Sophia turns 7

I am so far behind in my blogging!  We have had a lot of fun things going on and lots of company...and I'm way behind in recording it all.

My Sweet Sophia turned 7 in May.  My brother and parents were both here visiting...thanks for coming out to see our new home and celebrating our kiddos birthdays!

Happy kids...happy Oma and Opa :)

Sophia had a birthday party when she turned 1...but that was really more for Steve and me :)  We always have a family celebration for birthdays, but we have a general "rule" in our home that you get to have a party when you turn 7, 10, 13, 16, etc.  (Bella had one when she turned 4, but that's because we were leaving CO and we wanted her to celebrate with her friends...shhh, don't tell Sophia that Bella has had an "extra" party.)  

Why the rule?  Well, we just want to be careful about teaching our kids to always expect bigger, better stuff or parties for their birthdays.  We always celebrate, but to have a big party every year is just not our style.  I sure don't mean to step on any toes and we definitely don't think birthday parties are bad...we've just chosen to keep things more simple and low key.  

Anyway, how would I describe Sophia's excitement as her birthday and her first real party approached?  It was over-the-top-excitement and it was so fun to see...not ever having an official party before sure did make this one seem extra special :)

We chose a park with a playground and a sprayground (think sprinklers kicked up a notch).  We invited some families we are privileged to call friends and planned a kids-all-over-the-place-playground-sprayground-hotdogs-chips-watermellon-cupcakes-present-pinata kind of party!  It was a blast!  

Everyone loved playing in the water!

The kids (16 kids in attendance between 4 families :) ran around and had so much fun!  Steve grilled hot dogs (thanks so much for being our griller) and we enjoyed them for lunch.  It was crazy windy, so things did get blown around a bit, but we survived.  

A feast fit for a birthday girl!

We baked cupcakes for the party and the girls and Oma helped me decorate them...they were as yummy as they were pretty.  

Cupcake Queens :)

I call this one "Birthday Girl with Cupcake" :)

And then it was time for presents.  Sophia was just delighted to be opening gifts from friends!  

The pinata was a fun addition to the party...Uncle Chris was in charge of the pinata...thanks, Chris :)  (We chose one that had ribbon pulls instead of one you had to hit...a lesson learned when someone almost got hit with the stick at Bella's 7th birthday party...the ribbon pulls worked perfectly!)

The crazy candy-grab~

The party was a blast and everyone had fun :)

Happy kids!

Later, Sophia got to open family gifts.  Chris gave her a book and a movie...The Ant Bully, which is perfect in light of Sophia's desire to destroy all ant hills after some ants attacked her foot earlier in the spring :)  My parents gave her a specially printed and framed copy of her winning poem...she was delighted!  We ate ice cream and the rest of the cupcakes...what a great birthday!

She was in awe when she opened this one!

Sophia, you are a blessing to so many...we love you...so, so, so very much!  Enjoy being 7!

Much love to my getting-too-big-girl :)

Mommy~