Lola's SEVEN! - Jasmine H. Duffy

Our Lola is seven! Seven seems really old… I know it isn’t. But she is a true kid now. We’ve made it through the baby years, the toddler years, the preschool years, and starting school. She’s in first grade, eager to learn, loves going to school, has lots of friends, and is interested in everything. She’s playing basketball, takes three dance classes every week, does gymnastics and is a fabulous cookie seller! She loves to cook, play outside, and play with her baby dolls. She’s curious, strong, talented, funny and so smart. We are so lucky she’s ours.

With a birthday two days after Christmas, I’ve learned a few things about celebrating these delicate birth dates!

Celebrating Birthdays Close To Christmas:

Put holiday decor away.
Wrap gifts in birthday paper, not holiday paper.
Don’t double dip the gifts — “this is for Christmas AND your birthday…” doesn’t cut it.

And so every year, on the 26th, we totally put Christmas away and shove the tree out the back door. But, this year she asked if I’d clean up Christmas but keep the tree. She originally wanted to hang a few of her favorite ornaments on it. But I told her I would turn the tree into a birthday tree and she was intrigued.

I wanted to make sure the tree looked like a birthday party! Mini balloons and streamers were perfect! She was so shocked the morning of her birthday. She told me that now I have to do this every year. I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing (for me…) but she was SO happy.

We’ve been trying to do “yes days” for the kids birthdays. This is when we let them plan the day and we try to say yes — not no. It was easy to pull off for Lola since her birthday’s (always) on a “no school day”. She had lots of plans. Before we got started, we dropped off Walker. The day was definitely more efficient without him, although we missed the little guy! He had lots of fun with grandparents.

Her first stop: the trampoline park! Then the arcade.

Next up: the mall! We ate lunch. Then we went to Build A Bear for the “pay your age” bear. We walked around and played with bath bombs at Lush. And finally… she got her ears pierced at Claire’s! This was touch and go the whole day. She said she wanted to, then changed her mind. But ultimately, it was a go! Unfortunately, she did move and the woman pierced her ear in the wrong spot. So she ended up having three holes… but the mistake closed up. ha! Thankfully…

Finally: dinner and cake! She chose a burger place for dinner. Then we had ice cream cake at home.

This was also the first year she had a “friend birthday party”! We did wait until mid-January for the party. That’s a disadvantage to having a birthday between Christmas and New Years… everyone is busy! Or sick.

Although, she was thrilled when the day finally arrived and so many of her friends joined to celebrate her! She ended up choosing a gymnastics place for her party. She stuck to a Frozen-theme. She has had a Frozen-themed party since she turned two! I told her she could branch out but she is a creature of habit, for sure! She loved everything about her party (and birthday) and never stopped smiling!