Sarah Turns 10 (What?!)

I have a 10-year-old. I've been doing this for 10 years guys. You'd think I'd know what I was doing but I look at brand-new moms with their brand-new first babies and I think I'm one of them. 10 years, 4 kids under my belt and I feel like a newbie.

The night before her birthday she had some friends over for a party. They played Twister and minute to win it type games (read: cheap) She wanted a friend party and to go out to a restaurant as a family so I told her she could if the party cost less than $20. And it did.

Kaitey Stephenson, Sarah, Allison, Nora Dase, Alex Truscott, Adeleine Something, Emily Hobbs

 She really wanted to do caramel apples but we did apple salad with the same ingredients since it would be easier to eat during a movie. I wanted to call them apple nachos.

 They watched the Brady Bunch. I got the entire series on DVD and gave it to her as an early birthday present. She had never heard of the show and it was a hit.

She picked all the games and decorations and even decorated all on her own and pretty much ran the party. That was also a gift to her---my little cruise director.

Saturday morning she awoke with the table full of presents and balloons and cinnamon rolls.

 I got her a little basket full of hair things that she can keep in the downstairs bathroom. James remembered this mirror when we bought it.

 Typical Sarah face getting after her little brothers.

 She got a new coat, some treats, Waterworks game

 She's super excited about this bag. It was a bottle of strawberry lemonade.

 That afternoon I took the kids to the main street trick-or-treating with Sarah's friend Nora.

We had never been before so we didn't know what to expect. We got there as soon as it started and by the time we left 45 minutes later, it was pretty crowded.

They still managed to get a lot of candy in those 45 minutes.

Some of the lies were so long so we'd skirt around them and go to the next business. Even businesses not on main street set up tables. We got coupons for free chick-fil-a!

I think we'd go back now that we know to skip the long lines. It's a quick way to get a lot of candy!

Then we got home, I worked on Sarah's cake while she and Justin played Waterworks at the table.

She wanted the same Italian Meringue buttercream frosting as my cake with a layer of crushed Oreos in the center and silver sugar sprinkles on top. Done. She's getting simple and sophisticated in her cake choices and I like it.

 I can never deicide who she looks more like.

She chose La Dolce Vita for dinner. All her grandparents came and Nate and Cassandra and their baby made it too!

Then we went back to our house for cake. Nadine gave her new boots, pajamas, and earmuffs and she got some cash from my mom that she hasn't decided what to do with yet but she wants me to take her to the store to look around.

10 Thinngs About Sarah

1. She has joined the school choir and wants to join the ward choir.

2. She loves to play the piano and will practice without complaining.

3. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up.

4. Two more friends have moved and one more is moving this month. Poor girl.

5. She taught herself how to knit watching youtube videos.

6. She's adopted Justin's fitbit.

7. She is so polite and reasonable but she can get pretty grumpy.

8. She's outgrown all her clothes from last year.

9. She never complains about riding her bike 1.3 miles to school.

10. She can take care of James pretty well for an hour. (This may be the beginning of a new era.)