Charlotte Grace has been six for nearly a month now & all the celebrating is over but boy was it a two week long shindig of sweet treats & outings! It all started on the 4th of July. We happened to be down in Kingwood visiting my parents. The uncles came over bearing gifts. The funniest part was when Charlotte opened the gift from Uncle Scott that happened to be a skirt she already had along with a shirt she had in a different color. I had already shared that information with the gift giver. Charlotte was actually very polite but Eloise jumped in & reminded Charlotte very loudly that she already had that skirt. Ha! It made us laugh. Uncle Kyle scored big with wrapping up some super cute athletic shorts & T-shirt. Some weeks she has worn them for 4 days straight begging me not to wash them. She also received a beautiful charm bracelet & some $$ for Barnes & Noble. She likes to receive gifts...don't we all?
We decided to start birthday month off right with a cupcake made by Aunt Sharon & some birthday singing. Aunt Sharon iced all the cupcakes & brought sprinkles for the girls to decorate with. I am sure you can imagine which sister was particular & which coated every centimeter in sugar while proceeding to lick the rest off her fingers & out of the bowl (see crazy eyes below). We didn't care though....it was birthday month & we all like to be sugared up! The "6" candle was one my mom had used for either me or my brothers & looked pretty large & in charge on the cupcake as the sweet girl blew it out.
Grammy & Papa spent an afternoon & evening with us the following week to celebrate before they left for Orlando. We went all out & stuck a candle in a cookie. She didn't mind at all!
We took a short hiatus from celebrating until the day before the big day when she got to go on a surprise date with her Daddy. She was thrilled & got ready super duper fast. She hugged us all goodbye then hopped in the big red truck which is a treat in itself for the kids since only three carseats fit meaning they never ride in it : )
First stop was to pick out her first "grown up" bible. Since Charlotte started reading she is always on the look out for books with ZERO pictures. She cannot read all the words but skims every page for the ones she can read. This was cute at the beginning when she would say "it says 'the' or 'it'" over & over. She is far beyond that now but still as cute as she can be. We read the Jesus Storybook often with our bunch & absolutely love it. As the girls are growing and asking more questions, we have started to read from our bibles the scripture that correlates with whatever story we are reading. The most common question is "did that really happen? Was that person real?" It is so exciting to have these conversations with them & it has led to Charlotte asking to take my bible to her bed to read at night. She was excited to pick out her very own dark purple with a pretty design on the front bible. We had a good laugh one evening when there was still some noise coming from the girl's room FAR past bedtime & when Rob went to check it out Charlotte was saying "I just want to read my bible!" He came out & said "Can you really tell someone to stop reading their bible?" We are praying for those pages to be worn out as she reads & learns more about Jesus. Next stop was to see Inside Out & filled their bellies up with movie treats. They both loved it & want the rest of us to see it. Last stop was to eat lunch at Chili's which along with Chuy's is a favorite place to eat for this six year old. GREAT day out & about with a dad who loves his little lady.
While they were away, we were very busy getting ready for an evening celebration with friends. I took the other three with me to Party City & a bookstore where we stocked up on decor & Eloise picked out a gift. The best part was when we returned to the Expedition after shopping for over an hour & found the rear door open exposing our froggy potty the boys used about ten times each before we could even get out of the car. As we all say, I'm losing my marbles. I was glad to see the carseats, a double stroller, a pack n play & of course the beloved froggy potty. Once home, the little guys went to sleep while Elo & I got down to business. I just melt looking back at pictures that seem as though they were just taken.
Eloise was a great helper & wanted to do everything by herself. I had to figure out a way to play along. We made it, the decor was up just in time for the birthday girl to walk back in the door sharing about all the fun they had on their date. That evening, two families we have come to know & love through church joined us for dinner & cake. Between our three families there are 12 kids that are 7 & under. Super loud & fun. They all enjoy each other & we enjoyed visiting & watching. We had burgers & hotdogs with all the fixins. The kids picnicked on the floor, the moms were in the kitchen & the dads were found sitting in the child size chairs at the playroom table. I SO wish I would have taken a picture of that.
Our oven went out the night before which some might think it would be an inconvenience but like the optimist I am, I found it quite convenient & quickly ordered my most favorite cake in the whole wide world. Nothing but the best for Char! It was was from Nothing Bundt Cakes, double chocolaty chip with the classic icing. Seriously delicious & all of us agreed.
If there is anything Charlotte truly hates in life right now it is being the center of attention. She told me the day of the party that she wanted to cancel it & that no one was allowed to come over. I was shocked because she is always begging to hang out with these families. I asked a few questions & found that she did not want them to come because she did not want anyone to sing the happy birthday song. Sweet, shy girl. We decided not to cancel the party & shared with a group of confused kids that instead of singing happy birthday, we were all going to yell "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" before she blew out the candle. It was short & sweet & kept a special girl comfortable in her own skin.
