NINE!!

always lots of help with gift opening around here

My baby turned nine yesterday! It is her last year as a single digit. Mark was the first one up and decorated the house, as usual. He has always done this for both girls' birthdays. She was a little bit emotional it seems, because the simple act of spilling a little of the catfood 'juice' on her shirt while carrying it upstairs for me, was enough to launch an emotional meltdown. She really wanted to wear her new favorite shirt, the rainbow shirt Grandma Caroline got her for xmas, for her birthday and was sobbing that her whole day was ruined because she couldn't wear her favorite shirt for her birthday because it had stinky catfood 'juice' on it. Oh my! I was able to rinse the shirt and hang it so the sleeve would dry pretty quickly, so she could still wear it. The complete overreaction was a warning, though, that she had a fragile emotional state going on. How fun. She sometimes gets a little weird around her birthdays and becomes a little sad and clingy, and weepy that she doesn't want to grow up--she just wants to stay like she is and live with us without ever growing up. Dej was that through her younger years, too.

Somehow Dej went from being the little girl who wanted to live at home forever to the girl who just couldn't think of a worse place to live even if she tried. She had quite a clever plan in her childhood years though. She was going to live at home forever and continue to sleep in my bed. She would get married to a man, who would sleep on the couch. Her husband could then do all of the housework, cooking, and animal care, while we all continued on with our fun work-free lives. Which reminds me of Luciana's engagement at five. She became enamored with a little boy she met at her grandma's church and came home and told us that they were getting married. She was going to tell him in two weeks (when she stayed overnight at grandma's again) that he could move in with us. She informed us of this one Sunday night, and quite matter of factly added that he would need to share Mark's toothbrush when he lived here, because he wouldn't have his own toothbrush here. We contained our laughter, while wondering how our very bright little girl determined that daddy, and not her, should be the one to share the toothbrush. Also wondered why it didn't cross her mind that he could actually bring his own, or perhaps drop a few bucks to buy a new one, or take one from the drawer where I keep a stock of brand-new toothbrushes for guests who forget theirs. I guess 'love' makes us stupid at any age.

Back to L's birthday. We weren't sure the in-laws would be able to make it as planned, because they were getting dumped on with a snowstorm and the roads in IL were horrible. I was thrilled when they called at 2 to say they would be coming (just later than originally planned). We were able to tell her they would be late, rather than not coming. I was a little worried about telling drama girl that they couldn't come at all. They arrived around 4, and we visited for a while. My parents arrived at 5, she got to be the center of attention. Dej had to work, so she couldn't come, but she did stop by before work to drop off an Icee and wish L. a happy birthday. She wanted to go to Olive Garden for her birthday, so that's where we all went. We had to wait nearly 45 minutes for a table. That really sucked. We had a decent dinner and came back home where she opened gifts.

The hit of the night was a little remote-controlled UFO saucer she got from Uncle Dan. It was very cool, and the adults and cats all envied L's gift. We had six cats--the other three are too shy to come down with all that company--with huge eyes, all staring with a mixture of fright and excitement. It's small and lightweight enough that it couldn't hurt them, but with all those flashing lights, they weren't quite sure about it. It's also indestructable (supposedly) and has done well so far standing up to her erratic remote-control 'driving'. It is highly entertaining to watch the cats watch this thing. Petey did make a jump for it today. He's such a little jock! I haven't had the chance to play with it. Yet.

Everybody went home at around 10, and we took L. up to bed then, too. She got to sleep in our bed with us, because of her birthday. We are very tired today. She had a nice day, and we had a nice time visiting with our family. There was a spectacular full moon out last night, in honor of her ninth birthday. ; D

Today she got more birthday attention (and two Webkinz) when her sister came over to celebrate her birthday with her. Dej gave her one-on-one attention and spent a lot of time hanging out with her. L. lives for time and attention from her big sister, so I was really happy to see the two girls together. After Dej left L. & Hunter got on the computers, side-by-side, to play with their webkinz online.

modeling a new outfit from Grandma C.

I still have a little work to do on her preparing her homeschooling work for the next three days (while I'm at work and she's at my mom's) and some household chores to do. I'm feeling behind on everything and not remotely ready for going to work tomorrow!

We are in desperate need of a permanent, loving home for a small female jack-russell terrier. She's around five, very sweet and loving. She's had a rough time of it lately and is in a much less-than-ideal foster home right now. She is NOT aggressive to humans, but is extremely aggressive with cats and other small animals (as many jack russells are), so she needs a cat-free home. Please get the word out and contact me if you are interested. She deserves a much better life than she's had of late. She was dumped in the country--either pregnant or with her puppies.

One of the xmas presents L. asked for and received was a donation to the Rock County Humane Society. We went to drop that off on Friday, and she made and dropped off this sign at the same time.