C's 8th Birthday Party

Last weekend, we celebrated Chloe's 8th birthday with some friends from school and church. Her birthday is not until next month, but we have found that celebrating it mid June prevents it from conflicting with family vacations.

We decided to do something a little special and different this year. Normally we just do a house party (I'm all about being cost efficient), and we had already planned well ahead that this year we would do tye-dyed shirts at her party. But a friend of mine told me about another great idea that I knew would be really special for C. So we went for it. Horse riding at a local Stable...Tye-dying can wait until next year.

C was very excited. The day of the party she followed me around with a clipboard. She was making a list of things we needed to take (with little check boxes beside them to mark off), as well as a list of what we would be doing there.

C invited 8 friends, and for the first hour, they took turns riding ponies around the arena, and down and back a path outside. They all loved it. They even allowed Hubby to lead C around on her pony, which I know she was thrilled about.

After the rides, there were snacks, cake, ice-cream, presents and a few games too. To go along with the horse/pony theme, I made C cakes in the shape of a horses head. I found the idea on the Kraft website here. It was really easy to do and turned out looking great. I did however modify the recipe and use my own icing instead of the suggested one.

C loved the cake, and so did her friends.

All in all, it was a great success. It was a beautiful place and I know some of the parents were thinking of doing their next party there too. C loved the day, except for one small part...I had been telling her it was horse rides, but it was actually pony rides. She had been hoping to ride big horses and not ponies. I told C that the ponies were safer for the kids and that maybe when she turns 12, she could pick a few friends and come back and do a real horseback riding party. She was quite pleased about that.

Lots of Lego

Like most kids (and adults too), C loves Lego. I have been looking for more Lego to add to her small collection, but Lego is so expensive and paying an arm and a leg for it was not in our budget. I figured I would bide my time and hope that something would come up on Kijiji or at a garage sale.

And it did.

Our neighbourhood recently had their community garage sale and I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to find more Lego for C. I was a little anxious before leaving as I knew Lego was a hot item so taking the correct path through the neighbourhood was very important. Before leaving, I thought..."God, it would be nice if you could direct my path...tell me where I should go to find Lego".

And he did.

C and I set out on bikes...headed in the direction of a street I thought we were to go to. This was the street where I had missed out on Lego the year before. But for some reason, we turned away from that direction. Within a few minutes we stopped our bikes in front of a garage sale with a teen (the age I figured would be selling Lego). I asked if they had Lego for sale. To my surprise, the teen said Yes...that he had not brought it out yet. He returned in a few minutes with a large Rubbermaid bin filled with Lego. When I asked him "How much?"...he said..."I don't know...$10?"...TEN DOLLARS? I thought ...the stuff is worth WAY more than that...so I took it all.

C is ecstatic about all her Lego, and so are her friends when they come over.

Me...I think it's pretty cool that God directed me within minutes to such a great deal. But I'm also wondering if maybe she now has TOO much Lego...especially when I see all the pieces on the floor that seemed to have wondered away from the main pile.