My sister came to visit this weekend and we planned the Ladybug’s 7th birthday party around her visit because we knew that nothing could make my girl happier than having her bestest, bestest friend and cousin, the Diva at her party.

And I needed someone to help me make 12 reversible drawstring Tinkerbell favor bags and 6 pounds of potato salad.

It poured down rain all afternoon. We played outside anyway!

And we didn’t let red alert air quality from the Great Dismal Swamp wildfires (they’re only 30 miles away) or rain all afternoon put a crimp in our fun. (And we had 6 lbs of hamburgers and 48 hot dogs that needed to be eaten!)

We played freeze dancing in the playroom...

We had food, we had cake, and we had prizes for games. So we played and we laughed, and we ate.

And we played musical pillows (to save our chairs!)

The Ladybug had a great time. And we invited her friends and their families, so we got to visit and have a great afternoon with the adults too. I love the cook-out and party all-in-one format. It was longer than your average 2 hour birthday party, but I think it was much more fun. Plus, I kept the menu really simple so I didn’t spend the whole afternoon in the kitchen like I usually do at dinner parties.

Fairy cake, complete with gold sprinkled Pixie Dust.

I’ll have some crafty details to share tomorrow. Today, I’m still uncovering contraband Starburst wrappers from the Ladybug’s nightstand and recovering from a well-puppy check up with 3 kids and then school check ups with the same 3 kids all in the same day.

Yeah, see that look she's giving her Daddy when she opened that candy?!

I made her pull a lot of hostess duties this year too–not just run wild with her friends. She had to greet her guests when they arrived, give out the favor bags and thank them all for coming, and occasionally check if anyone wanted drinks or we needed to refill the chip bowls.  I was proud of how mature she behaved overall. She didn’t win any games and took it just fine. She even missed out on cake while opening her presents and didn’t say a word until everyone had left.

We got her a "real" camera. She's been thrilled. She's taken at least 10 pictures just of our stairwell.

I  can’t believe she’s turning 7. She was reading her own cards as she opened her gifts this year (which brought smiles from her teachers in the room!). They grow up so fast.

We’re in a transition stage around here right now. We’re leaving our regular babysitter of SEVEN YEARS as Speedracer heads off to K3 next week and I just can’t swallow the feeling that it’s like trying to grab a tiger by the tail…I just don’t think the years slow down after this.

So I’ll be hemming school uniforms and labeling pencil boxes this week, and wondering what in the world happen to the little girl we thought would never get the hang of walking on her own two legs.