Seven

Tootle turned seven yesterday. When she woke up, I wished her a happy birthday and asked how it felt to be 7. She replied that she wasn't 7 yet; she thought she would turn 7 during recess (maybe it bugs her that we know Doodle's actual date and time of birth; she was found with a note). After breakfast, Tootle opened presents. As I snapped a few pictures, I asked her to hold up 7 fingers; she held up 6 instead because she wasn't 7 yet.

By the time of Tootle's party last night, she was officially 7!!! Tootle invited 8 of her very best friends to an American Girl based mystery party. Reading from a script and acting out their roles, the girls had to solve the mystery of what happened to their trick or treat candy. They really got into dressing in period Halloween costumes and being characters from the 1940s (no TV or computers or cell phones--no way) and stuck with it until the mystery was solved more than an hour after we began. Tootle played Molly and liked the glasses that she wore just a tad too much. She doesn't want to take them off. I got the mystery game, which included invitations, for $4 from American Girl, a terrific bargain. The game was supposed to be for 8 and up, but overall the 6-7 year olds did a wonderful job of reading their lines. We had a "healthy" snack that was part of the play--we chose to serve frozen fruit cups from Molly's cookbook (quite good)--and after the play was over we had pizza, carrots/celery, fruit kabobs that the girls made, and ice cream cake. We didn't even have time for a craft, just 15 minutes or so of free play before the parents arrived.

Note: I tried hard to make everything as authentically 1940s as possible--even researching when various Hershey chocolates were first sold to make their trick or treat bags historically accurate--but I caved on the cake and let her have a Spongebob ice cream cake. You're only 7 once.