Not officially 10, yet!

But the big birthday party happened. If you ever wanted to know how a girl reacts to the surprise revelation that she's going to the American Girl Place for her 10th birthday, you can see an example on this video, so you'll know what to expect should it ever happen to your girl ;-)

Here are pictures of the cool arm (and back!) paintings--dd's art teacher came and painted the kiddos for us. Neat party activity, and only $15. Well worth it!

Birthday time

DD9 is about to become DD10. Yep, the double digits are about to hit! She has a few more days before her actual birthday, but her party is this weekend. She's having a tropical tea. She pilfered flower leis and hair clips from a tropical wedding recently (with the bride's permission, LOL) so those are the mainstays of her decor. We found the neatest tropical stuff at a paper goods store today, so we now have a tropical serving platter and table cover. She already had plates and napkins. Lots of flowers on everything. You'd think she had this girlie thing going, or something ;-) She has three friends coming, with their American Girl dolls of course ;-) They will dine on egg salad cups, tortilla roll-ups, tropical fruit served in orange skin cups, and tropical fruit punch (should I point out the obvious, that the TEA is missing from her tea party, ROFL?). Their craft activities will include making sand-art bracelets, and decorating flower pillows to take home. DD's art teacher will be coming and doing face/arm painting for the girls. We'll also have a cookout for the families, so it should be lots of fun. The weather is even going to be very very nice :-)

Her big gift is that I'm taking her to American Girl Place in NYC on her birthday! I'm so excited that I get to do this with her. She'll find out at her party, so if you hear some screeching at party time, don't worry--it's just her, LOL.

Happenings in our neck of the woods

• DS5 voluntarily read a book the other day--while walking around the library.
• He thought he had to read in order to color a baseball on his summer reading program log.
• I didn't correct his impression ;-)
• DD9 is in for a TREAT on her birthday
• She's going (with me!) to the American Girl Store in NYC
• On her birthday :-)
• Won't that be fabulous????
• DH is doing really well after his heart attack
• He walked over 3 miles yesterday!
• On purpose!
• In fact, he walked to the barbershop and the post office :-)
• I can tell that he's lost weight
• Woohoo!!!