Sophia's Doll Party

In our family we have chosen to have Birthday parties for the children every other year. Since 4 out of our 5 childrens birthdays are between July 26th and Sept. 20th (termed as "Birthday Season" around here) we decided we needed to give ourselves a break . We are also going to split up the birthdays so that the boys and girls are on alternating years. This is the year of the party for the older children.

She invited several girls from church and their favorite doll for a party celebrating her birthday. She was very excited to get to play dolls with lots of girls at one time. As soon as Caleb heard that there were so many girls coming over to play dolls and have a party he asked if he could go to some friends house as a "city of refuge". As it worked out, all three boys went to play with friends to avoid the fray of little women and their dolls.
The girls spent time dressing and accesorizing the dolls, then they paraded them around for a fashion show. After the fashion show they paired up and we queued up The Nutcracker Suite and they did some acrobatic twirling and whirling of dolls as a team. After each team had a turn they cast votes for everyone's favorite show. The girls had a blast and it was certainly fun and silly to watch.

This year marked another milestone for me besides having my oldest girl turn nine. Let me explain...

Friday night, while we were out at another birthday party our power went out. Under normal circumstances a power outage isn't a huge problem. However, the fact that it was 93 degrees outside at 8 pm and our air conditioning hadn't run for several hours, made coming home to a humidity warmed house a bad time and definitely not part of my plan. The biggest problem was that my plan included baking Sophie's birthday cake in the "cool" of the evening after putting the kids to bed. This was a problem because without power, no oven. By the time the power came back on it was too late to bake the cake. sigh This marks my milestone, I had to buy a cake at Kroger! I have never, never bought a birthday cake for any of my children! I always make them, teddy bears, rocket ships, submarines, butterflies, flowers, shark scenes, usually whatever the kids ask for I try my best to make. It's always lots of fun and they seem to get more elaborate as the kids get older. So this was a really hard step for me, and the reality is, I'm so cheap that it killed me to actually pay for a cake!! Oh sure, we went and she picked out the one she liked and it was pretty and they wrote "Happy Birthday Sophia" on it, but, argh, I paid ALOT more than it actually cost to bake that cake!! And I know because, I know how little it usually costs me! AND, let me tell you there's a HUGE profit margin!! (should've been a baker, I guess) Nevertheless, the cake was actually yummy and it made Sophia happy. What an honor to have the first "store bought cake" for her birthday! wow. She'll remember turning nine forever because I got scalped by Kroger!!

The girls all seemed to have a fun time and I know that Sophie did. I also found a website to get some paper doll patterns for and we printed off a set for each of the girls to take home. They are soo cute and the patterns are free and easy to use. If you're interested, take a look. It never hurts to look, right?! :)
After the girls left, the boys came home and we had a little family party time with them. All in all it was a wonderful day. I still find myself in awe that I have a nine year old daughter. She is the best big sister on the planet as far as I can see. It is amazing to see how God's word in the life of a child can make such a difference. As scary as it is to realize the responsibility that we have in raising up our beautiful daughter, it is also exciting to see where the Lord will take her in life if she continues to seek him in her life.

In honor of her birthday I want to share 10 special things that we love about Sophia Karis.

10 Special Things Unique to Sophia are...

1. ...How she wants to comfort Titus and Emily when they've been hurt, and she does it without irritating them so that if I'm not available they will seek her out for comfort.

2. ... the funny ways she dresses up in the crazy clothes that I've collected from the thrift store when she's being silly and doesn't even feel embarrassed.

3. ...she wants to be a doctor and take care of sick babies and children.

4. ...she wants to paint her house fire engine red and marry someone who will think its a great idea!

5. ...she is diligent and loves to shine sinks and counters so they look pretty.

6. ...she loves to curl up and just sit

7. ...she's low key emotionally, and doesn't freak out for anything. (example: "Look!! Wow!! isn't that just BEAUTIFUL Sophie? pause....silence..."yes." silence.)

8. ...she's getting quite witty at all the right moments.

9. ...she can take down her brothers and make them cry. (this one brings a certain amount of motherly pride)

10. ...she loves to think of God and our Savior and that they know her name.

That's our Sophia, or at least the part I want to share right now. A blessing from the Lord. Thank you Father for the gift of training up your precious child.