Celebrating Eight Years Old!!!

We are in the full swing of Birthday Celebrating here. It all started with the little party he had at school yesterday. Very cool thing. E's teacher does the greatest thing with the kids' birthdays. She sets aside some time for the children to gather on the rug, with the Birthday Child sitting on a chair up in front of them. Then each kid in the classroom proceeds to say at least one nice thing about the Birthday Child, which is then gathered on a giant piece of paper.

As a Mom it was really moving to get to sit there and hear what all the children have to say about my kid. It was very beautiful to see my Boy receive all the compliments in such a gracious way. And to see him really receive them into himself. Not in a puffed up sort of way, but in a growing larger sort of way.

After the kids brainstorm ways the Birthday Child is terrific, then they all go back to their desks and write a letter and draw a picture for the Birthday Child. Meanwhile, the Birthday Child writes a letter to her/his parents. We haven't opened the packet of letters yet. Maybe at dinner time tonight. What a meaningful keepsake, though!

Yesterday afternoon I was also the Cupcake Mom for the first time in my life. And this was way cooler than I expected it to be. After considering buying cupcakes from the local bakery (until I found out they would be $1.15 a pop!), I went the good old Betty Crocker route. And I sincerely enjoyed preparing them. I got the mix with the fun little colored 'confetti' things on the inside. They were vanilla cupcakes. I also got the white icing, but got the multicolored nonpareils to sprinkle on top (to match the confetti on the inside). Very festive.

It turns out that making the homemade cupcakes was the best decision I could have made. I was amazed how many kids asked me if they were homemade or store-bought cupcakes! I hadn't even set them down yet, upon arrival, when one little girl asked me then nodded her approval, "Homemade are so much better," she said knowingly.

I think my favorite moment was when one of the girls (who we've known since kindergarten) asked me, "How do you get this paper to wrap around the cupcake?" :)

I happened to have my cupcake tin there (cause I couldn't figure out how to transport the cupcakes without it!) so I brought it over to her desk and explained the process to her. "Ohhhhhh!" she mused. Priceless.

So this morning we opened gifts. (Thank you, dear Family!) And now I need to go to make the birthday cake and prepare the lasagna for dinner tonight. Then off to Mel's for lunch. Then ice skating. Woohoo!