Olivia is 7!

Our baby girl, Olivia, turned 7 on August 1. On her actual birthday, we were still cruising in Alaska. Luckily, she didn't mind having a very extended birthday celebration - the boat, with her girl friends, with extended family, and then lastly with her playgroup friends. First off was a morning of opening presents from Joe and I.

And here is the loot. Her big gift was a camera, but her favorite gift was the Monster High doll. It has become a bit of an obsession with her, even if I do have to monitor which of the items are age appropriate for her (the books are more for tweens than for a 7 year old).

For her friend birthday party, she decided to invite some girl friends to the Springfield Art Association for an art party. Considering Olivia claims to want to be an artist in Chicago when she grows up, this was perfect for her. Here she is modeling with her Olivia banner (the theme of her party this year).

Traditional family with the cake picture. Olivia selected a Barbie dress cake this year and I was thrilled that she did! I had a Barbie cake when I was little and I loved it.

The party guests making art. Each girl (plus Ethan) decorated a picture frame and painted a canvas. We came home with some beautiful artwork to display! Another party game was "fishing" over the balcony in the Historic Edwards Place home (Joe would hook small gifts to a fishing line for the girls to reel in). What a great memory that will be in the years to come as we attend more formal art events there!

Cake time! We all hope Olivia's wish comes true!

Ethan pulled the lucky pinata string, and...

there was a mad dash for the candy!

More presents for Olivia to open.

The girls doing their best "diva" pose to place in their decorated picture frames.

Next we headed home for a family party with the grandparents. Here Olivia's American Girl doll is modeling one of the homemade Princess dresses that grandma made for it.

Yet another cake! We ate cake for a very long time after these parties!

Oh, yeah, Joe had a birthday too. :) Unfortunately, as the years have progressed, Olivia's birthday celebrations have become more elaborate, while Joe's celebrations have become less elaborate. He did score a homemade blackberry pie and homemade almond toffee, though.

And lastly we have Olivia's birthday party with her playgroup friends. This was the first year that Olivia elected to have an all girls party (at the Art Association), but all of her playgroup friends that she has literally known from birth are boys! So, we had a second friend party at home with water toys. Here she requested a jello cake.

The last of the presents. This was funny to watch, as at first the boys are very excited to watch the presents being opened. However, after the first present is opened they realize that all of them are going to be "girlie" so they quickly lost interest and left her alone! Happy birthday Miss Munchkin!