Seven years old

Somehow that happened. Somehow our baby turned seven. Hard to believe there's a seven year old in this house now.

I feel like we are entering one of the most rewarding phases of parenthood. Yes the parenting cliche is true: Every year gets better and better. Seven year old's are delightful to be around! And life is easier with a seven year old. A seven year old sheds some of their neediness, can roll with change better now, and requires less supervision, but still looks up to us to be the guiding and shining light in her world. But the BEST is that THIS seven year old still likes to cuddle and hold hands, something we're not looking forward to diminishing (at least in public) over the coming years.

Our seven year old looks, talks and acts older, but somehow still seems little to me.

 Guess who's seven??!?

(She wanted her picture taken with her new Precious Moments dolls)

Kayla's birthday, of course, ("of course" because that's how the Faust's roll) was celebrated over the course of many days with many different activities. Wednesday June 25th was an action-packed, very full day. And as it turned out, more action than I needed or wanted.

Good morning birthday girl

 After opening presents and a special Daddy-Daughter breakfast outing of Kayla's choice (Tim Horton's. No surprise there), we picked up Addie and headed to swim class.  But not before swinging by the Blue Water Bridges to see the fog rolling in. Can you see the bridge behind the girls?! Barely! Here we are the end of June and it's cold, 61 degrees and foggy. 

"Mom, can we go? It's freezing out!" 

It really was cold! And they still had to get in a pool and go swimming! Happy June 25th! I told Kayla that the day she was born 7 years ago it was over 90 degrees! Quite a different picture today!

 After swim, we had a girls-only luncheon to celebrate the birthday Marlo and Kayla share. Gabby even brought her recorder and played the Happy Birthday song that she learned and practiced just for this moment. It was so sweet!

 What's a birthday luncheon without a birthday song and free ice cream?!

So while Kayla did not notice the chaos surrounding her birthday, there certainly was. The part when I had to rush Khloe for an emergency appointment to Orthopedic Associates to see Dr. Todd for a swollen ankle was not planned and not fun. Aaron got called out of town last minute that afternoon and jumped on a plane for New Jersey, which made the emergency visit to the doctor's office with Khloe that much more stressful on me. Because of the infection in her foot she was diagnosed with (thankful it was not a broken bone!) we had to back out of Vacation Bible School for the night for Kayla and myself and Sporties for Shorties for Khloe. The day was not going like planned, but ended up on a great note anyways. We spontaneously pulled together a girls-only dinner out with Karry and Lexie to celebrate Kayla's birthday again. So yes, if you're keeping track - that was three meals out in one day - and LOTS of sugar. Donuts for breakfast, ice cream for lunch and cake for dinner. Hey! You're only seven once! All that matters is that Kayla had a GREAT day! It was a long but fun-filled day with friends.

 Kayla's birthday dinner request - the bbq Tower of Ribs! I was so impressed! We had to take a picture and send it to Daddy!

 As you can see, the smile on Khloe's face meant that she was feeling and doing much better!

On Friday we celebrated again with all the June 25th birthdays in the neighborhood - Marlo, Matt and Kayla! Thanks for the cake and ice-cream Annie! It was a fun neighborhood party... that lasted waaaay too late into the night. We are so blessed to have such wonderful kind neighbors that we love to spend time with!

Happy birthday Kayla Raine!