seven

It's been almost two weeks since Eva's seventh birthday. And apparently, that's how long it takes for me to feel like blogging about it! I haven't felt much like blogging lately, but I have for the last few days, so I'm going with it.

Eva opened two presents before she went to school, but I had her wait on the others, as I knew the rest of the family would want to watch. She informed me that, in the future, I should hide all of the presents until it is time to open them! Lucas agreed that it is torture to see them all sitting there and have to wait.

For the first time, I had a child who went to school on his/her birthday (Max and Lucas have summer birthdays). So, obviously, I played the cool mom card and took her Wendy's for lunch. We shared our fries with all of her friends. I enjoy being the cool mom. (And heaven knows, there is a small window of opportunity there, so I say live it up while you can!)

After school, she invited her friend Lindsey to go to a jump/bounce place. I had purchased a 2-for-1 on Groupon earlier this year, and it seemed like the perfect day to use it. When we arrived, however, it was about the saddest place I'd ever seen. What you see in the picture takes up about 1/3 of a warehouse, and the rest is just concrete. We definitely won't be frequenting that establishment!

After about 40 minutes, the girls were finished with Jump Around Town, so we went to what we call The Wooden Park. Much better.

I had my book and it was a beautiful day, so it was a win/win situation.

Finally, it was night, and Eva could open the rest of her gifts! She requested chocolate angel food cake, and no one was sad about that.

Her party with friends was on Wednesday. She invited seven friends, and was delighted that they all could come — especially Whitney!

First, we did bubble painting outside. It was a hit.

Then, I gave each girl a canvas and a paint palette.

They chose the paint colors they wanted, and got right to work. I was so glad that Marc was there to help with the party, because it was busier than I expected, getting everyone the paints they wanted, wiping up spills, etc.

Some of the girls finished their canvases before the rest, so I took them into the family room and played that game where you draw a head of some sort and then fold your paper down and pass it to the next person, who draws a torso, then pass it to the last person to add the legs. My cousin Ashley and I used to do that when we were little. Eva and her friends thought it was hilarious.

colorful cupcakes — I really thought the frosting was thick enough to pipe on, but apparently not, so I just pretended like I was going for the dripping paint look all along...

I spread out a long piece of butcher paper and everyone worked on a mural together. Eva loved it so much, she was slightly heartbroken when we had to throw it away a couple of days later...

The best thing about art is seeing the way that everyone comes up with something unique!

The masterpieces:

Savannah

Whitney

Ava

Lindsey

Gates

Riley

Sammie

And, I only just realized that I forgot to take a picture of Eva with her painting! Oops.

When the party was over, I did a little bit of cleaning up, then decided I'd have to save the rest for the next day as I was utterly and completely exhausted! It was 7:30 and I was literally wishing I could go to bed. Am I too old for birthday parties??

I kissed Eva goodnight and asked her if she had had a good party, fervently hoping she would sigh with contentment (she did). Because, really, that's the only thing that makes all of this worth it.