eight!

Eliot turned eight! 

Rocky spent the week before her birthday in Dubai and Violet was frantic that if he didn't get back in time Eliot wouldn't get a cake. I made the mistake of casually mentioning that I also knew how to make cakes and after giving me a blank stare for several minutes, she walked away. Luckily, Rocky came home the day before her birthday and made this great cake. He even let me help decorate it (though it's possible it was only to keep me away from the Ikea furniture which I had been working very hard to assemble, backwards). 

 Eliot's teacher last year recommended that we have a party for her and invite her entire class, to help her adjust to a new school. We tried to put that suggestion to the back of our minds and keep it low key, but we incapable of such moderation. We went with the lazy option and sent her with invitations five days before the party, hoping for a low turnout. We had a surprisingly good turnout and it was really fun to meet all the kids she talks about. We did a movie party, which was incredibly easy. Basically they played outside for 30 minutes, we fed them pizza and then put a movie on until their parents came back to get them.

 Low key, low mess and Eliot loved it.

And Violet and Winston eating spaghetti: