Nora's Eighth!

Nora's Eighth birthday was on Monday and the day started with her going out to breakfast with Ella and her boys in the morning. It was fun for Nora to get some special Auntie time!

We spent a lazy day around the house, I made pizza dough, we ran errands. In the evening 7 girlfriends came over for a dinner party. They made individual pizzas which actually ended up being fun. (It was one of those mom moments when I said to Nora earlier "Do you want to make pizzas?"then worried later that it could be too much work. But it wasn't!) 

Watching the enthusiasm of the girls made it really fun and very worth it. Also, seeing how the couple of older girls were so helpful with the younger ones in the process was great as well. There are two neighbor girls who are older than Nora and Stuey who came and really exemplify kindness and selflessness in such situations. 

On the pizza menu: Olives, pepperoni, cheese and sauce

rolling out the dough

Cutting the cake!

Then we played a game of musical chairs and "guess how many M&M's are in the jar". The girls had a fun time with musical chairs and it made me happy that such a classic older game continues to work so well at a birthday party.

Opening gifts as girls watch on

It was the best 8th I could've imagined for Nora; complete with family time, friends time and lots of laughter and kindness from everyone around. 

At night after she was tucked into bed, I realized I hadn't written her a card. I went back to her bedroom, she was hardly awake. I whispered to her, "Nora....Happy 8th! Have I told you what a wonderful girl you are? And how proud I am of you? Its been so much fun doing your program together this summer. I love you Nora!" She smiled big and I gave her a big good night kiss. 

Zoya