One year older and wiser too....

Ainsley turned 7 yesterday. And, in my opinion, had an amazing day.

She had the option of having a friend party this year and chose the theme of 'spa party' weeks ago. And so a spa party we had!

I was proud of my mad decorating/party planning skills. Here we have the flowers we used to make flower clips for their hair. And mirrors so they could adore themselves. We drank from fancy (plastic) wine glasses.

And I made these cute/weird puff ball things that hung all over the ceiling. And we had stations set up for manicures, hair and make-up, and clip making.
When the girls arrived they got to put on a chocolate mask. Ains wanted the spa party to be relaxing. Ironically this was the most stressful part of the party for me. We survived with no chocolate stains!

The girls were looking lovely in their age appropriate make up.
We also played a musical chairs style paint your toe nails game. The girls got to keep the polish that they ended up with. (Another slightly stressful activity...but we are stain free!)
The party went well due to the extra sets of hands we had for the afternoon. My mom manned the manicure station, complete with real manicure bowls. (Who would have thought you could buy those things for $1.50?) and Kort put together the flowers with all the girls. And there were plenty of snacks for when the girls had down time in between stations.

After her friend party we went to Cafe Ole for dinner. I think the reason she really wanted to go there was because she knew they sing to you on your birthday and give you ice cream. AND you get to wear a sombrero. I'm pretty sure the sombrero was key to making the moment cool.

After dinner we rushed home and put a grumpy Emmie to bed so the rest of us could enjoy the night. We ate more cupcakes and she got to open all her family gifts and then her cousin Bria even spent the night.
I'm not sure we could have crammed any more birthday in if we tried!

And now a bit about Ainsley.......
She is an amazing oldest child.
Very helpful.
A fun babysitter for Owen and Emmie. (While I'm in the house of course)
She is amazing in school.
She loves to read and devours books.
Her current favorite is American Girl.
She is always kind to the underdog.
She is a born leader.
She is a terribly picky eater.
She is even picky about candy that she will eat. It's weird to me that I have a hard time finding her a candy bar that she will like.
Everyone loves her. People come up to me all the time and tell me what an amazing little girl we have.

And I couldn't agree more.

Happy Birthday Ainsley! We hope you loved your day!