Julia's Birthday

Can anyone else hardly believe that we are the parents of an 8 year old?!  I guess it makes the bad knees and aching joints of a 30 year old all worth it.  (Which would be Justin....I'm not that old yet, and certainly don't have any of those old people pains.  All mine are due to a 30 pound middle.)

So, yes, a few weeks after moving into our new little rental house, we celebrated Julia's birthday.  

She wanted a Barbie Mariposa cake.  This was the best I could come up with.  Once again, big thanks to the Fellows from Germany, from whom I got a couple hour course in how to frost a cake without totally embarrassing yourself.  Came in super helpful.

Julia got a few books and a necklace and some finds at the Goodwill (still-wrapped American Girl puzzles and 1986 Clue game in perfect condition, at least in perfect condition until it had spent 10 minutes in the hands of some of these Collings girls).

Then we sent her on a scavenger hunt for.....

a bike!  Wahoo!  All shiny and store-bought.  We're really letting this employment thing go to our head.

Julia's requested birthday breakfast: waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.  Except it turns out she doesn't like whipped cream.  She likes that aerosol chemical in a spray can.  My bad.

A few days before Julia's birthday we went down to New York to meet up with the Shobes and Claytons.  It was a SUPER fun day, especially considering we had six small children--three of them under three small--involved.  The Shobes watched the girls while we went to the temple, and then the Claytons provided a delicious lunch and a swimming pool.  Jarrod made his own delicious birthday cake but let Julia blow out the candle since hers was coming up, too.  So lovely to see old friends and their growing families and to hear about life in the post-Law School fast lane!  Sounds like New York is just as hard to live in as Berlin, which is why Columbia is now at the top of Justin's job search list!  Just kidding.

I haven't found it all that amusing that I've donned a swimming suit more in the last month of my pregnancy than I have in the previous two years of my life.  I think I'll change to the tried and true pregnancy color black the next time around; the old ego takes a hit so frequently being mistaken for a blue whale.