Happy birthday to our 7-year-old! I feel like I sound like a broken record with starting every post with something about how covid is changing our lives, but, well, it is. Thankfully the kids have been taking things in stride, and Callie was totally understanding when it came to the changes we had to make in regards to her birthday (like no friend party this year). I think we were able to manage a pretty fun day (week) and there were plenty of smiles and lots of birthday cheer for Miss Callie June.
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| Sam worked hard to choose and wrap and line up all these gifts for Callie to unwrap on her birthday (just like they did for my and Gregg's birthdays, too; apparently it has become something of a tradition to have this couch filled with gift bags for the month leading up to a birthday in our house). And Callie's teacher sent her home with her birthday balloon and glasses at the end of school, so she got to participate in that classroom tradition even with a summer birthday. |
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| First up: the Sam gifts. Lots of cars and balls and doo-dads from around the house. It's very sweet how much they love to give whatever they can. |
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| And now for the main event! One giant present! |
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| What could it be? |
bonus videos!
(I thought I was so sneaky hiding a few more presents on the shelves!)
Sam's comment at the end about "maybe you'll get another one" is because
he wrapped up his own fidget spinner (that Cal gave him for Christmas) in one of
his many gift bags for Callie's birthday. I had overheard a conversation between
them about "maybe you can order one for my birthday" earlier in the month, so Gregg
and I secretly did just that and planned to have Sam give it to her, but forgot to tell him
about it. I thought it was sweet that he would give her his since he had no way of buying one
himself. These kids, I tell ya! They're good folks!
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| Major bookworm status here! |
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| A book! (Imagine that!) The only Calpurnia Tate Girl Vet book in the series that our library doesn't have a copy of for some reason. |
bonus video!
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| And now more presents from Sam |
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| Birthday breakfast of sourdough pancakes and sausage. |
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| We have to have a birthday poster shot! |
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| Cal's request for the day was to "do art projects all day" . . . (here we're watercolor painting paper to make paper lanterns) |
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| . . . "and cook!" |
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| Her kids cookbook had a recipe for wraps that combined art and cooking - we made "paintbrushes" out of celery and string cheese and they "painted" ranch, ketchup and mustard on their tortillas before rolling them up with ham and the string cheese. |
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| Ta-da! |
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| And ta-da! |
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| Next up: homemade oreo cookies for birthday dessert! |
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| And last but not least: birthday dinner! Meatloaf, sweet potato fries and zucchini! (She's getting really good!) |
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| Oh, and one more bonus gift that I had forgotten about earlier - a bag o' books. |
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| After dinner oreo time! |
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| Happy birthday, my girl! I love you so! |
And now for a little snapshot of what Callie is like as a newly minted seven year old! (I just looked back at the list I made for her sixth birthday and am so amazed by how much of it is exactly the same!)
- can read at level Z (6th-7th grade) but still loves "easier" books that she can speed through like Heidi Heckelbeck, Junie B. Jones and Owl Diaries (those are like comfort food for her), also reading tons of Ramona, Clementine, Calpurina Tate, Wayside School, etc. (It's hard to keep her in books!) Also loves reading the whole Friend each month the day it comes and old Highlights and National Geographic Kids from her stash in her bedroom.
- teaching herself cursive (can write her name!)
- writes awesome essays about all kinds of topics (plants, animals, birds, insects) and won her first blue ribbon for one in the art fair at school!
- loves making lists and signs (I find them all over the house)
- talks and draws and writes and reads a lot about ballet
- getting really fast at running and quite an excellent disc thrower for her age
- nearly always whines and complains and moans about going on a hike/walk/bike ride, but always always loves it once we get going
- has lost two teeth with a couple more top ones getting loose
- loves art the most - lately she will find art/craft books at the library and scans through every page looking for a project to do and then she does it! (And she's really good at adapting the project using things we have at home: this week she made a beach "clock" out of a paper plate (instead of a wooden clock face) and a push pin (instead of a little clock kit that should be attached to the back to make the arms move) and she was so thrilled with the result.)
- also loves science (ditto with science project books - case in point: a solar oven this week!)
- mastering adding big numbers (I taught her how to "carry the one" even though that is "old-fashioned" math and she loves to keep score during games like Yahtzee), and figuring out some other cool math tricks like multiplication
- loves to cook (math, science and art all in one!); says "if you can read, you can cook" and it's pretty true (though I still have to help her get things down from high places and pour milk from a heavy jug, and put things in and out of the oven, etc (she did ask me the other day when the first time I used an oven by myself was - I told her maybe 9? I think she's counting down the days!)
- still figuring out how to interact with friends (and not-friends), especially in a school setting; she is getting pretty good with Sam, though they definitely still have their sibling moments
- mastered flying a kite by herself, still loves monkey bars (even after a months-long hiatus from parks), has started "callie-pulting" out of the swings on our playground
- curious and eager to observe and learn whatever she can
- sometimes gets to stay up a little later reading in bed (and sometimes stays up later even if she's not supposed to! - it may be time to adjust her bedtime a bit later?)
- leads the lesson for FHE nearly every week, with the help of the outlines in the Friend Magazine
- grateful and generous and brave and kind
Watch Callie grow: 6 years | 5 years | 4 years | 3 years | 2.5 years | 18 months | 12 months | 11 months | 10 months | 9 months | 8 months | 7 months | 6 months | 5 months | 4 months | 3 months | 2 months | birth
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