More skating

Lea is a fantastic skater. When she goes to Grandma Bubby's, Grandma lets her skate in the kitchen doing the whip around the kitchen island like roller derby. Lea also skates in the driveway. Here she is with her new Build-a-Penguin (instead of build-a-bear) who came with a new dress and pajamas (complete with eye mask).

In the first few weeks of school there was also a Girl Scout skating party. Lea was having a lot more fun than this photo shows. They had a great time with many of the Girl Scout troops in our area.

Eight is great, skate and stay up late.

 Lea's Eighth birthday was celebrated in fabulous fashion. She got family presents on the morning of her birthday. Dan got her a mini drum kit. Its not as torturous as it sounds.

Big smiles with two front teeth missing for our Great Eight year old.

Presents from Grandma JoAnn. Great gifts all round.

On Lea's actual birthday we went to Chuck E. Cheese with Aunt Teresa and Robert.

Lea with her Chuck E. Cheese swag.

How did Daddy get the sweets? Don't fill up, we're on our way to Mooya for dinner.

What a happy girl after Chuck E. Cheese on her birthday.

 After Lea's actual birthday we had a weekend party for her friends. Of course we can't just have a little party and call it done, oh no! We had a skate party and then the girls came back to the house for a spa party and a slumber party. Everyone made it through the night without incident thanks to an hour and a half of reading Gulliver's Travels (a book I thought boring enough to put anyone to sleep with its old language, but I was told be a few of the girls it was too exciting and made it hard to go to sleep).

Birthday girl with her new skates ready for guests.

Ready to skate.

Birthday girl gets a balloon hat (which mommy wore more than the birthday girl) and was the center of attention for a few skates. Including the Hokey Pokey!

Cupcakes with friends at the skate rink

The skate party was very much about the money tornado box! 

 

I'm not sure which one of us had more fun at the skate party!

Then it was back to the house for our spa party. Lea had a little book of spa treatments and made her list for us to follow. We made at least 5 from scratch beauty treatments with different stations for the girls to travel to in pairs.

The master beauty treatment list.

The skate cake.

The make up station where the pairs of girls got to make each other up.

More make up than maybe an eight year old should have.

The nail salon where I painted nails. With glitter thanks to Grandma JoAnn's great nail salon gift. It was a fantastic addtion. We also had a massage station with hot rocks and face and hands station with hand made scrubs. Also a "make your own pizza" station run by Daddy.

Ready for the sleepover part

This little prodigy could play "We will rock you" as soon as she sat down! Lea's best rif was a rim shot. She'd run over and say "Tell a joke, tell a joke!" and then Ba-dum-bum.

The next day swimming and lots of play before bringing the party to an end.

 

Maine vacation July 2013

Click here for photos of Maine vacation July 2013, a set on Flickr.

12 state in 11 days from Dallas, Texas to Portland, Maine for the 4th of July and mom's birthday — caught lobsters, saw amazing fireworks, visited the Blue Ridge State Park and swam every day from here to there and back again. Amazingly awesome trip with an amazingly awesome family!

Lea drawing of herself as a baby in a cradle

Keep brushing the ones that are left

Finally a week and two days before Lea turns 8 July 15, Lea has lost her second front tooth. She lisps a bit, but not much. She's a adorable. She bought a recorder at the dollar store with her Tooth Fairy Money. She lost a bottom tooth at the hotel in Maine on July 3. She has lost 4 to date and is almost 8!

Dear future Lea

Dear 29-year-old Lea,
As you prepare for a monumental birthday, perhaps you will look through your baby book and ask me why there is a zip lock bag of hair shoved in it. Well let me explain that it is because seven-and-a-half-year-old you ran up to me with a fist full of hair when you got your hair cut today. Not knowing what to do with it I shoved it in my pocket and decided to save it for posterity. I probably should have included this note with the actual bag of hair, but I thought I'd leave you a challenge to find this on our blog. You are beautiful every day, but now with your "pouffy hair" cut (a little bob by Charlotte) you're very fancy. Not every seven-year-old has their own stylist.

Here is Lea getting her hair washed. Nothing feels as good, look at that blissful look.

Here is Lea's hair cut along with my awesome Mother's Day flowers that were almost as tall as Lea! I told Dan "A forest was delivered to my office." and Dan replied "Well then I'm upset because I ordered a forest and a half!" Ha!

And so we're sure that we're not too vain, here's a goofy photo. Lea got stick on mustaches at Chuck E. Cheese and I stuck them on the mirror so we could "wear them" without the annoying stickiness. 

Student of the month!

Sure its been a while since I posted, but I thought I'd come back with a bit of bragging. Lea was student of the month in her class so she got a certificate and a free meal at Applebees. It was fun to cheer. So here is video and some pics.  

What's that you ask? Is she missing a tooth? Why yes! They are coming out slow. This is only her second lost tooth and she's almost 8! Hope that means healthy teeth for the rest of her life. The toothfairy was scared off at night because of her cough and me getting up to give her medicine in the middle of the night, so she snuck in mid morning and left cash for the tooth! That toothfiary is tricky!