How can it be that our new little baby that we JUST brought home from the hospital yesterday turned 9 this year! We just love birthdays around here. They are such fun days filled with quite common and simple, but for the girls, some rare and exciting activities. We woke her up with our angelic birthday song voices and while she was eating her birthday breakfast her sisters took care of her chores for her. She took her favorite cookies to school to share with her class. This was quite the highlight for her because since Kindergarten her birthday has always fallen on a day when everyone is on Spring Break. This was the first year that she was able to celebrate her birthday in class on her actual birthday. I canceled piano lessons for the day and took all the girls to their favorite park when Line and Malia got home from school. I tried to not be devastated when as I was trying to take a picture of one of the girlies, Ane, who I was holding at the same time, reached out to try and grab the camera and with my super quick reflexes removed it from her reach. In the process, I'm sure because of my super-human/mom speed reflexes and not because I'm a clutz , I dropped the camera and it just busted into pieces. uuugh. Not a great moment. I couldn't not get her birthday on camera, so we headed to shop for a new camera. After finding a steal of a deal, we headed over to McDonalds for dinner. We never eat there, not always because it doesn't fit into our budget, but because it's just not that good for ya. But birthdays are definitely the exception to the rule. We finished our dinner and headed home. That evening we had designated as the evening for piecing together the swingset.
(Ignore the date on those pictures. They're a year off. I hadn't quite figured out the new camera yet.) Thank you all you helpers for assembling the swingset with us. We couldn't have done it without you!After all the babes were later settled into bed, Line and I headed over to Maceys for her favorite ice cream sandwich. So yummy! After bringing one home for Dad, she showered and then came up and enjoyed some Biggest Loser with Mom, also a big deal. The show airs later than I let the girls stay up, so Naki and I DVR it and then the girls watch it during my piano lessons later on in the week. Line felt so lucky to get the first sneak peek out of all the girls. See what I mean by common yet exciting? Exciting for the birthday girls. They're so easy to please, I hope their birthdays are always like that. It was a busy day, but a terrific one. I loved the one on one time I was able to sneak in with that adorable girl. She's such a good hearted person who genuinely tries her hardest at whatever she's doing. We had her actual birthday party about a week later. Here are some pics of the kids enjoying the swingset and just playing together while we waited for everyone to arrive.
This picture to me is hilarious. Eva loves to climb up in here but is for some strange reason terrified of the slide and can't do the monkey bars yet. So instead she just stands there and cries until someone comes and gets her down, only to immediately climb back up in there.
I love this picture too. See Eli reaching out her hand to Jackson to help him up? At least that's what I told myself she was doing instead of telling him to give her a turn. She has some sweetness hidden in there, I'm sure of it!
We gathered round for the present opening. I know that we teach our kids that presents are not a sign of whether or not someone loves you. It's how you treat a person that matters the most. And had she not received a single present, Line knew that she was loved completely by her family near and far. How lucky we are to have such great family. She was thrilled to receive some fantastic presents, just what she wanted. Thank you one and all for your gifts.
I know in that last picture it looks like she's, well, I don't know exactly what it looks like she's doing. But she's actually facing East on purpose, to holler Thank You to her Aunt Ginny. What a goober. (She did this more than once, I just thought you didn't need to see every single picture of her doing it!) Apparently when you're not the one opening all these presents, it can get a little boring.
Naki caught some pictures of Boo doing her favorite thing...crawl/walking up you while you hold her. Really Ane, I didn't need that skin on my body anyway. Just keep diggin' those little toe/claws into my side over and over again. This girl just doesn't EVER stay still! A little ball of wiggles.
We all enjoyed some yummy cupcakes, only these two seemed to enjoy them a little bit more than the others.
Line was quick to get inside and register her new Webkinz. She just could NOT wait. Here she is with another Webkinz pro, Kyra.
The evening was winding down, and family started to go home. I was getting ready to get bath time going and get the babies all in bed, but these two beat me to the punch. I guess a party can really wear you out. Eva had tucked her cousin Aria into bed with a comfy blanket and was reading her a bedtime story, one of our girls' favorite nighttime rituals.
Happy Birthday Line. Hope it was as much fun for you to turn 9 as it was for us! We love you.
