Molly's 7th Birthday Party

It's hard to believe that my sweet girl is turning seven!  She's becoming such a wonderful little girl.  Since our life is a little crazy at the moment, we had an art party at a great company in Roseville called reCREATE.  reCREATE works with regional businesses to collect unwanted items - GREAT stuff like architecture and designer samples, cigar boxes, paper, and more! They divert that stuff from heading to the landfill, and use it for lessons in conservation and art!  Here's an example of an amazing art piece hanging on their wall, made completely out of cardboard boxes!

The party room only holds about 12 kids, so we had to keep the party small.  But between family and friends from church, school and SMOM, the numbers added up quickly!  It's so special to see all these amazing people that are a part of her life!

The kids warmed up with some drawing to get the creative juices flowing.

Then they got a short talk on conservation and the mission of reCREATE.  They toured the art supply area, which was really extensive.  They had bins of everything you can imagine.  As you can tell here, Christy was particularly enraptured with the bubble wrap.

Then the kids started their individual art projects.  They worked on a bug, and could use a large variety of materials to put it together.  They made everything from lady bugs to spiders to dragonflies to a preying mantis.

Then we sang "happy birthday" and cut the cake.  I knew with packing that I wouldn't have time to make a cake, so I had my friend Nina (a professional patisserie chef) make it for me and it went nicely with the "bug" theme.

Finally we opened presents.  Molly got both of the things she asked for... an American Girl doll (from Nani and Papa) and a rock tumbler (from Auntie Shelly).  She also got a box of rocks and a mineral guide from Auntie Tricia which she was equally thrilled with!

It is amazing to me that she is turning seven.  I was so proud of what a sweet and gracious hostess she was today, as she took time to thank everyone for coming and for the gifts she received.  When we were leaving the art studio she said, "I just really loved every single gift that people got me!  It was so nice for everyone to come!"  She really meant that from the bottom of her heart.