It's All About Eight

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELISE ZOFIA!!!!

Elise turned 8 on Tuesday and because she was turning 8 on the 8th of November, it was her golden birthday!  She had a few friends come for a sleepover Friday.  Poor Lisey has been sick on and off all week.  She tried to hang but you could just tell she did not have her usual spunk.  The girls painted some crafts....

Then we ate one of Elise's favorites...homemade calzones.

Then we took the kids to ZOYO - 8 in all.  What a coincidence! Jules and Ava aren't in the picture.

We celebrated with family on Sunday and Tia Linda really put the "golden" in her golden birthday.

Elise wanted to have a "Mr. Sushi" meal so we made teriyaki chicken and rice, fried california rolls, miso soup, baby shrimp salad and of course, mochi.

I remember choosing a birthday meal when I was growing up.  I think I chose lemon chicken every year.
One of the things Elise requested was a 2-tiered birthday cake - and Nana delivered...

Paolo made her a special drawing. 

I love how when kids are learning to write they just sporadically write words backwards sometimes. 

More pics...

She is really starting to look so grown up.  On Tuesday, her actual birthday, we took pumpkin chocolate chip cookies into her class and Mrs. Swan had the kids brainstorm some really good words to describe the cookies.  They were delicious, fantastic, unusual, stupendous, unique, soft, scrumptious.  It was so cute to hear the kids come up with these impressive adjectives and I will tell you, it made running back home after drop off, whipping a batch of cookies together and throwing them in the oven all worth it.  Ava and I dropped the kids off, went home, made cookies and were back on campus at 9:15.  The crazy things you do for your kids.  That night we had albondigas soup (she is a very international child!) and Linda brought her some flowers.  She immediately became Miss America....

She wanted to know if  she could run with them in the jog a thon.  We sang Happy Birthday again and then Elise did a self inflicted cake face mashing.

What a goofball!  Happy Golden Birthday Elise - I LOVE having you as a daughter.  I love your indepedence and strength.  I love your honesty (most of the time!) and your sense of humor.  You help me to think outside of the box and you challenge me in ways you don't even know.  May God bless you this year and always!