True Stories of Anna's Birthday

Baby girl turned a whopping eight years old Sunday.  We celebrated it Saturday.  Truth be told, the girl has been sort-of-celebrating it all month counting down with a calendar of her own creation.  Notice how she doesn't bother to number the days after the 25th. 

She also planned her birthday all out for us as seen above in the corner.  She even made her own birthday card complete with fill-in-the-blank spots for me to do and THEN present it to her. :}  She also made herself a birthday crown again this year.   

More birthday truth - she even decorated her own gifts to her liking after I got them wrapped.  We warned Anna leading up to her day that there were less gifts this year because they were slightly more expensive this year.  She understood the trade-off.  The littlest gift there is Noah's, as we always get one surprise for the non-birthday kiddo because ... well, because it's just more fun that way!  Speaking of Noah, he gifted Anna with a Lego minifig and a dollar - bless his little heart.  I could eat him whole.

I don't know what it is about September, but this is the second year in a row I have wimped out on doing or ordering a cake for Anna's birthday.  True story. Apparently I can take on cake business in May for Noah, I managed it in July for Lasa, but by fall I am spent.  Bless the girl's heart, she does not care.  She was thrilled with the power of getting to go to different places to pick out whatever her little heart wanted.  This year, one birthday first we enjoyed her marking was having an ice cream cake for a change.  Yum!

True story - before this experience, she thought an ice-cream cake just meant a cake with an ice-cream cone picture on top.  Ha!  We scoped out DQ and then hit Publix Bakery.  Then we remembered Carvel ice cream cakes in the plain old freezer section.  That's when Anna spotted an all out Oreo ice cream cake and that was that.  Oreos are her fave, so it was a match made in heaven.  Even more so because this cake was allergen free for her brother.  Then, because I felt guilty about grabbing a store-bought cake the day before doing the birthday, I splurged and let her get some overpriced color-flame candles. :}

More true story - the dreamy-eyed birthday girl was so ready to blow out the candles, she did it before I was ready to take a pic and we made her have to blow them out again.  After we did take two, she then realized she forgot to make a wish.  #Reallife.  Other true story - she revealed to us what her last year's birthday wish was that has now come true ... that Lasa would get to stay. ❤️

Another birthday first Anna was squealing about was a scavenger hunt to her first and biggest gift - too big to wrap.  There were 8 clues to match her 8 years. True story - Josh was NO HELP writing the clues the night before.  He was mystified as to what in the world sort of production this was supposed to be no matter how much I tried to describe how this works.  :}  When I insisted the clues had to rhyme, he gave me all out blank stares.

She and Noah raced all over to follow the clues to the next clues to the surprise at the end - an electric scooter!  That's her frozen on the spot once she looked up and saw it. 

Love her scrawny arms in the air to celebrate once the surprise has been processed.

The cutest!

After trying it out a bit, it was time to unwrap the rest of her gifts.  Paper flew, cheers were cheered, toddler danced upon the wrapping paper shreds like it was going out of style. 

She got a bow and arrow set and a target to go with.

And finally, she got a sewing machine that created all sorts of bouncing and blurry pic memories.  She was ecstatic.  I do believe this was her favorite.

Noah got a set of magnetic building blocks which were a big hit with everyone.  Love these sorts of toys!

After some target practice in the last hot weekend of the year...

Anna was back inside to write a quick thank you note on the back of some wrapping paper. :}  She's the cutest.

She picked pizza for dinner and we obliged.  True story/Confession, I insisted we try a new pizza place in town and that ended up being a total dud of an experience for us, so I promised the girl we could go to the pizza place she wanted to go to to begin with - Pie 5 - later in the week.  So I guess we technically have some birthday business still to attend to.  Perfect!  Buys me a little more time to crank out my yearly letter to/about the birthday kiddo. 

In the meantime, birthday girl is rocking out on her new sewing machine and has already earned a $1 by repairing a curtain I made yearsssssssssss ago for her nursery WHEN SHE WAS A BABY.  Whaaaaat???  True/Sad story - I StitchWitched the seams back then (aka - taped and ironed) as I have no sewing skills and they have recently come undone.  Anna did the fine job of actualllllly stitching the seams shut and we are both so tickled to see the curtain come full circle.  

The baby girl has grown up and taken my sewing lack into her own hands. Proud momma! Today I pulled out scraps of fabrics for her as she was on the hunt for something - anything - to sew.  Now she has made pockets, started coasters, sized Lasa for an apron-turned-crown, and even sewn a little heart with her initial stitched in the middle.  There is no stopping her now.  

I am not joking.  She is at Hobby Lobby right this very minute with her Daddy spending her birthday money from Memaw and Papa John on more sewing supplies.  I am in love with how this machine gives her a whole new exciting outlet for her creativity.  Best present ever!

And that concludes the true story of Anna's 8th birthday.