Esther's 8th Hotel Getaway

 I told Esther for her 8th birthday she could have a big party--I also threw out that we could go to a hotel for a night and she jumped on the hotel idea.  We were supposed to go mid January but we all got a nasty stomach virus so we had to reschedule.  We headed to Salt Lake to the City Creek Marriott for some good food, swimming, shopping, a movie, and lots of treats!  We arrived in the late afternoon on Friday and immediately hit the pool for some swimming.  Then we went back and changed and went to Blue Lemon for dinner, did some shopping-got some cute girly clothes, and headed back to the hotel.  We changed and went swimming again and then went back to our room for treats and a movie.  John had to go to school in the morning but the rest of us had a fun time lounging about and then grabbing some breakfast at City Creek in the morning--we stopped by Claire's again to see if Esther wanted to brave an ear piercing but she's still on the nervous side.  I'm not going to lie... it was WAY better and more fun (for me and John) then trying to throw a big friends party.  I am glad Esther loved our hotel getaway!

Esther, my fish

  (if John chooses to make ugly faces for the camera then he has to face the consequence--the pic being posted on my blog :))

Thompson girls

 Our assorted gummies

 Lucy with her five friends (Addison, Riley, Kylie, Flora, and Safari)

 Blueberry muffins, at Esther's request, for our pre-breakfast snack

We hit Kneaders at City Creek later...

Bubs still keeps asking when we are going back to the hotel.

Esther's Birthday!

 We celebrated Esther's birthday over the weekend--John had school all day on her actual birthday so we moved her dinner and cake to Sunday.  She was happy to spread out the celebration as much as possible.  I told her she could get her ears pierced for her birthday if she wanted to--we went to the mall and walked around for a bit while she "thought" about it.  Then when she decided we headed to Claire's and an 18 month old was getting her ears pierced--we should not have stayed to watch because Esther lost all courage and we left before both the little girls ears were even done.  Alas, no ears pierced this year.  I told her there is no rush--she has the rest of her life ahead of her to have pierced ears--enjoy non-pierced for now.  :)  I just felt bad because she wants earrings SO BAD and I think she would have gone through with it if she hadn't witnessed that little girl crying.  I'm sure she'll get her courage up some day.  I can't believe she's 8!  Esther is a wonderful sweet girl.  She knows how to work hard, is an excellent student, and is quickly learning the piano.  She LOVES to play with friends, do crafts, color, and ask questions.  She has a very curious mind and wants to know about everything--especially if John and I are talking about something that she wants to overhear!  :)  Esther is an amazing big sister--Isaac is coddled by her love and attention.  Sometimes she has him pretend to be a baby and she is the mom.   She is very good with her little boy cousins and she would have been an amazing big sister to Iris.  She is very sweet to Lucy too and reads to her every night for a little while.  Speaking of reading.. Esther is a READER.  She was supposed to take 5 reading tests this last term and I didn't even have to prompt her to but all on her own she has took 13!  I'm glad she loves reading as much as me.  Esther loves to shop and learn new things like cooking--we have a new goal of helping make a dinner once a week.  We had a fun celebration and Esther couldn't stop smiling. We had tortellini sausage soup and sweet potato casserole, and salad for her dinner and ice cream cake for dessert.  She loved her presents-especially her new lego set, new scriptures, her matching outfit to her American girl doll, and her special book from her angel Grandma.