Julia turns 7!!

"My mom never threw me elaborate parties but she was always sure to put up a celebratory blog post a few days after my actual birthday."

- future Julia

Her one and seven year pictures bear a striking "smile" resemblance. It was the best she'd give me and beggars can't be choosers, I suppose.

I'm going to have to argue with the old, "time marches on" adage because someway and somehow we've got a seven year old in the house and it feels as though time is doing more of a sprint around here. I remember feeling like we were "old" parents when Julia turned four and then five and then six and now SEVEN ... so I can't imagine what the high school years will feel like. Dentures + orthotic shoes, probably.

Julia has always loved drawing but this past year her works of art have taken on new meaning as she's started making herself, "drivers lisenses" and tucking them into her purse, rigid agendas for playtimes with her younger siblings, multiple heartfelt cards for the entire family and her friends ...

... and even room decor made out of pizza boxes she fishes out of our recycling bin.

I think (and she would agree) that she's earned herself an abbreviated stint in purgatory for the years that she's spending sharing a room with Phoebe. Julia is a very neat and tidy person and Phoebe .... is not. As soon as Julia gets home from school she runs into her room to survey the inevitable damage incurred by her roommate.

I see a lot of Julia in my former child self and I'm not sure if it's because we are both oldest girls or just that she's my child and the apple doesn't fall far from the mother tree but it's entertaining to relive my own quirks through a parent's eyes.

Ever since we moved to Florida she's been VERY dedicated to growing out her hair (you can see how short it was in her 5yo photo above) and has remained vigilant in her quest - only letting me trim it when absolutely necessary. She keeps a brush in her backpack just in case and is very proud that she can get the majority of her hair in a low ponytail all by herself. Emphasis on the majority.

We were in Wichita for her birthday and her Aunt Mary and Uncle Andrew very very generously rented a bounce house and set it up in their yard as a huge surprise for her birthday. She was so surprised and excited and I'm still trying to figure out a way to erase Sebastian's short term memory as he's expecting the same exact treatment (flight to Wichita and all). I'm enjoying the age where her biggest birthday present requests are a fidget spinner and a repeating bird although I might've rethought the repeating bird had I known what it was exactly :).

Happy belated birthday to our sweet, thoughtful, curious, and smart firstborn Julia Grace!!