Growing Pains

When Emma-Caroline was just about to turn five years old she came to me with a request, "Mommy, can I get my ears pierced?" At the time I quickly replied, "When you are eight years old you can," not realizing that three years was not an eternity and would pass by very quickly. Just before her eighth birthday this past Sunday, Emma-Caroline again came to me this time saying, "Mommy, you said I could get my ears pierced when I turned eight. I want to go ON my birthday and get it done. Can I?" I had indeed told her that she could get her ears pierced at the age of eight, it was the year I had my ears pierced as a child, but I thought she would forget. No such luck! Emma-Caroline then showed me all of the research she had done on her computer about how to take care of your ears when they are first pierced and the types of earrings she could wear that would be good for newly pierced ears as well as her wish list  of earrings at Claire's Boutique in the mall. I was impressed with her efforts of responsibility regarding her ears and getting them pierced so I agreed that we would go on her actual birthday to get it done.

 After Sunday school and church we took Emma-Caroline to her favorite restaurant Wasabi for her birthday lunch. Emma-Caroline's BFF Mary Caroline joined us for the celebration.

 Emma-Caroline and Mary Caroline are often mistaken as twins. Mary Caroline's mom and I grin and nod our heads and agree that the girls do resemble each other, A LOT. We don't even plan their outfits but some how they always seem to be coordinated.

 All three of our girls enjoyed a huge slice of chocolate cake after a yummy hibachi lunch.

 We then made our way to the mall and to Claire's Boutique where Emma-Caroline picked the March birthstone to be her first pair of earrings.

 Emma-Caroline was all smiles as she hopped up in the chair to get her ears pierced.

 I was very impressed with Claire's attention to cleanliness and sanitation before piercing new ears.

 The longer the preparation took for Emma-Caroline to get her ears pierced, the more nervous she got. The lady asked if we wanted to have one ear pierced at a time or both at the same time.

 Howie replied that one ear at a time would probably be fine. I quickly disagreed and told the nice lady that we would like both ears pierced at the same time.

 Emma-Caroline's ears were marked with the perfect placement for the new earrings.

 Howie filled out the paper work for the ear piercing and the guns were set.

 Emma-Caroline got even more nervous when she saw the ear piercing guns ,so being the awesome best friend that she is, Mary Caroline held Emma-Caroline's hand.

 Emma-Caroline had a whole audience watching and cheering her on as she got her new earrings.

 Knowing how Emma-Caroline reacts to getting a shot at the doctor's office . . .

 This is why I wanted to have both of her ears pierced at the same time! Howie has never been present for shots, so he didn't know that one ear at a time would have resulted in her having only one earring :-)!

 After the initial "pain" of the piercing and a few tears shed, Emma-Caroline recovered . . .

 and took a quick look at her newly pierced ears.

 Still a little upset from the "growing pains" of turning one year older and having her ears pierced.

 And finally a true smile and a happy face for our sweet Emma-Caroline.

 Eight is a wonderful year to be, I think. It is a bridge between being a little kid and gaining more independence and responsibility as one grows older. It's not always easy to grow up and experience any kind of growing pains.

 But it always helps to have a very good friend and little sister to help you get through and to cheer you on.

Linking to Finding Serendipity Today

It's Great to Be Eight!

Today our sweet Emma-Caroline turns 8 years old! To be exact she won't officially be 8 years old until 10:45pm. From the moment I heard her sweet cry at birth she has brought Howie and I much joy and happiness as we have watched her grow and change year by year. It is a privilege to be her parents and we thank God each day for the gift of Emma-Caroline. Happy birthday sweet girl! We love you very much!

Celebrating Eight!

As a child grows up and turns one year older every. single. year. all parents say, "I can't believe she's {fill in the blank} years old already! I am no exception to this comment about one's child growing older. I have enjoyed each year that my girls have turned and I look back fondly on each milestone and experiences they have had  as they have grown year by year. I won't say I am sad as they turn one year older, but I do take pause to reflect on the little person they are and the journey they have taken to be where they are at this very point.
Emma-Caroline will turn eight years old tomorrow. It's a big day for her as well it should be. From the time of her first birthday until now I have always enjoyed planning her birthday party and making it a very special celebration for her. She has had a lady bug party, a tea party, a garden party, a Dora Party, a princess party, a ballerina party, a bowling party and this year she had a camping themed party. I am a person who loves printed invitations so I always start any party planning with the perfect invitation.

