Happy 8th Birthday to Marin!

My first born Babylove. Marin Elise Corrigan, celebrating her 8th birthday :) This year, we decided that instead of a party, we would make her birthday celebration about special outings. I asked her to make a list of all the fun things she could dream of doing (within our town of course, the poor thing is dying to go Disneyland). We did our best to help her check each special thing off her list! Sure was fun for me, and she said it was her best birthday ever (which makes me really happy, as I was worried my "party girl" would feel sad without a party)...

- birthday cereal was a little different - I bought the "multi-pack" of those tiny boxes of sugar cereals, and surprised her. She thought that was a hoot, getting a different yummy treat a few mornings in a row :) Her birthday was on a school day, so bright and early she sugared up and I sent her off! I then surprised her by showing up at school during lunch. I brought a donut and we snuck a little candle in while her friends did a whisper-sing rendition of Happy Birthday at the lunch table. She was pretty pleased, and a little embarrassed :) Oh mom!!!

- birthday cake to be "Pinkie Pie" from My Little Pony. The girls are WAY into these right now (flashback to my youth!!), so that was fun figuring out a design with her. Even thought we did not have a party, it was still special for the family to enjoy the cake creation!

Here is the list of fun outings during her birthday WEEK:
- swimming with sister at the open swim at SHARC... they swam for the entire 3 hours! which has never happened in their lives, primarily because we always seem to have little brothers with us :) But this time, I took the girls alone and let them go crazy! They loved having such a long time to swim to their hearts' content. I even jumped in at the end and went on the waterslide with them :)

- play time at Out of This World... Marin loves the bounce houses & play structures there, she could care less about their pizza :) So we just hit it after school and spent a few hours playing, before coming home for dinner.

- birthday dinner out for sushi (her choice)... these kids are so lucky to have a Dad who is constantly introducing new foods to them, and really so am I! I never ate seafood before I met Kyle. It was my mantra "I don't like seafood"... Then he BBQ'd me some delicious oysters on a campfire in college, and I have never looked back. So thankful my foodie husband is helping us all enjoy the many tastes of life!

- pottery painting: Marin got to pick one friend to take along to the local pottery shop for some painting fun... she and Lily had a ton of fun painting identical fairies :) it was "Pajama Day" at the studio, so we got a discount for arriving in our pj's... it's always great when you get a discount for doing something extra fun :)

- Marin got a lot of cash & gift cards this year. She is really my "saver" so she tucked most of it away for a rainy day. She did request one last birthday outing, a Mommy/Marin shopping date to spend her Target gift card. We spent several hours hunting around Target for treasures (which included gifts for her siblings... she has such a generous streak to her, I love it!), had a snack in the food court, then hit up Yogurt Munch for an ice cream treat & some quality conversation. As we were leaving Yogurt Munch, she was saying how her tummy hurt from too much sugar. I said "honey, you didn't have to keep eating it ~you could have stopped anytime!"... then she says "I could have stopped. But I didn't want our date to end, so I just kept eating!"... Oh mah word, I love this girl and our private conversations. She is my pride and joy!

Happy birthday to my sweet Marin, she truly is a delight and a wonder to behold as she grows, matures, questions, creates, laughs, shares, thinks and LOVES life. She makes my heart swell with happiness!