rachel's 8th birthday

Rachel had a Princess party a few days before her birthday. At our ward's scout auction we ended up bidding on and winning a "Personal Princess" so we used that for her birthday. She chose Giselle from "Enchanted" to come. They had fun asking her questions during the "tea party". We took pictures of each girl with the princess then painted frames for them to take home with their picture inside. They played pin the tiara on the princess (I hired Nate for a stick figure drawing.... I don't think he was very thrilled to do it, but he obliged me!) I was afraid the girls were getting a bit too old for a princess party, but they seemed to enjoy it still. I figured it was now or never. Rachel didn't think she had anything to wear (dressing up was optional) so I pulled out my prom dress from my senior year.... yowza! She was completely thrilled. I'm not sure what face Rachel is pulling in the group picture. I know she was having a great time. She has some super friends and cousins!


Oh dear! THE CAKE! I always have a story..... or an excuse. So as I've said before, I don't do fancy. It isn't in me. It doesn't work. It isn't an option.
I was going to just use a mix, but the mix I opened was old and stale. So on to making it from scratch. Which is fine and yummy, so I didn't care. I tried to take the cake out of the pan, but of course with my luck parts of it stuck to the bottom of the pan. So it was back into the baking pan. It looked fine still. It had those lines from the cooling rack, but that was it. Fast forward a couple hours and my devil child, Haley discovers it.... Aack! She must have been in need of a treat. She had a steak knife and was in heaven! She even added a bit of salt on top just to savor it more, I guess. My first reaction was to just throw it out, but I decided it wasn't anything a little (or A LOT) of frosting couldn't fix! So we ate it. It was a sad cake, but made with lot's of love (and frosting)!!

Rachel got her ears pierced on her birthday (November 24th). She's been begging for a year, but had to wait until she turned 8. She cried more about it before the girls pierced them than during or after. Just so you know, I didn't force her to do it. She REALLY wanted to and found the courage to do it. Luckily they did both ears at the same time, or else I'm not sure she would have ended up with both ears pierced! She chose some cute pink flower studs and I think it's cute that I'll catch her sneaking a peak in the mirror at them.

Her grandparents came over for cake and ice cream and I of course forgot to get a picture of her with them... yet again! Nate was working in St. George and couldn't be there, but such is our life! She had a great birthday. She's my big 8 year old now.... I just can't believe it!