Charlotte Annie is eight!

I can hardly believe that we have an eight year old today. This birthday week has been extra special because not only have we been prepping for her upcoming birthday party on Sunday afternoon but we also have been getting ready for her second Sacrament. Charlotte will take part in her First Confession on Saturday morning! That means two thumbs up for the upcoming weekend of celebrations and fun with family and friends!

Charlotte opted for a unicorn theme for her 8th birthday party. When I asked her what else we ought to consider since both boy and girl friends would be in attendance, I suggested dragons to go along with the whimsical theme. She chastised me and said, "No, Mama! Horses! We can do horses and unicorns!" Hence the "Horsin' Around: It's GrEIGHT to be 8 Unicorn-Style" themed birthday party that we will hold on Sunday afternoon. 

Charlotte is a girly-girl loving the color, pink, glitter, rainbows, and sparkles. So unicorns are right up her alley! She continues to enjoy water activities as she did last year and will continue with her swimming lessons this summer as part of her summer camp activities. She still likes adding bath bombs to her bubble baths and enjoys sharing cans of fizzy water...especially if it's one of my favorite flavors and is already opened being enjoyed by me. ;)

She continues to love being a student in our local Catholic elementary school and has been enjoying learning cursive and is starting to tell time as a 2nd grader. She lists her favorite specials as being music, gym, art, library, and computers in that order.  

Recently, we began allowing her to have sleepovers so most Friday nights, we find ourselves hosting her other half, Natalie, for their fun playdates turned sleepovers. 

She is still a music lover and can often be found belting out lyrics to a current favorite song or silently playing as she listens to music inside or outside of the house. Hershey, still somewhat nervous at times, is a more willing playmate for her as of late.

Over the past year, we have taken in a lot of adventures, often going on them with our friends, Robbie & Liz. We've been enjoying exploring more of what all Ohio has to offer and making new memories!

A highlight from this past summer was taking dear family friends home to Schuylkill County for a summertime visit at Grammy's house!

Charlotte can be a quiet little bloom in her little patch or she can be center of it all flitting from one friend to another like a delicate butterfly. She keeps us on our toes! 

She still enjoys going to plays and musicals, movies, and performing for her family and college friends when they babysit her. 

She often colors her nails with markers, rather than using nail polish, and has been known to take markers to her clothing (ahem), and still asks to wear Mommy's lipstick. She got her ears pierced the night before Thanksgiving this past fall and enjoys picking out her outfits each day.  

Thinking of some of her favorites, she still enjoys spending time with her college friends, Girls GIFT (Growing in Faith/Fellowship/Friendship Together) teachers and peers, puppies, babies, her friends, and her favorite song is still Alicia Keys' This Girl is on Fire. 

When she grows up, she says she will be a "teacher at Mommy's school or a gymnastics teacher at All4Kids". She also takes after her Mama, in that she has a sweet tooth. Nutella is still a beloved snack especially on a spoon.

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I had the opportunity to ask Charlotte the below questions as a newly turned 8 year old. Enjoy her responses! :)

1) If your stuffed animals could talk, what would they say?

Um, they would say, "Good morning, Charlotte. I hope you have a good day at school."

2) What does it feel like when I hug you?

I feel like I have some love in me and that people really, really, really, really care about me. Do four reallys. And I feel like God will love me forever. And you. And Daddy, and Grammy, and Grandma, Pa, Hershey, Dusty, and Pappy. And all my cousins in the whole, wide universe. And my BFF: Natalie!

3) If you drew everything that came into your head, what would you be drawing right now?

I would make Dusty, me, and Hershey, Pappy, Grammy, and God all hugging me. God's arms would be right around us. Dusty would be in the middle because I really really miss him.

4) What do you think you're going to dream about tonight?

Ummmmm, um, um, no, that's not what I'm saying, I'm just trying to think. That's not what I wanted. Mom. Hmm, I'm not talking to you anymore. 

5) What sounds do you like best and why?

I like it when Dusty barked and when he scratched on the door like the treadmill. When he barked, it was like a trumpet going.

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Last year, while penning the turning seven birthday post, I marveled at the timing of being invited to speak on a podcast about living as a Catholic with infertility. This then led to a piece I wrote coming out on Charlotte's birthday. Lo and behold, since then, I have been invited to be a regular contributor to the ministry and am currently piloting a small group here in town. What a providential gift that I am able to see God is in all the details yet again one year later as a piece I wrote is being published today, too. Incredible! 

Happy 8th Birthday, Charlotte Annie, on the 7th of March!  You are as unique as a unicorn and bring laughter and joy as we horse around as a family of three.

