She turned 8!

If you know me, you know I like parties to have themes, especially birthday parties. It helps me decorate and plan. Well, I let the girl choose the theme and surprise! She chose a cat theme. I know, you're not surprised. She loves cats. I wanted her party to be pretty and super cute so we went on Pinterest and got some great ideas. We decided on a pink and gray cat theme. Purrrrrfect. Oh, and Cookie the cat decided that he should be invited too and well, he does match the decorations. We had pink and gray cat cupcakes and my favorite pink foofy punch. It's made with 7up, pink lemonade and pink sherbert. When you pour the 7up over the pink lemonade and sherbert it fizzes! Love it and it tastes so yummy. We made cat sleeves for the cups with gray and pink paper. Breanna made cat masks and I made cat ear headbands for her guests. So fun.

Of course all the food had to be cat themed as well. We came up with these cat face shaped sandwiches. Celery for the eyes and carrots for the nose. Sweet.

To add a little something to the table we made these little felt cat faces. One for each corner of the table. Felt is so fun.

The food table was fun to put together. Tuna fish sandwiches in the shape of fish, cheese and crackers with the cheese cut out like mice, rainbow fruit shishkabobs, goldfish crackers, peanut butter and jelly cat face shaped cookies. Graham crackers for the ears, chocolate chips for the eyes and nose. Again, yummy. The plates were super fun to make too. We just made cat ears and whiskers then glued them to the plates.

These cupcakes were created with homemade marshmallows for the ears (thanks, Kerri!), chocolate chips for the eyes and m&ms for the nose. Adorable.

My dad wanted her to have flowers for her party. So sweet.

Oh, Pinterest. You are so wonderful. These rainbow fruit shishkabobs were super easy to make and they really added color to the table.

Of course she wanted to play Pin the Tail on the Cat and so we did. She drew the cat and made all the tails with bows. Oh my heart.

My baby turned 8. She is more than I could have ever asked for or imagined. She's more than I could have dreamed of. I don't think she's even aware of how happy she makes me. Don't get me wrong, I don't find my happiness in my children, they just bring me joy. Each of my kids fills a very special place in my heart. Marcus is the fulfillment of my dream to become a mother and to have a son, Justin healed my heart after losing a pregnancy and he gave his brother the gift of being a brother, and Breanna, well it's pretty obvious what she does. She fills my days with pink and beauty and joy. None is more special than the other but each is special in only a way that they can be.

Gifts, that's what they are. I treasure each day with my children and I know it goes so fast. I live it. I see the calendar days flip by. Sometimes I have to take a second look at my children because they are growing so fast. I enjoy each day as it comes and at the end of the day I am so thankful for the time with them. In a few months, I'll have a 13 year old and a 16 year old. Yikes! I wonder what theme they'll want for their parties.............