Pretend birthday

 Sweet Seven!! 

 We did a lovely photo shoot a week or two after her b-day.  Then her last wobbly tooth had come out, so her smiles looked neater. ;)  But mostly, I had a new camera-she'd dropped mine the day before her birthday, and it wasn't functional for her day. 

She had a friend come over, and did a treasure hunt, some crafty things together, and played around.  We even ran out to the park 'cause it was such a sunny day. 

Melanie is a big help around the house, especially "mothering" when Daniel, Jennifer, or Evelyn wants attention.  She is good at figuring out what they want, and can keep them entertained for quite a while.  She's a bit lonely for girl company as she doesn't have a close girl friend at church these days...but her and Nathan are getting on really well at home, so that helps.  They love rooming together downstairs, and have become so much more independent!  And it is really neat to see Nathan look out for her. Yesterday he came to me explaining how my teasing of Melanie during a game had made her upset-and since she was downstairs and I was up, I would not have known if he hadn't come and explained it to me for her.  How sweet. :)