It's Great to be Eight!

Courtney celebrated her 8th birthday last week -- she was so excited! It's been a busy month with birthdays and visitors and other events.

It was no surprise that she wanted a dog cake for her birthday. She also wanted chocolate cake, which makes frosting it tricky (so many crumbs!), but this is what we ended up with:

She wanted to get dressed up for presents and cake, and she also had me braid her wet hair the night before so it would be wavy on her birthday.

She got lots of fun presents, including her very own set of scriptures from Grandpa & Grandma.

Then it was time for cake and candles.

I had to include this picture because it is classic Courtney.

McKay had found some trombone music for the "Happy Birthday" song and he started playing it on his trombone as we started singing to her. Courtney did NOT like this and refused to blow out her candles unless we sang it again. She can be quite a stubborn girl! I finally convinced her to blow them out before they melted onto the cake and she did (although I had been so preoccupied talking to her that I totally missed the picture when she actually blew them out).

Courtney also got have a party with friends this year. With so much going on at our house, I decided it was worth a little extra money to host the party somewhere else. We had it a place called "Brush with Art" where the kids get to choose and paint a little clay sculpture. After it's painted, you leave it at the store for them to glaze and put in the kiln again and then the kids get to keep their creation.

We could have up to 8 kids and I told Courtney 2 of those slots had to be her sisters (good thing she is friends with her sisters!).

One of the other girls she invited couldn't come, so we ended up with 7 total. They had a fun time!

Courtney is growing into a beautiful girl! She has always been my most stubborn and independent kid, but in some ways that is a good trait! She excels in school and is friendly to all. She is a great helper to me and amazes me with her curiousity and desire to learn new things. She still loves dogs (and anything dog-related) and can tell you all about the many different breeds. We love having her in our family!