This year I found the cutest invitations on Pinterest from a wonderful company Anders Ruff. They had created a fabulous invitation for a "Glamp Out!" or glamorous camping party. It fit Emma-Caroline's sleepover party criteria and thus started my party planning wheels a turning. Pinterest has become my new favorite go to source for great party ideas. I even pin some of my own photos (not to be showy) to my boards in a effort to be helpful to someone else like me who is looking for party ideas to replicate. I tell you, Pinterest is perfect for party planners!

We had a wonderful sleepover "Glamp-Out" with 11 total girls. They were such sweet young ladies and our glamours camp out was the perfect theme for a very snowy cold night in March.

The setting was definitely a mix of the glam with a hint of camp.

The girls received a glamorous "trail mix" and s'mores as party favors.

The hang tags are also from Anders Ruff. They have a lot of cute, cute ideas for parties and I highly recommend them for their creativity and ease of working with.

I found these cute flower petal buckets and  felt letter tags for the girls to collect their goodies from the pinata Emma-Caroline wanted to have.

I took the Anders Ruff invitation to our local grocery store bakery for Emma-Caroline's birthday cake. I decided a few years back that the local grocery store cakes are quite delicious and way more cost effective than the really fancy cakes I have had done in previous years. I truly love fancy bakery cakes, but kids take one bite and lick off the icing and then the rest of the cake is ready for the garbage can. There is no sense in waisting gourmet cake and money when a grocery store cake tastes great too.

The lady at Food City went above and beyond with this cake. She even added the wood grain from the invitation. I thought she did an excellent job and I am planning on writing an thank you card to her for her efforts.

My sweet almost 8 year old absolutely loved her cake!

The girls dined in style with glamourous table settings and traditional camp out food of hot dogs, chips, fruit and s'mores.

All of our little guests gathered to sing happy birthday to the birthday girl!

This is my favorite photo of this series as Emma-Caroline's sweet friend Andie held her hair back so that she could blow out her candles safely.

The girls then gathered in the family room to watch Emma-Caroline open all of her gifts.

We then set up the camp style craft table where the girls painted a bird house.

Next was pinata time!

Finally the candy broke free and everyone filled their flower pails.

After lots of food, fun, much laughter and celebration, the girls got dressed in their pajamas and headed down to the playroom for their "camp-out." It was a wonderful birthday party! Emma-Caroline is a very blessed little girl to have so many sweet little friends to help her celebrate turning eight.

March 1=Spring!

So I know that our 365 days of the year are broken into four seasons and that those particular seasons begin on the solstices, pretty elementary, right? But you see, I don't completely accept the start dates of Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. In my book, Winter begins December 1st and ends February 28 or 29 in a leap year. Summer is June, July and August. Fall is September, October and November , and Spring begins with March 1 and ends on May 31. To me, my dates make more sense ;-)! I also like to think that my birthday of March 13 occurs in the Spring when the daffodils are in full bloom and the days are beginning to get longer. Of course, I will concede that the solstice calendar will always mark our seasonal beginnings and endings, but for me, March 1 equals Spring!

Music Makes Your Heart Sing

One of the things that both of our girls enjoy is music. You will hear them singing, composing, playing and listening to music at some point during each and every single day. I love hearing their sweet little voices belt out familiar tunes as well as spur of the moment melodies they sing as they happily go about the day. Emma-Caroline enjoys singing in our church's children's choir and both girls love their music classes at school with Mrs. Parker. On Tuesday, I was invited to chaperone Emma-Caroline's class field trip to the Knoxville Symphony at the Tennessee Theater. I was thrilled to go and hear the orchestra play in one of my favorite venues. I snapped a few iPhone photos to document our day. It was a wonderful trip with my favorite little second grader!