Sarah turns 9

I have a 9-year-old. That's so weird.

Sarah opened presents first thing that morning and picked waffles for breakfast. She got Sourpatch Watermelons, Cheetos and Chewy Chips-a-hoy, a new hat and scarf, Mastermind, sewing scissors, Perler Beads, drawings from Erica, and a new sleeping bag.


She got a new sleeping bag because she had outgrown her pink one and needed one for more serious camping. Erica realized on the ride back from school that it meant she could have the pink one. This is Erica literally 2 minutes after we got home.

Instead of a cake, she wanted S'more Cookie Cups. I used this recipe but the cookie cup part came out a complete failure.

I think the recipe had waaaaay too much butter. They had a great graham cracker flavor but they were so greasy and chewy and totally flat. There's a lot of "cool completely" steps to this recipe so I had to hurry to try again. I felt like a contestant on The Great British Baking Show that scraps their first attempt and rushes to complete their second attempt in time. 

This time I used the dough recipe from my favorite baked smores. I doubled the dough recipe and used my 3 tablespoon cookie scoop and it made 24 cups. Whew! They turned out perfectly. I was hesitant to use the ganache and marshamallow cream recipe from the original idea since the cups turned out terrible but those parts turned out great.

Then I made the marshmallow cream (I didn't double it; the recipe made plenty). Any time I get to use my stand mixer and candy thermometer I love. I piped it on then used a kitchen torch to "roast" them. Despite initial failures, they were really fun to make. And now that I have a better cookie recipe, they will be even more fun. My completely adapted recipe is linked here for next time.

They were as good as they look.

All of this was while Sarah was at school so she was surprised to see them done when she got home.

Her friend Violet and cousin Allison came over for pizza for dinner then more family came over for cake and presents. 

She got birthday money from Grandma, a dress and headlamp from Nana, a fuzzy journal with a lock from Rachel and a balloon and Pez from Meredith

She is so cute and helpful and fun and sweet and smart. And I can still hold her.

Here are 9 things about Sarah.

She loves to clean but her room is a mess. I don't know how someone so organized and who loves structure can be so messy.

She loves math and is so good at it. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Her teacher asks her to help the other kids in the class all the time.

She loves to cook and sew. She can make scrambled eggs all by herself and is getting really good at using the hand mixer and measuring ingredients.

She is always coming up with fun games for Henry and Sarah to play. She keeps them entertained for hours. 

She is one of James's favorite people. He gets so excited to see her. She's going to be a great mom.

She reads so much. She's into the American Girl books right now and loves the Little House series. I can't take her to the library often enough.

She loves the piano, riding her bike, telling us every detail of her day, getting so giggly we can't even understand her and staying up too late reading.

And she's really pretty and is looking way too grown up in some of these photos.