We stayed up late, crashed then woke up on July 13th reminiscing of a very special day when we met our little bundle of joy for the first time. Perfectly sweet & perfectly chubby.
We enjoyed breakfast then moved right along to gift opening. Eloise was SOOOOO excited to give Charlotte her gift which included some bookmarks she spent about 30 minutes picking out while the trunk of my car was wide open. She was even more excited that Char loved the bookmarks & gave her a big hug.
We did the shopping for the boys & got an etch a sketch which has been a big hit of course....has been for many years right? Charlotte kept thanking them & even though they didn't know what was going on, they received multiple hugs & responded with grins.
Charlotte got to work right away on her first drawing. Within minutes she came to show me & Eloise blurted out "That looks just like California Char!" "That" being the only thing other than straight lines. I guess our US geography focus is paying off ; ) I have enjoyed the etch a sketch too & am perfecting the shape of Texas.
After the morning celebration, Robby headed to work & G.Gran came over to deliver a gift & keep the younger three kids while Charlotte & I went on a date. Her gift from G.Gran was super fun. She got a book about gardening, pots, a watering can, gloves, potting soil & a starter sunflower seed. She & Paw Paw went to pick out some seeds & she got to work. All are potted & being watered mostly every day. It has offered some good lessons in discipline when she has skipped a day & looked outside to see some major drooping. It's been a hot few weeks! All are looking great today : )
The two of us hopped in the car which is an incredibly quick process with a big girl who rides in a booster & buckles herself! We headed over to an outdoor mall to spend some birthday money, grab lunch & treat her to her very first pedicure.
A few laughable moments:
- We were in Old Navy looking at a dress. I grabbed two sizes to see which fit better. Not even thinking about the change from grabbing things in 4T or 5T to trying outfits on I said, "alright, let's go to the fitting room!" She panicked & said loudly "I AM NOT TAKING MY CLOTHES OFF!" That is exactly what you want your child to say in a public place ; ) She hid inside a clothes rack until I coaxed her out saying that maybe she could try it on over her clothes which is exactly what we did.
- She made out like a bandit with Barnes & Noble money & just about wore me out looking for the perfect things. She really enjoys maps whether looking at them, tracing or freehand drawing them so she was intent on buying a geography book. I asked at the desk & they led us to a section that had about 12 books total. The one she fell in love with was basically a geography textbook that was more detailed than any maps I have seen. The only drawback was it cost $30 of her $50. The nice man led her to the children's section & showed her an atlas more appropriate for her age. She would have none of it & was happy to spend that much on her favorite book. She spent the rest on a travel coloring book, go figure & about 10 more bookmarks. They have kept her busy for hours.
- Last stop was a darling little girls salon & spa. I had prepped her about what to expect for a pedicure but apparently it wasn't enough. She was apprehensive about the pink foamy bubbles until the sweet lady started distracting her with questions. The straw that broke the camel's back was when she rubbed sparkly lotion all over her legs. I saw Charlotte tense up & she tried to be okay with it but all of the sudden her face got really serious & she said "I'm not so sure about those sparkles all over my legs. Actually, I really don't like them at all." Ha! Later she told me "I really liked my pedicure but am so sorry I told that lady I didn't like the sparkles. That wasn't very kind. I tried to make it better when I told her how much I liked the sparkles on my toes." She was so cute. The finished product looked fabulous complete with a toe ring.
Lunch was at Sonic which was a little gross since it was 1,000 degrees at our outdoor mall. One perk was that Charlotte scored some super cool sunglasses.
Bad news was that I got completely dehydrated & by the time we stopped at one more store on the way home I told Charlotte that if I collapsed on the ground & was unable to speak she should tell the person helping me that I didn't drink enough water. She asked me about every 3 seconds if it was really going to happen. Poor dear, I really had her worried. Thankfully I made it home & did my collapsing on the couch. I felt so dizzy, threw up & took a few hours of drinking water to start feeling well again. All worth it though!
Last bit on the birthday. Charlotte had asked Rob if she could stay up all night long on her birthday. He said "absolutely!" Once the other kiddos were in bed, we talked about the night she was born & how special she was. We moved to the couch & she thought we should watch a movie so we rented "Night at the Museum." I was dozing off until she said she was hungry so we all moved to the kitchen table & enjoyed some ice cream & birthday cake. We finished the movie & she was still pretty chipper. The rest of our evening was comprised of having an etch a sketch competition, working a puzzle & playing a game where we describe animals & guess what they are. We were approaching midnight. If I had taken photos of our nocturnal party they would have shown Charlotte bouncing of the walls, Robby fighting falling asleep & me scowling at Robby mouthing, "This is all your fault." All of the sudden she exclaimed she was really tired & asked if we could have a sleepover in our bed. We jumped for joy & thought I don't care where you sleep, let's just get there as fast as possible!
It was a wonderful few weeks of celebrating our sweet Charlotte. Six has been a great year for her so far! Six sounds big but seven, oh my! Can't believe that one is next!
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