birthday girly!

Today Girly is 9! It's amazing to me that it has been that long, but the math doesn't lie.

Up until this year, we have had her party in the summer. Family celebrated the real date, but all the little friends came on her half birthdate of June 28. But this year she wanted a sleep over party on her actual birthday. So last night I made a cake (fun-fetti and vanilla checkerboard cake--let's hope it comes out right!) and we cleaned her bedroom. The tree is down so we can focus on the birthday alone. My bestfriend's birthday is in 2 days, and we have learned from his experiences that it is worth the extra effort to make her so-close-to-Christmas birthday as special as those of us lucky to be born far removed from the major gift-giving holiday of the year.