Eight

Nora is 8.  Can you believe that?  I hardly can.

She didn't want a cake for the family party.  She wanted a Cookie Cake.

 She didn't want much this year - a hamster (Minnie - who has since caused great grief and drama around here by escaping and hiding for two days) was her only request. 

I added a fabulous and hygenic gift to that (and a bunch of Justice apparel.)

A trip to Granny's this summer added a plethora of craft equipment and supplies.  A fabulous Japanese parasol arrived from St. Louis, and cards and gift cards, too!

 Remember last year's slumber party?  This one was a scaled down version that did NOT include all of the holidays OR nine girls.  Three friends and two brothers.  We all pitched in to make Nora's cake - pineapple upside down.  They were happy to help and amazed at the end product, but not interested to eat it!

Several sodas, a subsequent spitting war, clothed showers (that did NOT impress me nor were they approved), and balloon animal balloons were the entertainment for the evening.

Oh, and at 3 a.m. Nora and Lydia woke my by singing "Be Italian" a la Fergie in Nine (No, of course she didn't see Nine - she just found the song on my ipod) at 3:30 am.  Seriously.  Three of the four girls are on the same soccer team.  Guess what happened the next morning at the game?  Yep - shuffling of feet and an unsurprising loss.  Whose coach sent out an email suggesting Friday night sleepovers were not the greatest thing ever? Ummmm.... yeah.  I got called out on a soccer email.  hehehehehehehe

Despite all that, when asked if it was fun, she said, "It was the best!"  So mission accomplished, and Happy Birthday, Baby Girl.