how does your garden grow?

Heather turned eight in January. We had a little *garden party* for her.

This was her cake! When we came up with the idea of the garden party, I thought this dirt cake would be a perfect and unexpected dessert. The girls at the party were thrilled and maybe a little grossed out at first. But they loved it as soon as they tasted it.

Pink and green were the order of the day. 

We got bigger goodie bags than normal because the guests planted their own flowers. We had several different colors of flowers. Rather than deal with screaming, squealing, and eye scratching to get the color they wanted. Greg came up with the idea to put the colors of the flowers on a slip of paper underneath the overturned pots. Were the girls sat determined the color they got. The scheme was rigged only a little bit ~ Heather wanted pink.

Greg took charge of the planting demonstration and help. We ended up buying plants a little bigger than originally planned, so it took a little more work on the guest's Greg's part. 

Stephanie was the *big sister hostess*.  Her job was to make sure that everyone felt included. She was also helping me put the food together until playing with the rest of the kids sounded like the better deal! She was an awesome hostess.

After planting the girls played outside until lunch was ready. It was a gorgeous day. Perfect for screaming outside and terrorizing our neighbors with their girliness. 

Heather wanted salad for her birthday party lunch. She L.O.V.E.S. salad! She enjoys salad so much that she gets offended if a salad is not included as a side option on the kids' menu. Papa does not particularly enjoy a salad, so he always orders a side salad with his meal to give to her if the kids' menu is not cooperative. Initially, we were worried about serving salad as the main dish because some kids aren't as keen on it as our children. But, then, we decided it's her party. She can have what she wants. All the girls were good sports ~ even the girl who had never had salad before (say what?) ate a little bit. We also served fruit kabobs (huge hit!) and lemonade.

Then, of course, we ate dirt for dessert.

Seeing Heather so happy with her party was the best part of the day.

We made Heather wait until her guests left to open our gift. She was delighted and a little confused by the purse-that's-not-really-a-purse that she got first.

Greg was messing with her, telling her that's all we got her. Wasn't it worth waiting for? I don't think she's completely buying it ~ but still, she was just a little worried he was serious.

She's wanted a DSi forever. We kept telling her no. Christmas came. We still told her no. We really did mean it too. Somehow we must have been struck with temporary insanity because we got her one for her birthday. She was pretty shocked (so were we).

And totally jazzed.

What a great birthday party. She had fun. Her friends had fun. It was so little hassle for Greg and I. Plus it was quite economical. 

Happy *8*, Heather!