Elaine Turns Seven!

Almost two weeks ago, my Elaine girl turn seven. S-E-V-E-N. Wow. That makes me feel old! Assuming she lives with us through college, that means we are about 1/3 done with our time with Elaine! That is scary… I feel like there is yet so much to teach!

Elaine is really a great big sister. She is a helper and a teacher and an example, to Mommy and her siblings. She is nearly always happy. If she isn’t busy and involved with her brothers and sister, she is probably curled up with a book somewhere. I used to be like that. My Grandma was always getting on me for bringing a book everywhere. Elaine brings three or four!

I snapped a few pictures on the morning of her birthday.

This was one of the few moments during our three weeks in Vancouver, BC that it wasn’t raining!

Finally got her to smile!

Elaine picked out her outfit for her birthday. She loves purple, so the dress choice was easy. The shirt is one that she bought with Ben on a daddy-daughter date, and it is one of her favorites for that reason. She has been dying for cowgirl boots for a while now, and we finally found some at the thrift store recently. So that is her outfit! She looks so much more grownup with her bangs growing out, too!

What to do was a little more difficult to decide! We had shared birthday cake with Makaela Little the week before, on Makaela’s 8th birthday. They came over for dinner on Elaine’s birthday. So, we did our “normal” celebrations in the morning, in our PJs.

Breakfast cereal tradition – She chose Cheerios!!!

Part of her presents. They have come in a trickle this year, and more are waiting at Grandma’s house! She got a new set for her Schleich horses!

Love this picture of my kiddos!

Giant “7” balloon from the Littles! Homemade decorations were a family project the night before.

After that, we decided for a little city adventure. We planned to take the train downtown and eat lunch at a food truck I had seen – Mom’s Grilled Cheese Truck. Never having seen a grilled cheese food truck, and since grilled cheese is Elaine’s favorite, we thought it would be fun! I discovered the flaw in my plan quickly – my transit directions were by bus, not train. And to take bus to train involved double fares, and I didn’t have that much Canadian cash. So in the end we drove downtown, ate our food truck fare, and then rode the train back to the transfer station where Daddy picked us up. {The train involved a scary moment when Liberty exited a stop early and I didn’t notice. Praise the Lord, the older gentleman behind me hollered and I got her back just in time!}