And then I had a Birthday!

I had a good birthday this year. I'm very excited to be 33 in 2013.  It is a great year for 3's in our family- Bear is 3, Birdy is 6 (which is 3+3) and EJ is turning 9 in a couple of weeks (3+3+3, of course).  Seems like 3 is our lucky number!

I used my birthday to justify all sorts of "presents" for myself- a dog and a food processor and pretty much anything else I wanted. Birthdays are good like that.  DMP took me out for real sushi, at a restaurant (SO Yummy!). I haven't had sushi at anywhere but Walmart (also really good) since we moved to TX, so it was really fun.

Not so fun was when DMP had to fly to Atlanta the day before my birthday. I got a lot of mileage out of it with the kid, though, so and I was mostly able to guilt them into being good for most of the day :)  Bear is posing with my birthday feast- Funyons, Diet Coke and Walmart sushi (seriously, it is good- hand-rolled right in front of your eyes at the fanciest Walmart ever).  It was a yummy feast!  There were also neon pink cupcakes with animal-print rings in them somewhere, but this is what happens when you don't have backup to photograph important events!

I'm looking forward to my year of 3's. It is good being a double-digit year. It feels lucky- like major foundation problems lucky! Just my year!

EJ is 8!

It's hard to believe this pretty girl is 8!  She is truly such a joy to us. She is calm, kind and helpful. She is smart, brave and sweet. She rarely gets in trouble, and always tries to do her best.  I honestly don't feel like I deserve her!

It has been so fun to see her love of books grow this last year. She reads everything she can get her hands on, and I've had quite a job just keeping up with her!  For instance, this summer we went to the library in the morning and checked out 6 books for her. We were returning for a special summer show that night and she said "I wish I could check out more books..." I told her that as soon as she finished the ones she had, we would...  She said "But I finished them already!"  Her current favorites are the American Girl books and The New Adventures of Mary Kate and Ashley.

She is doing well in school and loves all her subjects (but lunch and recess are her favorite things about school). She made a couple of new friends this year and they love playing Harry Potter together at lunch time (she's seen the first movie, but hasn't read the books yet).   She loves learning to play the piano and is proud that she has a few songs memorized!

She is the best big sister. She is so helpful and will "watch" Bear while I make dinner or do other things. She is patient and kind (mostly) with the little kids and will play games with them, even when she wants to go and read.  Her current favorite game to play is UNO- and she got Harry Potter UNO for her birthday!

We love our girl and we're so happy she's part of our family!

Here are some flashbacks of our sweet girl through the years (not all the years, though- just ones I've blogged...)!

Four years old

Five years old

Six years old

Seven years old

Thirty-seven

DMP turned 37 this year and we had a fun party. I took the girls to the dollar store to buy presents. Birdy picked out some cinnamon almonds and EJ got him an awesome rooster coaster for all of his drinks.  Eli and Mommy got him an R/C helicopter that really flies (NOT from the dollar store :>)

After present opening, we went to Chick-fil-a for dinner. We were lucky that Daddy's birthday was on a Tuesday, and at Chick-fil-a they have family night on Tuesdays where kids get a free kids meal and they have balloons and other fun stuff.  I know it seems like a strange choice for a birthday dinner, but we love Chick-fil-a (which is a topic for another post) so we decided to combine very kid-friendly + yummy food + cheap!  We got a great birthday surprise when EJ told the person taking our order that it was her Daddy's birthday, so his meal was free, too. So all 4 of us ate for the price of one meal! That was a happy birthday present indeed!

When I saw the sign for family night advertising balloons, I thought it meant helium balloons (which Bear LOVES).  I didn't expect an awesome balloon artist!  Check out the cool creations in the pic above!  Birdy got a "Christmas Princess Wand", EJ got an orange kitty and a rose, and Bear got an awesome snow man. Seriously- check this guy out, he's ADORABLE!

After we ate our yummy food and got our awesome balloons, we went home to eat the cake EJ and Birdy decorated (sorry- I forgot to take a picture until after I cut into the top!).  It was yummy and DMP had a great birthday!

Thirty-Six

DMP had birthday- he's now 36! Since he had school all day on his real birthday, we celebrated Daddy's Birthday Observed on Sunday. We had chocolate cherry cake (pic above). It wasn't anything to look at but it tasted good. I swear- one year I will make a cake for DMP's birthday that both tastes and looks good! Last year, I phoned it in with a chocolate cake we won. The year before I had small person help, but still...

After a birthday dinner of turkey pillows and roasted potatoes, we opened the presents the girls picked out just for Daddy at the stuffed-up-animal store (aka the Heber Thrift store. Some lady heard me encouraging the girls to pick a present for Daddy there and she gave us the most sympathetic look. I think she thought we were poor instead of just cheap :>). EJ picked out a "back-feeler-gooder" (as Birdy calls it) and Birdy picked out a special Zions Bank mug for his hot chocolate.

Two Birthdays...

So I'm playing catchup for the month of December. Christmas update is coming, but I wanted to share some pics of DMP and Uncle Brad's birthday parties.

Putting sprinkles on Daddy's cake.
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From December_2008

The finished product

From December_2008

Blow out the candles!

From December_2008

Uncle Brad's Turn (Different cake, same pan!)

From December_2008