the 7th birthday redeemed

I had a pretty stinky 7th birthday.  It was absolutely NO fault of my parents.  They couldn't control the weather or the fact that I was sick.  You see, my birthday is in January.  Where I grew up in NC it snowed usually once a winter.  Of course the year I turned 7 that snow came on my birthday, and I got a little sick with a cold.  So, school was cancelled.  And my mom had made cupcakes for the 28 or so kids in my class.  What to do?  Make lemonade out of lemons.  My mom broke out the cupcake tree (yes she had a plastic one before they were cool :)  and I had a "cupcake tree birthday cake".  That part was fine, I was totally fine celebrating with my family.  I just remember being disappointed that I couldn't take my cupcakes to school for a celebration and that I felt pretty rotten.
Fast forward to the present time.  Today my oldest child celebrated her 7th birthday.  Call it living vicariously through your child if you'd like, but I was determined her 7th birthday wouldn't be "stinky".  We started early this morning.  I had a birthday banner up for her, I wrote a Happy Birthday message on the mirror in the bathroom and taped bright pink streamers in the bathroom doorway.  She was served a "peanut butter Birthday toast" complete with a candle, and we sang to her.  All of this transpired before 7am!  She had asked to have sprinkle doughnuts at school, so Scott and I took them and had lunch with her.  This evening we went to our local Japanese restaurant for dinner and paid the extra $5.50 for a song, cupcake, and photo.  Let me just tell you, that may have been the best $5.50 ever spent!  She was over the moon with excitement.  I even heard "this is the best birthday ever!"  I'm pretty sure, though, that next year will be the best birthday ever as well :)
So, mission accomplished!  The 7th birthday has been redeemed.  And I'm so relieved...it's been a 25 year wait for me to redeem the 7th birthday :)

Here are some photos of our fabulous day.  Enjoy!