning 8 is such a big deal!  It seems like the fun is just beginning for her.  She's so ready to get baptized!  She had a great experience at her bishop's interview.  She's looking forward to being baptized and confirmed.  She received her very own scriptures with her name engraved on them.  She also gets to start activity days, begin taking piano lessons (which she actually started a month ago.  Her teacher is Aunt Kristi and she really loves it!), get her ears pierced, and spend a few days in Utah all by herself at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house.  But we'll save all that for another day.  For now, she's just happy to be 8!