Turning Seven

Evie turned seven years old last Thursday and I turned thirty-seven years old yesterday.  On her birthday, she went to her theatre camp where she is performing as Mrs. Gloop in Willy Wonka in a Week.  She knew all her lines and her German accent was adorable. 

Seven years old, with her hair in a bun for dress rehearsal.

Then we stopped by my parents' house because Evie said she wanted to see her grandparents on her birthday.  I think that is the sweetest thing.

Of course, Granna had some presents for her to open.

She had her performance on Friday (she did great!).  Here she is as Mrs. Gloop.  I will work on getting the video when it arrives.

Then we had her birthday dinner at my parents' house with Grandma Jeanne, Kathy, Rickie, Cristal, Matthew, Nathaniel, and Lydia.  Evie had requested a seafood dinner, so I made some oven-fried fish, macaroni and cheese, of course, and we also had cake.

On Saturday, Kathy took me and Evie to see Anastasia at The Orpheum, which was a lot of fun.   Sunday we had dinner with Sasha who was so sweet as to pick out a cake for Evie.

This past week, Evie's been going to rock climbing camp and I have been so impressed with her.  She has never been to this building before or done rock climbing and I could tell when I dropped her off that she was nervous the first day.  I reminded her that she is a good athlete and is usually able to do the things in ballet and gymnastics and she would probably be alright, but that of course she did not have to do anything that scared her and that she always has a choice of whether to do something or not.

When I picked her up, she was so proud of herself, telling me all about which courses she did and how well she did.  She said, "At first I was scared, but I got up there and I told myself, 'You can be brave.  Other people have done it, and you can do it too.'"  I am amazed how mature she is and how much confidence she has.

Yesterday was my birthday and we went to my parents' house for dinner.  My mom made me my requested "round" foods: salmon patties, yam patties and she made hashbrown casserole in a round dish.  Evie had asked Granna to take her shopping so she could buy me something.  She had asked me earlier if there was anything I wanted and I told her I like gifts that are practical, so she bought me some pens.  She is so sweet.  She saw several lightning bugs on our way out to the car, so I spent some time watching this little girl try to catch lightning bugs.  It's the epitome of summer childhood to me, and I love watching her childhood happen, though I wish it weren't going by so fast.

Every night I go into her room on my way to bed and I snuggle her and kiss her good night.  I can't believe how fortunate I am to get to be her mom.