Anna Turns 8

Anna turned 8 on February 17, but we didn't have her birthday party until this past Saturday. In the past, we had combined with a couple other of her classmates and had these big blow-out affairs. Kinda like the parents you read about that feel a huge birthday bash is critical to their child's development.

This year, we decided to scale back, although by the initial sounds of it, you may think otherwise. We rented the local skating rink in Niles, Michigan and invited all of Anna's classmates and friends at church. The cost to rent the rink was very low, thus making it very affordable.

For food, we just did nachos and cheese that we got from Sam's Club. For dessert, some cupcakes and ice cream. That was it. The kids just all showed up and skated for two hours and we didn't have to do anything else. Last year I had to help corral a bunch of first graders to do the Limbo. Never again!

Our pastor and his wife and 7 kids all came and hung. Aunt Dee Dee from Chicago was theree along with Dorene's mom. It was a good time. We also made presents optional. Anna is never hurting for anything and we said in the invitation that "Anna wants your presence more than your presents." Some still brought gifts anyway, but we wanted to take the pressure off. We had to drag Anna off the skating rink to even open the presents anyway.

Next year, we're going to eliminate the whole birthday theme altogether and just have a "Dennie Skating Party" in between Anna and Cameron's birthday where we'd invite anyone and everyone. Anna thought that was a good idea and didn't seem to care there would be no birthday party focusing on her. Note to parents: Kids don't always care that much about this stuff. YOU DO!