Cara Turns 8

Cara Birthday: Dinner at Arctic Circle Thursday night (she also got her Gymnastics shout out), Donuts Friday morning (plus she got to pick our movie that night), She was excited for her table stuff Friday morning too (made me so happy she likes that), Saturday we had her party, Sunday she got a birthday ribbon at swimming lessons so she was excited for that!

I love celebrating each milestone my kids accomplish and cross, but the oldest having a birthday is always a little bittersweet. I love watching them get older and learn new things (words, skills, hobbies, etc.), but the older Cara gets the closer I see them getting to being out on their own and I don't think I'll ever be ready for that.

Peep the note Gwen wrote her and wanted
To make sure was on the table for her 

That being said, celebrating Cara turning 8 has been so much fun! We decided to do her birthday dinner on Thursday since Friday is our movie night. She chose Arctic Circle after Gymnastics class (where she got her birthday shout out, which I'm sure she loves!). They all had fun getting ice cream and playing the play area. Our Arctic Circle is way better than McDonald's, if you ask me, so I was happy she picked that.

Friday morning she was SO excited to come down to her table of stuff (she seemed to really look forward to that and it makes me so happy she gets excited for that). She picked donuts with fruit for breakfast and she even got to pick the family movie for our movie night on Friday.

Saturday we had her party at home. I had to send Larry off to the Home Depot to get their workshop item that morning while I stayed home and cleaned (and cleaned and cleaned, way more than I expected to). I was a little nervous about having so many kids come (we gave her 15 invitations to hand out thinking she'd hand out about half and when she said she handed them all out I wondered if we made a mistake giving our most social daughter so many invites to give haha). We ended up having about 13 of the kids come (not including our 4) and the house was filled with the most fun chaos. We made sure to lock the cats up upstairs so that we didn't have to worry about keeping doors shut. I had planned about a million different activities and games to play, just to make sure we didn't have any boring/down times (turns out I planned too much, we did maybe 3 things and they all had so much fun with those and then after food, cake and ice cream, and presents the parents started showing up). I normally get really anxious having kids at the house and the mess you have to clean up afterwards (and this is after all that cleaning I did before the party), but I didn't mind this at all. It was loud and crazy and definitely messy, but everyone was smiling and no one got hurt. I could do another at home party for the warmer month birthdays (if we had to keep kids inside I'd probably go a little insane).

She ended up getting $36 in cash and since she already had 4 she kept saying "I have $40! I'm rich!" with the biggest smile on her face. She ended up buying the Minecraft game for the Switch with most of her money and it might be her favorite gift of all.

After all that, today at Swimming Lessons she got a birthday ribbon to turn in and get an extra prize, which she absolutely loved getting as well. 

Overall, it was such a good birthday, one I think she'll remember for a long time. And I loved seeing how many friends she had that were all so excited to celebrate her. She's definitely going to be the social butterfly in the upper levels of school.

To Cara:

My sweet first born. It has been an absolute pleasure watching you grow up in front of my eyes. I look back at pictures of when you were 2 or 3 and realize I had NO idea you'd turn into the girl you've become. I wondered so many times what you'd be like, and you've blown me away with how smart and kind and friendly you are. You are so considerate of others, you are such a great rule follower. You have such sass, but you know how to reign it in when it's getting to be too much. You have become a little gamer, like your dad, but a great caretaker of your little sisters and brother (like I would've been). 

I love watching you get excited about things, even if it's something I don't understand, like Minecraft or Pokémon. Just know, I will ALWAYS be excited with you even if I'm not sure why haha. You are a natural leader when you meet new people. You make friends wherever you go. You are such a daredevil. NOTHING scares you and I'm actually envious of that trait. You are always willing to try new things and you have such a confidence to you that I wish I had had at ANY age, much less at yours.

I wish you all the happiness and success in the world and I know you'll get it because you are naturally happy and are so good at spreading the happy to whoever you are around. As much fun as these last 8 years have been, I so look forward to all the years you have ahead. You'll go far in life!

I love you - Mom!