Sts. Felicity & Perpetua, pray for us!

Charlotte Annie's Swimming into Seven / Mermaids 7th birthday party (March 2023)

Last year's birthday party was the most ambitious one yet. It's always fun to reflect on the party nearly one year later as I prep for the newest themed party for this year. 

As with Charlotte's 4th - 6th birthdays, we utilized a Facebook event page to invite family and friends to Charlotte's 7th birthday party. Below is the image we used. It was from a night of Trick or Treating that literally was thrown together at the last minute as Charlotte had changed her mind on what she wanted to be minutes before leaving the houes to go trick or treating. Thank goodness we had a mermaid blanket that I was able to convert to helping Charlotte become a walking mermaid that evening! 

So looking back at last year, as we celebrated Charlotte turning seven, I had reserved a large room at my work in one of the academic buildings. I began prepping the party decorations and room decor shortly after the New Year in an attempt to change the large classroom space into an "Under the Sea" sort of feel as we sought to embrace the Swimming into Seven / Mermaids theme.

Thankfully, with the help of a couple middle and high schoolers, we were able to decorate and provide multiple activities/crafts for the kiddos. They were able to make popsicle boats, yarn jellyfish, and played ocean-themed games and activities. 

Charlotte wore a beautiful mermaid dress and loved her golden birthday necklace we gifted her. Since she turned seven on the 7th, I wanted to celebrate in an extra special way by giving her the mommy and me mermaid necklace. Lo and behold, within her birthday book, there was also a special necklace which led to our presenting her with the necklace during the readaloud.

It seems the pictures uploaded in backwards order so reflecting from end to start it is!

Based on how quickly Charlotte fell asleep that night, it's safe to say that Swimming into Seven / Mermaid-style was a success! 

She wasted no time in using some of her new bath bombs that made it feel like she was swimming or bathing in apple juice. ;-)

Her mermaid toy was able to check out the popsicle boat she constructed during the party during bathtime!

One of the items in the favor bags was a mermaid notepad with a pen that used invisible ink to send secret messages. This is what she had in her hands as she opened up gifts at Grandma and Pa's house after the party.

                                 Her sparkly starfish barette also completed her mermaid outfit.

Below are pictures from the party. Adam, sporting his mermaid security t-shirt, dove right in and helped with the various crafts and activities we had planned for the children. Here he is helping to glue together the popsicle boats.

Cousin Clark and Uncle Mark helped by passing out the marker stampers for making designs on the flags for the popsicle boats. Clark is used to helping out given his track record of coming out in the summers to assist with Vacation Bible School at church! ;)

                                        Charlotte posing with her socktopus she made and Pa!

                                                                   Cousin galore! <3

After the party, we headed to mass and then to our favorite Italian restaurant in Wintersville: Pastaio.

              A toy after my own heart! Uncle Mark and Aunt Liz gave Charlotte her ver own Subway!

Here are the makings of the socktopus and paint your own wooden shark and mermaid crafts!

The napkins contained schools of fish, we had "ocean water" bottles in the favor bags, and the bubble wand was topped by a cute whale!

We sent each kiddo home with a sand dollar cookie and a mermaid cupcake in the little dome cups.

                The favor bags also contained goldfish swimming amidst blue jellybeans for water. 

The favor bags were personalized with the kiddos' names and could be colored later to personalize the mermaid or fish tail that was drawn on each bag.

Birthday Dessert of three scoops of gelato at Pastaio was thoroughly enjoyed by more than one cousin.

                                                           My tiramisu always satisfies!

                                                          Grammy & Charlotte Annie

                                                 So thankful for family to help us celebrate!

    We enjoyed looking through the annual birthday photo albums while waiting for our food to arrive!

                 Allison always wears the cutest matching outfit to the birthday themed parties! :)

                                                                      Boys will be boys!

                                                 Love her smile! She is always so happy!! <3

                                        So much action going on in this shot! :-)

                          Mason Noelle and Grammy helping to ensure the favor bags are ready!

                         This station involved creating an ocean scene with removeable stickers.

          The fish game involved playing memory and making matches with pictures of fish that was a hit!

Music/Ocean Scenes that were depicted on wall were from this link on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prfZFyp4XZk 

                                            Just two mermaids getting ready before the party!

                                                         She's growing up....but not too fast!

                              Mermaid Brigade was the PERFECT pattern to wear for this party! 

Just a snippet of the planning document I use for planning these themed parties....the Swimming into Seven / Mermaids theme was a splashing success! I've linked it here in case anyone would like to use the ideas I used. 

                                     We love you mermaid-loving wonderful girl! <3