Kate turns SEVEN

Dear Katie-Kat,

I can't believe you turned seven years old! How has yet another year flown by? You are growing up before my very eyes. 

This year your birthday was celebrated out of town in Toronto. We were there for your little siblings' physical therapy. You started the morning off with a gift. You had been disappointed that you did not pack any dresses for our trip (you sure do love dresses!), but thankfully you received the perfect puppy dresses (plus a puppy PJ set) just in time for your special day.

While I was busy transporting Sam to his morning therapy, Pa made sure to make the day extra special for you. Your first stop was Tim Horton's for yummy donuts followed by a walk to the park to play.

Later that afternoon while Aria, Sam, Owen and I were at therapy, you ventured to the splash pad a few blocks away for some fun running through the water. Afterwards it was time for more water fun with a dip in the pool at our rental house.

We wrapped up your big day with your choice of cheese pizza for dinner and a vanilla cake that you had picked out at the store. You were extra excited about the big chocolate "K" they had made just for you.

Your birthday bash continued at home on July 27th surrounded by family. You wanted a puppy birthday party and we just happened to have puppy party decor left over from a previous celebration.  We played "Give-the-dog-a-bone" (a puppy alternative to Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey)...

And you opened many generous and fun gifts...

For your birthday party meal, you choose pizza (again!) You sure do love your cheese!

Then it was time for an exciting couple rounds of pull-string piñata. The candy didn't quite pour out of it as we had hoped, so Pa had to do a bit of work pulling it out piece by piece as you happily waited to grab all your favorites as they fell.

You had picked out the perfect puppy cake for your celebration - a vanilla cake with cookies-n-cream filling in your current favorite color of light blue.  

We gathered around the table to sing a very 'Happy Birthday to You' as you blew out the candle.  

We all had a fabulous time celebrating you, our newly turned 7 year old!

Kate, you have grown up so quickly from my little baby to a big girl. Long gone are the days of me carrying you around. You are so big now I can barely pick you up. 

You are such a sweet, kind, empathic soul. You have a motherly heart and love holding, dressing, and playing with your little siblings. 

You can spend hours in your play corner in our family room, tending to your dolls and stuffed animals with all their various needs. If one of them makes it to a vehicle, you will be sure to properly secure them for the ride.

You are a cuddle bug and have made it very clear that you are not yet ready for your own bedroom. You would much rather prefer to keep sharing a room with Aria. You love being within arms reach when you are sleeping and nearly every night still ask for your back to be rubbed as you doze off.

On many a weekend morning, you will arise early with Aria and insist on squeezing into her bed to get your fill of cuddles. These cuddles often lead to some silliness. Most often you will grab your favorite blanket (the purple Minnie Mouse one), stand up on the bed, cover your head, and start belting out the song, "I'm a Little Ghosty" that you learned in school last year. It goes to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot" and you sing it with much gusto as you swish your arms around under the blanket pretending to be a ghost. Then you yell out "BOO" as you whip the blanket off and jump down onto the bed. You love to get us all rolling in laughter. You are definitely one silly girl.

If you could pick one food to live off of, it would most definitely be cheese! You are a cheese addict. If left up to you, your menu of choice would include mac n cheese, grilled cheese, cheese quesadillas, cheese sticks, cottage cheese, cheese pizza, and pretty much anything else covered in cheese. When I ask you to consider limiting your cheese intake, you respond that that's just too hard since you LOVE cheese.

After 16 years of being called "Pa", you were the first of the kids to decide you'd rather call him "Dad".  It happened out of the blue and always seems strange when you refer to your Pa as "Dad". It's like you're all grown up far beyond your years.

You have decided that you no longer like pink. In fact, you now despise it. That's a bit problematic as your big sister loves pink and with the vast majority of your clothes being hand-me-downs, there is a fair share of pink in your wardrobe.  Luckily you are flexible when it comes to that. But you like to make it well known that should anything be purchased for you, it must not be pink. 

While your favorite color used to be yellow, it is now light blue (thus the blue birthday cake). In fact, you've chosen to ride the boys' blue and orange hand-me-down bike rather than the girly pink and purple one that Rose rode. When you have the option of blue, that is what you will choose! You are still struggling with getting the courage to remove the training wheels from your bike. You told me it's too scary and that you may want to try when you are older, "like 18". You are not one to take risks, but hopefully next year will be the year that you become a 2-wheeled biker (fingers crossed!) 

Kate, you are such a beautiful, caring, sweet girl. You have the biggest smile and the most boisterous laugh. We are so thankful to be able to celebrate you on your 7th birthday. A very happy birthday to you, Katie-Kat! We love you to the moon and back!