7

Penelope turned 7 last week! We had fun celebrating with 7 pancakes in the morning, Aaron went to lunch with her at school, favorite dinner of Cajun shrimp and, of course, cake and presents.

My cute kiddos with an oh-so-excited nephew in the background. (I think he was really having fun, just acting bored. He is 15 after all.)

My Grandpa Cox used to buy us birthday cakes at Albertsons and bring it over and say "I baked it myself." (I so miss his laugh that would come after that statement!) My favorite cake that he would bring was a white layer cake with a raspberry filling between the layers, so I thought I would do that myself. But then I thought, why use store-bought raspberry jam when I can use homemade Nanking Cherry jam. Oh, it was heavenly. My wonderful husband who doesn't eat cake. Ever. Loved it!

I think that Penelope had a wonderful day and she is very happy to be 7.