Mylie's Birthday - what a day!

My sweet baby girl is 7 years old! It's truly amazing. I love my girl beyond description. 

She adds so much kindness, compassion, fun, laughter and peace to our home.  

Her brothers don't realize how lucky they truly are. Justin and I sure do. 

Mylie's birthday was fun and FULL.  I felt like I didn't sit down all day, but that just adds to the fun of it.  Mylie had been stressing decorations for days.  She knew her party wasn't until Friday and kept asking if I was going to decorate just for the party or on her birthday too.  It's pretty much tradition at our house to deck out the house, but I tried to keep her in suspense... telling her I just wasn't quite sure. :) 

The day before her birthday, Mylie came home from school and had the idea that she should go to bed right then, so her birthday could arrive sooner.  The excitement was contagious! Despite that fact, she had trouble sleeping and came out while I was decorating.. so.. she knew.  That probably helped her go to sleep!

Just a little view of some of the decorations... definitely not all.

Mylie wanted Nana's egg casserole for her special birthday breakfast.   I woke up early, threw that in the oven and got ready for the day.  

Mylie was up well before 7am.  Girlfriend thought it was Christmas! :) I had her shower and get ready before we feasted.  Justin skipped the gym and stayed to have breakfast with us, which was really nice. 

After a few presents and FaceTiming with Papa and Grandma Debbie, it was time to get her to school.  

We carpool with the neighbor boy and it was our day to drive.  When we arrived to pick him up, his dog got out.  We spent 15 mins running around the neighborhood trying to catch the dog.. she almost got hit by a car and I was getting all sorts of dirty looks. Ugh! No luck catching her though.  By that time, the kids were late to school and I gave up.  His mom wasn't home, so we gave her a call and explained the situation.  She told us just to leave the dog and she'll find her later. Mylie was a little bummed that she was late to school on her birthday, but I told her it was just so she could make a grand entrance. :)

After we dropped the kids off, we headed to Luke's fieldtrip at the Herriman Fire station. Luke was excited that he had a fun day planned as well! 

I love seeing him in his element.  He's always participating, answering questions and very sure of himself.  Mylie was always a little more on the reserved/shy side during preschool. It's neat to watch their little personalities develop and emerge. 

 Ethan freaked out after the firemen geared up. He did not like their getup.  Let's just hope we never have a fire! :) 

All the kiddos (2 classes) with Miss Christine, Mercede and Makenzie ( Miss Karen's daughter)

 The little boy's faces were priceless when the truck drove around the corner, lights and sounds a blazing. 

Adorable. 

 We're so grateful for men and women who choose professions that protect our families.

After our fun at the station, I dropped Luke back off at preschool for the last hour and ran to pick up Mylie's cupcakes. 

I wanted to enjoy lunch with Mylie on her special day, so I got a sitter for Luke and Ethan.  Ethan desperately needed his nap because we still had a full day ahead of us. I love that there's some older girls off track that can help in these types of situations. I took Mylie a 'Happy Meal' per her request. I LOVED sitting with her friends, chatting about school and listening to their conversations.  In elementary school, you're pretty much a celebrity on your birthday.  Girl after girl kept coming over to sit next to Mylie.. we squeezed in as many as we could.. and then even more.  I decided to stand. :) 

Some girls couldn't contain their excitement about Mylie's party on Friday.  Others were sad they weren't invited.. awkward..but told me that they'd be coming to Mylie's 8th birthday party. :) That was Mylie's solution... just tell them they can come next year! Such a sweet girl.. she never wants anyone to feel left out. Looks like we'll be having a HUGE party next year.. or fingers crossed they forget. :)

The 'cold lunchers' were done fairly quickly and we headed out to recess.  I couldn't believe how many of the 'hot lunchers' chucked their food to  join in. I kept saying.. "let's stay a little longer.. I think you should finish your lunch.. you're going to be hungry".  The mom in me just couldn't let them do it.  Well, it didn't seem to matter what I said, they were going out.  Some of the girls begged and begged me to go to recess with them, so I agreed to play for a little bit.  They all were eager to show off their monkey bar and racing skills.  It was a gorgeous day! After about 15 mins of recess fun, I had to head back and relieve the babysitter. 

I had about an hour before I had to head back to the school for birthday cupcakes and to read Mylie's favorite story.  There's a boy in Mylie's class who is gluten-free and I didn't want him to feel left out.  I purchased a gluten free cupcake just for him.  It would break my heart if my kids were gluten free and left out of all the birthday celebrations. As I was loading everything up, my little Tasmanian devil got a hold of said cupcake and went to town doing everything he could do get it out. He ate the paper off it and shook the poor thing to death.  I was devastated.  Not just because I paid $4 for one cupcake.. but the fact that I had to be at the school in 20 mins.  I ran to Harmon's to buy another and of course they were sold out.  So I settled for some gluten free chocolate chip cookies. Crisis 'semi' averted. 

When we arrived at Mylie's class, I read Mylie's favorite book.  The class loved it.  It was a little challenging considering Ethan was running amuck, but we survived it.

After the story, we passed out Mylie's cupcakes and koolaid drinks.  Talk about sugar high! 

Mylie was very specific on what she wanted... chocolate cupcakes, pink frosting and sprinkles.  

So you bet that's what we brought.. it was her day after all. 

And Mr. Gluten-free came up to me right away and asked if I had anything gluten free for him.  Phew!

Mylie was beaming.  I didn't get any pics because I was running around like mad... passing out cupcakes & drinks, corralling Ethan, feeding him, cleaning up cupcake mess and etc.  It was pretty nutty but we survived. 

After we arrived home, Mylie enjoyed playing with the presents she opened earlier in the day.  We were waiting for Dad to come home before we opened the rest. 

Mylie requested pizza for dinner.  We decided to do carry out instead of going to a pizza place.  It saved us a ton of time and we were able to stay home, open presents and do cake at a reasonable time.  The cake.. oh yes.. it had to be chocolate with a 'lighter chocolate' frosting and have sprinkles as well.  Mylie was elated that it even had her name on it.  And.. just a shameless plug for Harmons... it was delicious!! 

The kids sure got a kick out of the trick candles. They never seem to disappoint. 

Towards the end of the night, Mylie 'ran into the screen' and her tooth fell out.  Jury is still out on that one.  Anyway, what a fun birthday... the tooth fairy even visited!! Here she is.. all ready for school the next morning, eager to tell her class all about it!

Mylie loved receiving calls, emails and messages from all of her favorite people.  

Thanks for making her feel so special! 

I'm pretty sure this girl's birthday was perfect! Phew! I loved being able to celebrate with her all day long. Mylie is such a special girl.. our one and only! We couldn't be more blessed. 

Happy Birthday to my smiley Mylie! We love you with all our hearts!

And please... don't grow up so fast.. your mama can't handle it. :)