HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our sweet little Lucy-Lou! She turned s-e-v-e-n on December 4th, which is so hard for mom and dad to believe!
She is the absolute sweetest big sister, and we wanted to make her birthday extra special. I met her at school for lunch with a Happy Meal, and she was super excited to show off Leah-- who was more than glad to ham it up for all the kids and toddle around creating havoc. We also brought popsicles for Lucy to share with the class as her birthday treat.
Once Dad got home from work, we headed out to Texas Roadhouse which is Lucy's favorite restaurant around town. She's totally a steak girl, and orders the steak bites and green beans every time-- so she already has a taste for the finer things at a young age.
The waitresses all came by and sang her Happy Birthday and brought her a little scoop of ice cream before we left. She didn't seem too embarrassed, but Leah was totally freaked out!
Lucy's decadent dark chocolate "My Little Pony" birthday cake with purple polka dots.
After Texas Roadhouse we hurried home so we could have cake and ice cream and then open presents. It's hard to squeeze in a party on a school night! I love Zach's face in this picture-- he was DYING to eat her cake ("just a little piece? pleeeeease?") all day long while she was at school. His expression totally says, "Hurry it up already and blow out those candles!"
Mmmm! Even Leah got a little piece.
Finally, Lucy got to open her presents-- our tradition is we set them out on the kitchen table the night before, so she had to spend all day just looking at them! Her main thing was obviously the Build-A-Bear workshop we'd done the weekend before, but she is so good all year long that it's hard not to spoil her so she still got lots of fun stuff-- new pajamas, a grown-up girl purse, new jewelry, Jenga, and a coupon for a manicure at the salon.
Grandma and Grandpa Cardon got Lucy some super cute boots while they were here last week, and Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Tom Tom sent Lucy this beautiful French doll from the "It's A Small World" ride (which Leah promptly decided was hers).
Lucy was sooooo excited for Saturday because I'd promised to take her to the salon to get her nails done that afternoon. Of course she'd never been, so it felt like a very grown-up and mature thing to do. In fact, she included in her prayer the night before, "Please help me do the right things at the salon tomorrow," because she was so nervous!
Ta-da! She chose to get alternating blue and green with black hearts-- which kind of surprised me, because I thought she'd go pink or purple all the way, but she LOVES her new nails! She asked if she could get a manicure every year for her birthday. She is a girl through and through! We are so very, very thankful for our sweet Lucy who is helpful, smart, tender-hearted, fun, and the BEST older sister a parent could ask for (Zach and Leah both adore her). She has absolutely brought us so much joy over the last seven years-- I just can't believe how lucky I am to get to be her mom! To get to see how she's grown-- and how she is changing and blossoming into a young woman, is totally rewarding. I think one of my favorite things about Lucy is how pure-hearted she is. I can honestly say, she just doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She is so full of love-- and others really can see that in her, and she is just loved by people wherever we go. She has a heart of gold!
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Aaaaand for the traditional walk down memory lane (I included where we lived because it's so crazy to me how many different places she's lived and traveled to already in her life):
Lucy, 3 days old, Philadelphia, PA
Lucy, 1 year, Philadelphia, PA
Lucy, 2 years old, Philadelphia, PA
Lucy, 3 years old, Philadelphia, PA
Lucy, 4 years old, Las Vegas, NV
Lucy, 5 years old, Pinehurst, NC
Lucy, 6 years old, Pinehurst, NC
We sure love our Lucy!
