Happy Birthday to Kari

Kari Lynn turned nine years old today--one year shy of double digits! She had a fabulous day--special birthday breakfast, birthday button at school, surprise visit from Aubrey, Grant, and I at lunch at school (came bearing McDonalds--got her good by packing her lunch box with just a water bottle and heavy ice pack--she was truly surprised and excited to see us), her favorite meal for dinner (chicken pot pie), and finally, a pajama-clad drive to look at Christmas lights this evening. She was one happy girl!

Birthday breakfast with Grandpa. Love this tradition and wish I could tag along to hear the conversation.

Her family party was Sunday afternoon. We are surrounded by some pretty wonderful family. They all made her feel special and loved. We had some snacks and just hung out with the fam--a pretty low-key event for one of our parties. It was kind of nice to not be planning/executing a bunch of activities and games. We'll be doing plenty of that for the other two birthdays coming up, so it was nice to be able to give ourselves a "bye" this time. She's growing up. Games were not a part of her plan.


































Such a grown up girl getting so many grown up gifts--i-tunes, gift cards, earrings, a fish (takes responsibility, you know--precursor to a kitten, in her mind), clothes, and yarn to knit hats and scarves. She was also excited to receive more clothes for her doll, Kit, so there's still some little girl in there, too. :) She's really never been one to play imaginatively with toys. She'd much rather organize them, but something about the American Girl doll has captivated her. She doesn't really play imaginatively with Kit either, but she loves the books, loves to change her outfits according to the season/event, and loves to set out all of Kit's things and then fold them all carefully in the basket again. I'm glad there's at least one "toy" that she still wants and appreciates. It's fun, too, though, to see her excited about books, learning to knit, and playing the guitar. Mid-elementary school age is great.















Love Aubrey and Joel's faces while looking at the new fish, which I'm told has been named "Sparky."














Love Kari's face here when she realized Grandma had made a matching "birthday" dress for her, to go along with the "birthday" dress for Kit.





Flowers were the only required decorations this year. I'm still enjoying them in my kitchen.

Greg giving Kari her first guitar lesson on her new guitar. She's eager to learn!