Clemmie's 8th Birthday

 

We began birthday weekend on Friday morning: banana cinnamon rolls that I made and froze last weekend.  Friday night was movie night - Clemmie chose Matilda and a few episodes of Bluey.  On Saturday we went to Strange Donuts and the Many Lessons: tennis, dance.  We split up the girls so I could have an afternoon with Clemmie: we had takeout from NachoMama's (C likes the chicken soft tacos) and bought her some new sneakers.  It rained all day and we dashed from place to place, waiting for a break in the downpour.

These are some apples (one rotten, one eaten) from the tennis club snack table I had to put in my purse and bring home because Josie insisted we compost them. I was so proud. I also hope I remembered to get them out of my purse.

Clemmie and I went to the mall for some tennis clothes for her.  She's never gone in the dressing room by herself and it was bittersweet for me! The salesperson asked, "which color do you like?" and she answered, "I like black." [like Luke always wears].

Fashion show at home.

Saturday night is Josie's choice of movie: she chose Scales and Bluey episodes. (Scales might be the worst movie of all time).

Sunday: my parents dropped off treats and bath bombs.  We invited a few of C's friends to a ninja class at a gymnastics center as an ersatz party.  I made her birthday dinner request a day early due to logistics: cowboy stew slab pie from this cookbook.  I prepped the dough before ninja class and made the stew (from pantry and freezer ingredients, I couldn't believe it!) during the afternoon. After dinner the girls spent much of their evening dancing to their Trolls and Greatest Showman records.

"I made real ballet shoes."

Actual birthday day! I went to CrossFit early, 5:15 am early, so we could have a little time together in the morning.  When I arrived home C was up (a birthday phenomenon only) and we made brownies with two of our backyard eggs and cleaned out the coop while the brownies baked.  I even prepped a loaf of sourdough.  Then I went to work!

After school and swimming lessons, C opened her presents: a vanity, a skateboard, swimsuits, a Harry Potter-themed box of chocolate and candy.  After post-swimming baths (in which the other was called in to witness the big reveal of each bath bomb), brownies and the happy birthday song -->

As a birthday treat, she was allowed to watch one short thing on tv and she chose the short film Bao.  The first time I saw Bao was in the theater when we saw Incredibles 2 for Josie's fourth birthday (blindsided by Pixar - again!)  They wrote in their Happy Me journals.  While Josie did her nightly nebulizer treatment, Clementine read Dory Fantasmagory: the real true friend to her, with great feeling and all the voices.

Birthdays: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - (we were in Mexico....!) - 7    (how is it that so much time has passed and yet none at all?)