7!

Megan has been counting down the days until her birthday for weeks and weeks.  Sometimes those summer birthdays can seem like forever away.  She is sure she's the last one to turn 7.  But, she finally made it.

She wanted to dig into her presents first thing in the morning.

 As always, there were lots of volunteers to help her unwrap those gifts.

 Samantha and I were excited for her to open her fairy garden presents, (Samantha helped me pick them out,) because we knew she would love them.    And sure enough, she could hardly wait to get to work figuring out where to put everything.

 Since we had a busy day ahead of us, she had to wait to open the other presents.  But Cake Boss, Jr managed to get her turtle cake done before the kids headed off to their sculpture class.

We managed to squeeze in a few minutes to finish opening presents before we headed out the door to the Bare Naked Ladies Concert.

She looks pretty happy about what she sees inside of that bag.

Sometimes, even I'm allowed to step in and help (at least when we're in a hurry.)

We piled into the car with a box of bagels (yep, that was dinner - don't judge me), and headed out to USANA amphitheater for the concert.  More fun when you go with the cousins (and a friend.)

There were a total of 4 groups performing so it was a long night, but Guster was awesome.

Samantha actually got stuck inside her sweat shirt - providing me with extra entertainment.

Ben Folds Five - good, but had a few too many words that my kids (and I) didn't need to hear, and at this point we were all really ready to hear the Bare Naked Ladies anyway.

We stayed out celebrating until after 11.  I guess that's a good way to start your 7th year, right?

Since we got home way too late for eating cake and ice cream, (and Duff fell asleep at the concert anyway), it was decided that there would be cake for breakfast this morning - because she had already waited too long to have to blow out her candles.  Yep, we're awesome parents.  I guess that's one of the nice things about a summer birthday - late night celebrating and not too much guilt when you have cake for breakfast.  (Plus, Shawn and I are headed out the door to run the Wasatch Back, so this really is the only time available.)

 I only let her turn 7 because she promised that she would stay as sweet and kind and helpful as she has been as a 6 year old. She is a sweetheart.  She is such a good big sister to Peter.  Often, after the kids have been put to bed, I will hear her reading stories to Peter or trying to help him stay happily in his bed.  And she will always include him in her games.  She has such a sweet smile and is generally pretty happy.  She is a fantastic helper.  When I ask her to do something, she usually answers, "Sure, Mom," and happily skips off to do it. 

(That's something I love about this age.  A 7 year old still feels free to skip and dance and sing and pays no attention to the fact that someone may be watching.)

I still can't believe how quickly 7 years has flown by.

Where did my chubby cheeked, fluffy haired little Duffy go?

 She has grown into this beautiful, gangly, long-limbed little girl that we all love. And she clearly has  an amazing fashion sense (as demonstrated below - seriously, who am I to squash her individual creative expression?)

Happy 7th birthday Duffy!