Seven!

Yes, Abbie celebrated her 7th birthday on Sunday with a small party at our house, and I think that a good time was had by all. She and six of her friends spent the afternoon swimming in the pool, which must have felt great on such a hot day.

There were five girls and two boys and it was interesting to see how they played together. Ultimately, it became the girls against the boys. The girls found a flyswatter and plotted out how best to use it to attack the boys. They also made a container of what one girl referred to as "boy poison", which was a mixture of water and leaves. Interestingly, I think that the boys did slightly less plotting and were generally more oblivious to what was going on.

There was also an obsession with being up on the wall, jumping in the pool from the wall (which we discouraged), squirting each other from the wall, etc. You'll have to click on and enlarge the photo above to truly appreciate it. You'll see Abbie, an oblivious friend, and a totally oblivious boy. This boy is Eli (yes, the Eli that Abbie has a crush on). Notice how he is totally clueless, and Abbie is watching him intently, probably studying his every move. Classic.

Much to Chad and Emily's dismay, Abbie absolutely did not want a cake for her birthday. Rather, she decided on banana cookies - basically banana bread in cookie form. We piled them up on a plate and managed to stick a candle in them, so it worked out well. Yes, it looks like Abbie has set up camp and plans to eat the entire plate, and she just might have but kids summoned her back to the pool shortly after this photo was taken.