7th birthday

Since Lauren’s birthday falls during the holiday break, her first grade class had a celebration for her the last day of school for the year, which also happened to be pajama day – bonus!

Dave and I came in and read a story to the class and she gave out pencils to everyone.

Her actual birthday was the Saturday after Christmas and this year we did an American Ninja Warrior party at a gym in West Chester that has trained actual competitors who have been on the show. Obviously they adjusted the course for 7 year olds. She invited her entire class, of which about half came, and everyone had a great time!

That night we had a second family party at the house. The cake was huge so we threw another candle on it and sang happy birthday again. It was actually the same cake that Sophie had on her 7th birthday. Lauren saw a picture of it recently and insisted she get one too. Good choice, it’s delicious!

At 7, Lauren is always the first to offer help if someone needs it, whether it’s carrying something from the car or cleaning up a mess, even if it’s not hers. She loves her Mr. Benson and always has snuggles for him, even though he’s the smelliest dog in the world. She love to tell jokes and make others laugh. She’s also such a monkey, running and climbing on everything. Which is why the trampoline you see in the background was the perfect birthday present 😉 Happy Birthday to this amazing, kind, funny kid!

It’s been 7 years since this amazing girl was born. Some of the days have felt extremely long, but most have gone by in a flash. It turns out she’s a stubborn, empathetic, happy, smart little girl who has given us 7 adventure-filled years.

On her birthday, Dave and I went into her classroom in the afternoon to read a book to the class and then she gave all of her classmates bubbles to take home.

Handing out bubbles.

And then, to celebrate 7 years, she decided that she wanted to get her ears pierced. We ended up at a Piercing Pagoda the same spot (in Va.) that I got my ears pierced 30 years ago. She was extremely nervous, and Dave and I expected some (lots) of tears, but she was a trooper and didn’t shed one. Then we went to Benihana for teppenyaki – her favorite.

Putting on a brave face

The action shot…

That night we had a little family party with our new family addition, Lydia, our au pair from Germany. She’s been living with us for two months and it’s like she’s been here for two years. She made a beautiful rainbow birthday cake for Sophie.

The rainbow cake

Two days after her birthday she had an ice skating party (for the second year in a row) with her friends. She’s pretty good on skates – which is great, because we haven’t really gone too many times this winter. I on the other hand didn’t even attempt to put on skates, like I did last year. It was better for everyone.