Happy Birthday, Angel!

Yesterday was my angel's seventh birthday. She was a little apprehensive, after witnessing the down-playing the husband and I did with our respective birthdays. She was concerned that we wouldn't make a big deal out of hers. (I tried to explain that after a person reaches a certain age, they just aren't as interested in celebrating yet another birthday, and birthdays seem like they are coming every couple of months now instead of the eternity between birthdays one experiences in childhood.) For my birthday, the husband made me breakfast. For his, I made him dinner. "But I still get presents, right?" the angel wanted to know.

And did she ever. She got a bed for her American Girl sized doll. (I say "sized" because neither the bed nor the doll are actually American Girl brand...not when Target has a knock-off brand for half price.) She had a party with her friends from school, and at this age they are still required to invite all the girls from their class. (7 girls...angel makes 8) Plus she invited her cousin/neighbor whom she plays with on a regular basis, even though cousin is a year or so older. She also invited my friend and her little girls, for a total of 11.

Now, I am not a fan of having kids in my house. My kids are lucky I let them stay sometimes. With the number of kids in the neighborhood and my angel being of prime "playdate" age, I have had to adjust. Luckily, the angel's best friend is as soft-spoken and gentle as she is, so I don't mind her coming over. And when my niece plays over, the girls have a great time and I feel totally comfortable laying down the law if I have to...after all, she's family. But we have never had 11 girls over at the same time before. (Okay, two of her classmates couldn't come, so it was really only 9 girls) I tried to think of an activity we could do that would be quiet, still and mess-free. For some reason, I thought of fingernail polish. (What?!?) So we did manicures at the party, with paraffin hand dip and painted nails with stick on jewels. It seemed to work pretty well, and it took about an hour. After cupcakes and presents, the girls played in the angel's room for 20 minutes until the moms came for them. This made the angel crazy! First, she doesn't really like people touching her stuff. (She gets that from me.) Second, they were being pretty loud and really, it was too many girls to get a good game of make-believe going. "Mommy, they're all talking at once and it's giving me a headache." (She gets that from me, too.) I'm hoping that next year I can remind her of this when she begins making plans for her birthday party, and then we can go to the movies or a skating rink instead. But for now, one more birthday under our belt.

Looking at the pictures, the angel actually looks older. Her face has lost some of that baby roundness, and she looks more like a...well, a kid. But after the girls had all left, and the grandparents were gone, she changed into her Barbie flannel nightgown and climbed into my lap (what's left of it) for a good snuggle. She might look older, but she's still my baby!