Ivy's 7th birthday

Ivy turned 7 on Wednesday, January 19, 2022.  The afternoon was a bit packed so she got to open her presents first thing in the morning!  Justin drove Molly and Stockton to school to save on some time and we woke Brynn and Ivy up a little earlier than normal.  Ivy was already up and ready to go for her birthday so it didn't take too much to get everyone going.  Brynn gave her a hand-me-down gift (some old high heels and a makeup bag) and then she did a scavenger hunt for the rest of her presents.  She got her favorite treats (watermelon gum, sour gummy watermelons, and Spree's), some earrings, LCD doodle boards (the same ones Brynn got for Christmas), and a watch. 

For her breakfast, she wanted French Toast with buttermilk syrup, whipped cream, and strawberries.  Then we sent her off to school!  She looked so cute.

 

 She wanted a lunchable packed for her lunch and handed out mini cupcakes to her classmates.  She played all afternoon while everyone else did their things: piano lessons, Molly had agility training, Young Women's and Young Men's, and then a late soccer practice for Molly.  We had a minute to sit down and have dinner.  Ivy wanted spaghetti, again.  We danced to the Beatles birthday song and had her birthday cake.  I made it easy on myself and ordered a cake.  She picked out this mermaid cake and loved it so I'll call it a win. 

Her birthday celebrations continued on Saturday that week.  Both sets of grandparents came up.  This was a good diversion for everyone since we had just lost Cash the night before and everyone was feeling down.  My parents came first.  They brought her all the clothes she had picked out (and the high heels) when they went shopping and a fairy terrarium to plant.  Gene and April came in the evening.  We had some Papa Murphy's pizzas for dinner.  They gave her her 7-year-old doll, Pass the Pigs game, a learn to sew kit, and a blanket making kit.

 

It was Ivy's year for a birthday party but her birthday fell during the spike of Omicron Covid cases.  I wasn't too worried about it but thought it might be better to wait for a couple of weeks until the numbers fell.  You know, in an effort to be a good citizen and all that.  Ivy was okay with waiting and we held her party the first Saturday in February.

 

My excitement for throwing parties has waned, poor Ivy.  But, I think it turned out fun and Ivy really had a great time.  We decided on having a donut-themed party.  I found a cute printable from etsy, "What's Your Donut Name" and had Stockton copy it onto the whiteboard with his nice handwriting.  You matched the first letter of your name and the month you were born and that was your donut name.  I was "Blueberry Cream-Filled" and Ivy was "Strawberry Chocolate Bar."  Some were really gross combinations and some of the flavors we had to substitute and make our own...like cotton candy instead of green tea.

 

After they had their donut name, they could do their crafting at the kitchen table.  I had cut out a bunch of donut circles from brown cardstock and let them embellish them however they wanted.  They each did a couple.  I hung them from clothespins in the window for the rest of the party and they took them home when they left.

Ivy, Raylie Anderson, Zeyta Mitchell, Raina Cottle, Avenlea Mitchell, Nora Owens, London Mathis

We moved onto matching next.  I had printed double of several donut-themed coloring pages and we played memory.  We started with January birthdays and worked our way through the months until everyone got one match.

starting on the left couch: Brynn, Chloe Mitchell, Nora, Verity Phelps, Zeyta, Blakelee Anderson, Ivy, Hannah Reynolds, Lydia Evans, London Mathis, Raylie, Avenlea, Raina

Then it was donut/beanbag toss.  Self-explanatory. 

Then presents.  She got spoiled.  I was surprised by how extravagant some of the gifts were, for it just being a 7-year-old girl who would have been happy with anything.  She got a princess jewelry game, art supplies (lots of art supplies), candy, fashion plates, lip gloss, putty, a Barbie, and a stuffed monkey.

A pinata was next.  I got this from Amazon. 

We did "cake" next.  I say cake loosely because all I did was have Justin make a donut run during the party, then we stacked them, stuck a candle in the top, and sang Happy Birthday to Ivy.

 

The rest of the time we just did a movie.  They watched a Barbie birthday movie on Netflix while coloring their coloring pages from our matching game.  Parents started arriving shortly after that and that was then end of Ivy's birthday celebrations!

Brynn, Verity, Raylie, Nora, Ivy, Blakelee, Hannah, Chloe, London, Lydia, Raina, Avenlea, Zeyta