Happy Birthday #2!

My sweet little #2 turned nine yesterday. We've been celebrating for about a week and I'll post pictures of all the revelry as soon as I can figure out how to get them off of the camera we borrowed due to the unfortunate incident of me being pushed in the pool with mine at camp.

I can tell you we already:

• had a surprise party at the mall with a scavenger hunt, followed by a trip to the pool with her friends
  
• went to Hersheypark as a family
  
• ate at Olive Garden and picked up a friend for a sleepover on her actual birthday
  

I can tell you to finish up her birthday week celebration we will be:

• going on a Mommy / Daughter shopping spree with her birthday money and gift cards (just in time for back to school, although spending $50 in Claire's gift cards will be interesting!)
• having some family over for her "at home family party" complete with all her favorite foods - deviled eggs, fried queso cheese and macaroni n cheese, chocolate chip cookie cake

Yes, we like to drag our birthdays out around here and make them last! :-) We really don't buy the kids a lot of gifts, just a special outfit and one other small thing because I like investing in memorable parties that they talk about for years to come.



As for my middle daughter turning nine...wow! She is every bit the blossoming preteen, but extremely mellow and easy going. The only time you don't want to mess with #2 is when she is tired. That is scary. Other than that, she is laid back and fun; although she loves attention in the form of "Hey, look at this!". She is such a little ray of sunshine in our family!