Eight is great.
Rosie turned eight, and it was a wild time. Taylor gets a gold star for all of her work to make Rosie feel loved for her birthday.
Last year, Rosie wanted a “late over” where a bunch of little kids came over and “watched” a movie, among other things. There was no “watching” of the movie, but it was a great, energetic night for a party we hosted at home.
December birthdays are tough- there is no easy summertime option, like going to the neighborhood pool for a party. And it is hit-or-miss whether we can have a party outside.
This year, rather than a single party, we decided to do a a few “small” things instead.
First, Rosie got to re-do her room
Since I had the week of thanksgiving off, I took one of those days to help paint the room. Rosie picked a lighter color of teal, and was pumped about it.
Then, for her actual birthday, Taylor completed this part by “adding flare” to the room, and it turned out pretty amazing:
SECOND, Rosie got to take a few friends downtown to watch the lighting of the Christmas tree.
Let me take a second here to digress and share a small insight into the world of 7 and 8 year old girls. If you haven’t been around this group in a while, they are every bit as wild as boys are. And they are loud. And they are making their own inside-jokes.
This group was no different- and although they are LOUD, I have to keep reminding myself: they aren’t out-of-control. All of these kids have great parents, and even though there was a lot of screaming while we ate our Jimmy John’s sandwiches, one day our house will be quiet, and I will miss these days.
Anyways, after a hearty meal, we went downtown, and the girls had a lot of fun:
The next night, Rosie got to pick any one to come do a sleepover, and she picked her awesome cousin from Raleigh.
They had a blast dressing like twins, getting their nails done, and going to the nutcracker.
Bear in mind Taylor was just getting over a long-dragging cold that just would not go away the few days before this weekend. At this point, both of our gas tanks were running on empty.
But we weren’t done! The reason we moved to Greensboro 8 years ago was to be closer to family. Large family birthday dinners are something to look forward to- they will either help form Rosie into a well-balanced adult who values family, or it will send her to therapy. Let’s hope for the former.
Dinner was great. Just like the dinner and writing this blog post now- by the time we got to it, we were tired.
The whole crew showed up. We didn’t get a large group shot.
It’s a small world
Taylor and I both work from home. We live in a great neighborhood, and if things go right, we can stay in this house the next 20 years.
The grocery store is right around the corner. The gym is also 5 minutes way (no, I don’t have any pre and post-gym pics yet, stay tuned).
Rosie walks to school. Mercy’s daycare is just 10 minutes down the road. The farthest I drive most weeks is to take Rosie to dance (ok, to be fair, Taylor does a lot of this part of the car-pooling). Even her dance team is just 20 minutes away. We are spoiled, but even that seems like such a long drive.
One set of grandparents is about 15 minutes away. Another set is 10 minutes away.
Cousins are between 10 minutes and 90 minutes away (literally, ALL of Rosie’s cousins are within 90 minutes).
Church is about 10-15 minutes away.
Traffic is non existent.
I often tell Taylor, our world is “small”. It is rich, and deep, and I wouldn’t change it for anything right now- but it is “small”.
Good books?
Finally, I got back into reading. It has been a while since I have taken some time to read. Back when I was commuting to work at High Point University, I would do books on tape or podcasts, but since then, I haven’t done much of anything.
Yes, I read my Bible in the mornings- but I was missing a good book to read. Something to keep me interested and curious. I love ideas- reading and speculating, and asking questions.
So I started on a good book recently, similar to one I read years ago.
WHy this book? This is the first book in a series of five- years ago I read the second book in the series, and loved it.
Time is running out now as the kids are waking up, but I will share more soon.
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