Happy Birthday, Erin!

Our big girl is 7!  I think she had a wonderful week of celebrating her big day coming on the heels of her big week as Star of the Week at school.  The birthday fun started on the weekend of the 17th-18th when we went to Concord to celebrate with Mommy's side of the family.  She got to go to gymnastics on Saturday morning, then we headed to Concord for visiting, cake prep, and girl cousin sleepover that night!  Those who know Erin will know how excited she was to be invited to Ansley's Sunday School class on Sunday morning, then we had a fun and yummy spaghetti birthday lunch with cake and presents.  She had so much fun being the big cheese and loves all of her presents!  The kids all had fun doing a Halloween dry-run at Grandma and Grandpa Ambrosini's house too.



We got little coloring books and stickers for her to pass out at school on Thursday, and then on Friday after her special birthday donut breakfast,



her class had a mega field trip/tour of Apex...in honor of her birthday, of course!  They visited the police station, fire station, food bank, art center, pizza restaurant, ice cream place, and a pumpkin patch!  AND, they got to ride on a chartered bus!  I think the bus was the biggest hit for some of the kids.  After school, she opened presents that came in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Flanagan (she was so excited to get a box in the mail!), and then Cole, Cooper, Rio, and their parents got here in time for her second spaghetti dinner that week (her request).  We had a fun dinner and cousin sleepover in Anna's room that night - everybody slept...until 5:30am, that is!

Saturday was her big gymnastics party with neighbor and school friends.  Of course, Erin did not want to skip her regular gymnastics class that morning, so she got a double dose (even though her sister opted to stay home with Cole and Cooper instead of going to class that morning).  She had a great time and loved all of the special party activities that they had there!

She gets a break from her 7-year checkup until December, so we won't have stats or a report on that for awhile.  What I can say for now is how proud we are of our Erin.  She continues to amaze us and exceed our expectations every day.  We were worried about her being in a regular kindergarten class last year, and she did so well.  We were worried about moving her to a private school without many special education resources this year, and she has done great.  She is still our little teacher and loves to come home from school and reenact her day with her stuffed animals.  She now wants to be a first grade teacher when she grows up (she was saying that she wanted to be a kindergarten teacher last year), and she would be a great - strict - one!  She has become much more concerned about others in recent months and wants to help other kids feel better when they are sad.  She is very observant and it's hard to get much past her anymore.  Erin is a wonderful, special, funny, smart big girl and we could not be more proud of her. We love her so much!