Happy Memorial Day to my American readers. May we all take time today to reflect with gratitude upon the sacrifices that so many men and women have made in service of our country. I am awed by their bravery and selflessness.

My mom has been visiting for the long weekend and Finn’s seventh birthday celebration! He actually turned seven last weekend (May 18) and had a family party at his dad’s and some one-on-one time with me. His “official celebration” was this weekend and we hosted a pool party for all of his friends!

Here are the deets!

PARTY AT DAD’S 

Finn enjoyed a fun family evening of swimming, a giant bounce slide, an ice cream truck and all things chocolate. I popped by to say hi and give the birthday boy a kiss. He was one happy kiddo.

BIRTHDAY HANG WITH MOM

Finn’s birthday fell on his dad’s weekend this year but his dad dropped him off for a couple of hours on his birthday afternoon so that we could spend some time together.

He asked for dig and discover kits, gemstones and kaleidoscopes. We opened gifts and then played with everything in the driveway. Please note his “it’s my 6th birthday” t-shirt. This is what he dressed himself in for his 7th birthday haha.

Here are a few of the sets I ordered:

• National Geographic Break Open Geodes
•  National Geographic Mega Crystal Growing Kit
• Kaleidoscope Making Kit
• Discovery Kids Gemstone Dig Kit

While we had other birthday celebrations, there’s just something special about being with your kiddo on their actual birthday and I very much appreciated this solo time.

POOL PARTY!

This past Saturday we invited all of Finn’s friends and their families for an afternoon of swimming, pizza and DONUTS!

Chocolate donuts are one of Finn’s favorite things in life so I got creative with his “cake” this year and ordered letter donuts from Suarez Bakery.

I think they turned out so well and were a huge hit with the kids! I also made some homemade chocolate cupcakes. Can we appreciate Finn’s donut bathing suit shorts?

And may we also take a moment to appreciate my craftiness with the favors? There is not a crafty bone in my body but I thought these turned out so well! I ordered the cups from Amazon and the tags from Etsy. I filled the cups with candy.

All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon. Finn had a blast and I’m so happy that my mom could make the trip to attend his party.

FINN AT SEVEN 

Gosh, where do I begin? I think with the word sweet. Finn is pure sweetness. Here are small examples from the past couple of weeks…I was getting the table set for his birthday party and opening a very unfancy plastic blue tablecloth. He said, “THANK YOU MOM! I love blue! It’s one of my favorite colors.” And when I asked him what his favorite part of his birthday weekend was he replied, “having my family together.”

He is verbally and physically very affectionate. I get so many “I love you Mom” drawings (I think in return for all of the “I love you Finn” drawings I put on his lunchbox) and he loves (LOVES) to snuggle and be physically close.

Finn is a HUGE animal lover and is constantly playing with the dogs. I found this selfie of him and Zoey on my camera roll this week.

He’s sensitive, empathetic and can read energy like crazy! He can sense if things are off or if he’s even slightly out of favor with someone. He HATES being in trouble and any corrections have to be done conversationally and with lightness. I think he’s pretty emotionally intelligent for seven and we work hard to talk about and normalize all feelings.

He’s also so flexible and go with the flow. He does so well with transitions between houses and he’s a breeze to take along with me for anything from errands to travel.

Finn has had a great kindergarten year. Here he is with his K teacher and the art teacher – he adores them both. They’ve told me that Finn is a leader, a good friend and a helper. He’s always kind and doesn’t instigate or participate in mean behavior. He’s doing well academically but the biggest win of the year has been that he loves school.

Many of you will remember that we decided to TK Finn (pre-K/transitional kindergarten) and it was 100% without a doubt the best decision for our kiddo. While he is on the older side in his class, he was more emotionally and socially ready for kindergarten and has really thrived. 10/10 recommend if you have a kid with a later birthday and are on the fence or even slightly considering it. I also look at it this way – the world is so crazy and fast these days…why not give them one more year to be a kiddo in the preschool bubble? And I also get to keep him home one more year when he’s 18 to mature and grow before sending him off to college.

I’ll wrap it up with a list of his favorite things:

• Snuggling
• Dogs (our dogs, his dad’s dogs, our friends’ dogs – all dogs!)
• Stuffies (we have to have 50 plus – they’re everywhere!)
• His tablet and playing games like Roblox
• Soccer (both playing and attending Charlotte FC games)
• Rocks and gemstones
• Hoodies (especially the ones with thumbholes)
• Cozy clothes and changing into them the second he gets home from school
• The Georgia Bulldogs
• Footed zip up pajamas
• Sweet treats like chocolate chip cookies, brownies, donuts and ice cream
• Creating games like obstacle courses or timed challenges
• Reading together (currently loving The Magic Treehouse series and getting new library books at school each week)

It is a joy to be Finn’s mom and I love doing life with my little guy!